Nick's English Blog

       I agree that people spend more time connecting online but less time connecting in person because I often communicate with my friends through social media rather than face-to-face. Technology has made communication easier, but it can also make relationships feel less personal. We are more connected through our screens, yet more disconnected from the world around us. Today, we learned about antithesis and how writers use contrasting ideas to emphasize a point in their writing. This lesson helped me understand how using contrasting ideas can make an argument more effective and memorable.

     A time when I exaggerated something to make a point was when I was feeling sick. I exaggerated and said I felt like I was going to die because I wanted to emphasize how terrible I felt. Looking back, I think the exaggeration made my message more effective because it helped others understand how sick I was feeling.      On Monday, we learned about hyperbole and how writers use exaggeration to emphasize ideas and make their writing more interesting.      This lesson helped me understand how hyperbole can make writing more expressive and emphasize a point without being taken literally.

 One thing I did well was building a strong argument because I only missed the sophistication point. Next time, I will focus on adding more depth and complexity to my ideas to improve my writing and earn the sophistication point. I might also add a counterargument and rebuttal if time permits me to.      We went over our argument essay scores and discussed our feedback. Afterward, we wrote a poem about any topic we wanted and created a poster to go with it.      Seeing my score and my feedback helped me understand what I did well and what I can improve, while writing the poem gave me a chance to be more creative and have a chill assignment.

       One conversation that changed me was when someone close to me encouraged me to take school more seriously. It made me realize that the effort I put in now can have a big impact on my future.     On Tuesday we continued and finished the questions about the poem.      The poem and questions helped me think more deeply about how writers use language to communicate ideas and emotions.

       One time I had to write a poem was for a school assignment. The process was a little difficult at first because I had to come up with ideas, but I was proud of the finished product once I put everything together.      On Monday, we read the poem “Constantly Risking Absurdity” and answered questions about it      Reading the poem helped me understand how poets use different techniques to express their ideas and make a theme.

     Clustering helped me organize my ideas and come up with examples that I could use for the prompt. I think I would use this strategy when planning an AP Lang essay because it can help me get my thoughts together before I start writing.           Today, we learned how to use clustering as a brainstorming strategy and practiced using it to generate ideas for a writing prompt.           I think clustering could make writing essays easier because it gives me a clear starting point and helps me organize my thoughts.