Final Reflection

What does it all mean? We reflect in order to learn; we learn by reflecting.

In this blog, you will be considering yourself as a student, your work as a reader and writer, and what you will keep from your topic.

You may have an intro and conclusion paragraph, but for the body paragraphs, focus on:

1) What type of student have you been this semester? Consider your process of completing assignments, of clarifying assignments, and of finding help when you need it. How did you organize yourself and ensure you were completing what you needed?

2) What will you keep from your research this semester? What really sticks with you from your chosen topic? What ideas will stay with you? How might your topic relate to something you plan to do in your future? Will you continue to keep up on information about this topic? Do you feel differently about your topic then you did at the beginning of the year?

Remember, the questions are suggestions as you can take those paragraphs wherever you need to.

Book Blog

Book Blog

The following ideas/topics need to be included in your 600-800 word response blog for your outside reading book. In order to receive an advanced on this essay, you must have textual support (i.e. quote the book for support).

These questions are to get you started, but you will need to expand on them and decide how to organize them in order to create your post.

Purpose: Why was the book written (you might need to read the preface and/or acknowledgments to really understand this)? Did the author meet his or her intended purpose?

Structure: How was the book organized/laid out? In what order was information given? What text features were included? Did the structure of the book aid in comprehension of the material? Why or why not?

Credibility: Who is the author and can we trust what he or she has written? Why? Does the author have any obvious biases? Is the book endorsed or sponsored by anyone? What types of reviews has the books received—what have critics said about the book?

Key Information: What are the main points/conclusions that the author makes in this book? Give specific details for each topic/idea covered in the book. Summarize what one would learn by reading this text.

Style: What style of writing did the author choose? What point of view was the book written in? What types of word choice and sentence structure did the author employ? Is this straight expository text or does it include elements of narrative or dialogue or other ways of giving information?

Personal response: How does this book tie to your topic? Did it help you meet your goals for what you wanted to know about your topic? (Be specific) What did you particularly enjoy about the book? What did you not enjoy about the book? When and why might you recommend this book?