Final Reflection: This course was much different than what I expected, but Ive really enjoyed taking

it this semester. Its by far the most creative English course that Ive ever taken, and that was very new to me. We did a wide range of projects that enriched our learning experience by making the work specific to us. By doing this we were able to use critical thinking and inquiry skills in ways that we never had before because the work was completely up to us as students. We did a literacy narrative project, a book report, a tech genre analysis, and a letter that related to the book we chose for the semester. In the literacy narrative project we were able to pick a book that was meaningful to us and use that book to reflect our writings and projects throughout the semester. I actually realized that this book affected me a lot more than I originally thought it had. Mary Shelleys book Frankenstein revealed a deep and meaningful underlying testimony that changed my outlook on life. It related to the real world by including various themes that shed a new light on certain situations present in my own life. The ultimate problem of people not taking responsibility for their actions, and of humans attempt to always outdo God really hit home for me after reading Shelleys book. I understood how often this occurs in society and what a problem it has become in our world. That was the main thing that I got from doing the literacy narrative project. The book report was definitely a creative project on my part. From what I can tell, most people stuck to the script, so to speak; however, I brainstormed and used the website you provided so that I could come up with more original ideas. A category that I developed myself was the Dream Vacation, part of the prezi. I also included a few memes, and in order to avoid plagiarism, I made sure to add a works cited page at the end of my prezi. As far as the tech genre project is concerned, the hardest part was the artifact and text. This was something I thought of by staring at a lamp that had broken mirror pieces all over it. I realized that the

monster in my book saw himself as a failure, thats why I used a broken mirror to reflect its feelings. I realized that sometimes everyone sees their reflection as broken pieces, including myself. The letter I wrote to the creature in my chosen novel actually wasnt too bad. I thought it would be hard to get it started but once I got on track, the questions I asked came naturally. When writing this letter, I felt as if I was an interviewer asking questions, even though I took on the role as someone who was intrigued and supportive of the monsters life story. As I wrote a response to the letter, I knew I had to speak in terms that a monster from the 1800s would have. This was a little difficult because I was in charge of cultivating responses that mirrored how the creature really would respond. A. & C. Out of the four major projects we were responsible for in this class, my strongest suit

seems to be the tech genre project. I was able to investigate many different aspects of technology that I wasnt previously aware of. The personal benefit from this project was my new outlook on my book and on my own life. The literacy narrative project was by far one of the most difficult projects. The claim I made for that project may not seem weaker to the naked eye of outside sources; however, it seems weaker to me because I know that I struggled with it more than the others. I believe that was the case because that was the basis of all our projects. We had to take something from scratch and write about it free reign, by doing this, I had to demonstrate critical thinking skills above all else. B. The most important project that I did this semester was the tech genre project. Ive never done any English project that was as creative as this. I was lucky to have the opportunity to learn about so many different types of technology that I wasnt previously aware of. Designing this project was more hands on than the other projects for me because I chose to do text and artifact. The information I obtained from this assignment will be extremely useful for future classes and presentations.

D. The connection of our books and the real world was genuinely valuable information for me. Previous to this class I have done very little as far as relating the text to my life. The emphasis on making sure there was a clear relation between the book we chose and our personal life required us to think about the meaning of the text, rather than just the literal words written on the page. For me, I realized how prevalent the themes that Frankenstein portrays appears in my life and in the things I observe from an outside perspective. For instance, irresponsibility has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember; sometimes when things get out of hand, I just let them be instead of doing the right thing. Revenge is a theme that I watched happen in high school just about every day; people are immature and refuse to think things through clearly. Loneliness is the reason that my grandma is so sad. She lost her husband years ago, lost her daughter when she turned two, remarried, and this Easter, lost her second husband. All of these things relate back to me. I see people who disgrace certain groups of people in society all the time. It is unfortunate, but true. This is what the creature had to face because all society was fearful of his mere presence. E. The literacy narrative took me an extensive amount of time to finish. As I started it, it had no path, but when I began to think more in depth about what the prompt actually wanted, I was able to mutate it into a piece that satisfied me (and related to me).

