Tuesday, September 18, 2012

On writing

It's no secret that I like to do a rather significant amount of writing practice in English class. This is not to inflict torture in writing form upon you; rather, I'm training each of you to become better writers. This is a good thing, believe it or not. You cannot become a better writer if you don't write. So we write.

Reflect on your own writing--your attitudes toward it, your style, your positive and negative experiences with writing. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? After considering this, I just want you to write reflectively about how you would like to grow as a writer this year. Yes, this is technically an assignment, but I really want you to  consider this. This goes beyond me merely assigning things for grades. Set goals for yourself now so that, come May, you can look back on this year as more than a year you survived, but as a year that you took advantage of having the opportunity to get a good education. 

There is no word limit for this blog--you will be graded according to the thoughtfulness of your response.

Due tomorrow, Wednesday, by 8am!

PS your last timed writings (from last week) really did improve across the board. What an encouragement!

9 comments:

  1. When I was in middle school, I could write papers that put Freud to shame. But now, not so much… You see, it all started freshman year in high school. For some reason my writing skills have just deteriorated every year. At first I thought maybe it’s just my fear of knowledge kicking in, taking another school subject victim. However, that still is just specifically directed towards math class. So then I got to thinking why my writing skills have dramatically worsened. Personally I think I’m developing a serious case of Graphophobia, yet my parents say that’s just an excuse for being lazy and lethargic. I think that my weakness is that I ramble on too much before I answer the prompt and lose the reader and sometimes just totally not answer the prompt period because I am too busy rambling on about pointless details from the story I just read that has nothing to do with literary devices kind of like what I just did in this elongated sentence. My attitude towards my writing in much like my relationship with my dog, sometimes writing is interesting like when my dog decides to harass my brothers rabbit, and other times I feel writing is dull like when my dog is just sitting, staring at me panting for no apparent reason. My attitude for writing is a love-hate relationship. My style of writing is anything non-scholastic/educated. I excel in writing songs and poems. I like reading and writing deep, meaningful, stories with simple literary structure. I know what you’re thinking… “Then why are you in AP English?!” And my answer is…. “Derp. I don’t know.” – Joking, my answer is that I realize my writing skills for scholastic topics is weaker but I still need to stay on top of it for college, and I feel AP English pushes me to succeed. Just don’t take my training wheels off yet please. Another one of my weaknesses is that I struggle with picking out key points and details in the text that are actually important. Hopefully that will come in time through this year. So I hope this helps you help me. I dew want two bee won off dem good riters!

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  2. I've always liked writing, to some degree. I liked the way the writer can write in his or her own writing style. I've always wanted to write in a joking or funny kind of manner, but it seems that I can't tap into this section of my brain of humor. As you all may know, I've kinda made myself into the class clown by accident in freshman year, because I didn't know how to be funny. I've been trying to watch people and take after them (yes, I watch people when they are funny... so sorry if I'm creeping on you. You should be flattered!) So, I've been trying to write better, in a funnier way. And, to be able to get over my writer's block would be awesome as well. I can't write my time writings real well.

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  3. I feel like I haven’t gotten better at writing at all. Looking at my grades, the second one we did was the best. All of the others have been really bad. I hope to at least get a 6 on the next essay, and I hope to be able to get at least an 8 by the end of the year. I think one of my main problems is developing a good thesis, and then supporting it with the text without summarizing. I have never liked writing in the first place. I have always rather spending my time doing something that is actually productive and fun. It also makes my arm hurt afterward too.

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  4. Writing is something that I have always found theraputic--when it's my choice. When I am told that i have to write an essay or even a paragraph, the dread sets in. I dont feel like i'm able to be completely myself in a writing when it is inflicted upon me. I feel this way most of the time when i begin a timed writing, but it always turns around. i write my intro, and get into the flow of the writing, and i'm committed. I enjoy letting my thoughts flow freely, i like to analyze things--it reassures me that my brain is still capable of deep thought. However, i hate when i get to the point when all my thoughts collide. I become stressed and overwhelmed and my hand begins to cramp and my eyes flicker to the clock, and panic sets in. I hate that stressful feeling--but i'm working on it. I am learning to be more specific, which being too general is one of my weaknesses. This year, i would like to learn how to write more eloquently, like savy :) i want to become the timed writing that you feel like you need to analyze yourself. I wanna become a writer like you, big sister :) and i know that i have a good shot at it considering the fact that i'm your sister and have apparently stolen your high school writing style unintentionally. I want to convey the most meaning out of the words that i have. I want to strive to always be a greater writer than i am right now.

