Ashlyn’s English Blog

 Prompt Response: After reviewing my argumentative essay, I expected the feedback I got. I didn't complete the full argumentative essay and to be honest my attention span is low and I really could not get myself to think. Before the AP exam I'm going to need to find ways to comprehend so I'm not stuck while writing and dosing off into what people call "Lala land". I did well on making my position in the argument clear and I need to improve more on explaining evidence and time management. I will plan my essay more effectively for my next essay so I can complete it proficiently.  Summary: In class today we started on writing our own poem. Reflection: I learned how to adobe express. I also learned a little about myself.

 Prompt Response: Growing up, my parents never really got along, luckily that didn't much affect me as it would others. As I am a teenager now, they don't argue as much, but every year it's always something and I'm in the middle of it and get anxious to call my father because I don't wanna deal with drama. In previous years I have always just listened to my father complain and yell and I'd just sit on the phone and just not call till things cool down. Then when I do call after that period of time it's like a chill call but complaints. However this year, I spoke up. It wasn't an argument and it never is because I'm never the problem, they just have some kind of issues with each other and I happen to be their common denominator. But this time when I called, it was more of a heartfelt speech rather than a lecture. It made me realize that it isn't the end of the world when I get in trouble with my parents, and that I just have to brush It off because...

 Prompt Response: In my 10th grade literature class, I wrote a poem. My teacher had us read a poem about a non-living object's perspective in a human's daily life. As a result of that poem, she had us write about a object we use everyday but from it's perspective. I wrote a poem about lip gloss. The writing process of the poem was very creative considering I feel like I need to take lip gloss with me everywhere. I wrote about the shape, the use of it, and how once it runs out I replace it. I was satisfied with my finished product, and my teacher loved the object choice I used. She also told us to make the paper colorful with pictures so I wrote the lip gloss I was using at the time, which was the elf lip oil, and flowers. I was thinking about this poem once we started talking about poems in AP Lang, but unfortunately i'm sure I threw it away right before the new school year.  Summary: In class today we read a poem about risk and watched a video of someone taking a risk....

 Prompt Response: Learning about clustering was a very helpful lesson for me. During my essay I didn't plan that way, which caused me to be unprepared when it was time to write my essay in a certain amount of time. Writing out each body paragraph topic and what goes under that 3 different ways is very helpful to explain when it's time to explain evidence while writing the body paragraph. I definitely would use clustering on my next AP essay to help myself know what to write. Most of the time in school, I'm just existing and doing the work, but not actually feeling productive. I feel productive every once in a while of the school year when I completed multiple assignments without stopping. I'm sure the next essay I will be prepared and present a better presentation to submit than I did this time around. To me it's all about improvement, and hopefully I improve.  Summary: In class today we talked about clustering. Reflection: I learned how to plan before writing a ess...

 Prompt Response: Having to write an essay in 40 minutes was harder for me mentally than expected. I had what people call "writers block". I knew the concept of what I wanted to write down but it wasn't coming to me as quickly as I wanted it to. If I had everything planned out about how I'm going to explain evidence, it could have been easier for me to finish. For assignments like that, I would have to be fully committed and mentally ready to complete it because I'm easily distracted by my own thoughts and things around me. For my next essay I would fully be prepared and plan out what I want to write in my essay to make things easier for me, especially when in class I'm partly paying attention and partly daydreaming. The most challenging part was the time, not because I cant complete a essay in 40 minutes, but because of how much thinking I had to do to figure out what I wanted to say when that could've been planned out already.  Summary: In class today we...

 Prompt Response: In August, my mom set me up two interviews at two different Chick-fil-A locations. At the first interview I wasn't quite myself, I was more making myself seem like someone else just so they could hire me. I also was very shocked at the fact that it was a group interview in the open where the customers eat. But, in the second interview, I felt entirely better. The hire manager was very understanding to my schedule as a teenager, and she related to many of my interest. We had a lot in common from when she was a teenager, like for example, being a cheerleader. It was nice having someone understand some of my interests and also someone so enjoyable to talk to. The interview lasted around 40 minutes, and I didn't realize that much time had passed by. She also offered free food at the end of the interview. My sense of belonging was created due to having a conversation with someone who was really understanding and had much in common with me, despite age.  Reflection...

