Writing a journal entry each class was something that I thought was going to be very boring but turned out to be something I looked forward to doing each class, and I say that because it’s not every day where you are asked to just write about your life and what you are feeling because for some people that can be hard to do. For me, I found it really comforting and like a getaway from reality where I could just write anything I wanted and not feel judged for it because I was doing it for myself. It wasn’t like we had to write about each and everything we were doing each entry but we were able to use the prompts we were given to respond to which then helped me get into things going on in my life that related to the prompt we were assigned, or I would just start ranting about other things going on in life because we were allowed to and it’s nice to be able to open up about times like this because it makes you realize how we are all feeling the same feelings. Finally, I think being assigned to write these journal entries was one of the better things I have done these past two months because it wasn’t like I was just writing about my day-to-day life but I was exploring other perspectives that related to this virus. Whether it be a news article, Ted Talk, poem, documentary, or even just a video all those resources are what helped shaped each of these journals and to me, I think they did much more than that and helped give a worldwide standpoint of what is happening not just to us but everyone around us which is what I really took away from this.
Through the past few weeks we wrote ten different journal entries each sort of connecting our thoughts with other people's thoughts and opinions. I really enjoyed journaling way more than I thought I would, It helped me write what I was feeling and let it all out. It was really cool being able to look back on my old entries and see how my opinion was and see that it sort of stayed the same. In some journal entries I can definitely see that I was maybe having a bad day or a good day because the things I would write about were positive or negative. My favorite prompt that we were assigned was the second journal entry we were assigned to read the story “All Summer in a Day” this story was relatable not the exact situation, but the way the kids felt in the story the way they reacted to the life the way it was and just the idea of it being different related to my idea of going back to the old normal the way things should be. The journal entry that was the hardest was probably journal entry eight, this was a more difficult one because I had to go through the different articles and find one that I thought was more personal. There really wasn't one that was personal or I truly related to so that is why that journal entry was the hardest to do. Journaling all together has given me an opportunity to write through this pandemic and say what I feel. I really enjoyed this experience and I'm excited to one day maybe look back at what I was feeling and see what this time felt like when we are out of it and back to normal.
The journaling experience was a great opportunity to capture this moment in time when our world has been turned upside down and shaken. It was emotional at times when writing. I had days where I didn’t want to get out of bed to zoom call or write about my feelings. There were days when I could’ve sat there and written all day. No matter what though, I always felt better after writing and expressing myself. I am appreciative that Ms.Tenenbaum had us do this. It allows students to think about this experience on a deeper level. This has been such a historic event so far and to not only remember it but to have your journals about it from being a junior in high school is going to be so interesting to look back on years from now. I’ve gotten to know the people I live with more and I’ve gotten a new idea of who I am and who I want to be. This experience has been such a valuable lesson to everyone I hope. Out of this I have taken the idea that it’s so important to give back in any way you can and to recognize the struggle other people are going through. In the writing aspect of it I have been trying to be especially cautious of my grammar. I’ve also tried to write in a way that is new to me, I don't typically sit down to write about myself so in doing so it felt weird but also kind of refreshing.
Doing this journal was very interesting, I have never kept something like a journal or a diary before so I was new to it but with time I found that it helped me organize thoughts and feelings during this crazy time. Plus it gave me an outlet to talk about something I enjoyed a lot and let me introduce it to someone who had not heard about it before. I think the hardest journal entry to do was either 1 or 10 because it was hard to both start and stop doing them. I think my favorite one to do was 8 because it was very natural flowing to write. Rereading the entries was interesting because my mood has shifted a lot while the quarantine has happened, so remembering back to what I was feeling like during the first one and what I felt like during the second one and so on and so forth has been interesting to look back on. I think that. with how many people have done something similar to this across the world, it will act as a good time capsule to look back on for what was happening right now, and in a few years if I look back on this again I think that it will also be interesting to see how much coronavirus affected the world years after, such as if America will be more like Japan and public masking will be more normalized or if nothing has changed at all because of it all.
