2nd Quarter Poetry Journal Reflection

The Summer I was Fourteen

The clear-blue water was cold on our hot skin when we jumped into the pool. It cooled us off as we rose from under the surface. There was a cacophony of splashing and yelling as we jumped in and felt the water's cold hand grab hold of our bodies and pull us under. We entertained ourselves by playing pool basketball and tips. All of us together. Close friends and people I had just met having a great time together. We all raised ourselves out of the enormous, blue bowl and onto the boiling, gray pavement. We went under the sun umbrella to get out of the blistering heat. Everyone brought all sorts of food for us to eat. We feasted on pretzels and oreos as we talked the rest of the afternoon away.

I chose this piece because I feel that I did a good job describing the pool's atmosphere that day. I made a reference to another poem we talked about this year when I called the pool a "blue bowl". I tried to use personification when I mentioned the water taking hold of us and pulling my friends and I under. I tried to use descriptive adjectives to describe the pool and what was happening that day. I think that made it a better piece, and also more entertaining for readers.

2nd Quarter Independent Reading Reflection

This quarter I finished four books. This is one more book than I finished last quarter. I read the Color of Water by James McBride, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, as well as Decision Points by George W. Bush.  My books were quite challenging for me especially because they were all long. It made me read a lot. I chose this level of rigor becasue I felt that in my last quarter of reading I did not challenge myself enough. I wanted to do better this quarter and to really learn from my reading. The best book that I read this quarter was Decision Points by George W. Bush. This was a great book because it was an autobiography that went deeper into various topics about our former president that I never knew before. It had some great stories and details about past events and other things that I never knew before reading it. I have discovered that I tend to enjoy nonfiction more than fiction. I like reading autobiographies and biographies and learning from other people's experiences.
I definitely achieved my reading goals from last quarter. I read more challenging books and I read not only fantasy books, but nonfiction which I have found that I enjoy more. For the third quarter, I would like to read five books with at least three different genres. This will help me continue to try out new genres and read more books. My second goal is to read over two thousand pages. Not only do I want to read more books, but I also would like to challenge myself to read longer books. I want to do this so that it will force me to read more often to reach that goal.