Honestly, I can’t believe that we’re at the end of the semester already. People say that senior year passes in the blink of an eye and I never really believed them, but here we are now, and I’m wondering, “where did all the time go?” But we’ve accomplished so much this semester, not only in terms of blog posts but life in general. These couple of months have been one of the most important and valuable times of life for everyone, and blogs are a great way to capture everything that we’ve been through.
The blog I enjoyed writing the most was probably my second one – the blog about musical instruments. I learned a lot from writing this blog; even though I had some prior knowledge about these instruments, I still had to do research on instruments like the double bass to find a good representation of its canonical repertoire. And because of this research, I’ve also begun paying more attention to the different lines that double basses have in orchestral music, which has really enriched my listening experience. Even though you often need to listen closely to discern their line, it becomes very apparent when you hear it and helps to propel the music forward – it feels like a heartbeat. Writing this blog allowed me to further explore what I didn’t already know, so I’m very grateful for that opportunity. But it was also just really exciting to share my experience with classical music with everyone and seeing what others had to say.
Throughout my blogging experience, I think that I’ve learned a couple tips and tricks that have helped me make writing more natural and interesting. I know that using varied punctuation, sentence lengths, and diction is extremely important to keep people engaged with the text, but it’s tough to apply all these things into a high-pressure environment with limited amounts of time, such as in a timed writing. Blogging allowed me to apply the skills that we’ve always learned about to a very real situation while also staying creative with my ideas and style.
I actually learned a lot from reading all the different blogs this semester. Even in the animal fight blogs, I was somehow able to find a few takeaways – yes, you indeed cannot fight a grizzly bear, but can you hug them? Anderson’s take on that whole section of blogging put a very unique spin on the topic that I enjoyed a lot. I think my favorite blog that I read was probably Andy’s lucid dreaming blog. I also loved his woodwinds and jazz blogs, but the lucid dreaming one, from the in-depth descriptions to the very comprehensive explanation of the science was a great read to me.
In terms of lessons that I’ve learned from blogging this semester, something very profound was that I started approaching blogging not as an assignment, but as an activity that was genuinely interesting and fun to do. Writing them allowed me to explore more about my own interests, and reading them also enabled me to discover more about my peers. And this wasn’t just limited to our class – I was able to read blogs from people in 2nd period, people that I didn’t know, and even people in blended AP Lit! I followed Kai’s blog all throughout the semester and it was genuinely so fascinating to see his thinking process and his outlook on life.
As we enter the new year, something that I want to start doing is writing about a broader range of topics. Maybe it’s things that I’m not as familiar with or not as comfortable talking about, but I want to expand my range a bit. I think that’ll make my blogs more interesting. This semester, I think I stuck within a certain boundary of topics, but I’d like to write about a larger variety when we come back from break.
Hi Dingjia! First off let me say I completely agree with you when you ask where the time went. First semester has gone by so quickly that I am also left wondering how I only have one semester of high school left. As I was reading your blog, I was thinking about everything I had done this semester, and realized how much it really was. From daily homework assignments, to college applications, to extracurricular activities, this semester has been jam packed for all of us. I agree that I learned a lot from these blogs, not just about my classmates, but how to write in general. I also really enjoyed your second blog about musical instruments. I had almost no prior knowledge of these, yet after I read the blog I truly felt informed about those instruments and the value that they all had. Really good job on your blogs this semester!
Hi Dingija, I loved reading your blog! I 100% agree with the fact that time flies. I remember summer before sophomore year my cousin telling me how fast high school goes, like it was yesterday. I also never believed anyone who told me how fast high school flies, but here we are only one more semester until graduation. I didn’t get to read your second blog post, but from what you’ve summarized, I’m sure it was amazing. It’s good to hear that even though you had prior knowledge about musical intrusments you still continued to research to make sure you had the perfect representation. And how from this research, you’ve paid more attention to the music. It really shows how passionate you are. In my blog post, I kind of wrote about the same thing on how I’ve expanded my knowledge on dicition, varied punctuation, sentance lengths, etc- and apply it to different writing pieces and in the future as well. Great post!
Hi Dingjia,
I like that you touched upon both the reader’s and writer’s approaches to writing! While I loved animation, pulling those words down on paper (or, in this case, a blog) in my Animation blog helped me learn more about WHY I loved animation so much. In this case, I feel like writing to express oneself is a self-growing experience. It’s really cool to think about it. Senior year really did fly by fast—I still can’t believe we are already halfway through our last year at North. I think next semester I’ll branch out onto different topics like yours, both out of interest and as a challenge. I agree that it’s a lot easier and more fun to write these blogs when there’s some sort of passion behind them. I get in the zone, and I can dish out 200 words in a few minutes. I look forward to your blogs, Dingjia, and see you next year!