Extra

The most important skill I learned this year was to look deeper into the writing.  Before I had used symbolism but I hadn't thought of whole passages as a symbol.  I had never used diction, tone, word chooice and point of view to examine the author's view on the subject.  I also learned to look for deeper meanings and symbolism in the passages.

Spiders of the Sea

Until the discussion, I hadn't thought of the lobsters as symbols for people.  Other members of the class brought up the symbolism such as the judgement and ultimate demise which made me start thinking. Another thing I hadn't considered was the significance of the extrordinary, symbolic lobsters in a normal store.  The last thing I heard that was influential was the idea of the lobsters. Why lobsters? Why not crabs or some other animal?

The lobsters were in a normal setting to demonstrate the monotany of human life.  The author thinks the way we live leaves a lot to be desired.  Normally, when an author wants to symbolize people with something, they pick an object or life form that is very relatable.  Lobsters are not relatable or relevant in any way.  Not many people would pick as something they can relate to or understand.

Paragraphhhhhhh Critiqueeeeeeee!!!!

I think one skill some people need to work on is narrowing their topics.  A lot of papers read had wide concrete details such as covering racism and judgement of Boo Radley.  Another thing that was mentioned was the point sentance leading into the quote.  Instead of saying what the quote was about, the sentance should state what the concrete detail proves about the topic.  One very important thing that should be improved is proofreading.  The paper could be complete but there is one mistake that could lower your grade.  Skills that are important for essay writing are patience, good word choice and supportive concrete details.  Patience is important because to proofread, you have to be persistant enough to reread your paper.  Word choice is important because two people could have the same topic/conclusion, concrete details, and commentary and the person with better word selection would have a more advanced paper.  If your concrete details don't back up your thesis, you can't have good commentary or details to support the topic.

Skills I personally need to work on are word choice, more, detailed commentary and proofreading.  My word choice is very basic and could be improved to make me sound more smartical (just kidding thats not a word!).  I used some words repetitively and they could have been more eloquent.  My commentary was at a very basic, minimal level and I could have added more ideas and thoughts.  Also, it could have backed up my topic and been more solid.  Proofreading. Well ok, I have no patience for anything so reading a paper- that I already spent more time than I wanted to just writing it- is a challenge for me.  I tune out what I am reading and don't catch some mistakes.