Final Reflection Blog -

This year has been full of different obstacles in both academics and in life. This year, English Language Arts, has pushed me to challenge myself more in writing and in many other ways. Now, this school year is almost over and there is a million things all happening at once as it is coming to an end. I have learned various things this year in ELA, but the three most important things that I have learned would have to be improving my writing skills in AOWs and Blogs, using proper grammar, and learning to read/enjoy different genres of books than just the types that I am use to reading. I would say that these are the three most important things that I have learned because they have benefited me the most and will help me in the future when I go to college for journalism. 

A million things have happened this year. Out of those million things, only one thing stuck out the most. One thing that we did this year that I will remember for the rest of my life is when we did the poetry unit this year. I think I will remember this out of all the other various things that we did this year because it allowed me the most to be creative and open about how I feel. In the poetry unit, I was able to explore my mind more and write about things that I didn't even know I thought about or had a concern of. I was able to put so much passion in just a short poem, which shows that I could probably make it as a writer. They were just simple and short poems that we wrote, but they were the ones that carried the most impact because they allowed you to see into another person and what others thought. AND that is something that I will carry with me forever. 

My classmates, this year helped me as well. One of the nicest things that one of my classmates (Jack) did for me this year was give everyone at our table loose-leaf paper every Friday for vocabulary test and not just himself. I think that was one of the nicest things because it helped me out a lot because I didn't always have loose-leaf paper and he would give you paper even when you didn't ask for it. I wouldn't say I did anything really to teach my classmates because we are all very bright and belong in this class. It was little things here and there that I did to help my classmates. I would think that I taught my classmates to have more of an open mind and explore different types of books in order to view different people's perspectives. 

I have improved in various areas of this class. I would say, just being in this class has made me challenge myself more than any other class has and pushed me to go over the highest limit and reach success. I am proud to just be in this class. But, two areas that I feel I have made my biggest improvement would be in my blogs and poetry. I think I made my biggest improvements in those two areas because before learning most of the things that I know now from this class, I would have written half or one paragraph for a blog and I wouldn't even know where to start in writing a poem or the various types of poems. Since, I have improved in these areas, I am most proud of one of the poems that we did this year. The poem that I am proud of and have accomplished, is the poem that we wrote called, "Where I'm From" Poem. I am very proud of this poem because it made me think about certain things that I didn't want to think about and bring up things that I didn't realize I have been thinking about. Also, I am proud of this accomplishment because it made me use my mind and creativity in order to make a very deep and personal piece of writing, which showed who I am. 

 The most challenging part of this year for me would have to be citing sources. It is the simplest thing ever, but it was the most challenging for me. I think this was the most challenging because I would always get the alphabetical order wrong sometimes and sometimes when I would copy and paste my sources in a word document, it would get all messed up, which would cause me to get frustrated. This was the most challenging, but as I kept doing it over and over again, I got better at it and I was able to cite almost anything. This being the most challenging has helped me see what I need to improve on and really got me to work harder. 

This year was full of various types of writing.  I had enjoyed writing a lot of the pieces that we had to do, but my favorite was the poem we had to do recently about what happens when a dream dies. I titled mine, "Bulletproof Dream." I think this is my best type of writing because I put a lot of passion into it and it really made me think about all the possibilities and what could happen if I were to lose a dream I had for so long. It made me think more and understand sort of what some people may go through when they have their heart set on something for so long and then to have it just die right in front of you, just to lose all the progress that you made. It was passionate, creative, and understanding, which is what made it one of my favorites.

 I've read a ton of books this year and all had a good concept/message within them. I don't know how I can choose from them all, but I did. Out of all the books I read this year, my favorite was Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. This book is about a man and a student. It discusses how every Tuesday a young man would go to this class, where he would learn about life. They would discuss life lessons and give advice. This book is my favorite because of its concept. It is beautifully written and like all his other books, has a very good message within it. I've read this book 3 times because it is my favorite and I would recommend it to anyone who comes across it. 

For the incoming students, there is a lot of advice that I could give you.  For example, make the best out of little things, don't hold on to things in the past, or try your best. But, none relate to this class. The best advice that I could give to the incoming students who will be in this class next year is always try your hardest and don't slack off. This class is tough, but it is suppose to be, which is why I enjoy being in this class, it is suppose to make you better as a reader and writer. Never over think things because the things that you over think are always the simplest and sometimes you will get a bad grade on something, but you always have a shot to make it better, so never misuse it. This class will help you in so may ways, so don't take it for granted.