Reflection

 * Is writing online different than in a notebook?  In what ways?     

        I feel that writing online is very different than writing in a notebook. When I am online I am much more formal in my writing even if it is for an assignment. When I write in a notebook it feels less official to me. The fact that it is online makes me use better vocabulary and makes me think more about what I'm writing. Whenever a teacher tells me to do an assignment in a notebook I do it a bit sloppily and don't take as much care. I feel like when I write in a notebook I just write the first thing that comes into my head. I think things out more when I do a blog post. If it's a class assignment or homework in a notebook I always end up not doing as good a job as I can.

* In what ways did you benefit from the experience?

         I think I benefited a lot. It made me pay a lot more attention to what I was reading. Normally when I read something, I don't pay attention to the things like the message and the author's craft. I only pay attention to the story. It made me a much better reader, and I couldn't just skip reading on my own time like I could in previous grades. Even if a teacher made us keep a reading log, we still didn't need to think about what we were reading. The blog was also helpful because when we had to do the non-fiction critical analysis, it was good practice writing something opinionated about a non-fiction article.

* Do you think that people are more real online or do we create online personalities that project the best of ourselves? Or something else?

        
         I think people are very different online, or on any kind of social media (even texting). I think a person's online life is very different than who they really are. People try to appear cooler and smarter online, because people can only see what you post. They edit their accounts so people view them in a specific way. However, this may not be who they are. Also, over text, people don't need to respond right away or at all. They have a lot of time to think and word their response, but if it's face to face they can't really do that, so I think you won't get as real of an answer. People may present the best of their personality, or they may present something totally fake because they want to be seen as a different person.