Rank: Masters Objective
During not just this year, but last year as well, I’ve learned to find hidden messages in stories. For example, Of Mice and Men had a hidden message in it. It showed how the American Dream isn’t available for everyone and how it’s not equal. In 8th grade I read Romeo and Juliet and there were many hidden meanings in it.
Rank: Meets Objective
For close reading and analysis, we read, Of Mice and Men. The book itself wasn’t too bad, but afterwards when I had to dig deeper and find more information, that’s where I struggled. Spending so much time trying to find quotes and apply them to different subjects was hard for me. I gave myself meets objective because I knew mostly what I was doing, but there were some points where I was very confused.
Rank:Meets Objective
I’m not the kind of person who likes to read books as a whole. I would much rather find a book that I would enjoy reading instead of having someone else pick it out. Don’t get me wrong, Of Mice and Men was a good book, it just wasn’t MY type of book. I gave myself Meets Objective because I knew what was going on in the book, I just wasn’t engaged well enough with the story.
Rank: Shows Improvement
I’ve never been the best at grammar or conventions, but this english class has taught me a lot more. I’ve improved on comma placement, run on sentences and many more. I used to be not so good when it came to short and choppy sentences, but now I know how to prevent them without a problem. I gave myself shows improvement because I’m improving but there is still work needed.
Rank: Masters Objective
For this piece, I got to pick what I was writing about so I chose to write and non-fictional story of a Army Mission. I gave myself masters rank because I got a good grade on it and because I executed my skills well. I enjoyed writing this piece because it also taught me a little more about what military life was like.
Rank: Masters Objective
I gave myself the highest rank because I know i did well in writing the piece. Not just me, but the whole class spent weeks reading and exploring bigger ideas. This was one of my favorite pieces to write because I felt very confident in what I wrote.
Rank: Meets Objective
I gave myself this rank because I thought I did pretty well on this piece. I knew what I was going to do it on well before hand. I spent quite a while doing research and I think it came out great. My word choice wasn’t bad and the words flowed like they should.
As the year comes to an end, I look back at all the things I accomplished. I’ve done well on many tasks during the year, but I’ve also done not so well on some too.
I can definitely say I did well in writing different pieces. I’m great at writing stories about subjects I make up on my own instead of being given a specific topic. I need to improve on speeches. I’m not the best at giving speeches because I’m good at researching for them and getting the right information.
I’ve improved in many ways during this English year and I can safely say that I’ve been more than productive as well.
Austin Yaeger
Mrs. Wiederich
English 2
11 April 2018
My Grandpa
During our class, we’ve been discussing adversity. We’ve seen adversity through novels that we read. From the book I read called, The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime, I saw how the main character had a couple adversities. I saw how he had to deal with autism and many family problems. I noticed how the main character didn’t let those adversities hold him back from what he wanted to do. In my life, I also have a couple of adversities, but not anything major compared to what Christopher had to deal with.
In my life, I have faced adversities and so has everyone else. My adversity is that I’ve never had the “Grandpa” experience. Before I was born, my grandpa on my mom’s side past away. Although my grandpa on my dads side is still alive, (as far as I know), I’ve never met him. From what I’ve heard, he isn’t a good man at all. He would abuse my dad and his brothers and sister. He would yell at people because of his temper. One of the many stories my dad has about him is that he was watching TV, when all of a sudden a newborn kitten walked in front of him. He decided to take his anger out on the kitten so he kicked the kitten across the room and broke its neck. All in all, he wasn’t the ideal person to be around. On the other hand, my grandpa on my mom’s side was the complete opposite.
He was a God fearing man who cared for his family. He had a love for music that wasn’t comparable. He played the accordion for others in his band and owned his own music store. At the store, him and his wife, my grandma, would give lessons. He would give accordion lessons and my grandma would teach people how to play piano. My grandpa would always make people smile and laugh whenever he could.
Unfortunately, he died before I was born. He died in late nineteen ninety nine, just a couple months before my sister was born. Everyone that knew him was touched by him and his love for music. My mom says that “You couldn’t go anywhere without Dad seeing someone he knew.”
In my life, this adversity doesn’t directly effect me. Sure it’s sad he died, but I can’t spend my life being sad. I’ve learned to get over the fact that I’m never going to see him until I go to heaven, so I’ve changed my mindset from being sad he’s gone, to being excited to finally get to meet him one day. Now I’ve never had the “Grandpa experience” either. Some people have a different idea of what that is, but my idea of it is having your grandpa teach you helpful tips or do fun activities outdoors with him. I don’t think my grandpa was ever the outdoorsman, but I could’ve learned a lot about music from him. Today, I play the trumpet in my high school band. I kind of enjoy playing it and push myself to hit higher notes and play at different paces.
What I’ve learned from this adversity is to not live life with a bad attitude. Don’t think about the downs you’ve had but rather focus on the future and what will come next. I’ve learned to overcome adversities by not thinking negatively about them. Even though it may be hard to overcome, try your best. I also learned to be confident in yourself. Don’t think of yourself with a bad mindset and don’t let other people push you around, but instead, stand up to them. Trust in yourself, but more importantly, put all your trust in God.
God has a plan for all of us and knows what each and every one of us deal with and will deal with later on in our lives. We can’t live our lives with our heads down. We all have a purpose and a calling to do. God calls every single one of his people to go out and preach the word to others who choose not to believe or just don’t know at all. When we focus on our adversities too much, we tend to stray further and further away from the goal that God set for us.
Author’s Note-
This text is in the final draft form. I don’t know what else to add or if I should delete anything. I kinda like the part when I talk about my two grandpas because it shows the adversity just that much more. I need help with most of this piece and how to make certain parts of it better; like run on sentences or things like that. I also want feedback on if I have short and choppy sentences, because I’m not sure if I have them.
In my opinion, adversity can be a good thing and a bad thing. It can be a bad thing because difficulties are not fun to deal with. No one wants to live a difficult life. We all want it to be easy and free flowing, but that’s not possible. There are difficulties in all our lives and we have to deal with them on a daily basis. Some difficulties are bigger than others. Adversity is good because it pushes us to make right decisions and it teaches us to learn. It teaches us to learn from our mistakes and move on. Some adversity is unavoidable. For example, if your grandma dies, it’s out of your control, but it’s still a difficulty that you have to deal with. Like I said earlier, there are different severities of difficulty. If you were really close to your grandma, you would have a harder time getting over it. If you didn’t really know your grandma, you might get over it quicker and move on. Life isn’t about sulking in your difficulties, so we shouldn’t be afraid of them. We know that God always has the right choice and we should trust him that he will make the right decision and help us through our difficulties.
In the book I read, “The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime”, Chris had to deal with a couple adversities. Chris had to deal with having autism. Chris having autism was out of his control, but it was God’s choice to give him it. Even though he had autism, he still lived his life and did what he wanted. Another adversity he had to deal with was family problems. His mom was presumed dead and he had to live with his father without his mom. Growing up without a mom would be tough, but Chris had to deal with it. Chris would do certain things to trigger his dad into getting mad. Chris would do things such as talk to much or say things to make his dad angry and shout. Later in the book, chris finds out that his mom is actually alive and that she was sending him letters that he didn’t know of. His dad was hiding this from him the whole time. Even though Chris had to deal with these adversities, he still took on life with a full stride. He didn’t let others hold him back, but his different adversities sometimes held him back. His autism held him back from experiencing different things. The conflict between his parents made him think about it and get off track. Chris learned to deal with the adversities in his life.