Final Exam (2nd Semester)

Where do you get your ideas for blog post topics? What inspires you to write?

At the begginning of the year I was able to come up with some, not so interesting ideas for blogs which really sucked. For example, my first blog post in September, when I was writing about a movie. Honestly i dont know what i was thinking. I was able to meet the minimmum on the blog posts which was really all i cared about. So pretty much back then i could immediately complete multiple blog posts within five to ten minutes, rather than taking time to actually write something worth while. Now that i have progressed as a writer and i can pretty much still take a short amount of time (about half an hour) and make it actually good. Some blog posts I make up while I'm typing it, while others i actually already know what i am going to write (such as the diary type ones).

On some occasions during this long school year, you would ask us to blog about a certain subject or our quick-write (usually the quick-writes were started in class). If I was given subject, I was still able to complete these quick and in-depth with no worries. I think that the speed of my typing doesn't have much to do with it; even though I have gotten a really fast typing skill over the past years from being on the computer a lot. The part that truly counts is that I can think of the words in my mind and produce a blog fast enough if I am running late on a Friday night.

Probably one of my most favorite blog subjects I have had from the start was different "Just one of those fun days on a weekend." This post was the one that stood out the most to me because i could just describe every detail like i was still there. I guess i kind of felt like i could relive that memory over and over again. Some other posts that are in this category are the one's about fridays. I do not know why but fridays are always a big post for me. I like them a lot and there always (no matter if its raining or really sunny) something for me to write about

After that blog post about the amazing weekend i had had, i decided i needed to "step up my game" in the world of blog posts. I know it was a little late but i really liked the way i had written that blog post and i thought that all my posts should be like that.

Overall, I believe that this project of blogging has been one of the most rewarding and fun long-term projects I have had for school. I wish that we had started this for your class last year. It would have been fun knowing my memories from last year. Throughout the time in your class i have become a decent writer because at the beginning i was not a very good. I think i am going to continue blogging during the summer and throughout next year. Probably not as frequent but i will still keep it up and running.


How do you like having a blog? How has blogging changed the way you write, the way you think, or the way you think about writing?

We are almost approaching the end of the year now that we have finished our last weekly blog posts. My first thoughts on this weren't great. I was blog posts to be boring and lit circle blogging to be even worse. However, i did not think the class was going to be a sterotypical english class because i had you last year.. Fortunately, I was completely wrong about blog posts and lit circle posts as well. At the beginning of the year i remember hearing we could blog about anything we wanted when we wanted, which sounded kind of cool. So after hearing these things i loosened up a bit about this class.

Now that we're coming to the end of our school year, I'd like to look back on what I have accomplished. Having a blog has been a great opportunity for me to express myself and my own feelings towards school, life, and many other topics. This year i kind of wrote a diary about what i do during the week (mostly fridays). When we were asked to come with ideas that we would blog about, I had no clue what i would do. Honestly it was all a blur to me, i never thought i was going to have to blog at all. Most of the time i takled about sports, friends, and just life in general which really ended up working well for me.

After the first few weeks of school, I became more adjusted to my blog and with blogging in general and you could tell by the way my writing improved. For example, my first blog post about a movie was okay, i just described something i had watched. The posts after that turned into more descriptive peices of writing. As te months moved on and the school year had finally gotten kicked off my writing improved sufficiently. I started off venting or just ranting about things then i ended up writing with a purpose. I could even notice that when my blog posts were not just because i had to do them, but because i wanted to. I also noticed that blogging helped my emotions and behavior because i could just vent if i needed too and just save it as a draft.

In example, for the first few weeks of the year, I would always talk about how baseball was the main part of my life because i had just started a new team. Since I was able to rant through blogging on and on about it, I felt like i could write more because evertime i wrote about something i thought of something else to write.Now, I am not saying that this is just an easy way to blog (just write about something i can talk about forever)but rather being able to share my true feelings toward things, not just baseball. I think that this way was more effective than talking to someone in person about it.

Blogging has significantly helped my writing, reading, and redundancy skills. Quickwrites that we started in class usually somehow help me get my idea, even if it is not on the same topic. After getting a draft done i reread it and edit. This way i can make sure i am doing a good job on it. After checking for redundancy i can finally get my final draft. At the beginning of the year i never did this and i always just posted the first thing i had written. Now things have changed and all of these things do not take as long.

The improvements that originally started freshman year even (because i had you freshman year as well) have also come through for me in other classes. We have quick writes in History, Spanish, and even Chemistry. I do not have to take forever to start anymore due to the things you have taught me. I really apreciate that Sutherbro. Thanks a lot for a wonderful year.