The Archives of Sam Swift

Having a growth mindset is important not only for english but for life too. Ih the first video, I liked how she talked about the choice of words affecting the confidence of others. For example using “yet” helps give hope and confidence to a student who may be struggling. I also read, “Why rejection hurts so much” by Guy Winch, and “Why it's So Hard to Hear Negative Feedback” by Tim Herrera, which both go into detail about how we normally react to negative feedback. It is always harder to receive negative feedback, regardless how big or small, but it is important to learn from it and improve yourself. I heard a very interesting story on social media about a kid who was doing terrible in school and his life was going nowhere. His mom convinced him to take the SAT test, so he did. When he got his scores back he got around a 1500. He then realized that he was smart so he decided to start trying in school. He got good grades throughout the rest of high school and went to college and bec...

I read “How Music Shapes the Way We Play Video Games” by Kellen Beck and I thought that It was very well written. The piece does a good job starting off broad talking solely about the connection between any music and any video game. It breaks down the components of video games and music and what each one has in common. It then goes on to give examples of songs in games which helps make the article easier to read and more relatable. I think that drawing examples is probably the most important component of a nonfiction piece. When you are able to connect with the reader and draw their attention it allows you to have them locked in and dive into your piece in detail. I also read, “Do we still need to read and teach the classics?” by Joelle Chien which did a good job of bringing both sides of the argument to the table. The article has to do with education reform and if old classics do not follow the new reform guidelines people are trying to make. The article also talks a lot about represe...

One major recent event that has affected us all dramatically is the CoronaVirus, and it has still lingered on to this day. This is obviously something that none of us were ready for and are still adapting to to this day. There are many different opinions of how to deal with the virus going around but we can not all seem to agree on one. Some people think that this is an overreaction and we should live our lives with no changes and others are afraid to even leave their house. Personally, I do not think either side is completely right but I do lean toward the view of it being an overreaction. Over time we have been given so many different stats on how dangerous it spreads and kills, but then other stats say that a majority of the deaths are not due solely to Corona. I understand people are afraid and I don’t believe that we will have a viable solution until there is a vaccine. I have done some research on the progress of vaccines with wishful thinking of a quick and easy cure. I found tw...

Giving feedback is, in my opinion, the most important aspect of writing. I believe this because your work is constantly measured by how others appreciate and judge it so in that case it is good to see what people liked and did not like. Whenever I would do peer reviews in my previous english classes, I would make sure to try to break down every little mistake of the essay or paper I was reading for my partners benefit. We both knew that I was not trying to be rude or mean in my comments because I am making revisions to help them earn the best grade possible. As stated in "Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback" by Marshall Goldsmith, When I write a big paper, I try to get multiple people to read it before I submit it. One person might pick up something that the previous person, including myself, missed as well. Each reader has a unique background that makes their eye catch different mistakes. I want to make sure that someone who has no idea what I have been studying can still un...