End-of-the-Year Final Exam

Slice of Life

Context and Reflection

             The assignment that I have chosen is a "Slice of Life."  A "Slice of Life" is a piece of your life that you write about in very descriptive detail.    This "Slice of Life" is about how we had an unexpected fire alarm and how I dealt with it.  The learning that I am "showing off" is descriptive writing.  At the beginning of this year, my writing was very basic/elementary.  Now, I can show how I have improved by writing descriptively and using figurative language (similes, personification, metaphors, etc.).  Some changes that I made to this piece are including the five senses and changing some of my words so that they become a little bit more descriptive.  This makes this piece more interesting.  I chose this piece because I wanted to prove my skills of imagery.


The Piece

Snowy Emergency

             It was a snowy day.  Flakes of snow were swirling around outside.  I was in health class, kind of bored.  We were talking about our circulatory system when suddenly...

             A loud, blaring noise started sounding all over the school.  I jumped our of my seat in surprise.  Everyone was scurrying toward the doors in fright.  I followed them out, down the stairs and outside.

             When I stepped outside, a strong, snowy blast of wind swept over the school.  I looked down and saw two inches of snow on the ground.  Students were talking to their friends, trying to catch up with each other, and teachers were trying to gain silence in their classes.  Many students were wearing T-shirts.  I was wearing a sweater and sneakers, so I was shivering and cold.  My teeth were chattering as I stepped through the snow.  It was complete chaos.

             Unfortunately, the ground sloped steeply down towards a wide ditch.  I started losing control of my feet.  I sped towards the ditch, and, in an attempt to stop myself, I fell on all fours, the snow up to my elbows and knees.  My sweater and pants were completely soaked.  I struggled up, colder than ever.  Now, I just needed to find my class.

             All around me, students were shivering, as pale as polar bears, climbing the hill and around the school garden to the front of the school.  I finally located my class and struggled uphill to catch up.  Teachers were pointing classes up to the front of the school.  Everyone was outside, so it was a sort of traffic jam.  That's when I looked up and saw everyone heading towards BOCES.

             We finally made it to the sidewalk and started our journey to BOCES.  Students were clutching their friends in an attempt to get warmer.  A teacher was in the middle of the street, stopping cars to let us pass.

             We went down the sidewalk and through the front door of BOCES.  I sighed with relief.  I finally made it to the school, in what seemed like hours and hours.  I was warming up again, and I thought to myself, I hope this never happens again.


About the Author

           
             I'm Alice Hu, a seventh grader in Mr. Scott's class on the Fire Ants at DeWitt Middle School.  I feel like I've improved a lot over this year compared to last year.  Last year, my grammar and my writing skills were very basic.  The words that I used wasn't middle school language.  However, this year, I think I have improved my grammar and my writing skills.  I have learned lots of grammar, such as when to stop a sentence so that it doesn't become a run-on sentence.  I have also learned a lot of ways to describe a noun using figurative language.  I think that I have grown a lot as a writer this year.

Sophia X. - Final

Context and Reflection

The assignment I’ve chosen is a slice of life that I wrote in the middle of the year. It’s about a paper mache dolphin I made last year in 6th grade, and what I thought about it. I chose this piece because I saw several things that needed improving, like grammar, spelling, etc. I also thought that it would be easy to add on to, since it was rather short.  

The Piece- Never had a Chance

It was humiliating. I stared in disgust at what I’d just created.

“Maybe it’ll look better if you just turn it at a certain angle.” said the person across the table, with fake enthusiasm in his voice.

I looked down at my creation, a horrid paper mache “dolphin”. It looked like a blue blob, with a tube sticking out, meant to be it’s nose. Not to mention it’s creepy painted on eyeball. It was a psycho dolphin gone wrong.  It was absolutely horrible, I was scarred for life. To think I had spent the last week working on this. I wanted to just toss it out. But NOOOO, we had to take a picture of it in order to “preserve the memory”. Afterwards, I shoved it in my backpack to take home, not even caring that I had just crushed it’s head. I had decided, that once I got home, I was going to use it as a punching bag and destroy it.

I got home, and showed my creation to my brother. It’s head was hanging on by a thread. One look, and he burst out laughing.

“WHAT IS THAT?” he asked between chortles.

“It’s a decapitated dolphin idiot, can’t you tell?” I said in a sarcastic tone. But I started laughing with him anyways since we both agreed it was hideous. I took up the “dolphin” to my room, still laughing,  and placed it on the floor. I stared at it, then took a picture, just to preserve the poor paper mache dolphins last dying moments. Then I smashed it against the wall. Little paper shreds started floating down around me. Like Angels singing that it had gone to a better place, away from this judgmental world. I slowly looked up, as if wondering where the dolphin had left to. I burst out laughing again. What a waste of material. I hated that dolphin so much.

