Journal #25 - My Vocabulary History

Journal #25: Post on your own blog: “My Vocabulary History”

What are your strong points; what are your weak points when it comes to the trait of Word Choice in your writing and reading?
My strong points when it comes to the trait of word choice are that I can use simple words and still get my opinion and point out to the readers. Also, I can use long, complicated vocabulary without making the writing piece sound boring and difficult to understand. My weak points in the trait of word choice are that I sometimes use the wrong word in an incorrect manner when I try to find a synonym for the word I'm trying to replace. When I read articles, books, etc. there are some words that I do not know the meaning of.

Describe how you have studied vocabulary in the past. What kinds of class activities and assignments have you experienced to work on your word choice?
In the past, I had workbooks that helped me expand my vocabulary.

Describe how you, personally, learn new words. Give a specific example of how you have learned a new word recently.
I personally learn new words by reading. When I read and come across a word that I have never seen or heard of before, I go straight to a dictionary to see what it means because I lose track on where the story is going. For example, eversince we started reading To Kill a Mockingbird, I have stubled across some difficult words like assuaged. I learned that assuage means to to make milder or less severe.

What are your specific vocabulary/word choice goals? How many new words would you like to learn this semester?
Overall, i would just like to learn more and new vocabulary and use them in my daily life. I would like to learn a lot of words that would help me throughout my high-school career.

What will be your evidence that you “own them” and can use them in your speaking and writing?
My evidence is that I improved more on my essays.

Journal #20 - My Final Minutes of 2009

New Year’s Eve...The day where everyone celebrates the coming of a new year with a “BANG!” (LITERALLY!!!) I check to see the time on my cell and it’s 11:55 at night. “Ohhhh Myyyy Goshhhh! 5 minutes more till 2009 is over,” I think to myself. I’m popping fireworks with my cousins. We light up everything we can. The neighbors begin to pop the illegal kinds of fireworks that shoot up in the sky and make a big BOOM! I look up and see the bright colors of pink, green, purple, blue, and gold. I hear the cute, little screams from my baby cousins as they gaze up at the sky in amazement. All of my family gathers outside the house together making the most of the last five minutes of 2009. Time definitely goes by quick and before I knew it, I hear everyone saying, “5…4…3…2…1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!” My cousins and I pop the last batch of fireworks and I go over to my family and greet them a happy new year. I hug every person in sight with teary eyes. Yes, I’m filled with sadness as I say goodbye to the year 2009, but I know 2010 will have something good in store for me!