Poems
I enjoyed learning about and writing poems; there were so many different kinds of poems that even though you struggled writing one did not mean that you would have problems with the next type of poem. Analyzing poems can be a little difficult but my teacher did a great job of helping us better understand what we were reading. My teacher would first introduce a new type of poems to us, I remember thinking that there were so many different poems that I did not know about and I was going to have a difficult time remembering the different times of poems. I do remember that everyday we learned about a different type of poem we would have the opportunity to write one at the end of class. It did seem a little intense and before the unit exam I did have to study a lot to remember the different types of poems.
I also remember that I did not like the poems that did not rhythm, at that age I was convinced that all poems were suppose to rhythm. I do not remember much on analyzing the poem but I do know that I enjoyed it. I liked analyzing the different poems.
I remember that many of my friends did not like the unit on poems. The poems were not any that they felt like they could relate to. They found the poems boring and really disliked writing poems. They said that poems are for girls and that we should not be forced to study them. I secretly liked the unit, I liked analyzing poems and I enjoyed writing them. I did agree with my friends that we could not relate to the poem in any way but they were nice.
I enjoyed learning about and writing poems; there were so many different kinds of poems that even though you struggled writing one did not mean that you would have problems with the next type of poem. Analyzing poems can be a little difficult but my teacher did a great job of helping us better understand what we were reading. My teacher would first introduce a new type of poems to us, I remember thinking that there were so many different poems that I did not know about and I was going to have a difficult time remembering the different times of poems. I do remember that everyday we learned about a different type of poem we would have the opportunity to write one at the end of class. It did seem a little intense and before the unit exam I did have to study a lot to remember the different types of poems.
I also remember that I did not like the poems that did not rhythm, at that age I was convinced that all poems were suppose to rhythm. I do not remember much on analyzing the poem but I do know that I enjoyed it. I liked analyzing the different poems.
I remember that many of my friends did not like the unit on poems. The poems were not any that they felt like they could relate to. They found the poems boring and really disliked writing poems. They said that poems are for girls and that we should not be forced to study them. I secretly liked the unit, I liked analyzing poems and I enjoyed writing them. I did agree with my friends that we could not relate to the poem in any way but they were nice.
Short Stories
My experience writing short stories was not the greatest. We had been studying short stories for a few weeks and we all knew that at the end of every unit we “put in practice” what we had learned. We had been discussing what makes a good short story and how different authors keep their reader interested. My friends and I had been thinking about the short story we wanted to write since the beginning of the unit. It was finally time to begin our short story and we were excited. We once again went over our list of “What makes a good short story” and were told to take out a sheet of paper and start our short story. We were not given much direction after that, but were told that if we needed help we could raise our hands or just walk over to the teacher’s desk. My friends and I started our short stories immediately. We had been thinking about it for such a long time that we had our theme all ready to go. I was writing about a little boy who turned into an alien at night and helped keep Santo Domingo safe and my friend was writing about talking animals coming together to protect their land.
I started my short story well, I told the history of how Hector (the boy that turns into an alien at night) turned into this human alien. I then wanted to start telling how he would save the city at night but I was so overwhelmed with ideas that I did not know how to narrow them down. I tried to write them all down and then choose the ones I liked best but there were just too many of them, it took me about a day to organized them. When that was done I did not know where to take the story from there. I knew that there needed to be a climax and that I needed to keep the reader interested but I did not know how to do that. I went and asked the teacher for help and she told me that I needed a problem first. So I began brainstorming on what the problem could be. I could not think of a good one and was becoming very frustrated, so I choose anyone. I do not even remember what problem I picked but I remember not liking it. I went on from there, I remember not liking my story but not knowing how to fix it. I wanted to write a great short story but I had too many ideas and I did not know what how to narrow it down and for the story to be interesting and make sense.
I spoke to many of my friends and they were having the same problem. They had too many ideas and narrowing it down was difficult. I remember feeling bad because I was not able to do what I wanted to which was write a good short story. It was later in my educational career that I learned how difficult writing short stories could be. I would of liked better preparation in writing a short story, prompts and/ or better directions. My friends and I began the project/ short story with excitement but quickly became frustrated and most of us ended up with products that we did not like. Many of the other students in the classroom felt like they could not come up with a good idea to write about, and there were a few that did a great job at their short story.