About the Author

My name is Sophia Xu.  I am a 7th grade student at Dewitt, in Mr. Scott’s third period english class. I feel like my writing has improved somewhat compared to last year. In 6th grade, I was a decent student in English, but I didn’t really care about grammar that much and would always put commas in the wrong places. I have gotten better at using them, but I definitely still need to work on them. I believe I have made an improvement through this year’s 3rd period English class, and will continue to improve in future years.

My Brain Explained 2.0

Margaret Kops-Kuveke

Context and Reflection

The assignment I have chosen to revise and share with you was My Brain Explained. I wrote this in the beginning of the year, about nine months ago. In this piece, I spoke about my brain and how it works, the learning styles that come with that, and the “type of smart” I am. Looking back, I still agree with what I wrote, but how I wrote this piece was terrible. I’ve chosen this piece for precisely this reason. I know that my skills as a writer have really grown a lot throughout this year, and I also know that I could really change this work to make it much better. There were a lot of elements to this piece that I had to change. First of all, my voice was almost non-existent. I was bored reading it, and I knew that this would really crush this piece. I decided to put in a lot of new writing that made it sound a whole lot more interesting and made it sound like I was actually talking. I also made a lot of technical errors. For example, if you look at this piece, you can tell I had no idea how to cite where my information was coming from. My writing in the beginning of the year had no detail. Everything was very limited in explanation, and I had to go through the entire piece and add a lot more description. I can tell how much I have really improved as a writer just by looking at this simple paper.

The Piece
My Brain Explained 2.0

People learn in a lot of different ways. No one learns exactly the same, but as it turns out, this is totally okay. There are three types of learning styles, or different ways that people learn best by. These categories that we might classify our brain as are tactile, visual, and auditory. I identify as a tactile learner. There a lot of actions that have lead me to this conclusion. For example, I am a hands-on learner. Knowing this helps me figure out a lot of strategies for learning or studying. Doing anything that involves touching and moving helps me focus, like tracing letters of a new word I am learning. I rock in my chair a lot, and it actually helps me relax and focus, despite if adults around me don’t quite believe this. Things like this, chewing gum, or walking around, really help me understand and focus on what’s happening. As a tactile learner, I am a well coordinated person. This gives me an advantage in sports, as well as learning. I learn “by touching and doing,” (What’s Your Learning Style? The Results”). Everyone learns differently, but understanding what type of learning style works best for you is very important. In addition to to different learning styles, there are also different kinds of “smarts.” I am bodily/kinesthetic smart. People who are bodily/kinesthetic smart like to be active and do things by moving around. Getting to know what kind of smart you are is very helpful for many reasons. You can then find out about your strengths, and ways that you can learn better. One learning and studying strategy that works best for me is if I would like “to memorize something, write it out a number of times until I know it,” (“What Are Your Learning Strengths”). Since moving around helps me focus on what’s happening, moving props around and building models for a presentation is a good strategy for me to be successful. I learn by doing interactive things. My brain is wired in a way that works better when I’m moving and active, which is why I identify as a tactile learner and am bodily/kinesthetic smart.

About the Author

I am a seventh grade student at DeWitt Middle School.  Last year I was in sixth grade. I used to say I was a good writer, and that would be true. But just looking back at the beginning of this year’s work, I can tell that I have improved my skills a lot. Over the course of a year, my quality as a writer has gotten so much better. I am proud of how I have transformed as an English student. I can tell just how much I have improved just by looking at all the revisions I made to the piece. At the beginning of the year, I would have said what I wrote was well written, but after a full year of seventh grade English, I can see I would of been wrong! The content of my writing was very bad, and I know what was wrong with it. I have learned what those things were throughout the year, which definitely shows just how much I have grown as a writer.

The Story Telling Competition

The Story Telling Competition

By

Yashal.Imaan

Part 1: Context and Reflection

Part 2. The Piece

Part 3:  About me

    1.Context and Reflection

I chose to write a 'Slice of Life'.I am showing off my figurative language.I chose this piece                  because I think it's one of the most important things I would like to share about me.It                             represents me and how that day totally changed my life.

     2.The Piece

    

“It’s all right.Just don’t look at them,it’s as easy as that” I said to myself,I

mumbled to myself,I could hear the girl on the stage,she was telling the story of ‘Cinderella’,I could see her cute dress,it was blue and she wore a tiara,with a hello kitty bow tying back her long and curly hair.

