Ava's English Blog

 The clustering method helped me organize my ideas better and I was able to come up with more subtopics than before. Organizing my thoughts with this method will allow me to create more structured body paragraphs in my essays. It helped me generate more ideas because I could see how everything connected when it was written down on paper. I will use this strategy in my AP Lang essays so that I have a easier foundation and structure to work on. It will help me feel more prepared when writing my essay. Summary: Today in class we used the clustering method for the first time to plan out our essay outline. Reflection: I learned that using this method can help me not mix up my thoughts and create more for me to write about. This will help me on future AP Lang essays by giving me a structured outline and improving my orginization strategies.

The hardest part about writing my first full length AP Lang essay was thinking of ideas for evidence and organizing my ideas. It was hard to come up with subtopics for my claim. Once I was able to think of subtopics I think the easiest part of the essay was writting the thesis. I wasn't able to come up with strong evidence so next time I would be able to structure and write my essay better if I had better evidence. Next time I'm not going to rush into writing and instead spend more time brainstorming my topic. Summary: In class we practiced writing a full length argumentitive essay. Reflection: Through this practice I learned the importance of brainstorming and planning what I'm going to say on  paper before writing it. I also learned that having stronger evidence will help me better on future essays and the AP exam.

 A time where I truly felt like I belonged was when I joined a new volleyball team with people I wasn't as familiar with. Immediatly our team connected and throughout the year got even closer. It made me feel like I belonged with this group of people. The envirnment was always positive and everyone was their to have a good time as well as staying competitive. I think that belonging is very important for people to feel happy and over-all wellbeing.  Summary: Today we read a document on belonging and answered questions. Reflection: Today I learned how important belonging is and also practiced analyzing a document. This will help me on the AP exam to quickly pull out certain information from texts and answer following questions.

 The vocabulary word that I think will be the most useful to me in the future is pellucid. It is easy for me to remember and it can be used in my essays. Pellucid describes something that is clear and easy to understand. In AP Lang I could use pellucid to describe a claim or another authors argument. For example I could say the claim "schools should start later because teenagers need more sleep to perform well academically" is pellucid because it is clear and direct. I think this word will become very useful because it gives me a more sophisticated wasy to describe clarity in sentences and in my essays. Summary: In class today we studied vocab words and completed exercizes. Reflection: I learned new vocabularly that I have never seen before. I think this will help me understand and comprehend more advanced texts and write more sophisticated essays.

 One time I began an assignment withought fully reading the instructions and only focused on quickly finishing the assignment. I ended up not receiving the grade I wanted because I missed certain things that were supposed to be included in the assignment based on the rubric. Knowing the ins and outs of a rubric could have helped me meet every requirement that was expected and receive a better grade in return. After learning about the AP Lang rubric and going through it, I realized how nessacary it is to review. It will help me better plan and revise my future essays. Summary: Today in class, we went over the first section of the AP Lang argumentitive essay portion of the AP exam. Reflection: I learned that the evidence portion of the rubric impacts your overall score the most and that it should be my main focus. This will help me prioritize certain aspects of the exam in order to achieve the highest score possible.

 Now I understand the steps and building blocks that help you create your commentary. Before I have never broken down the commentary and practiced It by itself. I think that this practice helped me when it came to adding more sentences and information which is normally where I get stuck. When I write my next AP Lang essay I will think of the steps in my head which will help me organize my thoughts and develop a better argument. This will ensure that my evidence is well supported, explained, and connect back to my claims allowing me to gain full credit.  Summary: Today in class we independantly practiced our commentary with sample evidence and used the "So What" method to guide us. Reflection: I learned that organizing your thoughts allows you to write better commentary and ensures that you have all nessacary information. This will help me on the AP exam when editing and writing my essays as well as processing my thoughts.

 For me, reading through a rubric, depends on the assignment and the teacher. If the teacher fully explains the assignment and gives us the rubric than I normally don't look at it untill after I finish the assignment. For assignments that weren't thoroughly explained I tend to use the rubric as a guideline in order to complete the assignment correctly. Now that we have examined the rubric for Ap Lang argumentative essays I realize that there is a lot I could have missed if I hadn't read it. I now understand what is excpected of my writing and how to accomplish a well written essay. The rubric acts as a rodamark to improve my writing by providing structure and allows me to decifer what to focus on the most. I now believe that reading the rubric is necessary to lead your focus and allow for complete understanding on the assignment. Summary: Today in class we went over the Ap Lang argumentative essay rubric and highlited the main focuses. Refletion: I learned that reading the ...