My experience writing short stories was not the greatest. We had been studying short stories for a few weeks and we all knew that at the end of every unit we “put in practice” what we had learned. We had been discussing what makes a good short story and how different authors keep their reader interested. My friends and I had been thinking about the short story we wanted to write since the beginning of the unit. It was finally time to begin our short story and we were excited. We once again went over our list of “What makes a good short story” and were told to take out a sheet of paper and start our short story. We were not given much direction after that, but were told that if we needed help we could raise our hands or just walk over to the teacher’s desk. My friends and I started our short stories immediately. We had been thinking about it for such a long time that we had our theme all ready to go. I was writing about a little boy who turned into an alien at night and helped keep Santo Domingo safe and my friend was writing about talking animals coming together to protect their land.
I started my short story well, I told the history of how Hector (the boy that turns into an alien at night) turned into this human alien. I then wanted to start telling how he would save the city at night but I was so overwhelmed with ideas that I did not know how to narrow them down. I tried to write them all down and then choose the ones I liked best but there were just too many of them, it took me about a day to organized them. When that was done I did not know where to take the story from there. I knew that there needed to be a climax and that I needed to keep the reader interested but I did not know how to do that. I went and asked the teacher for help and she told me that I needed a problem first. So I began brainstorming on what the problem could be. I could not think of a good one and was becoming very frustrated, so I choose anyone. I do not even remember what problem I picked but I remember not liking it. I went on from there, I remember not liking my story but not knowing how to fix it. I wanted to write a great short story but I had too many ideas and I did not know what how to narrow it down and for the story to be interesting and make sense.
I spoke to many of my friends and they were having the same problem. They had too many ideas and narrowing it down was difficult. I remember feeling bad because I was not able to do what I wanted to which was write a good short story. It was later in my educational career that I learned how difficult writing short stories could be. I would of liked better preparation in writing a short story, prompts and/ or better directions. My friends and I began the project/ short story with excitement but quickly became frustrated and most of us ended up with products that we did not like. Many of the other students in the classroom felt like they could not come up with a good idea to write about, and there were a few that did a great job at their short story.
Diary
I will never forget my initial reaction when learning that my class and I were going to learn to how to write a diary entry, I had that dreading feeling. I immediately asked my teacher, why? Can’t the girls learn how to do that while the guys learn how to write something else? Of course she did not agree to it. For the next ten minutes of the class, while the rest of the students were discussing why keeping a diary, can be important, I was scribbling in my notebook. I cannot tell you what they were discussing, I really did not want to learn how to write a diary and I did not want to keep one.
As a class we then looked over a few diary entries, and talked about the things that some wrote in their diaries, about their day, fears, their feelings, goals, hopes and dreams. It is a place that you can express your feelings without the judgment of others. As my teacher was explaining the different reasons people keep diaries and that and how it can be helpful in expressing our feelings. She then had us analyze diary entries in groups.
My friends and I got into a group, this was not usually allowed but surprisingly my teacher allowed it. We remember thinking that we got away with it, we were laughing and sneaking around as if we were getting away with something bad. Our teacher then passed by our group and smiled, she then gave us the diary entry that she wanted us to analyze. She gave us a diary entry that was written about by a male. He was a solider, and was writing about his experience in war. I remember that he wrote that as he wrote that entry he could not stop the tears from running down his face. I was surprised that a guy did not feel uncomfortable writing about his crying. In the entry he continued to talk about everything that he saw occurring around him and how helpless he felt that he could not make everything better. Remember that he also wrote about memories of his family that keep him continuing. I cannot remember everything he wrote about but I did remember that I no longer thought that writing diary entries were horrible for males.
Now it was our turn, for one week my teacher assigned us to keep a diary. She said that she would not read our diaries but she is just going to check that we wrote for one week. I was kind of excited to write in a diary even if it was just for a week. I started to write that same night, I wrote about my day, my friends and my family. I did realize that I did not have a lot of things to write about but I did remember that the diary we analyzed the guy wrote about memories. So I decided that I should also share memories. I wrote about spending time with my friend and with my family and I wrote about my goals to keep straight A’s and to never give up on my studies.
