Category: Cohen

In Humanities, we were asked to write a creative writing piece for an enslaved African who lived during the Colonial  Era. We chose from a document that Suzanne gave to us, and each student was given the short biography of an enslaved African. Then, we were asked to write a creative piece on that person. I got a woman named Serena Baldwin, who was born enslaved and then was freed and became a teacher in Haiti. One thing that I’m very proud of in this piece is the description I put into it. I think it had the perfect balance of information and creativity. Another aspect of my piece I’m very proud of was my ability to be creative. I usually struggle with the assignments in which I must make up my own story, and I believe that I surpassed the challenge.

One thing that I’m very proud of in this piece is the description I put into it. I think it had the perfect balance of information and creativity. Another aspect of my piece I’m very proud of was my ability to be creative. I usually struggle with the assignments in which I must make up my own story, and I believe that I surpassed the challenge.

I learned a lot throughout the process of writing this piece. First, I learned how helpful peer editing can be. By peer editing, it gets a new set of eyes on your piece and can be really helpful for grammatical errors. I also learned how to write in a new style that I’ve never written in before. I wrote using flashbacks, which was completely new to me. After using this new style of writing, it opened my mind up to all of the other possibilities of writing. Overall, I learned so much throughout the process of writing this piece.

One thing I think I could work on for next time is checking my grammar an extra time. Grammar has always been something that I’ve struggled with, and one of the only ways to fix it is by reading over your piece more. Overall, writing this piece has been an amazing experience for me, and I hope to do more creative writing assignments soon!

In humanities, we were asked to write a thematic essay, connecting The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the Red Scare and current day. We were asked to each choose a theme, and connect the three events using your theme. We were also asked to quote sources, and do research. The Red Scare was a time in which Joseph McCarthy targeted and accused communists, causing fear and hysteria. The Crucible takes place in a time where women are put down to prevent rebellion, during the puritanical times. The Giver is a book by Lois Lowry about a boy named Jonas who is isolated when he is selected to be The Receiver of Memory. This essay taught me to write in a more concise manor. I have also learned how to apply isolation to every day life, and learn how to recognize it when it’s happening.

Once we got back our thematic essays, I realized what I needed to work on. One thing I really worked on during this essay was being concise, and when I got my piece back, I think I successfully completed the task. There was a lot of repetition in my essay before being edited, and by cutting a lot of it down, it made the piece a lot more powerful. I know that length has always been something I strive for. I used to look at a piece and judge it by it’s length, but after writing this essay, I realized that I can write a powerful piece without making it extremely long. Though I will still continue to add length to my pieces, I will make sure that it is concise, and brings up extra ideas, instead of repeating itself.

I think one thing I still need to work on after getting feedback is writing conventions. I made a few careless grammatical mistakes, and I will work on this in upcoming assignments by looking over my piece a few more times before turning them in. I also think peer editing helps a lot with grammatical errors. When a new set of eyes looks at your piece, the person reading it will sometimes catch errors that you skimmed over during the 20 times you read over it. I also enjoy peer editing, because sometimes someone else’s piece can give me extra ideas for mine. Maybe they’ll use a word that I’ve never used before, or use a certain type of punctuation that has never crossed my mind. Peer editing overall helps open your piece up to new ideas, and helps you check over your work with a new set of eyes.

Throughout this essay, I have learned how to be more concise, and how helpful peer editing can be. I also learned that resubmitting is always a good way to fix your work, and put your best work out there. It has also allowed me to make thematic connections, and really connect what is happening in humanities to what’s happening in current day. Now, I connect isolation to everyday life, and apply what I wrote about in my essay to everything I learn about. This essay has been an amazing experience for me, because I both love writing essays, and have learned so much while writing it. Suzanne has really helped me with my writing essays, and has helped me create deeper thematic connections.

In Humanities, we wrote writing pieces about our favorite food we eat this season. I wrote about my dad’s apple crumble. I am very proud of this piece because I think I put a lot of description into it. I learned how to write a lot of description in a piece. It was also a very important memory, which made it a lot more fun to write the piece. I really love this piece, and am very excited for my parents to see it.

In Humanities, we have been writing note cards on our topics for our colonial museum. My topic is women’s rights, and I wrote about Grace Sherwood. She fought for women’s rights, and was a very inspirational women, who fought for women’s rights. I am very proud of this note card, because I think I made a lot of connections in it. I also think Grace Sherwood was a very good person to write a note card about, because she represented women’s rights. Here it is:

For homework, we were asked to read chapters in our Making 13 Colonies books by Joy Hakim. It talks about the settlers in Jamestown. It also brings you through the years of how Jamestown came to be. I am very proud of this because I think I put a lot of good analysis in it. I also think I really understood this chapter of the book, and I also found this chapter very interesting. Here is my writing:

In Humanities, we read The Giver. The Giver is about a dystopian world, where everyone is the same. The Giver taught us what makes a utopia. We made essays highlighting certain themes in the book. Mine is about difference and isolation. I am very proud of this because I feel that I made a lot of connections to everyday life. I talked about how utopia cannot be achieved with similarities, but with difference. I also really enjoyed reading the book, so this assignment was very fun for me.