Kenyah's English 10 ePorfolio

Quarter 3 Teacher's Choice: In the third quarter of the school year my teacher picked book to read was 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Brontë. For the book 'Wuthering Heights' I partnered with another student in my class for a project. Together we created an ABC book using words and phases from the 'Wuthering Heights' as well as words and phases that relate to the theme. Our project shows our understanding of the book because not only did we pick words and phases that related to the book's theme and plot but we then also explain how to world or phase were relevant to the book. The cover of our book can be seen below.

Quarter 3 Reflection: In third quarter we worked mainly on our 'Nightjohn' essays as well as poetry. I can honestly say I learned a lot about the Shakespearean sonnet. I can also say that I did meet my own learning goals. I ended up with a 94% in the end of the quarter, I feel like I deserved better. I was disappointed in myself that my grade had gone down since in both pervious quarters i ended with a 100%. Our most meaningful assignment in my opinion was when we were challenged to write out own sonnets. I think I gained the most from learning about the different forms of sonnets. Like always I wish we had skipped essay writing. In fourth quarter I am most looking forward to finishing the final, mostly because I more than ready for summer break. My quarter 4 learning goal is to stay focused, I tend to get distracted with summer bring to close.

To many people a tragic hero and a tragedy means many different things. Many people argue if Macbeth, the main character of 'Macbeth', is a tragic hero or not. To me a tragedy, or at least a tragedy in mean of literature is a drama. Not only is it a drama but a drama where a really sad or terrible unforeseeable event or events happen. A side from being unforeseeable I also think the tragedy of the story is unavoidable. But, I also think tragedies have underlying themes and teach about flaws in human behavior or the world.

To be honest I'm still kind of unsure what a tragic hero really is, I do know a tragic hero makes a bad choice that then effects them in a tragic way. According Aristotle "A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction." With my own personal definition of a tragedy, I do believe that 'Macbeth' is a tragedy. 'Macbeth' is without a doubt a drama, from the beginning to the end the events that unfold are both tragic and unforeseeable. I also believe that the play teaches the lesson of what happens to a person consumed with greed and power. I don't believe that the events that toke place were unavoidable though, Macbeth made a choice that lead to everything. Greed and power were the flaws of human behavior. Using Aristotle's definition or a tragic hero, Macbeth is a tragic hero. Macbeth's judgement error was choosing to murder King Duncan, that one choice lead to Macbeth's downfall.

Quarter 4 Reflection: Part 1

Backward-Looking

1. How much did you know about English, specifically writing persuasive or analytic papers before we started this year in August?

I knew, or at least I thought I knew, how to write a five paragraph essay. And, I knew what persuasive writing was but never tried it.

2. What process did you go through to produce the last ScienceBEAT piece we wrote? Is it the same process that you always use to write or was it different?

Well, first I picked what I wanted to write about. Then, I learned a bit more about the topic I chose because I already knew a lot about it. Finally, I wrote the paper. Other then the fact that I interviewed someone for my paper it was about the same process. Normally, I put more thought into my writing but since it wasn't my usual style and was a persuasive paper that is far more fact based then my normal works therefore needing less of by personal thoughts on the topic.

3. Have you done a similar kind of work in the past?

No, I have not done any similar works, most of the time in school we worked on essay writing. And, personally I write and prefer fiction.

4. In what ways have you gotten better at this kind of work?

For starters, I assume I know the basics in writing in a persuasive works now and that alone makes me better at writing it now. I also feel that I've become more comfortable writing non-fiction informative works.

5. In what ways do you think you need to improve?

I think I need to work on taking my voice and personal style and taking it out of my works slightly. I know a writer should always have their own voice, or view they write in but I'm pretty sure mine comes out way too much when I'm suppose to be writing serious works that aren't opinion based.

6. What problems did you encounter while you were working on the ScienceBEAT piece? How did you solve them?

I didn't having any problems when working on my ScienceBEAT piece, I thought it was pretty simple.

7. What resources did you use while working on this piece? Which ones were especially helpful? Which ones would you use again?

One source I used was my friend, Davona Sanders. She wasn't really helpful because she seemed pretty unsure of what she was talking about. I might use her as a source again, but maybe for something I know she knows more about.

8. Does the work displayed on your ePortfolio for the entire year work to tell a story?

Yes, I believe my works do tell a story. My work though out the year tell the story of a girl who cried a river and drowned the whole world. And, while she looked so sad in photographs, I absolutely love her when she smiles. Just kidding, if any my work tells the story of a student who a first didn't try as hard as they could then started to have fun in school and worked harder and did better.

Inward-Looking

1. How do you feel about your ePortfolio as a piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?

I like my ePortfolio a lot. I like my projects display most. There is nothing I don't like.

