Journal 4: How A Story Is Told

    The biggest missing part of a summary is detail. Details are very important to a story. They are like a frame of the story, so a story can’t form without it. Summary is to conclude the main point and grab the big idea from a story. On the other hand, details are descriptions or examples of the story. People tend to hear the details of a story, and not just a synopsis or summary because it is hard to completely understand and involve to it. For example, the story of “Three Little Pigs” is about how they build different houses to protect themselves and prevent the big bad wolf’s coming. We can’t feel anything by hearing this brief description of the story. However, we might have more pictures in our heads if there are more details, such as how these pigs build their houses, how their personalities different from others, and how their actions when face with the wolf. Those details provide more information about the story, so we can quickly understand what the story is talking about. Storyteller and writer can use some exaggerated words to attract readers. Therefore, to make a story interesting is to add more details.

 

Journal 3: Writing as Self Discovery

     Life and writing do not look similar, but we might find that they are alike if we look deeper of them. Actually we can define writing from many different angles. People can use reflective writing as a vehicle of self-discovery by taking journal and writing diary. These two are common ways that people reflect themselves. To me, self-discovery can be defined from many angles. For instance, sometimes an author’s article makes me think about myself and recalls my memories. Those actions help me to think more about myself, so things from other people probably inspire me a lot. I have taken both Chinese and English journals everyday since two years ago. I did take journals when I was young, but they was not continuous. I strongly believe that I can learn more about myself through take journals because they force me to think deeper, like brainstorm and critical thinking. My journals are very simple that each of them is less than 20 words, but they still help me to reflect myself. My mother encourages me to write Chinese journal because she wants me to keep writing it to practice my Chinese. Writing Chinese journals does help me not to forget those words in Chinese. I will keep writing journals because they also help me release my emotions.

Journal 2: Person in Place

     Classrooms in my junior high school are bigger than those of PAS and the average of students in each classroom is 33 people. There is a podium, wood made, in front of the classroom and it is about 20 centimeters high. A cupboard is at the back of left corner. My job is to arrange the brooms and dustpans inside the cupboard during the cleaning time. Four facets of walls are white, but the bottom parts are blue. The ground is dark gray that you can’t see any hair on it. My seat is close to window, so I can open the window when I feet hot and it is almost closed during the winters. Belle sits in front of me. She always comes to school earlier than me. She is so passionately to sports that she even wakes up early in the morning and watches the live broadcasts on TV. How a crazy person she is. Everyday when I walk into the classroom, Belle would talk about the sport games she watched last night or just in the early morning no matter I understand or not. Because Belle is an extrovert person, I can always hear her laughter fill the whole classroom. Memories, which were created in the classroom, were significant to Belle and me.

Journal 1: Important Person

    

     She is like a girl, but she doesn't behave like a girl. Her male friends are more than her female friends. Everytime I talk to her, our conversations are about sports instead of girl's stuff. She has a pair of big eyes, long hair, and big nose. I like to make jokes about her nose, but in fact she is pretty. To boys, she is definitely a tom boy. Actually, she is very popular because she not only plays sports with boys but also shops with girls. The person who always knows what I’m thinking and makes my life livelier is my junior high school’s best friend-Belle. Before I met her, I was a pessimistic person. Each time when she knew that I was unhappy, she would always said “The situation won’t become better because of your depress.” This sentence really influenced me a lot. Of course, complaint and hopelessness do not help me at all, and then I would think more in positive way. Belle is a significant person in my life. She does change my attitude when I face problems. Now as a senior, my pressure of college application is getting more and more. I have many works to do everyday, but I still remember “The situation won’t become better because of your depress”, so I don’t complain even I’m submerged by essays, tests, and pressures.