Ramzi’s Academics in Eighth Grade

This journal will reflect and overview the progress I have made during and after finishing the poetry unit in the third quarter. In our eighth grade English class we have been learning and studying the fundamentals and keys to compose a great poem. We studied countless types of poetry such as the Haiku, Sensory poem, message poem, Rhyme, Rhythm, Repetition poems and others. The progress I made through this amazing subject was quite challenging in the beginning but then as my interest grew so did my vocabulary, artistic side and understanding. Other than poetry we also learned how to make the photos we had taken and turned them in to art forms by meticulously taking the time and effort to gather an astounding picture. We also learned some new vocabulary, words such as similes, metaphors and stanzas. We then were assigned to complete a peculiar task. The Teen life project was for a group of six people from different countries to work together and gather information and data to create our own unique project. It was really hard to communicate, only through emails and on our blogs.

In the following paragraphs, I will state the different ESLRs (Expected school wide learning results) that I used in the poetry unit with some details and the examples of how I used these traits along with various other details to show my understanding of Bloom Taxonomy. The Bloom taxonomy is a list of a few terms that help to make any writing assignment more detail and ensure the essay has all the information needed. In each paragraph, I have also compiled a list of bullet points for each ESLR that I personally accomplished. I will then talk about a few bullet points in the ESLR that I thought I could have improved on. I will also include what I think the ESLR means in my own words. Finally I will give a self assessment on how well I think I have performed as a Critical Thinker, Academic Achiever, Self – Directed learner, Effective Communicator and Involved citizen.

To be an Academic Achiever you must improve in various subjects and learn from past mistakes and errors. You have to demonstrate progress in all curricular areas.  I showed my efforts in this ESLR by increasing my knowledge and skill in all areas related to the poetry unit. I increased my knowledge on different words by learning all the vocabulary words like Stanzas, Personification, alliteration, assonance, quatrain and much much more. I learned how to take pictures that are worthwhile to look at, along with finding areas where the light and shading really made the image more unique and stand out in a crowd. I especially learned all about the various poems we looked through in class including the cards we used in the classroom to create a poem will all the senses.  I also boosted my confidence when the entire class had to read out loud our poems to a crowd at the poetry night and also when we read out poems in class with my fellow students. It made it scarier when we had to stand on chair to be higher that the class to present our creative writing. Standing on the chair made us view the crowd in a different way. While I improved on my poetry talents I had also improved on my communication skill when we were assigned to create the teen life project with people in Canada, Columbia and the United States of America. Last of all I improved on my creativity while I created my poetry book for the poetry night. Another bullet point for being an Academic Achiever is to demonstrate the ability to work both independently and collaboratively. I worked independently through basically every thing such as the poems, vocabulary words, photographs and the poem cards our English teacher gave to us in class. I also showed my capabilities in working with other people when we were doing the Teen life project, Poetry night, and the poetry book. In the Teen life project I had to work together with people from other countries if I wanted my assignment to be successful. Each country had an assignment like finding data, creating a poem and finding pictures. In the poetry night and the poetry book, I worked and talked with my friends to get ideas for the book and the stalls in the poetry night. In the end, all the assignments I had to do independently and collaboratively became a wonderful achievement. Last but not least, I accessed information from a variety of sources like books, computer, friends and family. I used books that I found at home to see how I should format the layout of my book like placing the biography at the back page, to add pictures in every page, to have boarders and having a table of context. A term for this ESLR I could have improved is continually asses, evaluate and adjust work to maintain high standards. During the process of the poetry unit I had changed and modified my poetry but it wasn’t for high standards but for personal feelings and appreciation of poetry. I wanted to revise my poems for my knowledge and not for my grades. Either way I feel that I would have revised and edited my poems. All in all I feel that I was an academic achieve and if I were to be grade on this particular ESLR I would receive a grade of B+. I believe that I would get this grade because I had improved in many of the curricular areas but with some minor adjustments I really trust that I will get better on every level of this unit.

To be a true critical thinker you must think outside the box or think of new untried ideas. Critical thinking means to build meaning and understanding using prior knowledge and new information. I showed my ability to accomplish this by using what I knew about the vocabulary words such as Haiku while I also take notes on the subject. I feel that I had achieved this goal far beyond my expectations because I knew that I had some comprehension on the vocabulary words, but after this unit I am confident in my understanding of the meaning of poetry. A second bullet point I used to be a critical thinker is applying problem-solving skills to facilitate learning. I used this term with my poetry book and with the poems I made. I applied problem-solving skills on my poetry book whenever a problem released itself. For instance, I had to come up with a way to organize my poems in my poetry book and at last I decided to organize it by type of poem. With all my poems I had to adjust them and problem-solve to make it fit the criteria. For example in my 3 R’s poem I had to modify my poem so it would rhythm and had the same number of syllables along with having some repeating words. Finally I gathered, analyzed and processed information from a variety of sources with the Teen life project. Our school with many students had gathered data, charts, graphs and other students from around the globe analyzed and processed them to create a power point. A section of this ESLR I could improve on is identifying, evaluating and using resources effectively for the purpose of problem solving. I would want to improve on this trait because without it I would just be doing things because the teacher told me. I never actually identify, evaluate or use resources for the purpose of problem solving I only do it because of the teachers’ request. On the whole I feel that I was a critical thinker but there are some traits I really need to improve on. I would give myself a final grade of B. I think I deserved this grade because I thought about things I already knew and applied it with new information. I would also need to use the passion I have for this unit and use it to create an interest so I would problem solving without the teachers’ request.

