Final Reflection Blog

What are the three most important things you learned this year?

One of the three most important things I have learned this year was the TIQA format. This format was one of the first things we learned when we were introduced to AoW's and was able to be carried on to any assignment that we did throughout the year. A second important thing I was taught that was important to me was to take in a lot of information. What I mean is that in this class, you need to remember a lot of stuff and learn a lot of stuff. I was able to widen my attention span and that helped me take in more information than I usually have. A third important thing that I was taught this year was learn to make an argumentative essay. This was the first year I made an argumentative essay and I did have to make a couple in other classes as a matter a fact, knowing how to make one was really helpful when I had to do other argumentative essays.


What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?

I will always remember how to properly research. I know that there are a lot of jobs out there that do involve researching professionally, knowing how top research now will give me the advantage when I ever have to. I also know that in High School you will have to do plenty of research and again, knowing how to do it now will be very beneficial for me when that occurs.

What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?

During the second quarter, I was still struggling on how to properly study for a vocabulary test. I would keep studying and studying, but I would always do terrible on the test. I never knew what to do to improve my score. One day, Jack told me that repetition really helps when your trying to memorize something and trying to ingrain keeps will help you never forget it. Knowing that Jack is a very clever guy, I listened and tried his idea out the following week when we had another test. It worked and I got a good score on my test, I was so relived. I thought his idea and that fact that he told me was really cool and nice.

What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?

There have been times where my friends talk to me and tell me that they can't do something that Mrs. Larson assigned to them or that they should quit. I encounter this same situation too sometimes, but whenever I'm on the "OK" side of the situation, I tell them that it will only get harder. If they think this is hard, they should just wait until high school. I tell them that they can get through it and that they just need to keep moving forward. Trudge through any problem that gets in their way. I believe if we encounter situations like this where we don't have any belief in ourselves, that with a little motivation, we are destined for greatness. With just a little help from our friends, anything can be possible and there won't be anything you can't do.

In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of?

The area that I think I have made the biggest improvement on was my blogs I would have to say. In this class, you kind of have to widen your vocabulary and once you do you are set for life. You can use your new advanced vocabulary for all assignments, especially blogs. I like to show that I can use large words and putting them in a blog is a great way to show people. I have done that a lot this year and that really improved my blogs a lot. Something that I accomplished this year that I am still proud of was being able to read more books than I usually do. To be honest, I didn't used to read a whole lot before I got into this class. I would only read when it was necessary or if it was an only option to get through the rest of a class. I am glad that this class gives me a motivation to read more because of the 40 book challenge.

What was the most challenging part of this year for you?

The most challenging  part for me this year was doing the Christmas Carol Extended Response. What had happened was that I had phenomena and was gone the week that everyone went to the play and officially started doing the extended response. I was supposed to do it over winter break and had to watch the movie instead of the play. Of course I waited the very last minute to do it, and did the whole thing the two days before I was supposed to go back to school. I was freaking out and was working with the whole entire time I had, I still regret me doing it at the last minute. I even had to get help from my mom because I kept overthinking everything and it was about 12:00 at night by the time I finished. I am still glad that I went through that experience because it taught me that I should never procrastinate when it comes to doing big assignments like that.

What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best?

I thought the best piece of writing that I did was my argumentative essay. I say this because first, I worked myself day/night trying to do the best research and trying to form the best paragraphs to help me get my point out to my audience. It turns out that I didn't do my best once I received my grade, but I revised my errors it and got all threes for my final grade. To this day I am still proud of me doing the essay and me working up to revising it when I really didn't want to.

Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why?

The one book that I read this year from Mrs. Larson's library that I think was my favorite was the Coraline book. I liked this book because I had watched the movie way before I actually knew there was even a book and it brought back a lot of memories from when I watched the movie.  I think the movie is better because when you read the book, all that runs through your head is that this is just an adventure book with a story tied into it. When you see the movie, you barely believe this could be a reality and it runs chills down your neck a lot sense the movie is a little creepy. The book was never that creepy to me. That's just my opinion.

What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year?

I say this to anyone who will potentially be in this class next year, "You are not an average kid." What I mean by this is that you have something that other kids unfortunately don't. Use it to your advantage in this class. You may think that this class is just a class where you get twice as much work as other normal kids. Once you get older and get into high school, everything that Mrs. Larson taught you will eventually pay off and will never go to waste. Being able to learn other more challenging topics/subjects then other kids means that you must dedicate yourself to this lifestyle because it is not for everyone. You are given a gift by being taught by all of this, don't waste that opportunity by slacking off and doing mediocre work. If you want to do that then be my guest, if you don't you won't regret it.