Self-Assessment of my project

       After finishing my whole project, I felt a huge accomplishment; no matter how good or not it is. : )

       

       First, I gave myself a B+~A- for character because I used the character which was the original character in this book, Ellen, becuase I did not want to break the original plot by adding a new character. In my opinion, the book wants to tell us Sookan was the only unique one because the author must mention that if there was another Asian student, who was very excellent and hard-working, but there was no hints about that, so I thought I should not add one character which from my country, although it will be much more easy to write. As a result, I chose Ellen, a native American. It was a big challenge for me because I needed to think in the way of Americans, and the things I wrote needed to follow American cultures. I still have many things to improve, but I think I did a good job for my first time, So I give myself an A for choosing the character, and a B for developing the character.

      

       Second, I think I wrote many details in my project, but most of them were visible details, and all of them belong to the "see" in the five senses. Although I had other senses in my writing, I still need to add more other details to make them become as much as the "see" sense, so I give myself a B- for this part.

      

        Third, the narration, description and reflectiong. It was the part which I satisfied most because each of my diary has told what happened clearly and included tons of characters' feelings. And the emotions of my character were versatile, so it makes my character become very vivd and interesting. Some of my plots were chosen from the book which were the original plots, but I changed my focus from Sookan to Ellen, and I think I was pretty successful of this changing part. Then readers can see a different world from Sookan's. They could see what Ellan saw, and they can feel what Ellen felt. I also wrote many descriptions, such as the descriptions of environment, the descriptions of characters' actions and the description of characters' feelings and emotions. That makes my writing more readable, so I give myself an A for this part.

  

       Fourth, I give a B for the clarity and correctness part because I do correct many mistakes before I hand it, and I think I still have some mistakes but not that much.

 

       I spent a long time writing this project, and I rewrote three times in order to make it better, although it was still not as perfect as I expected. I do improved my description part and grammar. I really hope my English writings will become as beautiful as my Chinese writings. 

Writing center reflection

           I went to writing center to find Mrs. Wrzosek. She read my first blog which was Ellen’s diary on Sep 1st. She did not say that I had any strength. After reading my diary, she told me the most important thing for was that I needed to be more realistic.

           Firstly,  I was pretending that I was Ellen who was an native American girl; it was hard to write because all the thing I wrote need to accord with American culture, and I am not an American, so all of the American cultures were differ to me. I needed to know more about American cultures before writing, if I want to do a good job. For example, in my diary, I wrote that Ellen’s parents prepared a big meal for her in order to celebrate the coming of her college life. Her mother cooked turkey, vegetables and apple pie. Mrs. Wrzosek told me that this meal was more likely to be the Thanksgiving meal. Actually, Americans families do not celebrate it like this. They are more likely to set a BBQ party. I finally realized that there were many this kind of mistakes in my writing, so there was a long way for me to go to correct all these errors.

           Secondly, the things which happened in my diary needed to fit my background setting. The whole things were happened in early 19th century, although there were not many foreigners in a country, they still knew how they looked like by reading books. It was true that the technology had not been well-developed, but people lived in that time already had a quite clear vision of the world they lived. I wrote that Ellen wondered how Sookan looked like in the first diary. “Golden hair? Blue eyes?” were not realistic. Mrs. Wrzosek said that Ellen probably wondered what food did Sookan eat, and did Sookan also eat hamburgers in Korea? Thousands of years ago, the nature already decided what people from different areas looked like; it because of the environment, climate and culture, so it was a kind of common sense or general knowledge for Ellen to know what did Asian people look like. 

           Thirdly, Mrs. Wrzosek said if it is hard for me to write as Ellen herself, I can create a new character who is from my country and come to America to study same as Sookan, but I think in Gathering of pearls, the author wanted to express that she was the only foreigner from Asia in her college, so all the things of which were different from Americans were very attractive for native students. Because of this I do not want to add another Asian students, so I think I probably will continue writing through Ellen’s vision, and I will pay more attention about the content and try my best to make it become more realistic. 

