This week we focused on Old English Poems; understanding them, analyzing them, and the elements that go into them. The biggest idea that I learned from all of this is that different elements can apply to a certain type of writing, not all literary elements should be in every type of writing. In younger grades I think we are taught to incorporate as many elements into our writing as possible so that we learn as many as possible. If you included every type of writing element in every piece of writing you did, they would be a mess and all over the place. I would like to know what elements coincide with each other, like a if there's blank there must also be blank. This week I have also learned, during creative writing, to let go and just write whatever comes to mind. My writing becomes much more thoughtful and less choppy when I stop thinking and worrying so much if it is "good" or structured correctly. With that being said, I've realized I do enjoy writing essays that require a specific structure. I'm not sure if it's because it is easier or because I like having an exact guideline. I participated a lot within our group for analyzing the old English poems and I would rate my understand of what we did this week pretty high. I do need to work on being able to recognize and being able to point out certain literary elements.