This semester in a nut shell..

This class has really helped me to become a better writer. I am not going to lie I did not like the post midterm blog topics but at the same time you have to do things that you do not like some times, and it made me a better writer. It is not easy for me to write but being able to blog instead of write paper after paper for it just to be thrown away has helped me. I feel like I have been writing for a purpose when I blog. Not only that but the projects we have done are not like every other classes projects. I love being able to have the freedom that we do in this class and it makes me want to actually improve myself and make myself a better writer because I am not forced to. It is just like reading I hate being told I have to read something but when it is my choice I actually enjoy reading. This class is definitely one that I enjoyed taking, I would actually say it was, by far, my favorite this semester. I cannot wait to continue working with the tutorials that we have been given in this class to improve my writing. I am sad that this class has to come to an end, but alas all good things must. Not only did I love having Lella as my teacher but I just loved everyone in my class. I feel like I have become close to some of them just through that class and now we are friends. I hope that I have more classes like this one my next three years of college at Lees. If I do it will make my time here much more enjoyable. Thank you Lella for everything you have done to help and teach me! It really means a lot! P.S. We still have to watch Star Wars! :)

Confused words game

When I played the game I got a perfect score which showed me that I really do not need much work with this topic. However, the game is good practice for people who may get the words confused easily. The timer adds pressure so that you have to not only think hard but you have to think fast. It trains you to be able to look at words and know the difference faster than you did before. In the long run this will be extremely helpful to anyone that plays it and is in need of help. I am glad I played just so I could get a feel of if I needed to work on this or not. It truly does imporve speed in not only getting the correct word but spelling it correctly as well. It is important when you are using these common words that you are able to spell them right because some people may think it is a completely different word opening up a totally different can of worms. All in all it is just really important to know exactly what word you are using and how it spell it. I have learned that it is not good to just try to use big words unless you truly know what they mean because if you do not then you just look stupid, and no one likes a dumb ass. There is no sense in trying to be something you are not. I am not an English major and trust me I am not affraid to tell people that.

Spelling: Common Letter Patterns

Common letter patterns are everywhere you look. It is good to know some of this patterns just so you know that they are there. It is not hard to recognize when you look at something wrote down what commonly used patterns are. However, when you are just going off memory it is a little bit harder. That is why it is good to memorize as amny of these patterns as you can. It is a lot easier to spell some words if you know there are common letter patterns in the word. If you do not know if there is a pattern there then it could really hurt you. That is the main reason that you would need to know these patterns. This tutorial helped me to see that I really do need yo work on momerizing at least some of these patterns instead of just trying to wing it. It is never good to write something unsure if you are spelling it right, unless you have spell check. The only reason I could think for someone not to want to learn these is because they think they know everything about writing, or they are just to lazy to take the time to look into what patterns are used. This is a really useful tutorial to watch and listen to, that is if you truly want help of course.

Comma Chameleon

Common Chameleon is a very easy game to play when you understand all of the places that they are supposed to go. For me it was a very easy game to play. It is another part of English that comes easy to me, but that is mainly because it was the only thing really taught to me. The game is just basically there to help with punctuation marks that most people learn in kindergarden and it is drilled into your head even as say a freshmen in college. Some people I am sure have more difficulty than others with this game but if you just take your time and look at it you will figure it out. It may take some time but it will eventually come to you.

Confused Words Tutorial

I have problems with words just for the simple fact that I am dyslexic but I try not to use that as an excuse for what I do wrong. I usually only get the to and too confused when I am writing. I do not really get confused I just have problems spelling the words correctly because of this problem. I try to work really hard on all the English I do just to make sure that I do not get the wrong word when I am using the commonly confused words. It makes it harder on me but it does not matter some things come easy to others. I am used to not being able to just write a paper so I know for me that it takes time and effort, therefore I know I have to focus to get things done. Like I said it does not come easy but to me I feel like that is what will make my writing better one day. People get words mixed up all the time so I do not feel quite as bad on this one. Most people even make up their own words half of the time and they do not even make sense. That or they throw out some random big words just to sound smarter than what they are.

Grammar Ninja

Grammar Ninja was hard for me because I was never really taught what words went had what meaning. The schools I was raised in were all about sports and not so much education. They did not teach the way they really should have. The only way I know math is because I am just good at it. English never was my strong suit. My sister would go over my work and tell me what was wrong in it and it mostly had to do with this type of stuff. I have to have one on one work in order to understand the proper parts of speech and all the grammar rules. I never was able to get that one on one time I needed so that is why this particular game was really hard for me. I hope someone got as much help from this as I did when they played it. I know now that I have to work extremely hard on this particular subject just from playing this game a few times.

Magical Capitals!!

The first grammar tutorial I played was Magical Capitals. I am usually really good with capitals because it would have to be the only thing about writing that is really common sense. Capitals is just something that comes easy for me I guess because it is like the important things. If just random words started getting capitalized I would probably have problems with them as well. This tutorial could really come in handy if a person was unsure of what is a proper noun or someone just starting out writing to know to capitalize days of the week and stuff like that. Capitalization is one of the easiest and most well know thing to correct for most people. It just comes easy and does not need a lot of explaining to understand the concept of what words need to be capitalized and what words do not.