Archives: English 8
Reflection on Bomb Debate
I personally thought that the “Agree” side of our debate won, as in, the other side won the debate. They seemed to be much more prepared than we were, in fact, we were still editing right before we started speaking. They were a lot more confident in what they had prepared, however, most of us on the “Disagree” side stuttered quite frequently. I learned many things from this project, but one of them definitely stands out, and that would be this. Everyone in a group needs to do their work on time, and as a group, otherwise, one or two people end up doing everything. If one person does everything, then no one else actually learns anything at all. I learned that being one of the people that gets left with all the work is an awful thing, and I wish I would’ve done more about it at the time. Overall, I thought this assignment was a good one. It gave us the chance to work as a team towards a common goal, which is a very good learning experience.
Shipwreck Challenge
I think that personally, I enjoyed getting to work with a team to accomplish different things. It was fun to get to work with different groups throughout the day, some groups large, some groups small. My biggest challenge was definately trying hard not to completely take over my group, because I tend to like knowing that I’m in charge. Our ship was successful, because it had extremely high walls, so unless it started flooding, it would stay afloat. To make it more successful, we could add water channels underneath to allow the boat to move and not just stay in one place. My group tended to work pretty well together, and when we all focused, we made a great team. I think one of our strengths was that we all had generally the same ideas, so it was easy to come to a conclusion, and work quickly towards a common goal. I think one of our weaknesses was that even after we’d decided on a design, we didn’t always double-check everything with the rest of our group, first, so our design ended up being a little rushed. Overall, the Shipwreck Challenge was an amazing experience, and I’m glad we all had the chance to participate.
My Best Poem….so far!
Trees (a memory map poem)
Here by this tree,
many memories reside.
The fragrance of pine trees
gently drifts through the air.
Children laugh and smile, as
they watch a butterfly float
down the gravel path
Here by this tree
lies friendship and hope.
Days of talking of things
that mattered to us,
watching as the others
played simple games in the grass.
Here by this tree,
which we named Thalia
long ago,
I now sit here alone,
wondering, why did you go?
We used to draw pictures, and
sit here to chat,
and listen to the sounds
of this place, our world.
Here by this tree
I breathe the same
scent of pine from long ago,
listening to the children laugh.
Still, I will sit here alone,
wondering, always wondering.
Why did you go?
-Anna Haag