Trimester 1:
Reading Goals:
Reading Rate Calculation
Overall, my strengths as a reader have outnumbered my weaknesses this trimester. One of my strengths include my reading comprehension, as I am able to read fairly complicated books and have a good grasp of their concept. Along with this, I have been pretty strong at reading a large number of books this trimester which also has helped me reach my goal. One weakness that I acknowledge that I have as a reader is the lack of diversity of books that I have read. I mostly gravitate towards realistic fiction, and books that I am able to relate to, so sometimes reading other genres can be a challenge.
Above, you can see my two personal reading goals for this trimester. Although I didn't expect them to be very challenging, I found them easier than I thought they would be. Every book that I started reading this trimester was pretty interesting, so that allowed me to complete all of them. Along with this, I really wanted to read The Hate U Give, which is by an author of color, Angie Thomas. Not only did this book allow me to complete my goal, but it allowed be to read from a perspective that I cannot necessarily relate to, but that I found very interesting and helpful.
My reading rate for this trimester was 156 pages a week, and it stayed constant throughout the tri. Although it was a bit of a stretch from what I normally read at home, I found that it was not too difficult, and it actually was good for me to dedicate time to reading instead of studying nonstop. Every week this trimester, I read over my goal which shows that I made it a priority, and stuck with it. This also proves that my calculation was accurate, because it was not a struggle to reach it.
This trimester I completed two book talks on A Lite Too Bright and Locked In. At the start of the trimester, I thought that this would be a hard assignment, seeing as though I am a pretty shy person. To be honest, I was not to happy with the fact that I would have to present to the class, but overall, I think that they went pretty well. I choose these books for my book talks, because I not only really liked them, but I felt that they both helped me grow as a reader as well.
I have improved a lot this trimester, but going back to my weaknesses, one thing I still have to work on is reading different genres of books. To make sure that this happens, one of my goals next trimester could be to read a certain number of nonfiction books, or even types of fiction other than realistic fiction. In addition to this, I could also set a goal of making reading more of a priority, because this trimester, I normally tried to fit it in before bed, which I don't think it the most productive time for me.
Trimester 2:
Reading Goals:
Overall, I did very well in meeting my personal goals, although I did try to make them challenging so that I could grow as a reader. In order to meet my goal of reading one non-fiction book this trimester, I read "Glimmer of Hope" by the founders of March For Our Lives. I choose this book because I not only wanted to expand my horizons from the realistic fiction that I normally read, but I really care about the topic of gun violence that they discussed which made it more enjoyable. before I read this book, I expected it to be really hard, but because it was written by people around my age that were reflecting on their past experiences, it was actually better than I thought it would be. That said, the combination of many people's writing did make it hard to follow at times, but overall I thought it was a really captivating and powerful book.
In terms of my second goal of reading 7 books this trimester, I did complete it, although it was more challenging, seeing as though I had a lot more homework to do this trimester and less time for reading. At the beginning of the year, I chose this goal for myself because I wanted to make sure that I was giving myself time to read on a daily basis, which not only improved my reading skills, but gave me a break from other homework.
Meeting my reading goal really wasn't a hard task, seeing as though I already had a lot of reading to do to meet my goal. I think more than the reading itself, keeping track was sometimes a struggle because I was reading so much more than I did last trimester, and was therefore switching books quicker. Many weeks I read about 50 pages more than my goal, but some weeks I got so into my book that I ended up reading 100+ more pages than was expected of me.
Next year I am going to take AP English, which I think will be a major challenge in the first place. I am kind of nervous for this class because I am expecting it to be very different from the other classes that I have taken, although I know that overall it will give me skills that will be important for the SAT and beyond. I think the thing that will be the most challenging is the timed writing and the large variety of genres that we will have to read, but I think that working on this in a classroom setting will be very important to me and will be a skill that will definitely come in handy.