The first part of my tech genre project was a simple idea that became something much more intricate. The original piece was simply a mans face with words that reflected Victor; however, I realized that instead of using Victors face, I had accidentally finished the project with the creatures face on it. To solve this problem, I brainstormed a bit, did some research, and realized that in a way, Victor is a monster. One source put it something like, After all, Victor is in fact the monster he created in its best form. The second part of the project came to me as I was staring

at a lamp just thinking. Since the lamp was very reflective, it provided the basis of the idea for my next project. Doing this part of the project required me to go out to the store and buy a mirror, glue, and poster board to put everything together. I did enjoy doing this part of the project and seeing the final results.

The book report was the only thing that I truly brainstormed. I used the resource that was given to us to look at various book report ideas that were unique and not generic. Based off of that I came up with my own ideas including a dream vacation and fake airplane ticket. I was also going to do a music playlist for both of them, but I decided that the songs I had chosen were too modern for the timeframe that the book was set in.

The letter was the last project that I worked on. This project required me to refresh my memory on how letters are supposed to be written. I looked at some sample letters so I could get a feel for doing something I hadnt done in a long time. Fan letters were the main things I looked at, and that ended up being a big help getting me started. As I wrote the first letter, the questions began to come very naturally; however, the response letter was a bit more difficult. This was because I had to put myself in the shoes of the creature. Eventually, I was able to formulate a response that seemed to be appropriate and similar to what he would respond with.

F. Overall the main thing I learned from all of these projects was how to use new technology and incorporate this with relations to the text and my own life.

A. In this class, I feel that I did my best to come in and do my work in a timely fashion. I participated since the beginning as far as class conversations were concerned. In my group, I

think that Elle and I really put in a lot of effort to come up with ideas and see what everyone elses input was on the topic. B. Yes. I think that I did my best in this class. I was able to use my own intuition and creativity and tie it in with all the projects. I spent extensive amounts of time on everything from my journals to my final e-portfolio.

Journals 1. I liked the obituary journal. This was interesting to me because Ive never really thought about my death. It was a very odd journal for me to write; however, it made me be grateful for all the things that Ive accomplished so far, and it gave me motivation to continue on the path that Im on. 2. The write a new ending journal was really cool because I enjoy recreating things. It gives me the opportunity to take an idea and mutate it the way I would like it to be. This journal asked us to create a new ending. Mary Shelley wrote a great book with an enticing ending as well, but if I were the writer I would've changed the very last bit and made it to where Victor and the creature actually get to share final words. After their conversation, I would've made them die together instead of both dying alone in misery. The creature seems to be a reflection of Victor in a sense anyways. 3. The quote 1 journal was one of my favorites, giving me the chance look at the intricate concepts of literacy and how valuable they are to society. Without reading, writing, and understanding, our world is completely lost and off kilter. When I started this specific journal, my first thought was about how not everyone has the opportunity to learn how to read. That was the track and thought process I used to write this piece.

4. I loved the themes journal. Exploring themes throughout books and how they relate to each other and society always has been intriguing to me. Frankenstein generates many different themes so it was neat to get to discuss these. All I had to do was research some common themes and choose a few from the list. 5. Describing a place journal was extra difficult to write, but I enjoyed it. The thesaurus and I are best friends whenever Im writing, and I used it a great deal when composing this journal. I dont think I have ever written anything that completely blocked out the sense of sight. It was a challenge that got my thoughts rolling.

Discussion forum The discussion forum that we were assigned to do towards the beginning half of the semester was new to me. I never had to do anything quite like that in high school (although we did many group assignments in AP English). It made me feel good about myself though because I know I had the opportunity to help someone understand terms that were confusing to them, and I was able to understand vocabulary words from a perspective that wasnt just a generic definition.