Throughout the year we have written many
papers about various topics, and I struggle with each one but always have a
finishing paper I am proud of. I am disappointed when I receive my paper with a
grade on it that is not a 100%. Even though a little part of me knew I wouldn’t
get that, I still had hope. I am bad at catching my errors the first time, even
the second time. I learned the hard way, after writing five papers, that I need
to look back on my recent papers that have grades to double, even triple check,
that I have not made the same silly mistakes I made the first couple of times.
Every
paper I write and turn in for a grade I feel like it always has a fragment or a
run-on sentence in it somewhere. No matter how hard I try not to have one, I
always do. I had 3 sentence errors in my literacy narrative, surprisingly none
in my profile, and that might be because my tutor helped me. Another issue I
have is a spelling issue. I told my parents that I got points counted off on my
profile for a spelling error and there jaws dropped. It isn’t like me to have
spelling issues, but I did. Except on my profile essay you commented saying I
spelt the word ‘grey’ wrong, but grey can be spelled ‘gray’ or ‘grey’. I’m not
sure if points were taken off for that, if so, they shouldn’t have. Also on that same paper I made
‘cardiovascular’ two words instead of one. Surprisingly my tutor did not catch
that!
Comparing
my WrAP test scores from this year to last year is kind of embarrassing.
Usually as you get older your scores should get better, but mine decreased in
every category. Last year, when I was in 8th grade, I got the
highest score in the whole grade- straight fives. This year I received 3.5 and
4.0’s all the way across the board. I got it back and was confused. How could I
go from an outstanding score to a mediocre score? It just didn’t make sense. On
my WrAP I received the 3.5’s in support, sentence structure, and mechanics. No
shocker with sentence structure! If I had to guess most of my points were
deducted because of my run-ons or fragments in the writing. I got 4.0’s on
overall development, organization, and word choice. Word choice has always been
a strong suit of mine, as Dr.D has complemented me on in my literary analysis
paper.
Over
the course of the 2011-2012 school year, I have corrected many things; one of
those things being the way I write. I used to do 6th/7th
grade writing just to get by. No adjectives, details, or quotes. Looking back
that is a little pathetic on my part. I am so much better of a writer now and I
am so proud of myself for pushing myself, completing the work, and not giving
up when I could have. The feedback on my papers has displayed me being a
successful writer, especially “My Rap” essay, or literacy narrative. I got four
9.5’s and one 8.5, and if you ask me that is amazing, considering it was our
first paper of the year too! I wish all my papers could have this great of an
outcome. The feedback I received from Dr.D made me feel great also. She said
“Good essay, Katie! You have a significant story that you tell well, using
strong, vivid detail and interesting and appropriate word choices throughout.”
When I read that I knew it would be a good year, and it has, writing in English
wise.
My
main writing errors have come to my attention once again, and I am going to try
my hardest to try to prevent those errors from being in my paper’s next year
also. I do believe I have improved my writing a good bit since 8th
grade because 9th grade English I is a whole lot tougher than the
year before. I wish the students next year the best of luck as I move on to
bigger and better writing with a new teacher and new writing topics. A lot of
memories have been made in Block 2 English that I will never forget. For
example, writing about forced child labor in Uzbekistan. That is a sensitive
topic that I am not going to joke around with. It is a serious problem in this
world and until some action is made towards it, I won’t forget the dangers of
it. My goals for next year are to continue to be a fluent writer and to not
have any misspelled words in any of my papers. Personally I think it looks a
little ridiculous if you can’t spell a word correctly and there are many ways
to figure out how to spell it- a dictionary for example. Another goal I have
set for myself as becoming an English II student is to read more and write
more. Even if it is a simple summary because the more you write the more
practice you have with all of the things I am weak in. Next year I hope we get
to write papers on anything, maybe even a fairytale, like write a fairytale
with our own little twist to it!
Common Errors List
1. Misspelling common words
Ø
Make
sure to use a dictionary or another reference if you aren’t sure how to spell a
word. Always use spell check before submitting a paper.
-Example from Profile: “While leaning
over the marble counter top with his black-grey
hair shagging in his face…” [Grey to gray]
2. MLA Format
Ø
Don’t
forget the heading of your paper is always on the right, Times New Roman 12 pt.
is the correct font and size, double space your paper, make the header and
footer the same font and font size as your paper, set margins of your document
1 inch on all sides, no extra spacing between your title and your paper, and no
special “attention” to your title (like making it a big font, bold, italicized,
and underlined).
-Example
from Profile. I didn’t use the correct spacing, font, or formatting in my final
paper even when we took time to do it in class. Why I did that? I am not even
sure myself.
3. Run-ons and Fragments
Ø
I have
a bad past with fragments and run-ons because they always seem to appear in my
papers. No matter if my parents check it or my tutor, they always form.
-Example
from Literacy Narrative: “My hand started cramping up, the clock started to
move faster and faster, the shuffling of papers and zipping up backpacks in the
background; my WrAP was finally complete and I was the last one. [TO fix this,
I would totally take out the part after the semicolon. Now that I have read it
over and over again, I think it is unneeded.
-Example
from Global Issues paper: “If I was in the Uzbekistan president’s position, I
would keep producing all the cotton we needed I would just get non-labor
machine to do it instead of putting humans in the fields all day.” [To fix
this, I would make it two separate sentences. I would out a period after
‘needed’. Then start my new sentence like, “To allow this to happen, I would just
get…”]
4. Semicolon vs Colon
Ø
In most
papers I write, I use semicolons or colons, turns out I have been using them
wrong all along. A semicolon is used to join two phrases, and takes the place
of a conjunction. These two phrases being connected by the semicolon, if they
are taken apart, must be able to standalone and still make sense.
-Made-up
example: Tom didn’t want to go to math because he had forgotten to do the
homework; however, he didn’t want to miss review for the test either.
Ø
A colon
is used to connect an independent clause to introduce a list of items.
-Made-up
example: Mom handed me a list of items we needed for the trip: Cookies,
goldfish, brownies, milk, apples, and carrot sticks.
5. Difference between To, Two, and Too
Ø
Obviously
two is used when referring to numbers. Too is another word for also, and to is
used when both of those do not apply.
-Made-up
example: I went to the market and bought two oranges too!
6. Missing commas
Ø
Commas
can help to prevent misreading and in this case it is helpful to use a comma
when opening with an introductory element like, because, while, or although.
-Example
from Literacy Narrative: “Throughout the day I tired to finish all my homework
in class so when I got home I could just get started on my WrAP prep. [I would
place the comma after day in this sentence.]
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