Hits and Misses

The three pieces of writing that I think are considered some of my "hits" this year are:

1. This is a blog post that I wrote earlier in the year, and I consider it a hit because I executed all of the expectations my teacher gave me. I told a good story with organization, details, conventions, and gave backstory to even further my symbolic point. 

I walked up to the plate knowing that it was my last at bat as a St. Luke's softball player, which was exciting and scary at the same time since I had been playing there for four years. I stepped towards the plate and got ready to do what I always do, hit the ball. The pitcher pitched the ball and I fouled it off over the left fence. The next three pitches were all balls. The fifth pitch was an inside strike that I did not think was a strike, neither did my coaches. I stared at the pitcher knowing that it was a full count and my heart was pounding. The ball came flying towards me straight down the middle and I swung really hard. Suddenly my bat stopped with a loud clanging sound like metal on metal. This sound was a foreign sound to me and I realized that it was the catcher's helmet. I knew that I was going to have to jog to first base because it was a catcher's interference, I should know, I have been a catcher for nine years. My last at bat was very rewarding and disappointing because it symbolized my season. I was the leader of our team being the only eighth grader and most experienced of us. Throughout the season I was unable to do things to improve personally to help improve my teammates and sometimes, my opponents. I wasn't allowed to hit at some games or even at practice in order to allow the inexperienced to get better. I also caught for a  pitcher who had never picked up a softball before that season, so I forfeited my time as a player to be a coach. The catcher's interference symbolizes all of that. I was going to absolutely crush that softball, but the catcher leaned in too soon and I wasn't able too. I taught that catcher a lesson in that moment and because of all of the inexperienced teammates I played with, I decided not to focus on myself but the rest of the team.

    2. My personal narrative essay that I wrote at the very beginning of the year called Peace Defeats Fear is also a hit. It is about an extremely scary night soon after my family moved into our new house. It is a hit because I used vivid imagery and details to make the reader see and feel exactly what I was seeing and feeling as I was as scared and vulnerable. I followed all of the six traits of good writing and enjoyed writing it. 

     3.  My third and final hit is another blog post that I have done. It is about how I define family. It is a hit because I developed my ideas throughly all the while staying on my point, family. I could have went on and on about family stories and why I think my family is a good one, but I didn't. This blog post stays on track and explains what I believe family is.

How do I define 'family'? Well to me family is a group of people who love each other, take care of one another, never leave, and fight for each other. So basically family is my strong hold. They are the people who pick me up when I fall and will drag me along if they have to. My family is the people I turn to when I need something. Family is something I value because we all value each other.

Most people think of their family as their mom, dad, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and all of that. Which is true, those people are all my family but there are more people in my family than what my blood reaches. My friends are my family, my coaches are my family, and my teammates are my family. Why? Because we value one another, we fight for each other, we are always there for one another, we love each other, and we take care of one another. Family is not something to take for granted, those people will always be there.

Now for some of my misses this year:

1. The research paper was definitely one of my biggest misses of the year, it is called Inhumanities of the Holocaust. I did weeks and weeks of research and outlining, making sure I had all of my facts straight. I was so worried about citations, facts, and stringing the facts together that I lost my point even though the evidence speaks for itself. I did not bring home the point like I usually do and my organization was not ideal. This paper had potential but I didn't pull through.

2. Another miss I had this year was a blog post that I did not care for. It took up a lot of my time and I did not enjoy the subject matter. This blog post was a politically charged post where we had to find an article, read it, and respond to it by summarizing the author's point and giving your own opinion. Personally, I do not care to voice my political opinions or dig through political article to find one that is bearable and not 13 pages long.

3. The final miss I am going to mention is my The Bean Trees two paragraph assignment from the first day of school. I rambled about the same thing, there was no organization, and it did not prove a point at all. I did read the book but I proved it poorly, and for those reasons, it is a miss.