It comes to an end

    So this school year is coming to an end, and summer is around the corner. Looking back on all this, I must say this year was quite memorable. For one thing I never would have imagined that I would be blogging. The class that began all this was nonfiction writing. We spent most of our time in this class reading essays, sharing our ideas, writing essays, and blogging. After this semester I feel that my writing has improved.
    I feel that this class was very useful. Before this class I feel that I had trouble expressing what I wanted to say in my writing. In most of my essays I did not have a lot of details in my writing which made my essay feel lacking something. With a lot of in class writing and advice for my writing I feel that I have made progress with my writing capabilities. Besides that though one thing I enjoyed in this class was writing blogs. I thought that this was a unique way of helping improve our writing and help us be more creative and share our thoughts. I also like our in class discussions about essays and books that we had read. This gave us an opportunity to further share our opinions on topics ranging from serious matters like fear, to fun topics like the potato.
    This English class has been different then my usual English classes. In most typical English classes we usually read a book, then write an essay dealing with the book. However in nonfiction writing the teacher gave us more freedom in the topics that we would write about. This class helped me to write freely and express my writing in a way that I had not  yet done before. This has no doubt helped my writing improve.

Besides the teaching aspect of nonfiction writing class, I also like how relaxed the atmosphere in the classroom felt. Our teacher was quite funny and would come up with spontaneous speeches about random topics like love, which was pretty random, but interesting to hear. She was very lenient with the work that we turned in, giving us extensions whenever we needed them. Not only that, but our teacher agreed to have an end of the year picnic. I felt that this was not only one of the most fun English classes, but one of the most ideal learning environments I could ask for. I am very thankful for the opportunity to take this English class.  

   

Our World

This week has been crazy. Recently there has been a lot of news that has been quite shocking. Somethings have happened that have caused me to think of our world in a different light.

Everyone should know about Osama bin laden, the most hunted man in the world. It has been around ten years since the terrorist attacks on the world trade center lead by Osama bin laden which have left thousands died, and the United States in a state of panic. This past Sunday it was reported that the United States had found Osama, and shot him when he tried to resist. This news brought joy across the country. I myself was surprised at the sudden news of this happening. Even though he had not really affected me personally, I had never thought about the impact Osama bin laden had on the United States, and how much he has changed it.

Something else that happened locally in the news that surprised me were the shooting at the Market Place Mall. Champaign police officers had responded to a report of a vehicle containing a passenger in possession of a gun. When the police had arrived at the mall to locate the vehicle, they heard gun shots followed by then seeing an active shooter firing multiple rounds at a male student. There were a few injuries, but nothing fatal. This news in particular was surprising as the mall was a familiar place to me, and I would not have expected this too happen.

Another thing that happened this week was the intruder at Kenny Gym. The guy was described as a thin man wearing a red jacket and baseball cap. He was often seeing riding the MTD. The perpetrator was known for harassing some of the girls on the bus, however this time he went further as he followed the girl to Kenny Gym. Much panic ensued as the teachers there kept the stranger out of the building. The intruder was said to have come from a home for the handicapped. Despite this, it is quite unsettling to think about how an event like this could happen somewhere as close as my school.

I have to say that this past week has been filled with crazy news. From the national news of Osama’s death, to my school’s news of an intruder, all of this has caused quite a commotion. These news have changed my idea that nothing bad can happen to me, and has made me think...what has the world come to?