In the past two years we have learned about different types of writing and how to do it properly. In this blog post I will be describing how I used to write in 7th and show an example, then I will show how I improved by showing an example of my writing in 8th grade. I choose to demonstrate this by using the water wars assignment from 7th grade and the performance task from 8th grade.

Water Wars: bottled vs tap

For the water wars assignment we had to write about the difference between tap water and bottled water and which was better for the environment. In it we showed which side we were, in which I sided for tap water, and gave a variety of evidence to support my claim. For my first blue/purple/good job I highlighted the introduction because I was able to introduce my topic clearly. For my first red/bad job I highlighted the third paragraph because I was unable to state my evidence clearly, I could’ve have done this better by paraphrasing my evidence and explaining afterwards. For my second and last blue I highlighted my counterargument since I was able to build up on someone else’s opinion and for a counterargument to counter their given statement. For my last red, I highlighted my concluding sentence since I was unable to express my idea clearly about bottled water ruining the environment. One FLAGS learning outcome learned from this assignment was globally civic minded, since I had to think about how the environment was being affected by bottled water.

8th grade Performance Task

For my 8th grade assignment I chose the Performance task in which we wrote about the Toilet To Tap project which was supposed to change the whole water system if it was accepted. For my blue annotations, I was able to introduce my topic clearly and use and clearly explain evidence. For my first red, I forgot to use a transition before my counterargument. For my next highlighted part, I was unable to restate my intro into my conclusion. One flags learning outcome that I learned from this assignment would also be globally and civic minded since i was showed what California had to do to ensure San Diego had drinkable water in their community and what San Diego was trying to do to help counter the effects of the drought going on in California.

As a writer, I was able to improve my introductions and the way I was able to include my evidence. I still need improvement in some spelling and grammar, which I can work on next year in high school.