Reflection

            This year I have finally learned how to write! Previously, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to write an in-depth essay analyzing a speech. I wouldn’t have been able to write three essays in two hours. I wouldn’t have even known how to identify logos, pathos, or ethos. However, now I can finally say that I know how to write. It is essentially easy for me to tell how much I have improved. I love that I can write an entire essay without over-thinking it; then I can go back and edit it ten times. My grades and satisfaction with my essays has improved, too. In August, I took a practice SAT, and I got a score of four out of twelve on the essay. Last month I took the real SAT, and I received a ten out of twelve. This goes to show that I have learned how to write many different types of essays, but I can apply similar techniques to all of them. I have truly improved an enormous amount this school year in the realm of rhetorical writing.

            One of the first assignments this year that helped me become more comfortable writing was the journals. Having nine minutes to write about anything I wanted scared me at first. Then, after a few sessions, I got used to it. It has helped me be able to write an entire essay without over-analyzing every sentence. It is much easier to get all of my ideas onto the page, and then go back and edit instead of editing while I wrote. I have also learned and been inspired from my classmates. There are some incredibly talented writers in my class, and when they read just a few sentences of their essays, I am in awe. They motivate me to do even better, and they give me ideas of how I can improve my writing. The only aspect of the class that I think could still use a little practice is the multiple choice for the exam. I believe that if we had begun taking practice multiple choice sections earlier, I may have felt  more confident about them at this point. This year has been an incredible learning experience for me, and I know I will use the skills I learned in this class in college, for my career, and in my life. 

Online Journal Project--#6

   Now that we are ending the school year, it is time to start studying for finals. The other day, I was talking to some of my friends who go to another school in Fulton County. They excitedly told me that they can exempt their finals this year. Let's just say I'm a little jealous. The only criteria is that you have to have above an 80. It seems like practically the whole school should be able to exempt! So my question is: why, at Chattahoochee, do we have to wait until second semester of senior year to exempt finals?
  Finals week is tiring and stressful seeing that we have tests for every subject all within 3 days of each other. Also, finals can practically make or break your grade in a class. If you are borderline for a certain grade, the final can tip you way to one side or to the other. Students who have a solid grade that they are happy with in the class should not have to go through this stressful week. The finals are sometimes pointless, too. If a student is fantastic in a certain class and has never made below a 95 on any assignment, then there is really no reason for them to be taking a final. It most likely wouldn't change their grade at all anyway. For those people who insist on taking a final, they should be allowed to take it. However, the students who feel that they don't need to take the final and are happy with their grades, should not be forced to take it.
    The point of a final is to assess the students knowledge of the coursework for the semester. Is it not possible, then, to assess the student's work throughout the semester from their grades? Finals should not be necessary for all students, no matter what age. If a grade is above average, then students should have the choice of whether or not they would like to take the final. Teachers may believe that finals help a student's chances of improving their grade. This is not true for most students, however, because there will be a correlation between how the student has done all year and how they do on the final. If the student hasn't done well all year, there is practically no chance that they will be able to significantly increase their grade just from the final. The ability to exempt finals would be an ultimate stress-reliever for many students and would give students more of a responsibility to their grades.