 One takeaway that I had was that the most impactful catagory to your grade was the evidence and commentary. I think that I need to apply my main focus to this category in order to earn the most points. In contrary the easiest category to score a point in was providing a clear thesis. When reviewing and looking over these essays I found that is wasn't that hard to earn 5/6 points as long as you follow the desired layout. The sophistication point was more difficult to receive but not impossible. Another observation that I had was that the commentary was missing in a lot of the essays we reviewed. This weakened their argument and didn't tie the evidence to their thesis or claims. I think that I need to focus on stating clear evidence and connecting it well back to my claim in order to score a 4/4 in this catagory and do well on the AP exam.  Summary: Today in class we reviewed sample AP exam essays and scored them based on the rubric. Reflection: I learned a lot about what is ex...

 I was absent this day but I have had many opportunities especaily in AP seminar to read my classmates writing and add commentary as well as reflect on their writing style. I find it interesting how differently people think from me and the ideas that they come up with that I would never have thought of. I think that it helps expand my thoughts when I read other peoples writing. I also think that if I see them do things that I like it helps me improve my writing style as well. Overall I think that it is a good idea to read other peoples writing to help you grow and improve your own. Summary: From what I heard today we went in rotations and peer reviewed each groups argumentitive paragraph on the contraversal opinions.  Reflection: I think that reading other students papers really helps develope your own writing style. I also think that this will help me on the AP test recognizing and pulling away the claim that they are trying to make.

One time one of my friends used informal language towards my teacher when she was trying to get her to fix her grade. My friend came off rude when she wasn't trying to. Because of this the teacher got frusterated and it didn't seem like she was treated with much respect. I think that in this situation it would have been better to use formal language so that you are nice and display a certain level of respect. This taught me that it is important to change the way you speak around a certain audience and try to be as respectful and polite as possible.  Summary: Today in class we looked over the difference between formal and informal language and when it is necessary to use either one we also worked on our writable paragragh. Reflection: I learned that there are certain times were formal language is necessary like in an acedimic paper. I think that this will help me sound better and more appealing to the audience I am speaking to.

 One approach that my group member suggested was to make sure we focus on not introducing evidence that wasn't completely different from the previous piece of evidence or that strays to far away from our claim. I think that this really helped all of us narrow down what we wanted to say and focus on connecting everything perfectly back to our claim that "being a man is not harder than being a woman." It helped make sure that all of our ideas flowed together and were in sync with each other. It also helped me stay focused on our specific claim and to not get sidetracked. I think that having group members helps give a lot of different perspectives and ideas that I would have never thought of. Summary: Today in class we had no wifi so instead of working on our paragraphs we worked on vocabulary and completed some exercises from the book. Reflection: I learned many new terms that I had never heard before. I think that when it comes time for the AP exams I will better understan...

 I have always been curious about what it would be like to live in a different country. I haven't traveled out of the United States so I wonder how different the culture would be in real life. I am curious of the schools in other countries and what they learn for history compared to what we learn in the U.S. I think traveling to other places would teach me a lot about the world and its always been a dream of mine to do. It would be interesting to experience something completly different from what we experience in the U.S. Summary: Today in class we finished up our argumentative paragraph on an unpopular opinion and began to type our final draft. Reflection: I learned that there were some grammatical errors in our first draft that needed to be fixed. This will help me identify errors in the future.

 The hardest part of building and writing an argument for me is gathering the commentary. I feel like I don't always have much to add. I struggle to make the commentary long enough and connect the evidence back to my claim. I have deffinantly gotten better at it from Ap seminar but it is still hard for me especaily when I'm not intrested or well informed on the topic. I hope to improve and build my skills for all of the parts of building a strong argument. Summary: Today in class we went through what it takes to build a good argumentative paragraph and then picked an unpopular opinion to write about Reflection: I learned how to work with a group to come up with ideas for evidence. I think that having people to learn off of helps me improve my own writing.

 A fear that I have overcome multiple times is public speaking. I have never liked speaking in front of people. But as I have gotten older, I have had more opportunities to overcome this fear in school, and for different kinds of classes. Its not that I was scared of messing up what I was going to say because I know no one cares but more of doing it in general that was uncomfortable. As I practice, I get better at it and talk clearer without stumbling. I am deffinantly glad to have the chance to overcome this fear. Summary: We reflected on our writable argumentative paragraphs to see what we did good and bad. Reflection: I learned that I need to add more to my commentary. I also learned that one sentence is enough for a claim which I think will help me in the future.

 I use the word "like" a lot in daily conversations with friends. When I am telling stories or explaining something I find myself using that word the most. I don't like that it makes me sound less intelligent sometimes. When I use it when Im trying to think of what I am going to say next in the conversation. I also think that it connects my thoughts well and emphasizes what I am trying to say. I use it so much that it has become a normal part of my vocabulary and normally I don't even realize when I am saying it. Summary: Today we worked on vocabulary words in class. Reflection: I learned new words that I had never seen before. I think this will help me strengthen my writing style and help me recognize difficult words on the AP exam.