Metacognitive

                                                                                                                                                      Torey 1

Torey Rothert

Mrs. Belden

Honors English 1

17 September 2014

                                          Metacognitive Blog: And Then There Were None

                  There were multiple revisions that went into the And Then There Were None Essay. I

specifically changed the quantity of my examples and the quality of my thinking. Along with spelling

and grammar errors, I corrected my quotes, my knowledge, and I clarified ideas. The form of support

that helped me revise my essay the most was peer review with a checklist. I felt that my peers

writing the same essay helped me the most to perfect and reflect on my essay. All year I feel the peer

review will help me the most. It feels comfortable and less awkward when my peers and fellow

students revise my essay and help me out. I feel they are more honest with me and they have the time to

notice the tiny mistakes. As a writer everyone has room to grow. I need to grow in the field of properly

executing my ideas. I have ideas in my head but I have trouble putting it to paper, which resolves into

run-on paragraphs and in clarity. I hope by the end of the years I can expose my ideas thoroughly and

clearly with reasonable examples to support my reasoning.

Timed writing revision

Rothert 1

Torey Rothert

Mrs. Belden

Honors English I

10 September 2014

Timed Writing

This summer I read The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. The theme of the book is that things do not always go as planned. In the story, Hazel Grace Lancaster starts out not wanting friends, feeling utterly close to death, and is inspired by an author. Ironically, by the end of the book Hazel has a boyfriend, feels healthier compared to others, and despises the author.

In the book, Hazel claims she does not want friends but eventually she finds herself in love with Augustus Waters. Due to her cancer, she did not want to make friends and hurt them if she gets really sick. Throughout the beginning of the book, “I’m like a grenade mom. I’m a grenade and at some point I’m going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay?” (Green 99) It is a support group meeting for teens with cancer that introduces Hazel to new friends.  A boy named Isaacc becomes her new best friend and Augustus Waters becomes her new boyfriend. The two boys make Hazel realise how much she needs friends that support her and make her feel happy; especially since she has cancer. This statement supports my theme because unexpectedly Hazel finds herself a boyfriend.

Hazel Grace becomes the unhealthiest to the healthiest one in the room. The cancer makes her really sicks and without friends, she was the sickest person her family new. Sadly within the book Hazel’s boyfriend Augustus regains his cancer. Along with him, Isaacc becomes blind through a surgery to cure his cancer. Day by day the two boys feel worse and worse. Hazel is now not the sickest person her family knows. During most of their relationship Hazel is the sick one, so Gus and her are preparing for her explosion.  This supports my thesis because as Hazel’s health inclines her friends’ health declines even though everyone thinks she is the only one hurt.

In the novel, a former author named Peter Van Houten is a real jerk. Before Hazel knows Peter as a person, she idolizes him. In the book she reflects, “I’d learned this from my aforementioned third best friend, Peter Van Houten, the reclusive author of An Imperial Affliction, the book that was as close a thing as I had to a Bible” (Green 13). It is not until a trip to Amsterdam that Hazel realise how bad of a man Peter is. During a planned conversation in his home, he speaks with a rude tone,he interrupts on purpose, he drinks too much scotch, and he changes the conversations uncontrollably quick. After the conversation Hazel becomes angry, “‘I spent your wish on that doucheface,’ I said into his chest” (Green 195). This supports my theme because Hazel believes that Peter is an amazing man, yet he turns out to be rude.

The theme of this book is things do not always turn out as planned. Hazel Grace Lancaster plans to be alone so she does not hurt those around her, yet she finds herself a boyfriend. She prepares for her death, sensing that it is coming soon, yet her health increased while her friend’s health decreased. Lastly Hazel plans on meeting or idolized author, but instead she meets a truly rude man. Things do not always go as planned, but perhaps the unplanned situations help you. Hazel gets a new boyfriend who she loves a lot, her health increased, and she recognizes that you can not judge a book by its cover. It is very ironic how she does not want friends so she won’t break their hearts, yet she got a boyfriend and his death ended up breaking her heart. If everything goes as planned, Hazel wouldn’t have any infinities to share with someone she loves. Augustus waters accepts the theme when he admits, “You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers” (Green 313).