I don’t think there was only one entry that was hardest to do. As we got more towards the end they all got a little longer. They all got a little harder because being stuck at home and only being able to go to work doesn’t really give a lot to write about. I really liked doing the entries. I enjoyed doing them because I do like writing and it gave me a reason to write. When we got to read parts of everyone else's journals, highlight, and comment I really liked that as well. I enjoyed getting to read and see what others have been doing or how they are feeling throughout this whole situation. Out of all 10 entries I think the first one was my favorite. The first one was my favorite because it was the beginning, we hadn't written about our quarantine at all. I was about to write down and share about a lot of things that had just happened like my friend being sent home to Brazil. I was able to write a little about how my work has changed throughout out the lock down as well. Going back and reading the entries I was able to notice the changes my work has taken in just a few weeks. Reading about the changes my work has now compared to just a month ago before we started writing is crazy to think about. The entries have gave me something to go back on and read about things that happened a while ago.
I really enjoyed this Journaling experience for many different reasons. It was a way for me to collect my thoughts. I could sit down and write about how I was feeling and what I was doing. This was a great way for me to keep track of my thoughts and emotions through this crazy time. The prompts we got helped me learn more about the Virus as it was developing. I think through this experience I learned more than just numbers from the news and got to understand actual people's thoughts and experiences. Re-reading all of my prompts was really interesting. My feelings and just life itself has changed so much. At the beginning of the entries there was still a chance of us going to school. I was also super motivated at the beginning of these entries, I wrote how I would get up early and workout before school even started and I would fill my day with such productive things. That has changed. My favorite prompt we had was the letter to our future self. I really like the concept of it and I think it's something I will actually look back on in the future. I would say it was also one of the most difficult prompts because I wasn't sure what I wanted my future self to remember about this time. Overall Im super glad I had this opportunity to Journal for this class. I think it's something I'll be able to look back on for years and remember the crazy times we have been through.
It was a bit challenging to write a 500 word journal entry for 10 days because at times, I’d run out of things to say. Thanks to being trapped in my home there isn’t much to talk about. However the entries that are about me explaining something like coronavirus conditions or my nail stamping entry. After re-reading my entries, I realized actually how much my life has changed in the past weeks. The first few entries I didn’t have my kittens yet, or my awesome fish tank for my new fish. Which are all doing well. Personally I enjoyed the prompt where we had to have a conversation with someone in our house and ask them questions like what they thought your best quality was or to have them tell you something about themselves that they haven’t shared with you before. The hardest entry to do was probably the last one because nothing much more that had happened so there wasn’t much to write. Overall the experience was kind of cool because we got to look back from when this whole stay at home process started and compare and contrast the start to the end. If I have to stay in my home for any longer I think I may buy more pets and if you know me well enough then you’ll know that’s a horrible idea considering my other hundreds of pets. My house is practically a zoo! If we went back to the old “normal” anytime soon, which doesn’t look too good at the moment, then that might stink for my pets because they are so used to having me home all the time to play and care for them.
I enjoyed writing my journals during this time. I think this was an excellent idea to do, it will be very cool to go back once this is over, and reflect and remember how things were during this time, and how I was feeling. I thought it was really interesting to hear my opinions and moods during the beginning of quarantine and be able to compare it to the present time. I thought I was bored during week 2, little did I know I did not even know what being bored felt like until week 8. I think the prompt I liked the best would probably have to be the 5th journal, about poetry and not giving up. I liked this the best because it was a helpful reminder to stay positive, and it was a breakthrough point for me when I finally started to “get the hang” of quarantine. The journal entry that was the hardest was probably the 2nd journal when we had to respond to the story All Summer In a Day. I did not really enjoy the story and found it fairly boring and strange, which made the journal difficult, as I had to write a 500-word journal on something I did not particularly like. Overall, I thought that the journal assignment was a perfect idea for remote learning. It allowed us to complete and work on standards and skills we would be typically learning. While still dealing and talking about what is currently going on in the world.
