Throughout the semester we, the students/class, have been taught several ways to approach reading and writing. There are ways in which we all critique and reflect on what we have read. There is also a variety in the ways which people write what they have found and how the apply those thoughts into words and finally resulting in a paper. As the semester progressed hopefully we were all able to also progress in our reading and writing skills. English class is not always about writing, but also the fact in which we want to excel our brains by gaining more knowledge about what is being read and written about.
In the past, going back to when papers were basically introduced to myself, and also up to the beginning of this class, there are factors that are thrown in that have helped influence me about how I have composed the pieces and why I have/had written them in that way. Of course it would make sense to start off with the past and talk of what was passed on from teachers to the students. Although I must say, as time goes on we replace what we were taught by new and better ways of completing tasks at hand.
In the past when we were told to go read a certain book, passage, or even a single line there was a main point of emphasis…re-read! This technique I still carry on with me as I continue to read and write. Why was and is this so vital to my learning? I believe that it emphasized the idea of getting all of the information possible and using it to our advantage to create a paper of statement that would be true and at the same time we would be able to use it in case of arguing sides. Now I still use it because it also helps recollect the ideas and information that might have been skipped over and crucial to making a point in writing or in other cases arguing. Today, I think that it is one thing that should be pushed and expressed by teachers. I think that it will extremely help out the students and making their writing better by being able to recall phrases, words, sentences, and even paragraphs that would be essential in backing up a point that is being emphasized.
Other essential point that I have grown up with is one of the biggest and it would have to deal with vocabulary. I know that in this paper and others I have written I don’t use an expanded vocabulary, but I try to create a word choice and a sentence flow that will work together. Vocabulary is such an essential that it helps create a beautiful piece and sometime when we need it, we should be able to put not an exotic word, but once that gives more meaning to what we are trying to say at the same time. The reason that I talk of this is because my senior year in high school I was given at least 100 vocabulary words to study and learn. I wish I was able to recall them all and use them because as I mentioned before they add so much flavor to the work.
What I like about what we are doing now in this semester is how we first we’re given sheets explaining what we had to do. The basic look for things that you found interesting, shocking, noteworthy, and so on. This I found and find very helpful because it gives me a general direction of what I should be looking for. Eventually with other projects we got questions and points to search for and answer. This helps break down the purpose of what we are writing for and yet at the same time gives us the opportunity for writing what we want to write about. We are not limited to certain ideas, but are able to expand on what we know already and what we have learned. It truly is a wonderful thing knowing that there are so many options that are created and that are workable. What I mean is that with these vague ideas, we are able to create something new, an entire new branch that will help make things go more smoothly and better.
Another great tool is using those around us. When in class we discussed many different topics and what we all thought about on them. We were able to debate them, discuss them, and argue back and forth about what the majority or even the individual thought. This is a critical tool in this process because as authors, each writing in a different style, we can use what we hear and put that into what we might feel is necessary to work in to make our work more interesting and at the same time fulfilling the requirements that are needed to make it work. Going along with that idea I loved how we used the blogs. This was a great tool for me because I got to see my partners writing and also their comments. It gave me the opportunity to see what they incorporated in their works and use some of it, or the main idea of what they said. The comments also helped out a lot in the idea that it helped give me more support for my work. It gave me more of a base to work with in some areas, the idea of supporting a structure with beams, because in a sense a paper is a structure that requires a base and support to make it flow properly and smoothly. If I could go back to my high school and suggest any ways of making English easier with students and also with the teachers, this would definitely be a main idea of suggesting blogs, simple and easy to use, but with great effect.
In the future I hope that I am able to retain all of this information from the past and the present. I find it very useful, and even though in the later years we wont use blogs, I hope that I will be able to find some people that will have the same ambitions that I will and support each other to make the work load easier for all. I hope that all the upcoming experiences will be positive and that we will all be able to succeed in our work. The more that we work either one-on-one or as a group the better and hopefully the greater the chances will be of creating successful piece of work that will get us to the places that we need to be at. Through these simple communication steps we will all be able to achieve personal goals that are important to us.
Writing is a great way of communication. Hopefully we as the human race, will never lose sight of that and that we will always use it for the greater good. Whether it is through e-mails, letters, or texts, it is an essential that we all must learn to use and adapt to, because with out writing we lose a great and easy way of communication. If we all depended on computers and cell phones, some day they might be there to work for us. In that case we must be able to communicate with each other somehow and even if that means we take out a pen and a piece of paper then that is what we must do. On a final note I feel that this class and those that I have had previously have helped me become a much more creative writer and at the same time a detailed critical thinker. It opened my mind up to things that I found more interesting and easier to find and write about. Writing and reading are essential, it just depends on how essential we want them to be in out lives.