“Only two more to go,”I whispered as I peeked to see who’s turn it was. A thought

strike me to revise again.So I began.Oh no,I got stuck on that line again.So I put my hand in the

pocket of my blue sweater,it shined as the lights on the stage reflected over it’s rough and worn body.I looked and then got the word for the hundredth time and read it all the way to the end.Then I heard people clap and the girl in front of me went on stage.

I was really nervous now, I could hear my heart beat faster and faster. And with every beat  I felt like it was going to pop out. I was sweating now, even in winter with my sweater on.I didn’t realize I was holding my breath,so I exhaled slowly,which sounded like a sigh.

A thought came into my mind.What if I don’t win. And worst of all, what if I mess up and everybody started laughing? After all what use would it be of practicing the story for almost 2 weeks!

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard my name called,I could feel all the eyes burning on me,as I went on stage.I suddenly realized two familiar faces,my mom and my dad. My dad gave a big smile and a thumbs up,I gave a weak smile in reply.And so I began,I was surprised by how the words just came rushing out of my mouth,as if they were just waiting there the whole time.I didn’t care much because I couldn’t take it any more.My legs began to shake and I was sweating and surprisingly cold.I checked to see if someone had noticed,but everyone was just listening,not caring much.It was seconds later I realized that the words had stopped,my mouth wouldn’t open.

Hard as I tried to remember,nothing came out.

“It’s no use,it’s over,you lost…”A voice said in my head.I felt the urge to shout and shout until the world would break into pieces.But no it wasn’t over yet.

And so going with my guts.I skipped the sentence and jumped on the rest.

When I was done I said thank you,and just almost ran as though I was being chased by wolves.The applause were nothing,nothing mattered.It was over,I did it. And it didn't matter if I won or not,because I had already gained something else,it was courage.

3.About me

I am Yashal Imaan,student of Dewitt and I am in 7th grade.I have to admit,I have improved a   lot from last year,I have got better in using figurative language and GUMS!I still do have some           errors,but compared to last year,I have really improved,plus I have worked harder,and my results         are...not bad at all.  

Final!!!

Ibtida Ahmed English 6/17 P 3

Pi Day

Introduction

This is a “Slice of Life” of a celebration of the number “Pi”. This happened in April. Pi is a really large number that goes on and on and on. Because the number is so large that it referred as “Pi”. The number of Pi is 3.1415… and that's the farthest I could go because I can’t add all the numbers of pi! We did many activities about Pi in my classes. Only 7th grade celebrated Pi day. Here are the activities I did in in my classes in Pi day. The reason why I chose this piece is because I think I should improve it since I didn't put a lot of detail.

               

In pi day, we did many activities about pi. Pi is also used to find the circumference and diameter of a circle but we are not talking about circles. In social studies, we made necklaces with beads that resembles a number. The silver bead represents the decimal. We get to choose different colored beads for the numbers in pi from 0-9. Since we’re all out of pink beads, we use purple beads instead. The silver bead is the only bead that is not the same as the other beads and there are many variations of it. In science, we didn’t do much about pi. Instead we had pie. There are two strawberry pies, a lemon pie and a chocolate pie. My favorite flavor is chocolate because chocolate is my favorite. I believe the lemon pie is the most popular pie in my class because I see many of my classmates want lemon pie as soon they are called on. There is also a contest where someone tries to memorize the numbers in pi and I don’t know who won the contest. In some of my classes, I see posters about pi and there are some funny ones such as someone on the phone uses all the numbers in pi instead of using the word “pi” and pi talks to the guy on the phone to use “pi” instead of using 3.14….

                    About the Author                                                                                                                                         My name is Ibtida Ahmed. I have attended Dewitt middle school. I am in Mr. Scott’s 3rd period 7th grade class. At the beginning of the year, I didn’t know too much and most of my Slice of Lifes weren’t that big. They are about a paragraph long and they don’t provide lots of detail. Now thanks to Mr. Scott and Ms. Sherman, now I can write or type much bigger responses and provide much more detail than before. Now, I am much better at making extended responses now.

