First English Blog Post:)

So far in English 110, we have read the introduction of Emerging by Barclay Barrios, Reporting Live from Tomorrow by Daniel Gilbert, The Moral Bucket List by David Brooks (an article), and What Makes a Good Life by Robert Waldinger (a Ted Talk). Through all these pieces we were asked to annotate and reflect. Before English 110, in high school I was always told to annotate and use sticky notes to mark pages. I have brought these concepts with me to English 110 because I feel as though annotating is very important as well as having an exact page number for discussions. Although I already knew the key concepts of annotating before beginning this English class, I believe my skills have evolved. We were given a handout that highlights the best ways to annotate works of literature and I believe it helps to keep you on track and focused. I have used this annotation paper with each piece and used it to broadened my critical thinking and ability to compare and contrast work. I also believe that being given different opinions has helped me create my own. Gilbert’s outlook on happiness is a very dark look compared to the article or the Ted Talk. Being given many different pieces has helped me create an opinion based on ideas from both sides Although my annotation skills have gotten better I still believe they need more work because I tend to stray from the reading and focus on other things around me. I hope after this class I will be able to stay focused on a reading and think more critically about the piece.