Danya Alemayehu AP Lang Blog

     One conversation that definitely changed my view on things was a conversation with my pastor. I was discussing how lost I felt in my religious life, and my faith in Jesus wasn't the strongest. I said to her that something was missing and that I was not feeling like I believed in a religion. She then told me that it is not about religion with Jesus Christ; it is simply you believing that he died on the cross for everyone's sin and having faith in him. Instead of following religion, I should focus on a personal relationship with Jesus. I think this conversation was really helpful for me. It truly allowed me to shift my focus to my personal relationship rather than other parts of the religion.  In class today, we completed the worksheet given to us on Monday and turned it in.  In poetry, it is very easy to relate situations to real-world things, like in the one we read as a class. By connecting back to worldly things, it allows the audience to easily understan...

 Prompt: I have never been the greatest writer, so when I was told I had to produce a poem from scratch, I had no clue where to start. I was really unsure for the people that were going to read were going to understand the way I structured it. In the end, I thought it was a decent poem that most people could relate to and understand best.  In class today, we discussed what poems are and used " Constantly Risking Absurdity by Lawrence Ferlinghetti as an example. A poem must be able to be relatable and create a connection to its audience in order to make a success. A piece of writing must be able to connect to the audience in order for maximum satisfaction and success 

 I think the cluster method could be really helpful for my writing. Especially for generating the ideas and examples for evidence. It was really easy for me to generate supporting points for the main body paragraph. And easily separate brought her main argument.  I think the part that helped me the most was the five main points because it’s the most easiest, but it is pretty easy to come up with ideas there are similar to each other and not end up working. I think this would be an efficient method to use before starting my writing.  Today in class we took notes on Brainstorming ideas. The cluster method might be a very efficient way to easily generate ideas and examples. Very efficient way to quickly jot down before starting my writing in the future.

 I think the easiest part of writing an argumentative essay on Wednesday was making my hook and my thesis and my overall introduction paragraph. I think the most difficult part for me was just timing myself and thinking about what to write next and had a better structure in my body paragraphs mainly. I would definitely wanna manage my time a little bit better. And also take advantage of the time I have to plan before writing. To make it easier for me to structure what is going to be written. It was also pretty difficult for me to reasoning. In class, we wrote an argumentative essay. I think one of my main challenges that day was managing my time,So I would definitely like to improve on my timing with each paragraph.

I think anytime I am with my friends is when I feel I truly belong. I also feel like my most belong when playing lacrosse with my friends. With my friends, I feel like I can be myself, and I think I bonded the most and relate to the most to. I think the feeling of friendship was created by having a lot of similarities and interests to one another. In class today we completed a common lit assignment. The same area where we crave food is the same area where we crave social interactions in her brain, according to the passage from common lit. I find that quite interesting.

 One word that I think Could be most useful in the future for me is abstemious. I would describe the word as describing a lifestyle or a self restraint in foods. I would use this term when someone is using excessive tech and needs discipline. Abstemious digital habits. In class today, we did our lesson three vocab along with exercise three and four. A lot of these vocab boards that need to take and be applied to our real world life very often then I knew it. I can replace my day-to-day vocab with these words.

  Something I understand about commentary now is that evidence tells the what but commentary does the heavy duty by answering the so what? True commentary forces logical progression, using words like because rather than relying on phrases like this shows. In my own writing, I need to ensure that every piece of evidence is followed by at least 23 sentences of a deep in depth explanation, making the commentary longer and waiter than the evidence itself. The class we gave commentary to multiple different claims along with evidence in 2-3 sentences. It’s important not to introduce your commentary words like “This shows”. I would like to know more on how to better introduce my commentary and ensure that I am explaining why evidence correctly. 

 One take away that I can apply to my own writing is using commentary to interpret the implications and pointing out assumptions, Or even explaining the broader principal. By also answering the “so what” question? Also, explaining why does the specific piece of data or evidence matter to my overall claim. Another take away I can apply to my writing is smoothly embedding my pieces of evidence in my writing using certain phrases. Your claim is your main argument your main point or position and answers the prompt and states what you want the right to believe. The evidence is the proof that backs up your claim. And your commentary is a reasoning, explaining why that piece of evidence back up your claim and is relevant. In class, we went over past responses to the prompt and scored them each as a class.  I learned that commentary is basically just your own voice explaining why or how the evidence proves your claim. It is also very crucial to sophistication in your writing.