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  5. Writing is obviously not my best quality. However, I have become a better writer since the beginning of this year! Each timed writing I have gotten back has been an improvement from the past time writing. I don't really know what my strengths are. I think I have some, but I just don't exactly know what they are yet. Weaknesses are much easier to pick out, as i have a hard time with going into detail and explaining why what I just said is important at all. This year, I have already improved, but I would like to work on my level of detail and how much effort I put into writing. Personally, as a math person, I've always had a difficult time with concentrating on what I'm reading. My mind will just wander away and think about what I'm going to do to improve JTS Football 2014 (Yes It's happening). But anyway, my mind will wander and I will have to re-read what I just read several times over again. It is a pain... I would like to work on my time management and focusing on what I'm actually writing down. Sometimes I will think that a story is about one thing, get a few paragraphs into my essay, and then totally flip my whole point around because I've just realized that it is talking about something else, or a bigger picture. I don't have time to fix it, so I just pray everything works out with it and keep going with my new thought. Also, I'm to vague. But as I was saying, I don't comprehend what I'm reading at all. Marking the prompt REALLY helps me out.

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  6. My second grade teacher, Ms. Lewis (today known as Mrs. Pleitez), always used to tell me that someday I would be a great writer. She always told me how much she enjoyed reading my essays and how she would even occasionally share them with the teachers across the hall. I think that this is where my love for writing sparked. (Or should I say, love for anything but timed writing..) I'm the type of person who is a perfectionist when it comes to my writing. I like to have ample time so that I am able to critique every little thing. This is why, I think, my timed writings aren't as strong as papers that I have more time to work on. My research paper from last year, for example, got a 99. On the other hand, I don't think I have ever received an 8-9 on any of my timed writings. This shows that I am the type of person who works better without a time limit. The main things I want to work on this year,specifically with my timed writings, are picking out literary devices, broadening my vocabulary, and, most importantly, learning how to write a conclusion.

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  7. Writing has never been my strength. Since I was in first grade, I always enjoyed math but never any English writing. Sure, I was a book worm and loved to read, but I never wanted to write or create my own material. Throughout my career as a student I always thought that math and English classes were different, and to some extent that is true, but both use analysis. Just like in math you use critical thinking to solve problems, in English, it is used to work the prompt. My biggest weakness when it comes to timed writings would have to be working the prompt as well as fully analyzing and answering what it wants us to do. I have already learned so much in AP English Literature but I still have a ways to go. It is hard for me to come up with any strengths that I have in writing except for perseverance and giving it my best shot. For the rest of the year, I want to learn how to fully analyze the prompt and write non-stop to give as much useful information as possible without repeating myself.

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  8. Writing has always been something that I have just done to get through school. I never really interested me. When I read many of my writings, I realize them to often be plain and just present a point. However I have seen an improvement throughout the years. I often did not enjoy when a teacher instructed us students to write a story off the top of our heads about anything. However, now, I do enjoy writing analysis more and more as I go through AP classes. I think that my strengths are analyzing devices and aspects about a text and put them into my own words and using good sentence structure. However, I need to work on using more details and more in depth analysis or description in my writing. By the end of the year I want to have become a better communicator through my writing. I want to be able to sound educated but still add an interesting and intriguing aspect to my writing. I also want to start writing in the 9 level of AP writing. I am looking forward to learning how to create a better piece of writing.

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  9. I'm a really big reader and I've always assumed that helped me a lot when it came to writing. I'm fairly confident writing about prose and argumentation. I'm pretty good at not only picking out the literary devices, but realizing how and why the author used them. I feel like I can usually come up with interesting introductions and conclusions, mainly do to the fact that I feel like I can pick up on the author's purpose well. However, none of these things care over to poetry. The amount of poems I've read outside of class probably amount to... zero. If there is a poem of any sort of complexity I find myself staring blankly at the text. This year I would like to learn how to find the purpose of the author of a piece of poetry and how they use literary and poetical devices to portray that purpose.

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