Blog number three

Hmm, what I learned from doing the informal essay. I don’t really know if I learned anything because I don’t know what grade we got on it. I have never had to write a summary before so I was unsure of how to even begin. My partner said he was familiar with writing summaries so I gave him my ideas for what I thought might need to be in it. No, I was not prepared for that assignment and no I do not like to work in groups in general unless it can all be done in the classroom. It was more difficult to write as a group when you don’t have the other person there to give feedback right away. At least I think so. I still don’t know if I am any better at writing summaries than I was before. I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but this is the learning process for me. I was not a very good student from the moment we had to do homework and it got worse as I got older and into high school. I dropped out of high school, so I didn’t do a whole lot of actual learning there. I’m doing my best to learn now, though. I hope I can learn what I need to and improve upon what little writing skills I do have.

Blog number two

I am really not sure what my strengths are when it comes to writing. Maybe it's that I am sure about what I want my writing to say. The problem is that I don't know how to put it to paper so that it sounds as good as it did in my head.

 As for was this essay hard…yes it was. I find all of my papers to be difficult. I didn’t think I did that badly, but I went to an English tutor and it turns out it was not all that great. It was a not easy for me to hear that especially since I already struggle with my writing. I know I am not the best writer, but I got an A last semester. Could I really have been good enough for that grade last semester and not good enough this semester? It made me want to give up. I don’t know if I were to do it over it would be any better. I can improve upon what I have done, but to be told I have to start over or to even tell myself it was so bad I need to do it over would be awful. I probably wouldn’t do it. I struggle so much as it is.

As for whether I enjoy writing, I don’t. I used to want to be a writer when I was younger. I even won first place in a young author’s contest. I love to read and I know how I feel when I read a good book or poem and I wanted to be able to do that, too. It ended up being harder than I thought.

Blog number 1

I'm not entirely sure whether I am supposed to write about the pages at the front of the book or the short stories. I am fairly certain that this post is supposed to be about the front of the book, so I will write about those, and if I am wrong then I am wrong.

I was never a very good student. I can't say I ever remember reading any of the tips from the book and if I did it was very long ago.  Having said that I can say that almost all of what I read is new to me.  I don't recall ever hearing about writing templates like what was in the book, so it is all very informative for me. 

I can also say that I have never had to write a summary before, either.  All of my writing experience came last semester in English 101.  I take everything I read and try ro apply it to what I write and to the informal summary we have to write and hope I am interpreting what I read to what I write.  I do watch the Daily Show, so that reference helped me to understand a little better about that part of what I read.

I also appreciated the page of verbs to introduce summaries and quotations.  I would probably have used he said and she believes too much had I not seen that page, and the idea of it being a conversation does help.

As I said before, I hope I can apply these tips and ideas to my own writing effectively.

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