Being a self-directed leaner in my own words is doing work with out some one telling you and accepting your mistakes. By identifying my needs and applying appropriate learning skills I was being a self- directed learner. I revealed this in all my poems I wrote by knowing that figurative language was my weakness and creativity on my poetry book was my strong point. So I focused more on the figurative language more than my creativity. I would also ask help from my friends or family whenever I didn’t understand a word or needed help for my book such as the title or the design. Other self-directed leaner traits I accomplished were to take creative risks in developing untried ideas. I used this term especially in my poetry book when I was picking a theme or design for my book. In my book, I also tried a new way to draw people in by using untried ideas, in particular instead of writing “my poetry book” I wrote “here’s my view on life” “where’s yours”. An additional term to this ESLR is demonstrating competency in goal setting (accomplishing your fears), time management (Able to finish the home work), and organizational skills (never losing papers). I accomplished my fears by learner how to cope with every day stress when I knew we were going to have to read our poem in class and on poetry night. I was able to finish and hand in my homework every class and I keep all my poetry paper in my binder, so when it came to make the book I would have some extra poems to put in. Lastly to monitor, adjust and document work in progress was a trait me and my entire class had accomplished successfully because after we had created or started a poem in class we were all then assigned to finish it at home and edit it. A key trait of being a self directed learner that I didn’t achieve is to accept responsibility for their own learning such as goal setting. I hadn’t really set a high goal for myself, I have only completed the goals or tasked that my English teacher has set. I was a good self directed learner but there is lots of room for improvement. I would assess myself as a B. I agree with this grade because even though I did think for myself I didn’t set any personal goal which is a major key in being a self direct learner especial if you want to improve.

To be an involved citizen you basically need to help others. You have to seek to improve the lives of others in their community. I completed this task by joining the committee that organized the stalls which talked about poetry and introduced it to other parents and teachers who came to the poetry night. Another feature of being a self directed learner that I used was demonstrating care and concern for their environment. I did this by writing a message poem about the effects of global warming in the earth and how every one needs to help solve this issue. Finally I demonstrated awareness and respect for the rights of others. I did this by listening and respecting others when they were reading and presenting their poems out loud to the class and I respected them as an audience at the poetry night. I could have improved on the bullet point demonstrate responsibility in active decision- making because when I was doing my poetry book and miscellaneous poems I had difficulty thinking of types of poem, style or theme I should do and which ones made it most appealing. In total I feel that I was a good involved citizen and really respected others. I would have given my self an A-.

Being an effective communicator means to communicate through oral, written and media forms. I demonstrated my creative talents to convey ideas by using different forms of communication such as standing on a chair in class to read my poem, photographs and various poems so show others about my view on life, poetry night to show parents and teachers along with visitors the exciting and astonishing way of writing poetry. I had also used vocabulary words to specify my ideas and understand other ideas along. Last of all, I incorporated/ utilized technology as a tool for communication. I showed this trait by using the internet and email to communicate between my teammates in other countries to help each other through out the teen life project. I could have improved on listen respectfully and ask question to facilitate understanding and achieve insight in the ESLR. I need to improve this trait because I listen respectfully but I don’t ask many questions to help me with the unit. This is an important bullet point to accomplish because with out it my overall understanding is relatively low. Overall I would give my self an A-.

I had an amazing and unforgettable time on this unit. It was much different and new to me and at first I felt that it would be a total waste of time, but as I endured through this unit my small interest in the subject developed into my upbeat sensation for learning and writing more types of poems. Although I had an incredible journey through this adventure I would say that if I had another chance I would have done some things differently. For my book I would have wanted to have spent more time on it, because I wanted to make every picture and poetry stand out and have its own uniqueness. Furthermore I would have loved to redo time and review and revise every poem to make sure it was at my highest capabilities and not be so sluggish. If we were ever going to have this unit again on the poetry night and when I stood on the chair I would have wanted to be more confident and enthusiastic about poems so the readers could feel my passion in my creative writing. For my Teen Life project, I would have loved to communicate more with my team members in and outside school. Lastly with my photographs I wanted to use al my knowledge now and apply to my photographs in the beginning.

The ESLR I feel that I had improved and accomplished most is academic achiever and the ESLR I feel I could improve and needs more focus on is self- directed learner. I think I was a better academic achiever than a self- directed learner because I had improved on all areas since this was a new type of unit the skills I relatively use had shot out. I wasn’t such a good self –directed learner because I had just wrote the poems and took the pictures I was told. I could have improved it by doing things with my own interest and not because of a teacher.

To conclude, the ESLRs I had talked and explained about include Critical Thinker, Involved citizen, Self- directed learner, academic achieve and effective communicator. I feel that many improvements have been made. My overall grade I feel I got for the poetry unit is a B+. I have many good traits and a few bad traits that can be improved. The ESLR I feel I am most excellent in is Academic achiever, Effective communicator and involved citizen. The ESLRs I think I need improvement on is self directed learner and critical thinker. In the beginning of the unit I felt that I would dread the time but during and after we all went through it I enjoy poetry and how it is a new form of communication. I undoubtedly say that I will continue the amazing experience of poetry.

This entry was posted on April 27, 2007 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Reflective Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.