Wednesday, December 7, 2011

"Uniform Paragraph" Writing Reflection

Please share what you have learned regarding writing so far this semester. What have you improved within your Uniform paragraph? Please reflect upon your improvements within this blog entry.  What will you use when you write in the future?  Remember the 6+1 Traits, Grammar, Revisions, Technology, Sentence Types, Thesis Statements, etc... Please respond to this blog by Mon., December 12th , 2011.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

At first, I thought that it was a little strange to make so many revisions to one paragraph, but I have to say that I really did learn a lot about ways to improve writing from this assignment.

I liked coming up with a punchy, attention-grabbing topic sentence. It is very important to get the reader's attention right away, and a strong opener is the way!

One thing that was difficult, but interesting was removing the linking verbs, I never noticed how many linking verbs I use in my writing. I also learned that it is VERY hard to find ways to take them out! I had to play with words in a few of my sentences to still make them make sense without the linking verbs. Once they were all gone, I noticed that my writing was much stronger and less "wordy".

Organized thoughts are important in writing. I think this is very important when you are arguing a point, because you have to support your thoughts with facts. You don't want you reader to lose interest in what you have to say or have a very weak argument.

The other thing that is very important is good editing. That's why drafts are a good idea and why it helps to have someone else edit for you too. I think that another person can help you see your writing how your reader will see it!

In the end, I do think my Uniform paper is much stronger now with the edits and changes!

Anonymous said...

This semester I have learned to remove linking verbs, I never noticed how many i used. I learned to edit my papers and writing from the bottom up and read everything aloud.It was the first year I had ever used Prezi and I LOVE IT! Its a great way to show expression and creativeness. I was also introduced into Google Docs and that is also a very helpful tool that I will use in the future. For my thesis statement I got new words to transition my ideas in a clear, concise way. I think technology will play a large part in the future and we are being introduced to it which is an important thing. As for next year, or next semester, I suggest reading more short stories because I think they are very relatable and are intresting to read. I enjoyed the class this semester and I hope that we can watch more movies or videos next semester.

Anonymous said...

In the uniform paragraph, i learned a lot. at first, i thought we worked on it to long and that it was useless, but I learned a lot. I learned from the 6+1 trait packet to have a strong voice and we need to have a strong, catchy topic sentence. The thing that was probably hardest, is removing the linking verbs. Technology is a big help in this situation because we got to use it and we highlighted in different colors. That helped visually because we saw the different types of sentences in different colors and such like that. I learned that even though we only had to make a draft at the beginning, it turned out to be much better and a stronger work of art.

Anonymous said...

Looking back at my original Uniform Paragraph I can tell that I have improved in my writing skills. The paragraph overall became more interesting and more enjoyable to read. I was never really good at writing topic sentences but after learning the sentence types I feel better about writing them. It's the same with thesis statements. I did not fully understand what they were and how i should write them. But after having to write a lot of thesis statements I have gotten better at writing them. My overall writing has improved and become more fluent and I now enjoy writing more.

Anonymous said...

My first Uniform Paragraph was short and repetitive. It did not have much information and wasn’t very supportive to my thesis. Now, my sentences sound better and fluent. They flow easily and sounds like I spent time on it. Especially for the thesis statement, it sounds a lot better because the sentence sounds more complicated. Having a format makes it a lot simpler to create the sentences. I will definitely remember the “Show, don’t tell” from the 6+1 traits for my future writing. I think it’s so important to make sure you don’t tell the reader how to feel. Make them feel like their in the the characters shoes. Show them about how school uniforms would feel like if you were a kid vs. an adult.
Addy Bateman

Anonymous said...

This uniform paragraph has shown me the different options on how to make my writing better and how to take out all the bad words and replace them with bigger and better words. It has made me realize what you can do to make your paragraphs better and more fun to read.

Anonymous said...

Since we started this year, we have worked on our Uniform paragraph and we have improved it, as we advance the year. We have put quotes in it, and removed the linking verbs and so much more. Instead of just rewriting it from the start, we just kept updating it. We just advanced further with it. And from that I have learned a lot.

I have learned how to use better words in my writing. Using more elaborate words enhances my writing. It helps add to the effect of the overall writing as a whole. Good word choices help your whole piece a lot. (:

I also learned to write about the small, keep it so you and your readers can understand. It helps hoan in your whole piece and make it understandable to everyone who is reading it.

Over time, working on this writing piece, has helped with all my writing skills a lot. It has helped me understand writing an immense amount better. I now know how to make my writing better. To make it good, understandable, and so it makes sense. After working on this writing a lot, my overall writing skills have improved!

Anonymous said...

This semester I have learned so much, thing I would have never considered adding to my writing. I learned to take out the linking verbs and replace them with more structured words to improve to overall writing. Looking back on what I wrote in the beginning of the year its hard to imagine that much can be improved by just replacing a few words. Also I used to say "I think" or "I believe" at the beginning of practically every sentence. It doesn't seem like those few improvements would help so much, its interesting to see that it really does make a difference.

