Hello fellow AP peers!
I am excited to be apart of the AP English and Composition class. This class looks to be one of the toughest ones of the year, in my opinion. I am well aware that our instructor has high expectations and its both a good and bad thing. Bad: Requires working out of our comfort zone and actually putting more effort than any other of our classes. Good: Our instructor is realistic and is not going to "dumb us down" or baby us. She's going to be blunt and tell us what is wrong and how to improve it. (I love that.) And in return, we, as the students must put in the effort and push ourselves. The course does not guarantee a passing score nor does it guarantee an A. That depends on us and how wisely we are as students and used the lessons correctly.
This AP course will be challenging, not only because of the material it contains but the fact that I am a non-fluent writer. I believe that writing should come as easy as a language, it should be fluent and come easily. I, for one, am a horrible writer, I struggle when it comes to organizing thoughts and writing introductory and conclusion paragraphs. But that's something I hope to improve on. The main reason why I chose this class was because I want to stand out from all the competition when it comes to college application reviews. I don't want to be another number in the rejection pile. I want the experience and skills. I want to be "extraordinary*".
One of the vital assignment for the course is to write a blog about a school-related topic. My blog topic, as you can tell from the title, has to do along the lines of books and novels. In my blog, I will write comments and feedback on books I come across and read. I will summarize the story as best I can and express the importance of some parts of the book. I have to warn you, I may be bias in some of my entries. The first book I may blog about is "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom. Brief Summary: The story is about a man who has reached the 'bottom of the pit' in life. He is depressed and rejected from his family because of his ambition to become a baseball player. Therefore he decides to go to his old childhood neighborhood and commit suicide, and while he does he is unexpectedly visited by his mother's ghost. Throughout the story he learns more about himself and gives himself a second chance. The book's moral is to keep going and to make the best of your mistakes. I hope that my blog will be interesting and I encourage readers to comment any books you'd like for me to look at. I love to read and will look into anything.
*In my fifth grade class, my teacher taught me the most crucial word and definition in my life, Extraordinary.
Denotation:
Extraordinary. adj. going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary <extraordinary powers>
In my mind:
Ordinary means simple and normal, I don't want to normal, I want to stand out. Extra means to be more of. Being extraordinary means, being more than that, breaking away from simple and creating something WAY different.
11 comments:
Dear Dianasurus,
I have read your welcome post and I have liked it. By the writing anyone can tell that you actually spent time on it-which this is very well. As I read your post, it made me read more and more. This is an automatic engagement entry and when you said that you have difficulties in writing, I was stunned by a flash granade. I know that you are a great student and trust me you are going to make it. I mean, you did say that you enjoy reading so that automatically puts you 300 meters ahead of the race. Unlike me, I detest reading, but love writing. The weird thing is that I still get good results at the end of the standarized testing. Nevertheless, you are going to grow and trust me being engaged in such class like this automatically means that you aren't here to fool around like the clowns at Cirque du' Soleil.
Your writing friend,
Leo Jagetro Aka Wolverine
Diana :)
i really liked your post and you had a warm welcome as well. you said the good things about the instructor and the bad. you didn't just focus on the bad stuff or of the good stuff. so congratulations.
Vanessa Reyes
Dear Diana,
I really enjoyed how you "kept it real" during your welcome post. In your writing it is easy to see that you knew what you were talking about and weren't trying to use words that you didn't know to beef up your post. I really like your blog because it might help me out when it comes to choosing new books to read. I usually won't read because I feel starting a book is blindly walking in the room, you never really know what you will find. Even in the synopsis you rarely get a good summary of the book. Good luck and stop saying your not a good writer because you're blog seemed pretty good
-Gary
Dear Diana,
It's good know that you chose novels because I can tell that you like to read a lot. What types of books do you like to read? Have you ever thought about what it is that interest you about the book that catches your attention and makes you want to read it? Maybe that can give you an idea of how to become a better writer. I read from a book that you can become a better speaker by reading other great speakers readings. Readng is fun when you read about material that interest you. To me reading is a way to improve your writing and you can learn something from it.
