Basically Criticism

    I dislike blogging. Last year, my teacher was the only English teacher who made her classes do weekly blogs. I was jealous of all my friends who were in different classes because they weren't forced to do them. When the year ended, I thought I was free. I didn't expect to be forced to write them for a second year in a row. My life would be so much better without them. However, I can say that the prompts this year are definitely better. I don't like writing them, but I do like reading them. It would be nice to get class time to read other peoples blogs.

    Choice reading is not really "choice" reading. Yeah we get to chose a book instead of  being assigned one, but we can't just choose any book we want. Its highly recommended that we pick one off of the AP list which really means we have to select one of them. Not in a million years would I chose a single book off of that list if I was actually given a choice. I want to read a dystopian novel or some historical fiction, and I am not talking about 1984 or some book written in the early 1900s that I can barley understand. We were asked in the beginning of the year why and when we stopped reading for fun. For me, it was at the start of high school and it was for this exact reason. I get assigned novels that are extremely difficult to get through so I have no time to read books I actually like. 

    I don't really think Harkness discussions and seminars are much different. I find them equally stressful and pointless. I know its beneficial to get other peoples thoughts on different topics, but when I spend the whole time trying to come up with something to say instead of listening to other students, it kind of defeats the point. I don't know, maybe its just me, but I think there are alternative options that would be just as insightful and definitely less stressful than a graded class discussion. 

    I really liked the scavenger hunt we did before Christmas break. However, most of my group would not participate which ruined it. Only me and one other teammate did everything. When I tried to get the other members to participate I was asked why I was being so competitive. I just wanted to win, but that was impossible because we couldn't chose our groups. I would have much rather been with my actual group who I know would have helped.

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