History Blog #4

As an honor student this past semester, I've had all kinds of different successes. The main successes, however, would have to be just simply passing the class, and getting stronger with my writing skills.

When i made the decision to be in honors, I was already prepared to work hard and put forth my best effort. Throughout the period of time that I did receive honors assignments, the work load started becoming heavier and heavier. Fortunately, with lots of determination, focusing, and energy i was able to work hard and get through obstacles.

As for my writing, i came into the 11th grade knowing how to write general essays, but by being in honors and Randy's class period, I was able to take my writing to a whole new level. I went from just writing everything that was on my mind and correcting any typos and errors, to writing filtered out thoughts that was in my mind in a more structured, organized, and creative way that was easy and interesting for the reader. Blog entries, note sessions, book readings, and Randy's teachings, were all keys that opened the door for me to better writing.

The only thing that I would do differently if I had to do this past semester of honors over again, is manage my time better. There were lots of times when I would get distracted or off task, due to out of control energy and tempting classmates. Everyone knows that I have lots of energy, but there were times when I should've controlled my energy a lot better, and tried to focus a lot harder to help not only myself, but those around me who were trying to concentrate as well. I have to admit that doing this became a little hard, because I felt like even when I tried to focus, there was always that someone that tried to either irritate me on purpose or get me of task. As a result, instead of getting further on whatever was supposed to be completed at that moment, I was actually falling behind. A solution to this problem then and for the future, is to just put forth more effort towards focusing and remembering that the only person responsible for my grades is myself, so that's who I need to worry about---myself.

My goals for next semester of honors is to just keep doing my best, controlling my energy better, getting an A, and managing my time better. The steps that I plan to take in order to achieve these goals, is to take advantage of resources (notes, books, web, Randy, etc., etc.), take good notes, remain positive no matter what, engage in class discussions and note taking sessions, and try hard to comprehend vocabulary and content.

If i were to choose any part of literature and History for our honors work, i would choose slavery. The reason why I would choose slavery, is because it's a topic that I've always been interested in, and it also leads to other possible topics such as, segregation, presidential elections, wars, and trades. So not only will we be able to learn something mew, but tie in and expand other topics that we've already learned as well.