Quarter 4

As a reader, I have grown a lot since I first came to DEMS. I already loved to read and I read all the time but now, I feel that I can read much more than usual and when I read, I really try to endorse myself into the book.
Vocabulary is a very big part of reading and as you read you enhance your vocabulary so much each time you read; especially books that are of a greater level and difficulty than that of which you are accustomed. In this way, it has also enhanced my writing using the 6+1 traits. One of the traits is word choice and as I read more difficult books, my vocabulary gains a word every chapter or so and now I am able to apply it to my own writing.
Reading also improves my reading comprehension and my ability to "read between the lines" as I have heard countless times before. Instead of reading simply the words and what is happening, I look for the hidden meaning which is the true essence in any book, no matter what genre. There is much to read in between the lines with, especially, classical genres that have. Different meaning than what they seem. I believe that a perfect example of this would be 1984 by George Orwell. 1984 is a book about dictatorship and hardships that are endured during the dire times of a ruling dictator. The book has ceased my thinking with such a grip, that I sometimes unconsciously think about it an how it relates to my country's politics. It relates very much because, unfortunately, my country is a dictatorship too; but that's beside the point. Reading books like 1984 and other deep books truly enhances your reading comprehension.
Along with vocabulary and reading comprehension, reading has also made me flourish in the field of imagination. Every time I read an extremely good book, I feel that I am there in the battle or under the ground. My imagination and I become one and, together, we endorse ourselves into the book so that it becomes just the book, my imagination, and me. Every time I do this, the ability and the extent of my imagination increases more and more. Even to the stage where I am able to write my very own book.
Through vocabulary, reading comprehension and imagination, I have exceedingly grown as a reader. I believe that I will continue to grow so long as I read and I have no doubt that will be no hard task for me because of my love for reading.

Quarter 2

The activity that I am going to be doing this reflection on is the book "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" by Avi. This novel is about a girl named Charlotte Doyle who went on a ship, the Seahawk in the 16 hundreds and the time she had on this ship changed her values in life forever.

The purpose of this in class novel is, first, to enhance our reading assets using this book because of the type of literature that it uses and the different words that the author uses. Most of these words I have never even heard of and this book has taught me the meaning of all these words along with some quizzes, homework, and assignments that our teacher, Mrs. Dodd, has given us. Also, teaches us that all people have different values and some perform a "paradigm shift". A paradigm shift is when you shift from one idea to another or one belief to another. Another purpose of this class novel is to expand our understanding of values and also our understanding of what the situations all the way back then was like.

I have learned a great many things from this class novel. As I have stated above, it has taught us the meaning of values and that not everyone values the same thing, also, people can change there values from one to another just as Charlotte Doyle did during the voyage. Before embarking on the voyage of her lifetime, she had only valued her education, etiquette and these to contributed to her value of fulfilling her all her father's expectations. With these values she had barely had any sort of fun, barely any freedom because the etiquette that she must have to fulfill her father's expectations did not allow for neither. Although when she did have any free time, her father would simply restrict her from ever going fourth to play outside or even get close to enjoying her much needed freedom.

After disembarking from the voyage, her values had changed in a very dramatic way. She did not value her etiquette as she had before. She did not value her education as she had before. She also certainly did not value her father's expectations and this specific change in her values has led to what happens in the end of the book (I cannot say or it would ruin the whole experience of reading the book for you). All of these once valued things became replace by one thing and one thing only: her freedom. From this, I have learned values play a huge role in one's life. This also relates to an activity that Mrs. Dodd has given us, we had to fold a square to make two triangles and on the bottom triangle we had to draw something that we value that we can touch. On the top triangle we had to draw something that we value that we are unable to touch. For Charlotte Doyle, all her values were changed to freedom which cannot be touched. Now, this paradigm shift from education and etiquette to freedom has bestowed upon her a great decision that she is willing to make at the end of the book, showing how values can change your view of the world, your view of other people and your view of yourself.

There is not much that I could have done differently because this was simply a class novel and not something I could have done differently to improve in anything other than my reading. I think that I could have changed when I read the book because I always read it in times where I had a lot of free time. This led me to reading ahead because I knew many things that my classmates did not know like who has died and what has happened to Charlotte. Also, I could have asked the meaning of some words that I did not understand or check in the dictionary what the word meant. Doing this would have allowed me to get a better understanding of the literature and also a better understanding of the story its self. I might even have a different perspective of the story and its moral.

My goal this year in Language Arts is to enhance my grammar in creating sentences and such. This class novel has contributed greatly to this goal because when I read it, I can notice some different types of grammar that the author uses so that I can use the assets of literature in my own writing. It has also given me a whole different set of vocabulary words that I can use in my writing, improving my grammar skills and the way that I write.

Quarter 1

The activity that I will be doing my reflection on is the Renaissance Passport. Although it seems as though it would be more Social Studies than Language Arts, it is very much Language Arts because you had to write a paragraph and in this paragraph you had to take the "voice" of a man or a woman during the Renaissance Era.

The purpose of this activity, in Language Arts, is to enhance our assets in taking the "voice" of another person from a whole different age and era. Since I decided that I would be an astronomer in the Renaissance Era, I had to take the "voice" of an astronomer during that time.

I have learned how to change my voice in my writing and in my works to someone else by changing the vocabulary that I use or the way that I put my sentences and how I structure them. I learned that some people never use words like "stuff" and that sort, plus, most everyone did not use words like that back during the Renaissance.

If I could have changed one thing on my Renaissance Passport, I would have changed the layout and the template of the whole passport. I would have tried to make it more colorful and also make it look like the passport of the country I was supposedly from, which was Italy. I could have also put 1 or 2 illustrations of a planet or something of the sort inside the passport and made a sort of signature.

My goal in Language Arts this year is to enhance my writing assets to make them better. This activity relates to my goal this year very much because it has definitely improved my voice skills when it comes to writing and creating stories and such.