Online Journal Project--#5

   My last blog was pretty horrible, so I really hope you didn't read it Ms. Smith. If you did...all i can say is I am sorry. Let's hope this one is a little better!
   Anyways... I think that most people in the world are usually a combination between an optimist and a pessimist. There are some people, however, that have a personality that is extremely to one side of the spectrum. An example of this is my sister, Zoe. She has the most positive outlook on life, and she is only 8! She is always smiling, so if she is crying, we know something pretty bad must have happened. Whenever I'm upset or in a bad mood, I just go talk to Zoe. Within minutes, I am laughing and talking to her like nothing upsetting ever happened. She's also open to doing just about anything. She has done gymnastics, ballet, tap, soccer, art, tennis, and the list continues. Many kids try a lot of activities to see which they like best. The thing is, though, that Zoe literally likes to do everything. She would be happy swimming, playing at the gym, or sitting in a doctor's office. She can have fun in any circumstance. To make these activities more fun, she makes friends everywhere she goes. We could be at the beach, and within five minutes, she will be playing with 5 different kids of all different ages. For example, my dad brought Zoe to the gym the other day. When he picked her up from the kids area, she was saying bye to some girl. He asked who the girl was and my sister replied that her name was Hannah. She then explained that she met the girl that day. Next, she revealed that they had exchanged phone numbers. Another thing is that my sister is in second grade and the girl was in sixth. Not saying that they can't be friends, but it just seems a little strange. Zoe then added a few more facts to the story making it a little more strange sounding. After my entire family began cracking up for ten minutes, my dad had to explain to her that we don't give our phone number to strangers. Zoe immediately began protesting saying that Hannah was her friend (although she had known her for about an hour). This story really shows Zoe's ability to become best friends with someone at no time at all while not even realizing what she is doing. To sum this up a little, Zoe is pretty much a perfect child. She's always smiling, does what she's told, and never has problems at school.
    I really aspire to be just like Zoe. She has such a great outlook on life and it never wavers. She makes friends in minutes. She loves everything she does. She does what she's told. She can cheer someone up just by smiling. It's not that I have a bad outlook on life; I just get upset pretty easily and by unimportant things. I try to channel Zoe's happiness throughout the day. Additionally, I find it kind of awkward to go up to people I don't know, but Zoe does it without even thinking about it. She isn't afraid that they won't want to hang out with her or that they will be mean; she just takes a chance and talks to them. When I was younger I would get bored of my activities pretty easily. Unlike Zoe who could play tennis for three years while still wanting to do one hundred more activities in addition. Overall, I just think that everyone should strive to have Zoe's outlook on life. She's fun, happy, and crazy which makes her who she is. I would be so grateful to have Zoe's joyous attitude for a while!

Online Journal Project--#4

   Last night I went to a program with a youth group called BBYO (I am sure that you have or will read about this on Zoe's blog). I only go every once in a while, but this time it was a mother/daughter program...so my mom made me go. There, I realized that my mom actually looks really good. I know that sounds extremely weird so I will explain; my mom used to be overweight--not like obese, but just overweight. In June, she decided that, for her own birthday present, she would hire a nutritionist.
    This nutritionist has changed my whole family's lives because if my mom is going to eat healthy, then we all are. At first, we would all tease my mom about the foods she would buy or the (what we thought as) huge amounts of fruits and vegetables she would eat a day. After a few weeks, though, we started doing the same as her. At first I would protest when my mom would buy fresh bread rather than the packaged kind at Publix, but now I appreciate how much better this bread is for us. Additionally, when we go out for dinner, it is easy to find healthy items on the menus.
    You are probably wondering what the point of this blog is, so I will fix that. Along with the change in my house and some of the things I am actually learning in online PE, I have realized how terrible the foods most people eat are. The healthy foods are so expensive, so people just buy packaged, unhealthy foods. This issue really needs to be resolved; I am just not exactly sure how. For one, even though fast food restaurants are adding healthy foods to their menus, that is not going to change what people order. Most people go to fast food restaurants to order the unhealthy foods anyway. Second, most people probably don't even realize how bad the foods they eat are. Kids need to be educated, so they can grow up with healthy eating habits. Eating healthy has become a fad, but hopefully it won't go away. If we can all start eating healthier, then there will be hope that, in the future, people will do the same.

