June 19th, 2015
Dear Ms. Galang and 811,
It's been a hard yet fun year as we near the end of our time at MS 51. There were high points of this year and low points. One thing I will always remember about my 8th grade ELA class is the book clubs at the beginning of the year. We had total freedom on who and what we were to read. My book club read The Great Gatsby and also Carrie. At first, I was hesitant to start reading these books, mainly because I was not very interested in classics and Stephen King. However, after book club I am actually really glad I decided to read them because I was confident that I could understand old classics at first, but by challenging myself, I now know being open to reading all books and pushing yourself to read and analyze challenging texts opens your mind to a whole new level of books. Another thing that I always remember from this year's ELA class is all the synthesis pages that we did. The first few times we did them, they seemed really time-consuming and difficult, but as we did more and more they showed how they help your thinking especially when you work in groups. They force you to organize your thinking and do it in a (somewhat) presentable way. I think these charts really helped me understand on a deeper level events that occurred in books.
My hopes for after graduation, in terms of reading, is to do what I started this year- challenge myself. I feel that after this year, I can break down difficult texts, such as Shakespeare and classics, that I didn't think I would've been able to last year. Another goal for reading is to read nonfiction and historical fiction texts because those two are genres that I have not really been reading and into the past year. I was more focused on classics and it would be a good change to read a greater variety. For writing, my hopes next year is to work on my conclusions and trying to elaborate more than just summarizing my essay. I think connecting my essay to the real world in the conclusion will make my essay a lot more meaningful and personal.
My Summer Bookshelf
- Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
- Decoded by Jay-Z
- Boy 21 by Michael Quick
- The Sound of the Waves by Yukio Mishima
From, Kaitlyn
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