Alex Heinrich
Studying for Vocab Quizzes
Language Arts
Hello, my name is Alex Heinrich and I am an 8th grader at the Dayton Regional STEM School. This year in my language arts class, we did something that I have never done before, we did vocab charts. Now I know you’re thinking wait a second this kid has not learned vocab words, ever! I have learned some before but this strategy of how we did them helped me remember them a lot. Another thing that I feel helped me learn them was the quizzes that we took 2 weeks after we initially got the words from the teacher. But these were very challenging for me, and I believe that they were hard for me because I never studied. So in my language arts class for 8th grade I believe that I grew in my ability to effectively study.
My first artifact for my reflection is my vocab quiz for the 1st and 2nd vocab quizzes that we took. The first one I got a 15/20= 75%. To some people that is a great score, but to me that is not okay. A 75% is a horrible grade to me. However, after this quiz I started using the method that I am about to explain. I realized I was struggling and decided that I needed to study. At first it was really hard for me because I didn’t know what to study. So I decided that I was going to invent something that I am sure some people have used before. I called it, “the song memorizer.” I called it this because I came up with a tune and then played the tune in my head as I read my vocab chart and memorized the words and some of the definitions. This strategy really did work for me and it actually helped me memorize a lot of things other than just vocab words. Some of the terms that were on the test are juxtapose, foreshadowing, and excerpt. Juxtapose means to examine very closely, looking in every nook and cranny of something. Foreshadowing is when an author hints to an event that will occur later in the book, maybe through a scroll, or a character. An excerpt is a section of writing that is in a book or an article. These were some of the terms that I can that I studied hard on because they didn’t make sense to me. After a while of studying them I remembered what they meant without looking at my chart with all the words. I use this method all the time and it has proven effective for me. So then the next set of words rolls around and I studied really hard using my method and then I got a 20/20= 100%. This was an amazing feeling of accomplishment and it proves that I grew in studying because I was able to get a 100% on a quiz that I studied for versus a 75% on a quiz that I didn’t study for. I remember getting that back with the 100% on it and thinking, “Wow that method really does work.” Now it is time for my 2nd artifact.
My 2nd artifact is the 4th and 5th vocab quizzes. On both of these quizzes I was able to get a 100%. Now this happened for one reason and one reason only. It happened because I studied and that is why I was able to get these 100%’s. the method that I used this time was a little bit different and I actually got this method from my 7th grade wellness and fitness teacher from when we used to take our heart rates. She would always yell after we had just finished taking heart rate, “Say it 5 times in your head.” So I thought that I would try this method. So I started going through and just saying each vocab word 5 times out loud because when I said it out loud I seemed to remember it better than it I said it in my head. Some of the terms that I learned while studying using this method was banter, gingerly, and jostled. Banter means to pick on someone in a playful way. Gingerly means to be extremely careful, or to move ahead cautiously. These to artifact and my methods for studying both prove that I grew in my ability to study. If I am able to get a 100% on something after studying for it then my studying abilities have improved a lot because I was able to effectively study and then do good on the quizzes. Now for my conclusion.
So what? What do these prove that you grew in studying? Well my first artifact was my 1st and 2nd vocab quizzes. The 1st quiz helped me see the importance of studying and it helped motivate me to do better because I didn’t like seeing a 75% on a quiz when I get it handed back to me. The 2nd quiz was a celebratory moment for me because it showed me that hard studying pays off. My 2nd artifacts were the 4th and 5th vocab quizzes. These help prove that I was able to get a good grade and was able to effectively study. Okay, so what? Well to remind you, my claim was that I grew in my ability to effectively study. So if I am able to improve my score because I was able to study my vocab words then apply what I studied and get a good grade then I do believe in my studying abilities. I will need to continue to apply my newly acquired skill to hopefully one day accomplish my goal of becoming a college graduate.