Online Journal Project--#3

    So today when I realized that I had to write two blog posts, I wasn't really sure what I was going to discuss. Then, I realized that an event that occurred this week is worth talking about on my blog! This past Wednesday was the scheduled date for my AP U.S. History practice exam. Of course I procrastinated and did not start studying until Sunday night (which is not enough time to know the entire history of America). I figured that it wouldn't be my best grade, but I would work hard to do really well on the actual AP Exam. So, I went to second period, took my test, and left the room feeling relieved and relaxed knowing that the test I had been dreading for a week was finally over. That night I went on Home Access to see if the grades were up about ten times (and I'm not exaggerating). However, it was not posted, but I figured that was normal and that my teacher hadn't had time. Now is when the interesting part begins....
    The next day I walked down the hall towards my class thinking that we would be getting our tests back and going over them. Unfortunately, I was completely wrong. As every member of my class walked through the door, my teacher handed us all scantrons which can only mean one thing: we are taking a test. Everyone looked around at each other with confused expressions wondering what was going on. Most people thought it was a joke, but others rushed to their seats to cram some last minute random information before this "test." After the bell rang, when my teacher came into her room, she didn't have her usual happy expression; instead, she looked serious and a little mad. We all asked what was going on, and, finally, she told us: we were retaking the practice exam. Screams came from all around the room objecting to this statement while some people still thought it was a joke. My teacher shut down that proposal quickly-- this was not a joke. Apparently, there were some "irregularities" with the grades from the previous test, so--SUPRISE-- we all had to take it again.
    By "irregularities" we all know that means that some desperate student decided to cheat. A kid who usually doesn't do so well on the tests somehow pulled out an extremely high grade. Yes this is possible, but I mean probably not for more than one person. The question everyone was wondering was: why do we all have to retake the test if they obviously know who cheated? I still don't really have an answer to this question. I guess they had to make sure the people didn't just study a lot, but why not just talk to them about it first...or do anything besides make all 90 of us who take APUSH retake the test. I'm obviously not a teacher so I don't know exactly what is going on behind the scenes, but I just wish they had a better way to handle the situation. Also, if the cheaters don't confess, then the second grade will get counted for all of us. I really think this is unfair because the kids who cheated may still get a high grade! Some people think that the teachers made the right decision, but it might take me a while to figure out their logic. So, I guess I will have to wait until Monday to see the final results of this issue; all I want is for it to turn out fairly!

Online Journal Project--#2

   Something that I've been talking about recently with my friends is the amount of sleep we are all getting. I usually go to sleep by 11 the latest and I get up at 6:30; that is probably the minimum number of hours I can get per night to actually be able to function the next day. On the other hand, my friend said she went to be at 1:30 and got up at 5. That just doesn't seem right. How is it possible that someone can sleep for 3.5 hours and be able to do well in school? The problem goes even further though: this sleep deprivation is occurring with most students.

    My idea of getting a good amount of sleep is 8 hours; meanwhile, many of my friends are lucky if they get 5-6. The stresses of teenagers' daily lives, among with the amount of sleep doesn't seem like it will be a healthy result. It is an ongoing cycle that won't stop unless parents and kids realize what they are doing. For example, one of my friends goes to sleep at around 1 every night, but she barely ever does her homework. Then, she spends all of her morning classes doing her homework for the classes in the afternoon. When she gets home, she naps; and the cycle continues. Another one of my friends plays soccer and doesn't get home from practice or a game until at least 7. This leaves barely any time for homework and relaxing, forcing her to stay up late.

   Somehow, we need to find a way to stop this cycle. Students' sleep schedules effect all aspects of their lives. (This is actually pretty ironic, though, because I am writing this at 12 am.) It is not fair to teachers or students when there are kids sleeping in every corner of the classroom. However, it is also not fair that students feel the pressure to stay up all night doing homework keeping the cycle of staying up late going for weeks at a time. I'm not sure if there are any real solutions to this problem other than some time-management classes at school. Just kidding that would be weird, but I really just want students to be able to enjoy their weeks not having to worry about when they will have time to sleep, do their homework, relax, and their extra-curricular activities.

Online Journal Project--#1

    At first, I had no clue what I was going to write for all of these journals. I love how we get to choose whatever we want, rather than being given a specific topic, but it is still hard to come up with something at first. However, after a few different occurrences this week, I decided to discuss the success of online schooling.

    The video we watched in class about education reforms sparked a conversation between my friends and I a few days later about online schools. We pretty much decided that none of us would be able to do school online because of the many distractions of the internet. Also, reading off of a computer screen with no one physically with you to discuss things with or ask questions seem extremely difficult. It actually seems to go against the argument the video had. It wouldn't help kids to discover or promote creativity because it just sticks them in front of a computer screen for eight hours.

   I actually have a personal experience with online school because I am taking personal fitness with Georgia Virtual School. I know personal fitness sounds like it is no big deal, but it is actually a ton of work. Besides having 6 workouts per week and 40 minutes each, there are lessons, worksheets, projects, and quizzes on anything between types of exercising to stress. Speaking of stress...this class, although online, is extremely time-consuming considering I have six other classes to worry about for actual school. I feel that the set up of the virtual school is not the best for interactive learning. If a student took all of their classes online, they would be falling asleep reading the screen. Therefore, education reform would definitely be helpful, however, the use of technology instead of interactive teaching would be a major set-back for students.