I want to start this reflection with what a did in one of my journal entries, the journal entry that I am talking about is journal 2. In this journal I went insane for a brief period and said my favorite animal was a rock, this sentence was taken out of context and is fake news. I would just like to say the best animal is a lion. The sheer destruction and power that they wield give them the title of one of the most deadly animals. But other than that the journals were a cool experience and I would do this thing again but not on my own I’m not a person that writes journals. It would have to count as a grade… but this was a fun time and I had my ups and downs in the journals and it was cool to go back and read what I wrote about. But one thing that was there for almost every journal was the poems that I made and they were not good but they were consistent in the journals, I tried to do jokes for a little but it didn’t work out that well. There was only one journal entry that had a topic that wasn’t my life and it didn’t work out well at all but I took the time to experiment and see how it would work out. Well, that is basically all I’ve got from this time and I would do it again because it was cool to do.
I can’t deny that writing these journal entries was sort of a struggle only because there really is not much to talk about during my day, I don’t know if that makes me a boring person or what not but quarantine definitely tested my patience. I did feel good however to be able to freely talk about what I was feeling each day and have a place to write it down. I look forward to reading through all my journals in the future and being able to look back on these times and remember what it was like. In the end I am glad that this was our assignment, it is relative to English because we continue to exercise our brains by writing 500 words 2 times a week. Re-reading my writing now is pretty beneficial, it’s interesting to look back and see how unsure I was of online classes but now I can say they are no big deal and I can say that I haven’t felt stressed for school. The prompt I enjoyed doing the most was Journal 8. It was very interesting, and concerning reading about how hard Maine is being hit by quarantine. Responding to the Phases of Maine reopening I enjoyed, I liked giving my own opinion about all the phases and talking about how each one will affect me. So far I am still living the same life during quarantine and it’s May 18th. Crazy times we’re living in but like everyone says we’ll come back stronger.
I really enjoyed doing the journal entries. Writing them was pretty easy in my opinion. Writing these really made me put everything into perspective. I also am glad that I had the chance to write these because it will be nice to look back on them years from now. I think that one of the easier journal entries would be journal entry 8. It was on the news article of our choice. It’s personally easier for me to respond to a news article than a poem or video, for example. Writing the journal entries did get harder as the time went on. At the beginning, it was easier because everything was new and I had a lot to talk about. In the newer journal entries, I struggled finding something to talk about since everyday has felt like the last! It was something that I did look forward to, though. I was able to use the journal entries in a way that allowed me to write how I was feeling that day. If I was feeling down about everything going on, I could get it out in the second half of my journal entry that day. If I ended up doing something fun, I could talk about it in my journal entry! Overall, doing the journal entries was something that I actually looked forward to. I was able to talk about what was going on in my life and it is now something I can always look back on after the virus has passed.
After several weeks of reflection on time spent during quarantine, they seemed to get bleaker and bleaker. In the beginning, I was way more emotional about it. I talked about soccer I played with friends, and how I was excited that I had the whole day to plan. As the journals go on, I try to talk about stuff I did on that day. For instance, I would talk about how I went biking with Drew or walking with Nikki. Simply because that was all I would do with my day, they got more and more boring. Looking back, I am worried that once out of quarantine it’s going to take some time to ease back into things. The prompt I liked the best was Journal 7, so we chose a Ted Talk to respond to, which I liked because the talk was very informative about the virus. Also before that journal I had gone on a crazy hike I could talk about. The journal entry that was hardest to do was Journal 6, this was the one where we had to sit down and have a conversation with someone we are quarantined with. I chose my sister, it was honestly quite awkward and the answers were definitely not sincere. Since then, I believe we have gotten closer since then due to the fact we only have each other. Overall I enjoyed doing this, I can talk forever so it wasn’t that bad doing the 500 words. Also I think this will be good to look back and remember what it was like living through the pandemic.
