1st Quarter Assessment
1. How do you feel concerning the pace of the course so far? Some students have mentioned they feel as if they've done more in this marking period than all of their previous years. Is this a good thing? Why or why not?
The pace of the course so far, was very fast and surprising. I think that I have accomplished so much in such as small amount of time. In my opinion, I am much happier with English this year, than last year. I seem to enjoy class and reading a lot more than I have in past years. The pace of class was shocking, at first I did not think I could go through with reading 3 novels in just one marking period, but surprisingly-I could. I think that this class is pushing me to try my hardest and still be challenged. I am happy with every thing that is going on this year-especially the web pages!!!
2. There was a fairly rigid calendar of activities and assignments; did you feel this structure helped you? Why or why not? How did you feel about the way classroom time was organized? (Friday was discussion day; Monday was journal day, etc.)
I feel that the structure of the class along with the calendar of events has helped me greatly in English. Now I know what to expect in class and also what homework assignments are due, ahead of time. I think that the schedule keeps the class on track and also helps every one focus on what the day's lesson is going to be about.
3. What did you think of the books we selected for reading throughout this unit?
I liked the variety of books selected for reading throughout the unit. It gave me a chance to read books that I might not have ever thought of reading. I enjoyed all of them and found it interesting to see the difference and similarities in the three books.
4. How do you feel about the digital portfolios? Did you find it more or less difficult than you expected? Why do you think that is?
To my surprise the digital portfolios were a lot more fun and easy than I thought that they were going to be. I found that once I got started on a new page of my portfolio and learned how to do links, I could not stop adding more links or changing color. I just had a blast finding more information and graphics to add to the portfolio. It was so much fun!!!!!
5. If you were to be given the opportunity to work with your teacher on updating and revising this project, what would you change? And why would you change it?
I don't think that I would change the project at all. I don't think that there is anything that I could do to revise the project. I found it very easy to follow and so much fun, I don't see how I could change it to make it better or easier to follow.
6. Given the circumstance, what would you fight to maintain, Why?
I would fight to have class time to add to the portfolios and continue to add on to them as the years go on. I don't want to lose the knowledge of HTML and the hard work put into the portfolios, just to have them worked on for one year. I would like to have continuous access to the portfolios to revise them and add to them.
7. What do you think your teachers could have done to help you learn more from this unit?
I think that the teachers did a great job in teaching us about the web and how to create HTML documents. I don't think that there is more that they could have done. A teacher was always after school to help you on your portfolio and every one was willing to help you if you had trouble.
8. What would you do differently, knowing what you now know, if we were to do a lesson similar to this in the future?
If I was to have the opportunity to do this project again, I would probably add more graphics and spell check my documents. I would also add more links to different pages. I would just go into more depth on the topics, ex. Adding more to my annotated bibliography.
9. If you were asked by a neutral person about this unit, and you weren't in a good mood but not in a bad one either, and the weather outside was fair and partly cloudy, what would you say? What criteria would you use to make this statement?
I would basically tell the person that the project was a lot of fun to do. I would tell them how cool it was to see your work displayed on the web and how easy it was to do it. I would tell them that the tags for HTML are very annoying, but you get used to them after a while. I would also tell them that I want to add to my portfolio and that I think that a digital portfolio is a much better and way cooler thing than a regular portfolio. The digital portfolios are just neat, mind boggling and fun to do. I would do a digital portfolio for every class-if I had the time.!!!!
10. Tell us anything else that's on your mind concerning this project, even if it is reiteration of a pervious thought.
I just hope that we the students get class time to add to the portfolio as certain points in the year. I just would hate to see the whole HTML experience go to waste by a busy schedule and not enough time. I think that the portfolio is a great idea. When I made statements about how cool this project is, I am not kidding, the project was one of the most neatest things I have ever done. I have always wanted to have a web page or at least figure out how to do one. I thought that I would never be able to do one, but now I know how easy and fun they are. I am not lying when I say "This is the neatest thing I have ever learned in English class." I just hope that we continue to do this type of thing in years to come. Maybe for all of our academic classes?