          Thanks Mrs. Wrzosek a lot. Now I probably know how to write this diary. I might want to cannel many of the plots which I already wrote down and add more things. There is not so much time left, so I need to work harder in order to finish my diary. 

Definitions

Look up the definitions of comma splice, run-on sentence, sentence fragment, independent clause, and dependent clause. Post the definitions on your blog along with an example for each term.

Comma splice: 

• 1.
  A comma splice is the use of a comma to join two independent clauses. ( a kind of grammar error)
  For example: 
  I ate vegetables today, he ate meat.
  
  
  run-on sentence:
  2. An ungrammatical sentence in which two or more independent clauses are conjoined without a conjunction ( a kind of grammar error)
  For example:
  I went a park today with my friends I took many pictures then we had a picnic we were very happy.
  
  
  sentence fragment
  3. Some groups of words of phrases stand independently but they are not independent clauses. ( a kind of grammar error) 
  For example:
  Until you fall asleep.
  
  
  Independent clause
  4. Independent clause is a kind of complete sentence which has subject and verb.
  For example:
  I am a student.
  
  
  Dependent clause
  5. Dependent clause was made up by several words or phrases and can not stand independently.
  For example:
  When I had lunch in the afternoon with friends.

Diary 16 Dec 26th

Dear diary,

Dec 26th

     Christmas was gone. I went outside early today. A huge snow came to my town last night and left a white peace world behind this morning. Maybe it was one of the Santa Cluse's gifts. I remembered when I was a little girl, my favorited was playing with snow, making a snow man and joining a snow fight with my friends. I usually thought I was too old to build a snow man and have a snow fight but why? I really want to experience my childhood again, so I called Sookan to go outside. She was shocked by the amazing snow scenery in front of her. We decided to build a big snow man together. When sun was level with the western horizon, we finished. We lied on the snow, looking up to the blue clear sky, a feeling of peace came up to my mind. What a beautiful day. 

Diary 15 Dec 25th

Dear diary,

Dec 25th

      Dinner last night was very delicious. The party was awesome. Everyone came and they loved Korean very much. Sookan was so good at cooking. The man who gets married with Sookan will so lucky. I also asked Kyle to come to the dinner. He liked the food either. After dinner we sang songs and played the game. After the end of the party, I went out to walk with Kyle. We talked many things about our future. We wanted to marry with each other. We wanted to travel around the world together, watch movies together and do everything together. I wanted to grow old with him. I deceided that I was going to tell my parents that I was dating with Kyle. Hope they will agree.

Diary 14 Dec 24th

Dear diary,

Dec 24th

       Tomorrow is Christmas. I went to supermarket with Sookan and buy something which were needed for the super Christmas dinner. I was really proud that I can help Sookan to cook traditional Korean food. There were many things in the supermarket and they hang Christmas decorations everywhere. Everyone knew Christmas was truly coming. Every customer seemed so happy because the biggest festival. They held several plastic shopping bags and hurried to  their cars. Sookan stood for a while in front of the shelf of the Korean souce. There were light of sadness shining in her eyes. I knew she misses her home, missed her mother and her friends. I held her hand quietly, she was shocked and turned to me surprisingly with tears in her eyes. She huged me and whispered thank you in my ears

Diary 13 Dec 15th

Dear diary,

Dec 15th

   

       Time passes by in the blink of an eye, it is already December. I already spent 3 months in the college. I already can fit the rhythm of the college and hand everything well. Sookan said that she want to hold a big Christmas dinner party and invite me to taste some Korean food which were made by herself. I was so excited because I really wanted  to try Korean food. Here was the chance for me to try. Poor Sookan she can not go back home and spend Christmas with her family. They must miss her a lot. I also want to buy some gifts for Sookan and Kyle. I can not wait the coming of Christmas.