My Journaling experience, in my opinion, was nice I like it because it allowed us to reflect on what we were doing and it showed us what was going on in the world and how we can help stop it. My favorite prompt that I wrote was the second prompted because you said that we could do a make-believe story and I had fun making up a story that was very similar to what was going on at the company that my dad works for at the moment. I think that the hardest prompt to wright was either the last one or the 6th prompt. The 6th prompt was hard because my dod did not give me a lot to go off of when I did the interview all of his responses were not that interesting. The 10th prompt was hard because I had to think back to see what I wanted to tell my self when I was older and I wanted to tell my self how bad of a time it was in life and that it might have been the worst time in my whole life. I liked writing the prompts because it helped me learn what was going on in the world it helped me learn how Maine is going to try and start to reopen it helped me learn what was going on in other parts of the world It helped me learn what the virus was and what it did to us, It helped me learn what other people were doing to help stop the vires and it showed me companies that were making medical equipment to help when thy usually are my things like sports equipment.
Throughout the past months in Quarantine and by writing these journal entries I feel like I have become much better at writing fluidly and I have learned to enjoy writing more than I previously did. During this writing experience, it made me really think about what I had been doing and inspired me to do more activities, get outside more, and stop lounging around during the day. The best journal prompt that I responded to was also the journal prompt I found the hardest to write about. I wrote the journal on a TED talk that featured Bill Gates speaking about the next pandemic and the task was to react to the video. This was also my favorite prompt because the TED talk related to the current pandemic quite well and there were many connections to be made between the two. My favorite journal entry I made was my video I created on what I had been doing. It allowed me to be creative and really have fun with school work. This entire unit has caused me to grow as a writer and has forced me to really think about what I'm writing. The journals made me create a flowing story about what I had been doing in quarantine and also make a connection from my life to whatever article or video we were asked to react to. Lastly, I loved how the journal writing pushed me to do more interesting things by myself and learn new skills. I think that this unit overall was a huge success and classes in the future should do something similar to this even without a pandemic.
Overall writing the journals over the coronavirus break was actually something I looked forward to. While writing it it made me think of what the future weeks and months would be like and how much today is different from the past. The most interesting thing about the journal was being able to look back on the first few weeks and to be able to see how much has changed over time and the emotions we were feeling from week to week. My favorite prompt was journal 4 because after having to watch how other people are living in major cities it was interesting to see how many people are in much harder and dangerous situations and it made me appreciate where I live for now. The hardest journal entry to do was the one after break just because I had nothing to write about, I had done nothing for a week or two and it was very hard to come up with things to write about what you did. Looking back at the first journal I did it is very strange to see how much everything has changed overtime but mostly just how I reacted to it. For example at first I wasn't so accepting of being home for a few weeks but as those few weeks turned into a longer time you can see how I pretty much gave up all hope of the virus being over anytime soon. I know that after this is all done I will read the journals over again to remember how odd the situation was and how I reacted to it.
During this time in quarantine, journaling has helped me think about what is going on and to actually express what I feel during this time of hardship. Writing the journals made me think about what I have been doing and what I think may happen in the future of my life. It made me think about myself more and what I may want to do in my life. When I re-read my journals it was interesting to think about what I thought quarantine would be like and how much my opinion swayed during the last 2 months of my life. I thought that online school would be better because we started later and I did not have to travel to school but it ended up being harder and more frustrating which made it harder to learn new things. My favorite prompt was prompt 5 because I like reflecting on other people’s daily quarantine poems because it was interesting to hear what they have to say about the crisis. The journal that was the hardest to write was journal 6 because of the conversation I had with my mom. Some of the questions were weird to ask and it was mostly awkward but it was nice to hear about the things she thought of me. Lastly, about the journals, it was nice to just write about what I was thinking. Writing the journal gave me a way to express what is hard and made it easier to look back on in the future.
I’ve always kind of wanted to keep some sort of journal if something major and historical were to ever happen. Now that something major and historical does happen I was like eh I’m too lazy to try to keep some kind of log of it. If it weren’t for this assignment I probably wouldn’t have kept any sort of journal or anything. I really enjoyed the prompts too. I felt like I would run out of things to talk about so it was nice having something to work off of every day. It was also interesting to see other people’s points of view on the situation.