Reading Goals:
- Abandon 0 books this trimester
- Read a book written by an author of color
Reading Rate Calculation
- 156 pages per week
Overall, my strengths as a reader have outnumbered my weaknesses this trimester. One of my strengths include my reading comprehension, as I am able to read fairly complicated books and have a good grasp of their concept. Along with this, I have been pretty strong at reading a large number of books this trimester which also has helped me reach my goal. One weakness that I acknowledge that I have as a reader is the lack of diversity of books that I have read. I mostly gravitate towards realistic fiction, and books that I am able to relate to, so sometimes reading other genres can be a challenge.
Above, you can see my two personal reading goals for this trimester. Although I didn't expect them to be very challenging, I found them easier than I thought they would be. Every book that I started reading this trimester was pretty interesting, so that allowed me to complete all of them. Along with this, I really wanted to read The Hate U Give, which is by an author of color, Angie Thomas. Not only did this book allow me to complete my goal, but it allowed be to read from a perspective that I cannot necessarily relate to, but that I found very interesting and helpful.
My reading rate for this trimester was 156 pages a week, and it stayed constant throughout the tri. Although it was a bit of a stretch from what I normally read at home, I found that it was not too difficult, and it actually was good for me to dedicate time to reading instead of studying nonstop. Every week this trimester, I read over my goal which shows that I made it a priority, and stuck with it. This also proves that my calculation was accurate, because it was not a struggle to reach it.
This trimester I completed two book talks on A Lite Too Bright and Locked In. At the start of the trimester, I thought that this would be a hard assignment, seeing as though I am a pretty shy person. To be honest, I was not to happy with the fact that I would have to present to the class, but overall, I think that they went pretty well. I choose these books for my book talks, because I not only really liked them, but I felt that they both helped me grow as a reader as well.
I have improved a lot this trimester, but going back to my weaknesses, one thing I still have to work on is reading different genres of books. To make sure that this happens, one of my goals next trimester could be to read a certain number of nonfiction books, or even types of fiction other than realistic fiction. In addition to this, I could also set a goal of making reading more of a priority, because this trimester, I normally tried to fit it in before bed, which I don't think it the most productive time for me.
Trimester 2:
Reading Goals:
- Read one non-fiction book
- Read at least 7 books this trimester
- 168 pages per week
Overall, I did very well in meeting my personal goals, although I did try to make them challenging so that I could grow as a reader. In order to meet my goal of reading one non-fiction book this trimester, I read "Glimmer of Hope" by the founders of March For Our Lives. I choose this book because I not only wanted to expand my horizons from the realistic fiction that I normally read, but I really care about the topic of gun violence that they discussed which made it more enjoyable. before I read this book, I expected it to be really hard, but because it was written by people around my age that were reflecting on their past experiences, it was actually better than I thought it would be. That said, the combination of many people's writing did make it hard to follow at times, but overall I thought it was a really captivating and powerful book.
In terms of my second goal of reading 7 books this trimester, I did complete it, although it was more challenging, seeing as though I had a lot more homework to do this trimester and less time for reading. At the beginning of the year, I chose this goal for myself because I wanted to make sure that I was giving myself time to read on a daily basis, which not only improved my reading skills, but gave me a break from other homework.
Meeting my reading goal really wasn't a hard task, seeing as though I already had a lot of reading to do to meet my goal. I think more than the reading itself, keeping track was sometimes a struggle because I was reading so much more than I did last trimester, and was therefore switching books quicker. Many weeks I read about 50 pages more than my goal, but some weeks I got so into my book that I ended up reading 100+ more pages than was expected of me.
Next year I am going to take AP English, which I think will be a major challenge in the first place. I am kind of nervous for this class because I am expecting it to be very different from the other classes that I have taken, although I know that overall it will give me skills that will be important for the SAT and beyond. I think the thing that will be the most challenging is the timed writing and the large variety of genres that we will have to read, but I think that working on this in a classroom setting will be very important to me and will be a skill that will definitely come in handy.