Anonymous said...

I learned how much writing can show how well you think and can express your opinion. I leaned that organization is a big thing in writing. going on in a tantrum and writing off topic is not good at all.your thesis statement should be strong and be on topic. when i write more i will stay organized and use good vocabulary use better sentence types. I will work harder on my paragraph to make it the best that it can be.

Anonymous said...

Writing the Uniform paragraph was a struggle from the beginning. I didn't understand why it was so important or why we had to keep revising.My paragraph is refined and sounds great; however, it took me a long time to get there. I had to really study the packets and worksheets that I was given, and practice my new techniques all the time. I have learned to write solid thesis statements, even if I have to rewrite them several times. I know that I need to use good transitions, and I need to make sure I use my voice. I also know rereading and having other people read my papers with help me to revise, and find any mistakes. My Uniform paragraph is a fantastic paragraph that I never knew I was capable of producing. I plan to use those revising techniques, such as, taking out the linking verbs, fixing sentence structure, and organize my thoughts in a clear way, in all my papers.

Anonymous said...

What I learned regarding the writing so far this semester. What I have improved with my uniform paragraph was good thesis statements and taking out linking verbs. By doing that it improved my writing dramatically. for my writhing gin the future i will use better vocabulary from the vocab we do in class and taking out words that are not needed to make my writing the best it can be. And my thesis statement i think will improve the most because I know how to use great sentences and grammar to make it great!

Anonymous said...

I think over this semester we have learned a lot about what it takes to make a detailed paragraph. Over this time I have added quotes, added prepositional phrases, and learned correct grammar. Throughout my paragraph I have labeled and added complex, simple, and compound complex sentences. Descriptive vocab has been improved. I have learned so much on different literature elements and parts of speech. Such as noun, pronouns, and phrases such as subject, complements, and objects. I also figured out independent and dependent clauses. Uniform paragraph demolished linking verbs. Replacing is, be, being, has. The Uniform paragraph took a lot of time and effort that ended a lot better than I expected.

Anonymous said...

I have learned that if you remove linking verbs from your essays or papers it sounds better. Also, you need to have a strong conclusion and not just slap one down. Because its good to conclude your thoughts.

Anonymous said...

This semester, regarding my improvements in writing, I have learned quite a few things. When anyone writes, they need to go through many editing steps and look at many different parts of their piece of writing. When I wrote my uniform paragraph for the first time, I thought it was a pretty quality paragraph. But as Mr. Trotter gave more and more instructions and different things to look at and change, I realized there are so many more elements to a good writing piece then throwing out words on a paper. In the future when I write, I now know how to use many different sentence types (compound, complex, compound-complex. I also can remember about conventions and words that are not advanced or descriptive.

Anonymous said...

In the uniform paragraph, i learned a lot. i learned that there are so many ways to improve your writing that i never knew about. The first thing i learned was that its always good to make your writing have a voice and to have a center or a "hub" of your writing. also you can have an amazing essay but without a strong ending it doesn't mean anything.

Anonymous said...

Throughout the process of the uniform paragraph i learned multiple mini lessons. My uniform paragraph has improved in many ways, one reason was taking out all the fluff and making it to the point and to the core. I learned you need to take out all the weak linking verbs and adding evidence to support my ideas. Looking back on my uniform paragraph i see that i had terrible examples. In the future i will learned to use all the little steps that can make a big difference in my paper.

Anonymous said...

I think that I've improved on my thesis statements and grammar. I've also learned a lot about linking verbs and how to remove them. I've learned how to diagram a sentence, and how to use different sentence types. In the future I think I'll use the sentence types we learned and how to write a good thesis statement the most, I'll probably use the 6+1 Traits too.

Anonymous said...

This semester I learned a lot of new things to add to my writing and to make it better. I've taken out pretty much all of my linking verbs and unnecessary words and phrases. I used helpful things from the 6 traits packet that helped me make my writing more interesting. I've also learned a lot from our grammer packets and all of the sentence types that we learned! We've also learned how to write good thesis statements. This semester I've learned a lot from everything we've gotten.

Anonymous said...

I've learned a lot about grammar and thesis statements. I've learned how often we use linking verbs and how to remove them, and how to write a good thesis statement. I've also learned about sentence types. I think I'll use the 6+1 Traits and sentence types the most, and I'll use the set up for a good thesis statement too.

Anonymous said...

As I have progressed this semester in English, many new techniques as well as improvements for my writing have been presented to me. Each new skill we learned was then implemented into our Uniform paragraph, kind of like an ongoing monitor and example of the progress we had made. Clearly, all the things that were introduced to us had great benefit on our writing. From the original copy, many pieces of my writing were improved. One of the most important being my topic sentence. For this I used a complex sentence, something that will be vital for me to use in the future. Through the semester I have definitely upgraded how I write, which is shown in my Uniform paragraph.