I’d have to say watching the TED talks was my favorite. Although my favorite entry I submitted was probably entry 3. I put a lot of thought into what I wanted to say in that entry, and I took an extra step to ask what my friends thought. At that time we really didn’t know all the facts, and numbers were everywhere, but I tried to focus more on what we should do for the world instead of how many people were dying. I have since changed my point of view after writing that, which I’ll get into in a second.
I think the entry that was the hardest to do was the one asking what I would say to myself before this all happened. I haven’t really had any moments of experiencing unity, or times where I’ve felt like super bored. I really wouldn’t have much to say to me a few months prior.
Over the past ten classes we have been assigned a journal. We would write about everything going on in our lives. Whether it was sad, scary, happy, or funny. We would write about it. This was a good way to just get things off our chest and allowed us to tell someone what has been going on in our lives because we can’t do that as well now. Re-reading all my old journals helped me to remember how I felt in the beginning and how I feel now. It was a little embarrassing at first because I was surprised I wrote about certain things. But looking through them really showed me how quarantine has changed me for the better. I think that the best journal entry was the very first one we did. I think this because quarantine was so new, there was so much going on and so many different emotions. I think personally the hardest entry to do was journal number five because it was right in the middle. For me nothing has really changed yet I was just adjusting but my emotions remained the same.
Sometimes baring your heart and soul into a journal can be difficult, especially when you are stuck in a house for two months. Journaling showed me a look back at my thoughts, feelings, and experiences, which was quite interesting. I feel like it converted the negative part of all of what is happening and made it into a positive getaway. Going back to my old journals I feel like I put more effort into them because my more recent journals were harder to come up with my thoughts and feelings. My favorite prompt is Journal #4 because it helped me see other people’s perspective alongside my own. At that point in time I had not gone out for weeks, so it felt crazy to be able to relate to someone from a totally different country. It also made me realize even more how much of an impact this pandemic is having on our country and others. The hardest prompt to follow was probably Journal #10. Journal #10 was the hardest to write because the prompt was to imagine what you want your future self to say or respond when looking back at this time. It’s very difficult to predict what will happen next and what I will be thinking especially during this time because times are changing so quickly. I can’t imagine what I would say in the near future because things change everyday. Overall, the journaling experience was great, I can’t wait after this pandemic has reached its end and I can look back upon these journal entries.
Writing these personal journal entries for english class has been hard because sometimes I don’t know what I should talk about in them, knowing that they’re being read by other people. Looking back on my first couple entries I kept thinking, “why would I say that?” It's kinda like looking back at a picture of myself when I was younger, and cringing at it. I always found it difficult for me to find something to write about because writing journals can be personal and since people are reading them, I feel like my options are narrowed down in a way. I do write my own personal journals, but writing journals for english class makes me feel like I need to have a different mindset. By writing these journals twice a week has helped me stay sane because I was able to sit down and try to gather my thoughts as best as I could. My favorite prompt was journal 4 because I liked writing a response to what other people are going through and their specific circumstances, and I think it was my best prompt I have written out of all ten. Many of the journals I didn't enjoy writing because somehow it would take me hours to think about what I wanted to write. I think the prompt that was the hardest to write was the last one because I didn’t like having to write to my future self, and it’s not the point of view I like writing in.
After writing 10 journal entries throughout several weeks I learned a bunch about writing narrative journals and also about the Coronavirus. At first I thought that 500 words was going to be a lot but after writing down what I had done, thoughts, and feelings I had easily written the 500 words. Looking back in the journals I wrote about what my everyday life was like and also answered a lot of questions that I had about the Coronavirus. Writing these journals was hard because of everything that was going on in the world but at the same time they took my mind off of what was happening. The prompts that we were assigned to do with every journal made me think. And they made me realize what the world was going through. What everyone else in the world was thinking about and coping, and how they were responding to the ongoing situation at hand. What really influenced me and made me a better person though was the prompt for when we had to read several poems. The poems that the authors wrote were inspiring and I believe that in this time of crisis they inspired many people including me. By re-reading my writing in my journals I could see that I had written a lot more than what I thought I had. I also saw that in each journal there was a different prompt that led to a different perspective of what was happening in the world. Writing these 10 journals for the past weeks has been good for me and I’m glad that I did it.
