Blog Reflection

            Although blogging was fun, there were quite a few things I struggled on. One thing in particular, was summarizing what I had read. I overcame this by trying to dig further into a topic and reveal my opinion and thoughts, then just giving the passage and two sentences. This was challenging at first but it seemed to strengthen my writing and make it more interesting to read.

            This trimester, I have finished one book. Although I did not reach my goal, I expect to keep reading throughout the year to try and reach it eventually.

            One strength I had in blogging was using textual evidence to analyze chapters that particularly stood out to me.

            The quality of my writing has improved throughout the trimester. It’s improved in many ways especially in being more descriptive on my opinion. For example, in the beginning of the trimester, I was writing about the Shack and describing the scene, “The Shack takes place in many different locations, but one location stands out particularly. It takes place on a campground in the wilderness of Oregon”.  Later on in the trimester, I was writing about  Uglies, describing a scene with a  bridge and wrote, “Think of when you go to a Reds game, and your walking downtown after it ended with the cool air brushing your face and the sky so dark all you can see are the outlines of objects. You look over to the river and see the bridge, arched over the river leading its way into Kentucky.” I didn’t just say what was going on, like I did in the first post, but I went into more detail about an event that happened to me and trying to feel how the character was feeling with real events that occurred in my life. Unlike the first post, I did not just describe the setting but added more emotions and details to the text.

            Another way I improved my writing was I went into more detail on specific sentences opposed to just paragraphs as a whole. For example, “The water glistened through the trees (Westerfeld, 4-5).” I described this sentence by saying, “Did you ever go down by the river to throw rocks and try to get them to skip down the river? Or even just stand there looking at the water glistening as the sun hits it?” Here, I zoomed more into little events, like “water glistened”, and tried to describe a scenario that the reader would understand to make the reader feel more involved within the passage. Before I started describing specific sentences, I was giving a brief overview for the entire text. For example, “At first everything was peaceful with some of Mac's kids in the water on a canoe, and the others playing around in the fields or coloring at a wooden picnic bench.” In this case, I just described the entire chapter, without going into detail of sentences that I felt were worth describing. This makes my blog post less interesting to read and doesn’t make it sound like a well-developed post.

 

(best) http://sydneylombardoreadingblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/uglies.html

(worst) http://sydneylombardoreadingblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-shack-setting-and-more.html

Uglies

     "The old bridge stretched massively across the water, its huge iron frame as black as the sky. It had been built so long ago that it held up its own weight, without any support from hoverstruts. A million years from now, when the rest of the city had crumbled, the bridge would probably remain like a fossilized bone (Westerfeld,5)."
   In this passage, we are seeing and getting feedback of what Tally sees which is this bridge seperating two towns. This bridge reminds me of the bridge that divides Kentucky and Cincinnati. Think of when you go to a Reds game, and your walking downtown after it ended with the cool air brushing your face and the sky so dark all you can see are the outlines of objects. You look over to the river and see the bridge, arched over the river leading its way into Kentucky. This is exactly how Tally is feeling and what she is seeing.
   "The water glistened through the trees, and she could hear the wavelets of a passing river skimmer's wake slapping at the shores. She ducked, hiding in the reeds. Summer was always the best time for spying expeditions. The grass was high, it was never cold, and you didn't have to stay awake through school the next day(Westerfeld, 4-5)."
    Tally is overlooking this lake and paying close attention to every little detail happening near it. Did you ever go down by the river to throw rocks and try to get them to skip down the river? Or even just stand there looking at the water glistening as the sun hits it? This is what this scene reminds me of with the tall grass, and the glistening water.
   

Beginning Uglies by: Scott Westerfeld

I am in need of a new reading book and noticed my sister was reading Uglies. This book had a unique title which caught my eye first glance. There was a face, one that looked frightened and hidden, nut serious and determined. She had blue eyes, which sink deep into you're skin, the kind of eyes that send shivers of curiosity down your spine. Another thing caught my eye, a quote. "Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?" What? How could something be wrong with looking "supermodel gorgeous"? As I continued to read the summary, it referenced a strange thing that seemed like the big concept in the story. On your sixteenth birthday, you went from ugly to perfect, just with one operation. What? Does this take place in the future? Why do they all have this procedure? I guess I'll have to read to find out.