 The approach that I usually take is using it to guide me to complete assignments.  You could use the rubric as a roadmap to improve your writing significantly by reading the highest point category to know what it is looking for, and guarantee maximum points.  You can turn the rubric rose for things like the pieces or evidence and turn it into a checklist that you can check off while writing. If a Rupert require a counter argument, you can include the opposing side. In class today, we finished off, looking through the argumentative essay rubric and wrote down things that we think are seen as overrated. You cannot just say that famous people can be overrated because you are not them and you do not know how it feels to be like that every day so you’d be making an assumption which is not accurate. This is a very important thing to avoid when writing and finding evidence.

By having an idea of what the rubric requires me to do for an assignment, it allows me to turn vague expectations into a clear checklist In order to get the max amount of points. It would allow me to build a better strategy, especially when writing an assignment. I would have myself focus more on the categories, worth the most points rather than the minor details. I can also use the rubric as an outline to build my essay to match the grading criteria to guarantee a perfect score. In class today, we went over our feedback on the argumentative paragraph we wrote with our group. We also got the rubric for the argumentative essay portion of the AP exam and highlighted key points. Line Of reasoning is very crucial when writing an argumentative essay. It is important to give context for a reasoning and background information.

 Seeing other people’s perspectives and ideas during the peer reviews was really interesting because I think I think very differently than my peers. Reading other perspectives and approaches, made it feel like I was reading about somebody else’s background life. It also taps into different emotions and there’s an understanding of real world feelings. In class today we went in rotations desk by desk, peer reviewing each groups, argumentative paragraph controversial opinions.  Different perspectives for your peers can make you look at a certain situation completely differently. 

   I often talk to my mother like she is one of my friends. So I asked her for a favor, but it’s not the best language. Her response was not what I was looking for. I think I could changed how I approached her and began how I spoke. This situation taught me that it is important to speak more properly and nicely when you want to seem for persuasive. In class we went over the differences between formal and informal language.  I learned this it is not only important to write in formal language but also speak in a formal language in some situations. It can also make one sound more persuasive and convincing when wanting something?

 One suggestion that I have heard from my peers was that it is important to shift your mindset And look through different perspectives than your own. This helps by making your argument, less one-sided, and by addressing encounter arguments, can potentially strengthen it at the same time. It also allows your argument to be more persuasive and credible by getting other people‘s perspectives and views on certain topics. In class today, there was no Wi-Fi so we use the books to write down some vocabulary and did some exercises from the books. In class today, I learned many new vocab words like vestige and donnybrook which I thought was a very interesting term. I think it is important to replace these types outward with your everyday words make you sound more educated.

     Something I’ve been curious about for quite a while is the deep oceans. According to science, only 5% of the ocean has been discovered, which I find quite interesting. I have always wondered what strange creatures and unique objects are hiding down there. Humans have only observed less than a tiny fraction of the deep ocean floor. What can be stopping them from exploring more I think there are also many different sea creatures or species that have not been discovered.  In class today, we went over our controversial opinion paragraphs and revised and transferred them to writable. I learned in class at it is important not to use second person point of view and your most of the time. Things like I believe I feel I think are very important things to avoid when writing. this can make your writing feel very opinion based and biased.

The most challenging part when composing an argument is the commentary. I think this part is very similar to just explaining evidence but going more in depth which I think it is more challenging for myself. It often requires you to make original analysis on your own rather than a specific formula you must follow. It also requires you to make assumptions and blink your evidence back to your claim correctly. I think it is also because it’s my first time having to add commentary to my writing and I think I’m not very used to it. I think I am more familiar with the traditional way of writing. In class, we took some quick notes and did a fun activity with our group requiring us to re-order 10 sentences into Followed with a unpopular opinion where we had to make our position and compose a paragraph. I learned that using commentary in your writing allows you to go in depth with evidence and explain each port will also link it back to your claim. By providing a simple quote or fact will not pr...

 I feel that I think I have overcome is just caring what people think. I don’t think this is a fear, but it is something that I think I could have overcame a lot earlier in my life. I think I have been very insecure about a lot of things about myself like the way I dress and the way I look, but I soon realized that doesn’t matter and nobody seems to care. Even if somebody has something to say or share any harsh opinions about my insecurities, I have learned to get over it and be myself. In class today, we went over our rideable assignment on the ambush paragraph and discuss the things that we need to improve as a class and went to picture day. I’ll learn today that is very important to clearly state your claims and evidence with clear explanations of at least three sentences. A lot of these minor errors can get you points off on a lot of things so it is a very important improvement.