1- What are the three most important things you learned this year? I've learned a lot in this class this year and I think the three most important ones should help me in high school. Like a technique called TIQA, it stands for Topic sentence, Introduction to quote, Quote, and Analyze. I will use for future essays in high school. It's a good strategy and way better than the C-EI one. Another thing I learned was a lot of new words. It really improved my diction and I sometimes use words that were on previous vocabulary tests. I also learned to participate more and how to discuss openly. Like in Socratic Seminars we learned to make the questions broad and able to be challenged. So it could start a discussion.
2- What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life? It's difficult trying to remember the past things we did which already eliminates most. But, I think the most memorable was the UIC university trip. It's the most relevant and I will be reminded of it when I get into Junior or Senior year in high school. When someone mentions college visits or I start going on them, I'll think of the trip we had in 8th grade.
3- What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year? There was a lot of kind gestures and acts in the classroom. Since everyone typically got along easily. Like sometimes if someone needs to study the vocabulary words we'd let them borrow ours. Or how most of us test each other in the 5 minutes we have before the test. It's hard to say the nicest thing that happened because nice gestures happen to people all the time in the class. I guess the cheesiest thing to say is people let me be their friend and have conversations with them.
4- What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year? If we're not talking about academics, I could've taught someone in the class to come prepared or something based on something I got in trouble for. Like I need 3 words (for prefixes) for Quizlet, someone overhears Mrs. Larson tell me that, then adds an extra word for each prefix. I didn't really play a teacher role at all in this class.
5- In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of? I think I improved greatly in objective summaries. Also I think I improved a little in formatting in general. Since we've had all those lessons on thesis statements and conclusions. We've also practiced objective summaries almost every week of this year with AoW's.
6- What was the most challenging part of this year for you? All the homework and essays, especially the essays. The homework wasn't really challenging more time-consuming. The essays just sucked the life out of me. I didn't really want to do it and my brain was just being lazy. I tried to get into the essay while proofreading so it could be decent. I usually got average C's on my essays. I think I might've done good on one essay, but not sure.
7- What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best? I think the best piece of writing was the Poe narrative we did. It was fun to write and also fun to read others' pieces. I enjoyed doing it unlike a lot of other things and got an A on it. It might've been a low A but still an A. It was a creative and fun experience.
8- Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why? Of all the books I read I'd have to say Night by Elie Wiesel was my favorite. I was always interested in learning about historical events. Whether it's bad, or good. It was cool being able to read and learn about the camps and things. Also, the experiences that one might've had.
9- What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year? Some advice I'd have is to manage your time wisely. A lot of people say this because it's very important. You don't want to wait last minute to do things. Also, use your class time wisely. I remember sometimes I'd have stress-free nights because I finished homework in class and didn't need to finish it at home.
