After one whole semester of RLA in eighth grade, I have definitely grown a lot. The most notable accomplishments of mine would be my podcast and BTTDB. I've never done anything even vaguely similar to a podcast before, so I was really scared of doing badly in our podcast unit. However, that was not the case, as after lots of hard work, I was able to create a very successful podcast that I was extremely proud of. I've also never really written lots of solid reflections that thoroughly analyzes my work before, but I'm proud to say that my BTTDB reflections have improved a lot over the months. Now, I'm able to produce very detailed reflections that both examines my strengths and the weaknesses I need to work on. Not only that, through BTTDB meetings, I developed my skills as a speaker and listener. My ability to give good, specific feedback has significantly improved as well as my ability to patiently listen to others give feedback and utilize them to my own advantage.
As a writer, I believe I've shown tremendous growth as well, but the biggest thing I think I've grown in is to write more concisely. I started my writing journey this year with a bad habit of incessantly pouring redundant descriptions and phrases in my works; however, after a semester of constantly cutting down my paragraphs, I'm pretty good at writing with brevity. My next step would probably be to be more prolific, as it always takes a long time for me to concoct sentences. I think that with a lot more practice, sentences will naturally flow to me more.
I've had great growth as a reader too. Through participating in book clubs, I've gotten better at analyzing books for their themes, author's craft, and more. I was able to successfully find an insightful theme for my social justice book club book Never Fall Down and support it with evidence. One thing I can work on independently in the second semester would be to read a wider variety of genres as I've been focusing too much in the fantasy section this semester.
I've met plenty of challenges throughout the semester too. One example would be my application essay. I found it difficult to find an adequate topic that really shows a unique side of me. After talking with my teachers and thinking again about it on my own, I was able to come up with a great topic that I was able to expand and ultimately show a change in my character in the span of one essay. Another challenge I've faced would be writing my reading response. I was bad at expanding my ideas and explaining in detail how the evidence supports my theme. Fortunately, I talked with Mrs. McKinnon and was able to overcome my inability to explain.
All the adversities aside, the unit I enjoyed the most would definitely be the podcast unit. Not only was creating a podcast from scratch something I've never done before but we were even able to meet with a real-life journalist who taught us techniques! The whole experience was new and exciting, and I loved every second of it.
Above all, RLA this semester has had a lasting impact on me as an English student, teaching me so many techniques and skills of English.
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