Sunday, April 11, 2010

Reflection on my Alchemist and Julius Caesar Essays


Ideas and content

When I reflect on both my essays, I feel that I have improved making appropriate ideas and content in my Julius Caesar essay. Even though my Caesar essay is shorter I have used better character traits to describe the person. In Santiago I describe him as a person who is adventurous, courage and perceptive, which are general descriptions. I don’t think I described his strongest character trait which is he was an intelligent and mature person who was not afraid to make a change for the benefit of his whole community. In Caesar I describe him as powerful and determined which are his strongest character traits are. I also used a lot more quotes in the Alchemist some of which are not necessary and I did not explain the quotes very well. In Caesar I think I analyzed the quotes better and used more interesting and descriptive words. This makes my Caesar essay more interesting to read than my Alchemist essay.

Organization

I feel that I have improved on the organization of my essays. My topic sentence in Caesar is clearer and gives a precise description of Caesar’s character. It tells the reader immediately what I think about Caesar’s character. However I still need to work on making a better flow in my paragraphs, and from one paragraph to the next paragraph by using stronger, interesting and exciting vocabulary, and making better transition sentences. I think I repeat myself sometimes and use the same words. My conclusion in Caesar is better than the Alchemist because it summarizes my essay and gives a reason to what happened to Caesar.

Personal Growth

I have definitely made improvements from my Alchemist essay and Julius Caesar essay. I have learnt to focus on the main topic and expand on the main ideas. In the Alchemist essay I wrote many different ideas without giving proper analysis. In the Caesar essay I made strong explanations and analysis of his main character traits of power and determination.

SLR Reflection

I used the SLR of Learn Enthusiastically because I worked very hard to learn the writing and reading skills that my teacher taught me which made me understand the character better. I learned how to use powerful words that represents the character to make the story appealing. Making the flow of the paragraph makes it challenging for me but I tried my best to make the story interesting.