I remember writing in my diary for five nights and although I did not continue doing it after the assignment was over it was a great experience. My friend and I never talk about our experience writing in a diary for five days but neither of us ever complained about it either. I think we all enjoyed it but it was not something that we wanted to talk about.
I will never forget my initial reaction when learning that my class and I were going to learn to how to write a diary entry, I had that dreading feeling. I immediately asked my teacher, why? Can’t the girls learn how to do that while the guys learn how to write something else? Of course she did not agree to it. For the next ten minutes of the class, while the rest of the students were discussing why keeping a diary, can be important, I was scribbling in my notebook. I cannot tell you what they were discussing, I really did not want to learn how to write a diary and I did not want to keep one.
As a class we then looked over a few diary entries, and talked about the things that some wrote in their diaries, about their day, fears, their feelings, goals, hopes and dreams. It is a place that you can express your feelings without the judgment of others. As my teacher was explaining the different reasons people keep diaries and that and how it can be helpful in expressing our feelings. She then had us analyze diary entries in groups.
My friends and I got into a group, this was not usually allowed but surprisingly my teacher allowed it. We remember thinking that we got away with it, we were laughing and sneaking around as if we were getting away with something bad. Our teacher then passed by our group and smiled, she then gave us the diary entry that she wanted us to analyze. She gave us a diary entry that was written about by a male. He was a solider, and was writing about his experience in war. I remember that he wrote that as he wrote that entry he could not stop the tears from running down his face. I was surprised that a guy did not feel uncomfortable writing about his crying. In the entry he continued to talk about everything that he saw occurring around him and how helpless he felt that he could not make everything better. Remember that he also wrote about memories of his family that keep him continuing. I cannot remember everything he wrote about but I did remember that I no longer thought that writing diary entries were horrible for males.
Now it was our turn, for one week my teacher assigned us to keep a diary. She said that she would not read our diaries but she is just going to check that we wrote for one week. I was kind of excited to write in a diary even if it was just for a week. I started to write that same night, I wrote about my day, my friends and my family. I did realize that I did not have a lot of things to write about but I did remember that the diary we analyzed the guy wrote about memories. So I decided that I should also share memories. I wrote about spending time with my friend and with my family and I wrote about my goals to keep straight A’s and to never give up on my studies.
I remember writing in my diary for five nights and although I did not continue doing it after the assignment was over it was a great experience. My friend and I never talk about our experience writing in a diary for five days but neither of us ever complained about it either. I think we all enjoyed it but it was not something that we wanted to talk about.
Summary
Writing summaries is important in all grades. I began learning to write a summary in the first grade, where we would draw pictures of what happened in the book that we read. I remember the teacher always requiring that I write some words under the picture because I knew how to write. As I got older the requirements for writing a summary changed. By the eight grade I was expected to be able to write a summary about a book that I read in one page. This required me to state a small synopsis of the book, state only the important details, and how the book ends. As I write about it now it seems pretty simple and easy to do but I struggle with writing summaries when I was in middle school. I did not think that I could sum up a whole book in a page.
I remember that my class had been reading the book, El Coronel no Tiene Quien le Escriba, and my teacher decided to use this book to show us how to write a summary of the book. She gave us all a summary map, which had a section for a five-sentence summary of the book, the conflict, resolution, and important details, and lastly how the story ends. As a class we filled out the summary map, my teacher had created a summary map on the chalkboard and she showed us how to fill it out on the board and we filled it out on our papers. She then showed us how to take the information that we wrote on the summary maps and write a summary on lined paper. She explained that the process might seem a little long but that after doing it a few times we may not even need the summary map.
As we wrote the summary map in class everyone participated. We decided what the five sentences should be that gave a glimpse of the book, we agree on the problem and the resolution, we discussed the details that were presented in the book and then decided which ones were should be included and which ones should can be left out, and lastly we wrote a few sentences that explained how the story ends. All this information was already on the summary map but I remember that when writing the summary we all seemed to have an opinion on the “best” way to write the summary. Completing the summary map and writing the summary took us about three class periods.