Caroline Hayes final- In the darkness

                                    In the darkness

Caroline Hayes                                                                                                         English

6-16-15                                                                                                                     Period-3rd

I woke up feeling sick, and worried. I felt like I was being watched by something that I wasn’t able to see. I stood up, and I felt dizzy, like how you would feel as if you just stood up after being on a spinning roller coaster. I felt a cold, fast breeze brush against my neck, which was very weird, because I have neither a window, nor a fan in my room. My mom wasn’t home, so I was alone in my home, and terrified. I had no idea why I felt like this, because I was perfectly fine last night. I looked up, seeing something very strange in the mirror on my bedroom wall. I saw a reflection, and it looked like a blob of smoke. I looked down, not wanting to scare myself by wondering what that was, that I saw. I was thinking, “Was that a ghost?” “Was that smoke?” I kept on over thinking , what that was I saw. Something told me to courage myself in putting my head back up to see if it were still there, so I looked up, and nothing was there.   Now that is what made my stomach drop like a stone off of a building. I went downstairs to avoid the thing that frightened me.  I decided to make something to eat, so I made pancakes for breakfast. I heard a loud thump above me. I wondered what it was, so I went upstairs to check out what it was. I walked very slowly up the stairs terrified, I listened very carefully, and I heard a window being smashed like how it would sound as if you would drop and smash a dish on the floor. I finally reached the top of the stairs, as I tried to swing open the door quickly to get this frightening scene  over with. But the door was locked! I never locked it, how could it have been locked? I was very scared. I could smell smoke, like those hot days we would light up a fire pit, and roast marshmallow. This was not normal to smell in a house, or in a bedroom. I tried to push the door open once again, and it was still locked. So I ran down the stairs, locked the door behind me, and waited till mom came home. I heard keys unlocking the front door, it was mom.

Rose Z. Final - The First Day

Rose Zabel              English

Today’s Date: 6/17/15         Period 3

Original Date: 10/17/14

Context and Reflection

This is the first real piece of writing for the whole year. I chose this to show my improvement for the whole year, rather than just using something from the middle of the year. The original excerpt was short, so I typed it out from my playbook and added specific details where I thought I needed them. There were so many things that were so obvious to me now, that I can’t imagine I could make such big mistakes on. I hope to be able to say that next year, as well, because I know I certainly have a lot to improve on as a writer. I really enjoyed being able to work on this piece again, because I could see how much I have improved, and it felt easier to do than it did in the beginning of the year. I’m really proud of the progress I’ve made this year, so I hope you are, too!

The First Day

It was the first day of elementary school.My mom put a name tag on me with a monkey on it, and smiled. “You’re gonna have lots of fun today. Make sure to do what the teacher says,and eat all of your lunch.”

“I know that Mamma,” I say.

“Okay. Well, we better get going to the bus stop or you’re gonna miss your first day of school!” We walk down the road to a big fir tree with a drainage pipe next to it. I grin happily. Soon I’ll be riding on the bus, all the way to my first day of kindergarten! The bus pulls up next to my mom and I. I read the number on the side of the bus.

“Fifty-eight,” I say. I step in, beholding the wonder disguised as an old yellow school bus.

I ride in the back so that no big kids try to eat me when I’m not looking. When we get to the school, I walk over to Ms. Dolan’s room. Above her room, a sign with a big rainbow on it says, “The Rainbow Room.” As soon as I walk in, a girl smiles at me and I go over to sit with her. She tells me her name is Sophia, and she’s sitting with three girls, named Cesia, Margaret, and Dehlia. Soon, two more friendly girls enter the room and sit at our table. Their names are Goldali and Hanalei. I’m so happy to be making so many friends, and it’s only been ten minutes! I have already made six new friends. Together, we draw with markers on construction paper, laughing at each other’s silly drawings. Finally, class starts. Ms. Dolan introduces herself, smiling. I can already tell she’s going to be a great teacher. We then sit in a circle and introduce ourselves one at a time. I only see one person I know from pre-school, but I recognize others vividly.

The day goes by so quickly, I barely even notice it, and by the time I’m on the bus home, I can't wait to see my mom and tell her all about my day. This has been the best day ever!

About the Author

My name is Rose Zabel, attending DeWitt Middle School as a seventh grade student. I am a student in Mr. Scott’s third period English class. My growth as a writer this year was enormous compared to what I thought it was. Before this assignment, I had no idea what I was going to write, because I thought I hadn’t improved this year. When I actually sat down, after about five days of procrastination, I found that the words came easily to me where they hadn’t come out before. I was shocked at how much my writing had changed, slowly but steadily, over the course of the school year. I am thankful to Mr. Scott and Ms. Sherman for showing me so much this year. I didn’t even realize how much I have improved, and maybe that was a good thing. I think that if I hadn’t challenged myself to doing this project, I would have lost a lot of valuable information about myself. Just knowing the amount of improvement boosts my self-esteem, which makes me want to keep on working harder. So thank you, Mr. Scott, and Ms. Sherman as well. You really pushed me to the limit to show me what I could do, and that makes you good teachers.