Julia Spiegel
Honors English 11
4/9/14
Reflection
Completing an end-of-the-semester portfolio is one of my favorite assignments in any English class. You get to take what you consider your best work and revise it to make it even better. You get to see how much your writing skills have improved since the beginning of the school year.
The first paper I revised was my epic poem. I love writing free-verse poetry, so this assignment was fun for me to complete earlier in the year. However, there were several requirements, like kennings for example, that seemed awkward in my poem because I had tried to fit them in at the last second. I took out several kennings and adapted others so that the lines flowed much more smoothly. I even changed a name to one more fitting. In several places I noticed that there were details that I understood when I read/wrote the poem that did not seem to come across, so I added more imagery to Diana’s attic and to her father.
One thing I could not figure out how the revise was my Podcast. I did not know how to revise the podcast without recording an entirely new one.
I was able to revise my short story, however. Originally the relationship between Henry and his father was flat and dull, with hardly any emotions. Henry was also very, to use the slang word, angsty. I re-analyzed Henry’s personality and discovered that I had not created a character, so much as an emotion. All Henry was was the feeling of neglect. I rewrote parts of Henry so that he could be more of a multi-dimensional character. I did the same with Henry’s father. Originally, he was just a figure, almost like a god, watching over Henry and disapproving. I re-worked him so that he also is more multi-dimensional and was more of an actual character. Hopefully the story is much more interesting now.
One more thing I could not figure out how to edit my “ME” project. I was able to crop the photos and enhance the colors with Photoshop, but as for the actual content, there was not much I could do.
Overall, this project was challenging, in a good way, and eye-opening. I noticed several mistakes that I tend to make in all my writing (good transitions for example) that I intend to work harder on so that my future writing with improve.
Honors English 11
4/9/14
Reflection
Completing an end-of-the-semester portfolio is one of my favorite assignments in any English class. You get to take what you consider your best work and revise it to make it even better. You get to see how much your writing skills have improved since the beginning of the school year.
The first paper I revised was my epic poem. I love writing free-verse poetry, so this assignment was fun for me to complete earlier in the year. However, there were several requirements, like kennings for example, that seemed awkward in my poem because I had tried to fit them in at the last second. I took out several kennings and adapted others so that the lines flowed much more smoothly. I even changed a name to one more fitting. In several places I noticed that there were details that I understood when I read/wrote the poem that did not seem to come across, so I added more imagery to Diana’s attic and to her father.
One thing I could not figure out how the revise was my Podcast. I did not know how to revise the podcast without recording an entirely new one.
I was able to revise my short story, however. Originally the relationship between Henry and his father was flat and dull, with hardly any emotions. Henry was also very, to use the slang word, angsty. I re-analyzed Henry’s personality and discovered that I had not created a character, so much as an emotion. All Henry was was the feeling of neglect. I rewrote parts of Henry so that he could be more of a multi-dimensional character. I did the same with Henry’s father. Originally, he was just a figure, almost like a god, watching over Henry and disapproving. I re-worked him so that he also is more multi-dimensional and was more of an actual character. Hopefully the story is much more interesting now.
One more thing I could not figure out how to edit my “ME” project. I was able to crop the photos and enhance the colors with Photoshop, but as for the actual content, there was not much I could do.
Overall, this project was challenging, in a good way, and eye-opening. I noticed several mistakes that I tend to make in all my writing (good transitions for example) that I intend to work harder on so that my future writing with improve.