What was it like journaling my way through the quarantine? Well, I really liked writing about my day and what that day consisted of because there was not much to do and writing helped me clear my head. It helped me take my mind off of what was going on in the real world. There were some days that I wanted to lay in bed all day, not workout, or join my zoom classes. But overall I was glad I could reflect and write about that day. Looking back through my journals and re-reading it all was pretty interesting. Since we have been in quarantine for about 9 weeks, the longest 9 weeks of my life, I kinda forgot what I even did during that time. At the beginning of my entries, I was pretty stooped that we had no school, like a vacation, but as my journals went on, I really missed my friends, family, and school. I really wanted to reflect on how much I have missed school, funny right? Before this crisis happened, I didn’t like school or going to it and felt like my life was in such a strict routine every single day, but when school got canceled and time went on, I was mad at how much I took it for granted. I think reflecting on my days made it a little bit better because I still felt like I had some part of the routine with me even though there were days with nothing to write about.
It’s definitely amusing to look back on all of my journals. My first two articles are full of anger, resentment, and disappointment. In the third, fourth, and fifth journal, I began to make peace with quarantine and tried to make the best of it. The sixth and seventh were somewhat dull, with not much to say. Then went back to positive and hope in the last three journals. This wave of emotions does make sense though. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who noticed this pattern. It felt very relieving writing these journals and I always got excited on Mondays and Wednesdays knowing I have this class. I think my favorite prompt was number five because I enjoyed the poems, it was a nice day out, everything felt right, spring was coming. Looking back at that entry was enjoyable as well because I liked that I wrote my “instructions on not giving up” and apparently others liked it too. I think the hardest was probably the last one. I didn’t have much more to write about and not too much to say to my past self. Overall, the journaling experience will forever be one of my favorite class assignments. It’s been impactful on my mental health, a place where I can release my feelings and put them into words. At first I was intimidated by the 500 word minimum, but it became so natural after a while. I was actually quite excited towards the journaling idea, having no idea it would be put into the news and teen vogue. I realized that I was pretty good at journaling and it gave me a boost of confidence. So, cheers to journaling!
For me what it was like writing to keep peace of mind knowing that I am getting stuff done and not just sitting around all day doing nothing it was improving myself. I also used to as a tool to talk to Mr.Cutter about what I was doing tell him how things were. It was also good because it was a different way to communicate and to talk to people. I also hope I can use these and look back on them and think wow what a crazy time this was Re-reading my writing reminded me how long this has been doing the stay at home and all the things I have forgotten I have done. The best prompt for me was the first one. I had so much to write about because I had gotten back from Florida 3 weeks before that and then had 2 weeks of doing whatever. I had 3 weeks of stuff to write about with Mr.Cutter. Honestly, all were pretty easy because as long as I did something that day I was able to get it to five hundred words. I really enjoyed writing them I might be able to say I somewhat looked forward to them it was something different to do and it was sometimes I could be alone and do my own thing. The hardest to do was the last one because I had already talked about everything there wasn’t really anything I had said.
Writing these journals was really good for me. It allowed me to really show how my quarantine has been, which in all honesty it isn’t good in general because I'm bored out of my mind. But it's getting better and I got to show that through these journals because writing these has allowed me to open up to how I feel to myself. They just helped me in general. They made me open up to someone a little bit and I felt that they showed what was going through in quarantine. Quarantine journals have been posted a lot by celebrities and young people and reading the journals written by people in our school was very interesting and showed I wasn’t the only one doing certain things like just being straight up bored or trying to practice sports when i'm out of sports for a while even though i've barely done that cause my parents haven't given me enough time to. But in all reality I don't like writing but this was kinda fun to me it allowed me to write something that was about me not about some book or articles it was what my quarantine was about I mean there were a couple spots in there that we had to listen to articles or podcasts or a poem but I honestly had fun doing this and it let me practice my writing in all reality because i'm so bad at writing. So these quarantine journals were fun to do and a good way to get everything you've been up to off your chest and it was just overall good. It was in all honesty kind of fun and I'm kinda sad we are done with it.
