Argumentative Essay

Week without technology 

Israel and Palestine Essay

This year we have really focused on writing essays, or more specifically, persuasive essays. In the beginning of the year we completed our first writing piece called "A Week without Technology." This was an in class essay, and it wasn't for the grade. We had to write our opinion on having a day without technology, and I chose the side of having this day. We had not learned to write persuasive essays before, but this essay was only for progress and marking where we were. The essay was very difficult for me to write because I didn't know what to do and I had not learned about it. For that essay, I received decent grades. For example I got mostly 4's and some 3's which was decent. 

Then as we progressed with the course, Ms. Lewis began introducing the concept of persuasive and argumentative essays. We began learning about how we can make our essays very convincing and organized at the same time. We learned that we must see both sides of the conflict, which I did not do in my first essay. I only chose one side, so I assumed I only show the positive things about that side. We also learned about word choice, and how we must use strong words in order to have a strong essay. 

We then began writing our other persuasive essay which was about the conflict in Palestine. Israel and Palestine are fighting for land, and we had to choose a side to part with. I parted with the side of Palestine so I had to start researching about Palestine and its history. On the contrary, I didn't need to research for my other essay and I just wrote from my previous knowledge. As I continued researching about Palestine and Israel, I also was completing an outline that was peer checked and was also corrected by Ms. Lewis. We also did not do this with the other essay but rather started working and didn't brainstorm. After I completed the research I began writing my first draft. After the first draft, I got it peer checked and received feedback. I then completed a second draft then my final copy. We previously did not do this either and I didn't even think about doing it before. When I finally received my grade, I was very happy. I got mostly 5's and some 4's and my overall grade was a 91%. I was very happy with this because we were told that the highest grade was a 93% and the fact that I got a 91% was very exciting. I think to get this grade I really worked well with critical thinking because I came up with my own points and thought outside of the box.

Next time, I would like to spend more time with the actual essay. I spent more time with the research than writing the essay. If I had elaborated more on it then it could have been very good. Also I would've liked to schedule an appointment with Ms. Lewis to talk about the essay, so I know exactly what to do. I have done it last year, and it worked very well. We could discuss what she looks for in the essay and what I could change in my essay. It would've really benefitted. 

Overall, I believe I made a lot of progress in my argumentative essays and I hope to do more in the future. 

Speech

I believe that my speech didn't go as well as I thought. For example, I wanted to do so much more gestures. I also wanted to change my voice a little more, and I wanted to walk around a lot more. Even though, I did have a few mistakes, I still did a few things that I liked in my speech. For example, there was one part of my speech where I emphasized a word, when I didn't mean to, and it turned out very good. I also had a few moments when I caught eye contact with a few people, and it really made the speech a lot better. 

This speech was about a personal experience that has happened in our life, that has changed us. I talked about the time I moved into my new house, and about how I was so excited about the pool. My intentions for this speech, were not to be about the pool and me riding on it, I meant it to be about how I changed as a person from before to now. For example, how I became more mature, and how I changed to being more optimistic and more happy in my life. I had a lot of challenges when I was writing my speech. For example, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what I was going to talk about, because I never really had an adventurous life. I thought and I thought, and finally I came up with this idea, and I knew it was perfect for this class. Before the speech, I definitely felt very nervous, because I felt like I hadn't practiced it enough, even though I practiced more than I should've. After my speech, I felt a lot better that it was over, and it seemed like it went on forever. I wasn't exactly unhappy about my speech, but I was more disappointed that I didn't do the things that I hoped to. Some of the feedback that I had recieved was that I didn't have enough eye contact, and I agreed with that. When I'm nervous, I try to look down at my paper, more than look at other people, because sometimes it makes me feel uncomfortable, and so I really need to work on that.

I feel that the areas of strength for me s my voice and articulation, because I talk a lot to other people, so most of the time I don't feel uncomfortable. Also, I have taken a few theater classes, so I know how to speak and seem like I'm completely comfortable with my surroundings. The areas that I really need to work on is eye contact, and the swaying that I do when I'm nervous. I'm not sure if anyone notices my "swaying" because most of the time I just tap on my legs, or move my hands in a pattern, but I definitely need to work on it. Also I need to work with eye contact, and feeling more comfortable with myself, and looking at others. 

Overall, I feel like I did a pretty good job, and I feel proud of myself that I had received the award, and I hope the next speech goes as well as this one!