Faya's English Blogg

​ Prompt Response: Writing that essay was very stressful. Even though I had an easy time writing the introduction paragraph, and my evidence as it was based on my own experiences. I had a really hard time writing my commentary, as it has always been the part that I struggled with. Even though we practiced as a class, I know that I have to practice more independently. One thing that I would change next time I write an argumentative essay is to state my thesis properly, as I realized right after the time was up instead of stating whether the prompt was valid or not. I instead said that it was important, which I realized was incorrect right after the time ended.  Summary: Today In class we wrote a full argumentative essay independently.  Reflection: I learned that I do not perform well under pressure. I also learned that I need to work on writing commentary and using sophisticated vocabulary. 

​ Prompt Response: Although I have been fortunate enough to have experienced that I truly belonged multiple times. One specific time was when I was at my confirmation camp surrounded with other Christians my own age. That was my first time feeling that I truly belonged with people my own age, as before that I didn't feel like anyone had the same values or morals as me. That made me feel truly relaxed, like I could just be myself and they wouldn’t judge me for it. Summary: Today in class we had a substitute so we did not really learn anything, but we did do a common lit.  Reflection: I learned that humans in fact need a sense of belonging to feel well. And how truly important it is for humans to get that, and that it is the same in many animals. 

​ Prompt Response: Even though I aspire to use all the words from the vocabulary this week in the future. One word that really stood out to me was cosmopolitan, which can be used to describe a person who is diverse and comfortable with many different cultures and countries. I think this will be a word that would be the most useful to me as this is a word that I want to describe in the future. I aspire to be a cosmopolitan woman when I grow up and that is one of my biggest goals in life.  Summary: Today in class we learned about 15 new vocabulary collage board words and did activities related to them. Reflection: I learned a bunch of new words that I can use to expand my vocabulary. This will be useful to me both in my day to day life as I have new words to pull from to make sure I describe something accurately, but also when writing my essays during the AP exams. As one of the points needed to get a 6/6 on a college board exam is a sophisticated vocabulary. 

​ Prompt Response: One thing that I did not understand before that I do understand now about my commentary is the structure. I knew the outline of it, (Claim → Evidence → Commentary, explain the evidence and  “SO WHAT” ). But I did not understand how to actually apply it to my writing till now. This caused confusion for me when writing before, but after this lesson I finally understand how to apply it properly to my writing. I will use this knowledge when writing my AP Lang argumentative essay. I now feel confident in my ability to write a strong commentary and score well on my argumentative essay.  Summary: Today we practiced how to write commentary, and how to incorporate the “So What” into it.  Reflection: I learned how the structure of my commentary was supposed to look. I also learned what parts of the commentary that I struggled with and how to improve them.  I will use this when writing my essay on Wednesday. 

​ Prompt Response: During today's lesson I had multiple takeaways that I will apply to my own writing. But one of the most important ones for me is how to write my commentary, as that has been something that I have struggled with. To know that my commentary is supposed to follow a specific format (Claim → Evidence → Commentary, explain the evidence and  “SO WHAT” ) is really going to help me improve my writing. Another takeaway that I have is the use of sophisticated language, and how the use of the new college board vocabulary can elevate an essay and give you a point when grading. Overall, I am thankful that I learned a lot!  Summary: Today we went over what a good and bad essay looks like by reviewing  multiple essays and scoring them based on the rubric.   Reflection: I learned how the most important thing is to write your essay based on the rubric, not what you think is best. And that college  board wants to reward you for what you do well. I will ...

​ Prompt Response:  When I am completing an assignment usually I will skim over the rubric for key parts before I do it, but only if it is an important assignment. But if it is not an important assignment I will not look at the rubric. After reviewing the AP Lang Argument Essay rubric today I learned the importance of using the rubric when writing an essay, and how it gives you an outline of how the essay is supposed to look. I myself will use the rubric as a roadmap to improve my writing by incorporating every element that the rubric outlines in my writing instead of disregarding it. As I did before.  Summary: Today we went over the rubric that will be used when we are writing our essays, and started drafting ideas for answers to our prompt.  Reflection: I learned how teachers score essays. I also learned what the requirements for my essay were, and how the teacher is going to decide if I fulfilled them or not. I will use this when writing my essay next week. 

Prompt Response: One time where I completed an assignment without looking over the rubric was when I did an assignment in Literature last year. The assignment had instructions and a detailed rubric, but I chose to just follow the instructions and not look at the rubric. This caused me not to know the “ins and outs” of the assignment causing my grade to drop because of the bad grade I got in the assignment. By looking over the rubric together in class I learned the ‘ins and outs” of this rubric and how to apply it to my upcoming essay. I also learned that earning a ⅚ is more then possible for me.  Summary: Today we learned about how an introduction paragraph is supposed to look like, and how to write a thesis statement.  Reflection: I learned that a thesis statement is supposed to have your position + you claim. I  will use this while writing my essay. I also learned where in an essay I should place my thesis statement.  ​