Gabby driessnack
This week, we mostly focused on writing our group essays. We also shared our essay with another group that read different summer reading books. We got to read each other's essays and give our ideas on what they excelled at and what they could do to make their essay better. As for my group's essay, we are pretty much done, except we will probably make revisions based off of the comments from the other group. When writing our essay, we each typed a body paragraph. Then, we each added a sentence or two to the introduction and conclusion, along with working together to make transitions between the paragraphs. We all worked together to make sure it flowed nicely and we made solid connections to the book. Along with our essays, we have also been doing creative writings and independent reading. I am still reading, The God of Small Things. The book is a little bit hard to keep up with, because all of the names are Indian, so I have trouble remembering who all the characters are. The book also jumps around quite a bit, so it is hard to know what is going on. In my creative writings, I usually just tell a story from my life. It is nice just having that time to just write whatever you want, and not have to think about being graded. xoxo, Gabby
1 Comment
This week, we focused on making connections in a poem. We looked closely at the wording and language in the poem, The Eagle, to gather ideas about what it may be conveying and how it conveys this to the readers. It gave me the chance to interpret the poem in my own way and dig deeper into it. We were able to get into groups and discuss our ideas, which gave me new perspectives on the poem. Some of the ideas were really unique and I would have never thought of the poem in that light. The Eagle is a short poem that has a lot of depth to it. It can symbolize power, darkness, and a fall from grace. We were also able to get into groups and discuss our summer reading books. We connected the two literary pieces to the first book we read, How to Read Literature like a Professor. It allowed us to find connections between the two books and look below the surface of the context. We started a pre-write with our groups to gather ideas for our paper. The paper explains all of our ideas about how the books connect and relate back to each other. This is a link to the poem, The Eagle. See what comes to your mind when you read it. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45322 xoxo, Gabby Instead of learning about how to write a certain way, we are learning about how to be ourselves when we write. I have been learning more about myself as a writer and how to write what I feel, not what I think people will want to hear. I know that when I write, my main focus is how I am going to write to get a good grade. Instead, I should be writing to convey passion and share my personal perspective. Even after such a short time in this class, my perspective on writing is already shifting. I feel more comfortable about writing personal pieces because I know I will not be judged. As for reading, we talked about a concept called "dessert reading". This is reading that does not require you to think critically or deeply about the context. Dessert reading books are more for entertainment purposes and do not challenge you as a reader. I have realized that a lot of my favorite books are dessert reading books, which makes me want to push myself harder as a reader. This can be a struggle for me, as I do not really enjoy reading most of the time. My goal for the end of the year is not think so negatively about reading and find some new books that I actually enjoy, all while challenging myself to think more critically about the context of the book. http://wordsrweapons.com/how-to-be-yourself-when-writing/ This article gives good advice on how to put more of yourself in your writings. xoxo, Gabby |
Gabby DriessnackSenior at MPHS. Archives
March 2017
Categories |