2. What was especially satisfying to you about either the process or the finished product?

The finished product was satisfying. Seeing the finished work made me happy with all my harder hair.

3. What did/do you find frustrating about it?

I found wanting to work on it and making my reflections to be annoying.

4. What were your standards for this piece of work?

I didn't have many standards, I just needed to be able to like it and be proud of it.

5. Did you meet your standards?

Yes, I did. I like my work and I would say I'm proud of it.

6. What were your goals for meeting this piece of work? Did your goals change as you worked on it? Did you meet your goals?

I honestly just wanted to get it finished and wanted it to look nice. I did met my goal by splitting the reflection into two so it didn't look as blocky.

7. What does this piece reveal about you as a learner?

If anything it my show I'm a bit of a visual person.

8. What did you learn about yourself as you worked on your ePortfolio throughout the year?

I learned that as I become more tired of working on something I become more honest and me.

9. Have you changed any ideas you used to have on this subject, English and writing?

I always had the idea that there was no way essay writing could be fun, and I was right it's still not fun but it's not that bad.

10. Look at a specific piece of work that you did at the beginning of the year in Quarter 1, maybe your best piece from Quarter 1 or maybe your worst. You decide. Then use that chosen work to compare and contrast with your final project of the year, your ScienceBEAT article. What changes can you see?

Will the first major change between my ScienceBEAT article and the first essay I ever did is that I finished my ScienceBEAT paper. I think all of my projects came out good other than my ABC book, that was terrible. I just don't like the way that one looks.

11. How did those changes come about?

I think the changes came from my will to do the assignment and the amount of effort I used.

12. What does that tell you about yourself and how you learn?

This tells me that I learned how to push myself to try and always give my all. This also taught me that when I try harder or hardest it's clear in my work.

QUARTER 4 REFLECTION: PART 2

OUTWARD-LOOKING

1.Did you do your work the way other people did theirs?

I like to think I had my own style of doing things.

2. In what ways did you do it differently?

Using the movie trailer project as an example, I actually acted out the book with the help of my family and recreated parts from the book. Most of my classmates used pictures and to example the book.

3. In what ways was your work or process similar?

We did the same projects but just interpreted the project differently.

4. If you were the teacher, what comments would you make about your final ScienceBEAT article?

I would say, "wow, Davona was pretty negative but in a funny way, Great job using that to guilt people."

5. What grade would you give your ScienceBEAT article? Why?

I would give my article an A plus plus, yes I meant two pluses because I think i did that great a job. It may not be the best written work but I feel strongly about the topic and worked hard.

6. In what ways did your ScienceBEAT work meet the standards for this assignment?

Well, I have over the amount of words that were required, I have images, and I used my interview.

7. In what ways did your ScienceBEAT article not meet those standards?

I forgot to list my sources but this is because I didn't use many. As a person who is vegetarian and believes in healthy eating i knew a lot off the facts already.

8. What the one thing you particularly want people to notice when they look at your work overall, for example, when they view your ePortfolio?

I want people to see how much effort and hard work I put into all my work.

9. What do your classmates particularly notice about your ePortfolio when they look at it?

I'm unsure what my classmates notice because I'm unsure if classmates have every looked at my site.

10. If someone else were looking at your ePortfolio, what might they learn about who you are?

They may learn that I aim for my best, but also that I'm kind of silly and that I'm honest.

FORWARD-LOOKING

1. One thing I would like to improve upon is ...

My time management, because currently mine kind of sucks. If I'm not interested in the project it takes me forever start and do the work.

2. What would you change if you had a chance to do your ScienceBEAT article over again?

Don't get me wrong, Davona is a great person and a personal friend of mine but I wouldn't interview her again on my topic. She was too against the idea.

3. What will you change in the next revision of this piece?

I would change the structure and fix the spelling and grammar.

4. What's the one thing that you have seen in your classmates' work or process that you would like to try in your next piece?

I would like to try and make a model project like some of my classmates did, I thought that was pretty neat.

5. As you look at this piece, what's one thing that you would like to try to improve upon?

I would try and improve spacing and how pleasing the arrangement it.

6. What's one goal you would like to set for yourself for next time you are doing a persuasive writing piece?

I would like to write more about the topic by adding more fact and less opinion.

7. What would you like to spend more time on in school?

I would like to spend more time on my art and photography.

8. What might you want next year's teacher to know about you (what things you're good at)?

I would like them to know that I work best when I enjoy what I'm work on and whom I'm working with.

9. What things you might want more help with?

I would to get more help in my time management skills and with staying focused.

10. What work would you show your 11th grade teacher to help her understand those things?

I would show here my ABC book and then speck to her.

Kenyah's English 10 ePorfolio

sPRING sEMESTER

Advice For Future Students