Free writing Love

When Ms Fletcher lets us free write for the first 10 minutes of class, my pencil rarely stops writing unless I am disturbed by a neighbor. I love the freedom of being  able to flow things from your mind onto a lined paper with no filter. It lets me right about things that happen in my everyday life. Sometimes I don't even know what I'm writing but I continue to because I know my ideas will all eventually fall into place somehow. Free writing was also one of Peter Elbow's methods which makes it even more significant. 

Taking the EAP

According to calstate.edu, "The Early Assessment Program (EAP) is a collaborative effort among the State Board of Education (SBE), the California Department of Education (CDE) and the California State University (CSU). The program was established to provide opportunities for students to measure their readiness for college-level English and mathematics..."

ERW students were instructed to take this test last Tuesday in class, and we received our results the following day. The test was 40 questions long, measuring several different college-level reading and comprehension skills. In class, Miss Fletcher specifically told us not to discuss our scores with other people and to simply mind your own score. However, I want to know what your opinions were on this exam? Did you feel as though this exam accurately represented your English skills, or do you know you could've done better? Was it easy, difficult?

Personally, I found the test quite useful not because of the test itself, but because of the breakdown of your weak areas afterwards. We were asked to tally the questions we got right and wrong, and it categorized each question into each reading skill that they deemed necessary for college. I, for one, scored quite low on a certain section, indicating my weakness in that area. Did anyone else have the same situation? If not, how did it go for you?

The Struggle of Writing

I don’t know why, but writing has always been a struggle for me. I can read well and I have pretty good vocabulary, but when it comes to actually writing, I’m horrible at it.  Most of the time I find it difficult to form my ideas into a coherent sentence, especially when I’m writing something my peers will read. Whenever I have to write something, I end up sitting in front of the computer for an extremely long time trying to come up with ideas about what to write. Then when I do think of something, I end up spending an excessive amount of time trying to figure out how I’m going to start my paper. I’ve attempted to free-write before starting my essays like Peter Elbow says we should, but so far it hasn’t exactly worked for me. When I free-write I end up not using anything I write in the actual essay. Writing my personal statement took me an especially long time. When I started, trying to come up with something that I could easily write about was hard. I had a difficult time writing about myself and I never felt like my essays turned out well. This happens all the time and it has made writing my least favorite thing to do. I always feel pressured to write a good essay but I’m never satisfied with the way they turn out. I don’t know if it’s just me, but writing is too hard. Does anyone else struggle when it comes to writing?

My biggest goal in ERW

My biggest goal for the rest of my time in ERW is to become a strong writer. I feel as if my way of writing is very boring and plain, I can't wait to figure out the tools I need to expand my writing on getting better. Whenever I'm writing great ideas always pop into my head but I never know how to put it down on paper. I'm excited to finally be in a class where I know my writing is going to excel. It's going to be a great journey, and I'm looking forward  to every step of the way :)

How Peter Peter Elbow Will Help us in College

Peter Elbow has taught us so much and has given us great advice on how to improve our writing. For example, in writing without thinking, he gave his readers occasions when we should write. If you write often enough to yourself, then it won’t feel like writing at all because writing all the time will help you when you need to write to an audience, like blogging or writing an essay. If we continue to do this in college, then it will be a lot easier to write a paper and you won’t dread writing papers as much. I believe that the advice that he gives us about free-writing will not only help us right now as seniors, but also in college. Free-writing will help us get an idea about what to write about if we don’t have any idea. One of the many commonalities that I found Elbow talking about was finding our audience. He stresses the fact figuring out who our audience is, will help us decide how we should write it. For example, if the audience was just my peers, then I would talk more informally. This advice will also help us in our college life. What do you all think?

Self evaluation

I like the idea that we get to ask for a grade that we think we deserve on participation and progress. I feel like I will give myself an honest grade. I mean a lot of people might give themselves a higher grade than they actually deserve though. But generally I'm pretty sure F-dizzle my nizzle (Ms. Fletcher) will set them straight and give them the right grade they deserve.

I feel like if you actually did participate and do try really hard you will get a good grade in the class. Ms Fletcher knows you and will give you the benefit of the doubt for the grades. I also use to tell the grade I thought I deserved in ceramics. I would usually do a really crumby project and ask for a B because I am not very gifted at molding things out of pieces of clay.

The point is, I feel like asking for a grade is a very good method and I like it. It makes you be honest and if you are honest and ask for a good grade you might get it. You might have to back it up with some facts if you are asking for a good grade like B or better. I feel like to prove you deserve to get a good grade you have to point out how you worked hard a lot of the days in class, you got your work done, and you participated in class by giving good ideas and doing the blind read around and actually giving back feedback.

my opinion on one of ms. fletcher's post.

 

Ms.fletcher i really like this picture you posted. I like the meaning of it. For example, i like the part that says "no matter how slow you progress you are still way ahead of everyone who isn't trying." It shows a great message to everyone who isnt a fast progressor but tries bits best everyday and doesnt give up. I compare to that sometimes because i can be slow at times but i dont give up. I some how each time encourage myself to keep on going.