Vocab Test Reflection

I did absolutely terrible on the vocab exam. Yes, I say exam because it was huge. I don't mean to be rude but how can a project that has been in progress for over a month only be worth 50 more points than a vocab exam. I know vocab is important but shouldn't understanding the themes and romantic characteristics of Frankenstein be more important for our overall knowledge of English. I do. I think that the vocab test should have been 1 point per question or the layer project should be 200 points. Okay, now on to the analysis of the vocab exam. I thought it was easy when I took it. I studied the words for thirty minutes for three nights before the test and I thought that I was well prepared. It must have had lots of tricks because I felt that I knew the words, obviously, but I was extremely incorrect. I don't know if there were any tricks, but It felt like there were, and if there were tricks I think that that is not necessarily unfair, but very annoying. I believe that vocab exams should test the knowledge of the word, not someones ability to pickup on small tricks in the question. Coincidentally, I think that the SAT is complete BS. Imagine that!

GE Reflection Chapters 1-9

From the beginning of this book, I have started to see some interesting themes emerging. One of them being the upper class versus the lower class. Pip represents the lower class and Miss. Havisham represents the upper class for now. We don't know if any other rich people or people in power will show up in the book. In fact, we don't know if any lower class people won't show up. She isn't really mean but she isn't nice to Pip. She seems to want Pip and Estella to get together. She says stuff like "Isn't she pretty." She just seems pretty crazy. She keeps a 50 year old feast out in the open. That is pretty strange. I am pretty sure that Dickens is trying to say something about the class structure in the Victorian period, I'm just not sure what.
Another theme that is emerging is right versus wrong. This is the first one that the reader sees. It is most clearly shown in how Pip steals food and a file for a convict. This is wrong on two levels. First off, he is stealing. Second, he is helping a criminal which I think is against the law. I also believe that Dickens uses this situation to help characterize Pip. After he has stolen the food, he is very scared that he will get caught by the police. Also, he seems to be very remorseful. This shows us that maybe Pip is naturally good, and has a conscience that might help him to do the right thing later on in the story. Who knows.

Frankenstein Overview

I thought that this was a very interesting book. It explores many ideas about creation and what is right and what is wrong. That is what I think the main point of this story is. Once Victor creates the monster, he starts to contemplate if what he did is right or wrong. He starts to think the latter because the monster is going around killing people and just overall messing up Victor's life. Victor thinks that all of these things are happening purely because he thinks that the monster is evil at the deepest levels. But, in actuality, the monster is only evil because of what Victor did. He was negligent towards the monster and abandoned him because he was afraid of the creature he created. During the times that the monster and Victor are separated, Victor becomes increasingly unhealthy. During one of my lit circles, Doug brought up an interesting point. He said that maybe the monster and Victor need to be around each other for Victor to be healthy. It just shows that Victor is feeling guilty because his creation is causing so much grief. Eventually, Victor realizes that what he did was wrong because he did not create a companion for the original monster. I think that Mary Shelly is saying something about creation. Maybe she believes that creation should be left to God. I know it was a little premature but this theme seems strangely relevant to the cloning issues going on today. Overall I thought this book was very good but wasn't the best written book.

Vocab Log

Well, I made a mistake. When my English teacher told my class about our vocab log assignment. I thought that I would do my studying the way I wanted to and then after I had finished I would post one blog entry that would recap my study history. So a couple of days ago, I learned I was supposed to be periodically editing and adding to a post about what I was doing. Well, obviously I cannot do that anymore, but I will still do my original plan and post what I did throughout my study time.

Unit 6

For this unit I decided to make flashcards. I have always used them and they most always worked for me. It does get somewhat repetitive, but I learned the words pretty well in about an hour. I did this unit for about three days and worked on them for about thirty minutes the following two days. I also did some of the activities in the book. I think that I know these words pretty good.

Unit 7

For some reason, I decided to learn these words differently from the previous unit. For this unit, I took every definition and shortened and paraphrased them. Then I would write them down many times. It's just something about writing things down that helps me remember things. I did it a lot during Biology and I liked it and thought that I might do it again. As I did last time, I did a few of the more important activities in the book.

Unit 8

I again made flashcards for this unit and did some of the activities for this unit. This unit was the most difficult for me. I just didn't know as many as these words and it took me longer to memorize what they meant. Some of the words such as triumvirate and votary were unusual and strange to me and took some more time to learn.

Unit 9

This was by far the easiest section for me to learn. I wanted to see if a combination of writing down the definitions and making flashcards would help me any. Unfortunately I have no idea if the section was made easier by combining my two techniques or because the words were easier. I think it is probably a combination of both.



I think that I am well prepared for this quiz

Layer Project Thoughts

I don't know if anybody else does but I really like layer projects. I like how layer projects give me so many choices for me to get points. Most of the activities are familiar from last year's layer such as the lit circles and the ask the teacher thing. Although I like these projects, it seems that this year's project's activities are worth less points. I remember last years project the vocab quiz was 20 points, I think. But this is just a feeling, I have no idea if it is actually true. This year, the project just seems harder. Right now I have 44 points so I think I have only missed 1 point. Probably on my discussion question. But tonight, I am going to do my other discussion question and tuesday I'll do my other lit circle and probably an ask the teacher. By that point, hopefully I will have 75. By that point I am going to have to do the difficult assignments. Its going good so far. Oh, one more thing. I think that 10 points for a 5 minute speech is to little. Speeches are difficult, I think it should be more like 15-20 points.