 Prompt Response: One of the vocabulary words that stood out to me was metamorphosis. The definition for metamorphosis is a transformation or dramatic change. Personally, I think that'd be useful for me in the future as a more advanced word in my vocabulary to explain a dramatic transformation. A situation I could realistically use this word in is the transition of a frog. A frog starts off as a tadpole that eventually grows legs and a tail, while also getting bigger. The appearance between a tadpole and a fully grown frog is completely different, indicating that it made a dramatic change, which makes it an example of a metamorphosis. Another example would be a popular topic which is a butterfly. Metamorphosis is an easy vocabulary word that I'm sure I can remember as far as the meaning and the actual word itself.  Summary: In class today we did vocab and a exercise for the vocab words. Reflection: I learned a few words visibly. I also learned what some of the vocab words mean...

 Prompt Response: During the exercise that we did during class, I now understand the format of how commentary is supposed to be explained. On my first commentary page I didn't do it the correct way, but I wasn't completely wrong I just had to add more to a sentence to complete the format. As I kept doing it I understood it more. Each evidence for each prompt has a different approach, as some are more specific and others are more upfront. This can help me with my next AP Land argument by being more specific on my topic and reasoning. That can keep the reader less confused and more convinced of my argument.  Summary: In class today we completed a commentary exercise. Reflection: I learned to always keep a position in the argument and not drift. I also learned more about commentary on an argument. 

 Prompt Response: While reviewing other essays and grading them through the rubric, I learned more about how to explain evidence and how long the evidence should be. I also learned that the claim supposedly isn't In the first paragraph as the first sentence, except that's the prompt. Each essay I reviewed made it easy for me to dissect between a proficient and a unproficient paragraph. The "so what?" explanations for each essay helps me understand how to explain the evidence and provide relevant evidence for the prompt. Getting a low grade is impossible if you're using the AP rubric correctly, which is why I think after reviewing the essays, I will get a good grade on my essay. Summary: In class today we reviewed multiple essays. Reflection: I learned the difference between a low grade and high grade essay. I also learned to understand the rubric more that includes the points. 

 Prompt Response: During assignments that require a rubric, I usually scan through the rubric if I feel like I already know what to do. However, when I feel stuck I'll constantly go back to the rubric to think of what to do next. It is important to use the rubric while you're writing so you know the expectations the assignment requires to get the expected grade. Using the rubric could be used as a road map to improve your writing by giving you the idea of how much to put in the assignment and perfect it. If students constantly only look at the rubric after the assignment is turned in and graded, then they'll never have the opportunity to improve their work as they go.  Summary: Absent Reflection: Absent

 Prompt Response: During the school year, there are always times where I may pay attention but don't fully comprehend what the teacher wants me to do. This school year it's physics that i'm always confused on how to complete a lab or worksheet, however I still complete the work to my best ability by constantly asking questions. Knowing the ins and outs of a rubric helps the student have an idea of what they're supposed to do to complete the assignment to it's fullest extent to get the highest grade they can get. In class today during AP Lang, we went over the rubric to understand the expectations for the argumentative essay. Going over the rubric helped me understand how the assignment is supposed to be completed. This could help me fully understand the instructions for an assignment in other classes, like Physics.  Summary: In class today we went over the rubric for the argumentative essay. Reflection: I learned the expectations for the essay. I also learned to ful...

 Prompt Response: On a regular day basis, I normally use informal language. When a certain vocabulary is used daily, it becomes unrecognizable during formal situations even when you're not trying to. During a interview, I realized that I have used informal language. I'm not sure if they've realized because of how normalize certain words are. Looking back, I wouldn't say anything different due to it being a small mistake that I didn't realize until my AP Lang class. I would rather look at the situation as a learning lesson to not make the mistake again due to not knowing I made that small mistake. Little things about yourself can go far, so I'm thankful to know now how to respond accordingly and practice separating my personal vocabulary and formal.  Summary: In class we reviewed other classmates's paragraphs and gave feedback. Reflection: I've learned how to identify a problem in a paragraph if it doesn't explain the claim correctly. I also learned t...