After we had a summary that most of us agreed “summed up” the book our teacher told us that we could use it as a reference when we fill out a summary map and write a summary on our own. At that time in class I was confident that I could do it on my own, and so were my friends. We felt like we had a good idea of what it takes to write a “good” summary. My teacher then assigned us to write a summary on a book of our choice, which would be due in a week. I waited till the weekend to start my summary, it was due on Wednesday which would give me more than enough time to do it and ask my teacher questions if needed. I was able to fill out the summary map and write my summary with no problems, I used the one we did in class as an example and I gave myself enough time to do it, which helped me complete the assignment with little difficulties.
As for my friend Ronny he struggled to complete the assignment for two reasons. He did not know how to decide what was important and what could be left out, he felt overwhelmed with trying to decided what to include in his story map. He called me the night before the summary map and the summary were due asking me for help but I was not much help to him because I never read the book he was writing about. I told Ronny to do what we did in class, write the details that you think are important on the summary map and then cross out the ones he believes could be left out. He said that he would and we hung up. When I spoke to him the next day in class he said that he completed the assignment but was not sure if it was “good.”
Our teacher did not grade our first summaries to harshly and we continued to work on learning how to write good summaries in class. With time we did not find much need for summary maps and we all got better at writing summaries. Ronny got a lot better at them and felt confident when writing summaries.
Writing summaries is important in all grades. I began learning to write a summary in the first grade, where we would draw pictures of what happened in the book that we read. I remember the teacher always requiring that I write some words under the picture because I knew how to write. As I got older the requirements for writing a summary changed. By the eight grade I was expected to be able to write a summary about a book that I read in one page. This required me to state a small synopsis of the book, state only the important details, and how the book ends. As I write about it now it seems pretty simple and easy to do but I struggle with writing summaries when I was in middle school. I did not think that I could sum up a whole book in a page.
I remember that my class had been reading the book, El Coronel no Tiene Quien le Escriba, and my teacher decided to use this book to show us how to write a summary of the book. She gave us all a summary map, which had a section for a five-sentence summary of the book, the conflict, resolution, and important details, and lastly how the story ends. As a class we filled out the summary map, my teacher had created a summary map on the chalkboard and she showed us how to fill it out on the board and we filled it out on our papers. She then showed us how to take the information that we wrote on the summary maps and write a summary on lined paper. She explained that the process might seem a little long but that after doing it a few times we may not even need the summary map.
As we wrote the summary map in class everyone participated. We decided what the five sentences should be that gave a glimpse of the book, we agree on the problem and the resolution, we discussed the details that were presented in the book and then decided which ones were should be included and which ones should can be left out, and lastly we wrote a few sentences that explained how the story ends. All this information was already on the summary map but I remember that when writing the summary we all seemed to have an opinion on the “best” way to write the summary. Completing the summary map and writing the summary took us about three class periods.
After we had a summary that most of us agreed “summed up” the book our teacher told us that we could use it as a reference when we fill out a summary map and write a summary on our own. At that time in class I was confident that I could do it on my own, and so were my friends. We felt like we had a good idea of what it takes to write a “good” summary. My teacher then assigned us to write a summary on a book of our choice, which would be due in a week. I waited till the weekend to start my summary, it was due on Wednesday which would give me more than enough time to do it and ask my teacher questions if needed. I was able to fill out the summary map and write my summary with no problems, I used the one we did in class as an example and I gave myself enough time to do it, which helped me complete the assignment with little difficulties.
As for my friend Ronny he struggled to complete the assignment for two reasons. He did not know how to decide what was important and what could be left out, he felt overwhelmed with trying to decided what to include in his story map. He called me the night before the summary map and the summary were due asking me for help but I was not much help to him because I never read the book he was writing about. I told Ronny to do what we did in class, write the details that you think are important on the summary map and then cross out the ones he believes could be left out. He said that he would and we hung up. When I spoke to him the next day in class he said that he completed the assignment but was not sure if it was “good.”
Our teacher did not grade our first summaries to harshly and we continued to work on learning how to write good summaries in class. With time we did not find much need for summary maps and we all got better at writing summaries. Ronny got a lot better at them and felt confident when writing summaries.