I've read that book and I've got to say that it made me emotional. It's so....you can feel like you can relate because at one point or another, you've messed up and you're not sure if you can fix it.
I'm sure you've heard me mention her before and I'm not so sure if you've read her work, but I think you should discuss about Jacqueline Woodson and her books "If You Come Softly" and "Behind You", the latter being the sequel to the former. These books are more controversial, talking about being in love while dealing with the fact that both are literally from different worlds and different skin colours. I'd think you'll like it.
Diana,
Vanessa can be so sentimental at times huh..... anyways yeah diana as your friend i know that you love to read especially since I see you reading 1984 and you look very interested on that book maybe you should write about this book later on. Yeah that is very true about what you said about Ms. Vernon she is going to guide us but not like babies and yes she is pushing us so hard at times i think what did i get my self into, So yeah i would recommend you reading The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac because personally that is one of my favorite poem books that i have read. Maybe as well as other books you may think i may like as well. Now i want to ask you what are your favorite authors and have they inspired you or influenced your life. Either way nice post and hopefully you keep up the good work. i look forward to reading your blog and listening to my recommendation. So see ya!
well, the book was exceptionally well written. Mitch Alboom (that's his name right?) is an incredible writer.
anyways, diana, I think you should do your next blog on 1984. you have been trying to read that book since middle school, so now would be a perfect chance to show others what you’ve read.
p.s. Tupac has a book?
Wow
Your post has really left me thinking. I agree with just about everything you have written. This class challenges us to be more than better but the best. I know we will have to struggle to keep up with the work that we will be given but equally in the end it will be worth it. We will have gained many things that others will not have by the end of the year. Ms.Vernon being an excellent teacher will push us daily to do all our work we will struggle but we will have someone next to us to keep on telling us we can do it.
Diana if you struggle to be the best at what you do i am preety sure you can do it, all you have to do is put time and effort into all you do and you can achieve anything
sincerely,
Panchito
saved the best for last!, ha
I like the fact that your writing really shows who you are. you are a good writer and your already better at writing then most people I know. This course will be difficult and Ms. Vernon is a great teacher(no doubt). The things you liked about her, i like about her. I like how she teaches the class without the extra words in between. It's straight to the point, no bull s**t learning environment that she has put up.
anything you need help on you can ask me. Again, your writing is good and just keep writing like you do now, with the same true emotion i mean. Blogify you later. PEACE
Little Diana!
I remember when I’d see you walk around in middle school always ready for anything that was thrown at you. I’d look at you and see a little dork, don’t get me wrong, a cute little dork. You’d always be hugging my sister and I couldn’t hear enough about you from her, really she had you in high grounds. Now, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing you grown into an admirable young lady whom is still always ready for what life has to throw at her.
Reading books, my one and only nightmare. I’m always so amazed at how hard it is for me to find a book that I am interested in. To be honest with you over my 17 years of existence I’ve read my good share of books yet out of that handful of books I can only admit that I’ve liked 8 or 10 of them. I look onto this blog as the key to my success in finding the adequate books to read. I know that from your future posts I will be able to steal some of your knowledge and implement it to my own life. No pressure,
Enjoyed reading your welcome post and I’ll be dropping by here often, keep it real, wurd.
Edwin Granados
Hmm. How odd to leave the sherre-beaters for the sherre-philes and find such an overlap...
Diana, the same message as for Steve: saying it makes it so.
Do you know that the New Testament was written in Greek, and that in the ancient Greek the word logos is the word used by saint John when he said "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made flesh and lived among us?"
This reinforced a long-lasting mythology in Western culture that attributes speaking with creating. The writer of Genesis, thousands of years earlier, agreed: he said that the world was spoken into existence.
My message, Dianasaur: speak yourself lovely, not incapable.
sv
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