Writing is one of those things that really lets you speak what you want to speak. It’s also one of those things that half the time I don’t 100% know what I'm going to say yet I just start typing and end up writing something. When re-reading my writing it made me realize how much grammatical errors I made but it also made me realize how quarantine wasn’t all that bad and I have actually been productive and have gotten things done. While learning at the same time of course. Through not only school but on sailboats and other projects. Journal Entry 5 had to be the hardest one for me. I enjoyed all the other prompts and it gave me something to start off writing about but the poems just didn’t connect with me so it made it hard to write about them. The prompt that I did in enjoy the most was the ted talk with Bill Gates. It just got my mind thinking, why we didn’t do a better job to prepare for this and why we didn’t listen to him back in 2015. I am sure this situation would be much different now if we had done what he recommended but instead we are now regretting it. It wasn’t difficult things he was saying we should do. We spend so much time on nuclear weapons and not enough time on studies and research put towards possible pandemics because when they do happen they happen to be worse then what a nuke would do to us as far as casualties go. Overall, I really enjoyed spending my time writing on these different prompts and learning while I'm at it. I just wish we could have been in a classroom all this time.
I liked doing these journal entries throughout quarantine. I thought it gave me another perspective of quarantine and the coronavirus and helped me not look at everything that was going on so negatively. I have never really done a daily/weekly journal before. Some days it was really easy to write about what was going on and some days it was a lot harder. Also some entries had a lot more emotions put into them than others. I liked re-reading them as well because I didn’t really remember the entries in the beginning. I think it's very interesting to look at the first couple entries compared to now and how things have changed or progressed. They are all on a big timeline of when quarantine first started up until present day. All of the entries definitely helped me stay positive rather than getting down about what is all happening. You can get negative very easily especially in the situation we are all in right now, but the journal entries made me look at the bigger picture and see what is important both now and in the future. My favorite prompt was 5 or 9. I liked journal #9 because I really liked writing a letter to my closest friends. I also thought this prompt was different from the other prompts because it was a more interesting approach. It was nice to write a heartfelt letter to my friends telling them all the things I missed. I enjoying doing journal #5 because I enjoyed reading Jason Reynolds poems about each day in quarantine. They were simple, but very interesting. I could relate to a lot in his poems and compared his poems to our journal entries. The journal entries I liked the least or were the hardest to do were 3 or 8. Both had to do with picking an article from the news and then writing our thoughts about it. I didn’t like doing these two entries as much as the others because everything in the news tends to be very negative. Reading the news wasn’t a part of my quarantine routine so it was difficult to come up with a response for those articles. It’s not that I didn’t care about things in the news, it just wasn’t my biggest interest. I also was sick and tired about hearing the numbers and statistics about the coronavirus. Overall I thought the ten journal entries were very enjoyable and were an easy way to elaborate about how you felt during these tough times.
Writing out these journal entries was actually pretty fun, I got to write about what I wanted to without having to really think much about what I was putting down… unless I had to respond to a prompt or review a video besides that, I got to write what I wanted to. I could also just briefly say what other people were doing in my house… I mostly just talked about what my dad and I are going to eventually do besides saying “hey this is what I did today” or “I just purchased the parts to do this project” but it was still very enjoyable doing these. Re-reading some of my writing, it was actually interesting in the sense of myself mostly talking about my car instead of what other people in my house were doing and what I was working on. I think the hardest journal entry we had to do was probably the hardest one just because I seriously didn’t have a clue of what I was doing until I just started to let myself write about what I really wanted to do. The last one was also pretty hard to write just because it was the last one and I had a fun time working on these assignments… which surprises me even as I am writing this that I would actually say that about a school assignment. I hope next year we are going to be keeping a journal for longer in the IB course that you’re teaching.