Procrastination

We read learned about the dangerous method in Peter Elbow's book. I know I use this method in my life every single day. Its the biggest habit I don't think I ever will get rid of. I can never start anything earlier then when its due. Especially a paper or essay. I still have to go write the essay about what grade we think we've earned for Ms.Fletcher. I'm here the night before an SAT trying to get this done. Everyday it feels like I have no break and this is the way I choose to live. I just accept in my life now. I wonder if anyone else feels exactly how I do. It's not just one assignment its everything. One thing I do is I make it a point to get my stuff done. Procrastination kills!

Procrastination

     Recently I have been struggling trying to think of topics to discuss in the blog. Replying to other threads is simple enough as it is but when I try to start a thread it's different. I have writers block and I am finding it frustrating that I do not know what to talk about and I am pretty sure that I can relate to most of my classmates right now. To make matters worse I have been procrastinating and I only recently checked my email and asked for an invitation yesterday since I never actually received one, I am doing everything last minute, and I am still procrastinating even while I type this blog post. Right now I am currently watching TV, looking at funny pictures, and reading random articles on Yahoo. I have not even bothered with this for about an hour or two and I just stopped to try and finish this. I did not have this problem last year when I was doing my summer homework for AP English. I actually finished my summer notebook early and started my summer blogging earlier than others and I did not procrastinate. I do not know why I just suddenly started to procrastinate so much this year but right now it does not feel nice. So has anyone been doing something similar to what I have been doing? Does anyone feel the same way I feel right now? And if you wanted to know I started writing this around eight o'clock.

Colleges Want Imperfection

After reading the article Want to Get Into College? Learn to Fail by Angel Perez, I was quite surprised.  Yes, I expect many failures to occur in my life, but I never thought college admissions would be alright with them.  Throughout this whole application process, I have been trying to make my application look spotless.  I thought colleges expected the students to be perfect, but obviously I am wrong.  Perez even stated, "Students are usually in shock when I chuckle and tell them I never expect perfection.  In fact, I prefer they not project it in their college applications."  To be honest, I used to view the college admission officers as robots, stamping accept or decline, approving all applicant who seem perfect.

I can definitely say that I am one imperfect student.  I have failed may tests and I am really not proud of that.  Yesterday, I was speaking with one of my old AP teachers about my inability to graduate with MAP.  I nearly cried talking about how dumb I am because I cannot keep up with the rest of the AP kids.  For the past three years, I have been hanging on a string, debating whether I should just snip it and choose simpler, more comfortable classes.  My teacher countered with, "Don't ever feel dumb.  You a brilliant student.  You just have to improve your testing skills; that's what college is for."  Thinking about our conversation and the article, we are all imperfect and colleges realize that.  The rest of us should realize that as well.

Grammar = Glamour

           I struggle with grammar.  I feel lost when it comes to grammatically correcting mine or others papers. I am never quite sure where commas or semi-colons go. It looks like the comma could go there or not, and I'm never sure if the semi-colon is appropriate. I want to be able to be confident in using correct grammar in my essays by the end of this year. I want to know that the comma goes there and not just guess whether or not it does. I want to remember what the difference is between a phrase and a clause.

           My struggle though is that whenever a teacher has a lesson on grammar, I tune out. I cannot get engaged in the lesson and the words go in one ear and out the next. I find grammar lessons boring so I don’t pay attention, but then I stress out when I write my essays because I don’t know whether I am doing it right. In peer review I don’t receive grammar corrections either, so I don’t know if I am right or not.

            I also want my writing to become better. I want my essays and sentences to sound more intelligent and I want to be able to write a college level essay. I want to learn better essay structure and be able to write a good essay without going through several bad drafts. I want to be able to use the writing process effectively. By the end of this year, I want to be a good writer. 

Preparing For Life

Most of you probably already know that college education is important. There are many reasons why one should go to college. College can play a big part in transitioning into an adult. The experience one will have in college will be great with clubs, sports, football games, and the friends you will make. It will all be an experience one will never forget and treasure forever. Going to college will get you the job that will get you the money needed to provide for your family and also for you to spend on things you need and want. In getting that good job one can do what one desires without almost never worrying about how much money is in the back or restraining yourself from buying what you want. College will also help you develop skills needed in the job you want to get and also help you with the real world as you begin to become an adult. It will give you those skills and knowledge of things one needs to know carrying on in the adult life.

Going to college can be an amazing experience and can help you in your life in the future. It can help your future family that you might create one day and can help you with giving back to the family you have now. With college many things are possible and one can achieve the success one wants.  

Anyone else nervous...?

So, I read Ryan's post about high school being a quarter of the way done, and I know everyone else is excited to be done. Am I the only one scared as hell of leaving the safety of Mayfair and being dumped into the chaotic, big, bad world out there? Do not get me wrong, I am happy that I completed twelve years of pre-real life school.  I have realized that I'm not SURE what I want to do with the rest of my life! I hear everyone in my classes that know where they are going to college, going to major in, and then do with their life. Thinking to myself, I know that I'm not ready to go out into the world yet. I don't have anything planned, or accomplishments to lean on.  I feel like a failure almost, but then again, some people change their plans again and again. God, I'm already slacking off, this blogging is the struggle because I have never done it before, and this is only ONE aspect of ONE class. I don't even have to stress about the personal statement because I'm going to a CC. I just have to keep saying that I need to get my...stuff...together. I know college is going to be harder, and if only this is hard for me, how can I swing it in college, right? I think one of my "progress goals" should be to do all of my work on time. Obviously, I am not good at that...

Personal statements

I am very happy we were able to write these personal statements and get the time to really understand what needs to be said in them, what we shouldn't write about in them, and how to make them ten times better then what they would of looked like. Luckily I won't ever have to write a personal statement ,because the school I'm going to is a state school, but I still enjoyed writing them and getting better as a writer. I know a lot of people were stressing out about having to write one for the colleges they are applying for and now they were able to practice writing it to make it perfect. I learned a lot from this whole process. I know am going to make sure I make multiple drafts and have someone read them to catch some of my mistakes, to make it even better. I will do all these steps with mostly every paper I wrote now because I realized how important it was to do so. On top of it we learned tons of stuff about tricks to writing papers, that I will never forget. How to share and how to wrote down a couple of main ideas before writing the essay and many other tricks to making someone's paper just that much better. I found something I like about English and I hope we can write more essays in the future.:)