Prompt Response: During the group assignment to write a paragraph, everyone agreed on the prompt we received, but had different inputs. Everyone in my group has different skill levels, so when writing the paragraph, some would make adjustments to make the sentence more formal. A suggestion made was revising our wording to make the paragraph stay according to the claim. That has helped because when writing a paragraph, it's easy to relocate the focus on a separate topic without realizing it because of the thought of thinking that topic correlates. In the end of our paragraph, we were convinced we had a great paragraph to turn in. It's always room for improvement, but we were sure it would get a decent grade.  Summary: In class we finished the group paragraph assignment. Reflection: I learned to add different perspectives into assignments. I've also learned to use your own experiences to back up a claim. 

 Prompt Response: During 2019, I was in 4th grade. I've heard about COVID-19 but it didn't affect me because It wasn't in the US yet. But when it did come to the US in 2020, I was just happy that I didn't have school. During the lock down, I was living my life inside the house with my cousins and acted like nothing was really happening. Around this time, TikTok was a popular app, and it still is, but it had a major impact on students around that time just based on not being able to do anything but watch our phones. When 5th grade started, I was 2 weeks behind because I didn't know when the Google meets started. I also didn't know much about how to work the computer because we always did paper work. In the beginning, I was very engaged, but as the year went on, I stopped paying attention in class. I would never join, but somehow I was still passed on to the next year. COVID-19 still has an effect on me now because before 2020, I was outside all the time during th...

 Prompt Response: Growing up, I always wondered what it would be like as a teenager. Now that I am a teenager, I still wonder what it's like to be a teenager. I'm not living the teenage dream of riding cars with my friends, hanging out every weekend, and going to parties. In the society we are in now, it's safer that way. However, I don't want to waste the precious years of being a teenager. I love being a teenager, but I could love it more. I do plan on going out more with my friends this year, but my expectations as a kid aren't fulfilled. Also the rules in school are very different than how they were when I was in elementary school. I expected to come to high school recording with my friends everyday and having so much freedom, all for a phone ban. I will never understand the phone ban, although I think it's reasonable for in class, I don't think it's reasonable to not have them at lunch and during transition.  Summary: In class we worked in groups on...

 Prompt Response: When i'm writing an argumentative essay, i'm always confused about what to say in my conclusion. I've been told that the conclusion is a restatement of my claim, and I don't know if that's true, but I struggle with how to put the sentences together. I may be making it seem more difficult than it is, but I haven't seen much demonstrations often. That could also be a reason why my mind goes blank while writing a conclusion. In my opinion, I look at the conclusion as ending a story, which shouldn't be hard. However, I make it harder than what it should be. Personally, I need more practice with essays and that's totally fine. There's always room for improvement, especially in high school.  Summary: Absent Reflection:Absent

Prompt Response: A phrase I use frequently is "clock that tea". That phrase means to check someone about their information or a form of attitude. It's a popular phrase among a app called "TikTok". I don't understand why it has become part of my daily vocab, but I'm sure it's because of my ego. I'm quite dramatic in a playful way with my friends and whenever we are playing about a situation, the phrase comes out. I typically use this phrase whenever someone thinks they're right but they aren't or whenever someone says something bad about me and I say something back. Sometimes I say it randomly with no context, and that's because of how frequently I say it. This phrase reveals that I could be petty or problematic. Although I am not problematic, I can be petty, but it's always in a playful tone.  Summary: In class we did sections of a book to learn 15 vocab words. Reflection: I was exposed to a few words that I am unfamiliar with. I ...

 Prompt: Growing up, I always slept in my mom's bed until I was old enough to sleep in my own bed. Even with my own bed I still preferred her bed. I was scared of the dark, so when I did sleep in my own room I had fairy lights on my window and a nightlight. As I grew into a teenager i'd just sleep with my TV on with really low volume because for a reason I don't understand, I can't sleep in complete silence. I would only sleep in the dark if I was in the room with other people, if I wasn't with other people i'd feel like something is behind me. Now, I can sleep in the dark without anyone with me, but I still prefer to have my TV on for light noise or the fan on high. Being afraid of the dark was due to my thoughts about demons and monsters, obviously I know those aren't real, but I watch a lot of horror movies.