Dilan Roestel
Final Exam
3rd hour
English 12 B
5.26.21
English 12 B Tri 3 Exam Essay
The goals that I chose for myself to reach this trimester were to read more, write more often, and lengthen my writing. In every English class, I have had I didn’t really like it because it wasn’t really my thing since I wasn’t good at reading or writing but my teachers over the years have helped me expand my reading and writing so it got easier. Now that I have had a whole 2 years to reflect on what I have been doing in English classes I realize that yes it did suck at some points but it wasn’t bad. All the reading and writing that Andy made us do help because it taught me how to keep a book and finish it. Normally I just read a couple of pages and drop the book and then when it comes time to write about what we read in class I just put down a bunch of random things that didn’t make sense and then I would just leave it at that and then wouldn’t care what I got for a grade. This year I finished a whole book in class and one out of class and then when it came time to write about what we were reading about I knew what to write instead of putting a bunch of random things down that didn’t make any sense. I told myself that I wanted to lengthen my writing because I didn’t like writing at all and would just write short paragraphs in my other English classes. Before I said that the only writing that I did was on my phone. Now in Andy’s class, I am doing creative writings everyday help because I didn’t write that much and at the beginning of the trimester I didn’t write that much during the creative writings, but towards the middle and end of the trimester, I got used to writing I felt comfortable about writing and I just would write and tell a whole story where before I would be so tense and wouldn’t want to write so I would just write a couple of sentences. So did I meet these goals? I would most definitely say that before I would never read a book and now I am starting to read more books not just in school but out of school too. I definitely met my writing goals. I write almost every day now in Andy’s class and I’m not just writing small paragraphs I am writing a lot bigger paragraphs.
My blog post The Time I Shot My Deer was my best blog post I’d say. Why do I think it’s my best one yet? Because I told a whole story of mine without stopping because I thought it was too embarrassing or it was stupid. I put all my stress and emotions aside and just wrote. That’s what I think I improved the most was just putting all things aside and just writing. Before I wouldn’t write at all and if I did it would have been very short and sweet. This class has taught me to just let loose and do what I felt was right. So yes I think that The Time I Shot My Deer was my best blog post because I just let loose and told my whole story about me shooting a deer. That was the blog post that stood out the most to me because I wrote the most compared to all of the other blog posts that I had written in the past.
I think I put most of my efforts into my creative writings. The impact it had on me was huge in my opinion because I never wrote before and these showed me that it was ok to write in here and open up about things. It definitely taught me to proofread my writings because before I would just write something and then turn it in. When I would get my writings back from my teacher Andy they would just be filled with comments saying that I had to fix this and that. So everything I turned in I got through and proofread everything that I did. I was trying to go through them and make sure that my stuff was right so I didn’t have much work when I had to go back and fix some things. Proofreading is good because I will use it when it comes to writing things for work or college.
Which intellectual risk seemed to have the richest reward? I would have to say the reading that I was doing in class. I read two books and those help me a lot. When I read those books I had something to write about for my writings in class. How did it shift your approach? This shifted my approach about picking a book in school and out of school and reading it. It showed that books aren’t always bad and that it doesn’t hurt to pick one up once in a while and read it. Ever since I have been reading I have been able to lengthen my writing more so I have something to talk about, where before when we were doing writings about the books we read I would just drag on about something random because I didn’t know what I was talking about because I didn’t read any books that I was supposed to read, but now that I read all the books though I go back and write about things that I need to write about.
What do I think I am adding to my overall literacy repertoire? I think I am adding way more reading and writing. I write every other day in English class and out of school I sometimes write too. I also have been reading more and more in and outside of school. At the beginning of the year, I didn’t read or write that much. If it wasn’t on my phone then I wouldn’t care. Now that it’s at the end of the trimester It has opened my eyes to reading and writing more and more and that it can help you especially for college or work. I didn’t realize how much information that books can have and that not all information comes off your phone. So yes I would most definitely say that I have added a ton more reading and writing to my literacy.