Letter to Block 3

Dear Classmates,

Oh block 3, at the beginning of the year there was a fog in the room. It was very difficult with all the assignments, and we didn't want any of it. We would moan, and groan, and the more we heard from Mrs. Edwards' class, the more we complained. Although we knew it wasn't going to get any easier, we tried to convince Dr. D that it was a lot of work. After she had that talk with us, it was smooth sailing. It was still a lot of work but, the work was more pleasurable because I did not have the mindset that it was all hard, and that it was unfair.

The 2nd semester had a lot of reports, and projects. Even then we had a positive attitude. I really enjoyed class after the first semester. It was a really fun year, and I wish you all luck next year!

Evaluation

   General Procedures- I have had days where I forget my pencil or do not have a sheet of paper. I always use my time in between my classes to go do whatever I need to get done. My e-mail is checked everyday, and I try to have a positive attitude as much as possible.

Lecture, announcements, whole class discussion- I try to contribute my thoughts and stay actively involved in class discussions. I always take notes, and ask questions at appropriate times.

Individual and group work- I had one issue where I did not contribute my work properly, but other than that I stay on task, do the work that is assigned, contribute properly to group discussions, and I try to do more than just the minimum for everything.

Growth- I feel that I have grown a lot in the second semester. My attitude towards the class has changed in a better way. I contribute better when I have a good attitude, and it is more fun. Also I think I have grown in the subject of paying attention to detail.

Macbeth thoughts

 So, this guy Banquo. Who is he to say Duncan was killed by us? I feel my body shake at the thought of the night Duncan clang to his life. But can he see? Lady, you help me get through but do you help me deal with guilt, or do you make it worst?

If Banquo gets killed, we will be under more suspicion. Lady, will you back us up?Should I feel guilt that we will kill my friend, and my higher power, who was nothing but nice? We hire murderers to kill, but the burden of the titles, king, cawdor, glamis, is all to much. For the simple mind.

Common errors list

Organization
Transitions
colons in general
citing bibliography
comma splices
hyphens
sentence fragments
works cited issues
italicization
sentence fluency
voice

Progressions through writing

This year, I entered 9^th grade not knowing how much writing we had to do as freshman. Then, reality hit! We had a few writing assignments in the beginning of the year. Which were nothing like the papers we had written in 8^th grade. But, it is high school, and we go to college prep. So what’s not to be expected?

The first assignment we had was a report on the novel Nation. I was quick to admit that it was my least favorite book in the summer reading books that I had read! It was a difficult essay to write, and my skills were definitely lacking in support, and fluency. As the year progressed, we began to write a literacy narrative essay. This time, it was neither the support nor the fluency, but instead organization. I noticed that as I got better at some skills, the other skills that needed tuning did not get the attention they needed.

Organization still needed tuning as the comments from the teacher came back from the 3^rd essay I wrote. She commented “but there is room to grow in terms of ideas, organization, and voice.” I had gotten past fluency, and support. Meanwhile I am learning a lot of ways to help get the skills to fix problems with those traits of good writing. The work just keeps getting harder and harder though! The profile assignment was the 3^rd essay, and I really saw some growth from the last paper, and the profile. Although what helped is I knew the person very well, so I didn’t have to do any digging for answers or more information. The next paper is all about transitions, NO ORGANIZATION!

I wrote an essay about poems. And it was fantastic except for the part where transitions come into play. As I said earlier once I fix problems, more occur, which is very frustrating about being a writer. You try your best on a piece of writing and address the areas of concern, but then only to be let down with more issues. Between every paragraph there was a note that read “weak transition”, and as soon as I reread the essay I noticed it as well! So sometimes just rereading things more than once, and having others look at it to see what they think, is more helpful than getting a paper back that says weak transition 5 times in one paper.

Overall, I can say that I have learned a lot from this year’s writing experience. It has not been easy, but it has pushed me out of my comfort zone for writing papers, and analyzing short stories. The 6 traits of good writing are still going to be in writing from here on out so I will always remember the traits. Also, as I noticed the other day, in the 1^st quarter I had trouble writing a page that was double spaced. Now I can write 2 pages double spaced really easily!

In the ongoing years I hope to exceed the limitations of writing, and become really good so that I can be prepared to go to a liberal arts college. This year was a HUGE step up from last year, but I believe that it was a good change, and that the ongoing writing projects, and one after the other papers, really does help you to become a stronger writer and a faster typer. I have seen major growth in my writing throughout the year.

Common Errors Essay

Common Errors Essay

            The papers this year are most definitely critiqued differently than previous years. The papers seem to be critiqued more on grammatical, sentence structure, and development issues. I have made many grammatical mistakes on all my papers, but one just stands out above all. That is comma splice.

            I am a repeat offender of the comma splice. A regular sentence must contain a main verb and a subject to be complete.  A comma splice is when you join two of those sentences together by a comma. The sentence may not have more than one main verb, and subject. So therefor, the comma splice was a killer for me! But, what I did do well is putting colons where semi-colons were supposed to go.

            Colons are used to introduce a list or quotation. Semi-colons are used to combine two sentences where the period has been left out. It is just to replace the period to give the sentence a more fluent flow. I would sometimes mix the two up, or I used the colon to combine two sentences if I forgot which one to put. I would always think of it like this. The colon has a comma on the bottom so it is like putting a comma in the place of a punctuation mark. And for the semi-colon I would think of it as a period since it has a double period in a sense. So I didn’t fully understand the rules to a semi-colon rule.

            Another issue of mine was hyphens. I knew that some numbers had hyphens in them, and some words. I never got when to use a hyphen other than that was how it was spelled, so I went along with it. A hyphen is used to combine a compound verb. So if the verb is not in the dictionary, you should highlight it. I followed that rule for a while until, I thought of some of the numbers in the alphabet are hyphenated. Then I thought that they are the more compound words like; twenty-two for instance.

            Other than errors, I have done some good things that goes along with grammatical errors. The indentions of the paragraphs are an everyday thing for me, but in the works cited section, indentions are hard to come by. They are very scarce in my papers. I did my works cited through a site called noodlebib, and it did not indent it so I just let it be.

            My common errors consisted of; comma splices, semi-colons, colons, indentions in the works cited, citing quotes correctly, sentence fragments, which to be perfectly honest I had no clue what it was before I had to do this essay, and hyphens. I have learned a lot from this essay and in general, about the grammatical errors that I make. I think that it will help me in the end to become a stronger writer, and also to become stronger in the grammatical section. Overall, from start to finish the only repeating issue was the comma splice. Also, looking at the papers from earlier in the year I think I have exceeded my expectations in improving from a grammatical standpoint.

4/20-100 minutes
4/22-66 minutes

Dark Turn of Mind

I decided to choose a song that Dr. D had suggessted because the song I was going to do was inapropriate. Although the song is short, it contains a lot of techniques. There are 5 stanzas. In the first stanza, the singer makes lines 2 and 4 rhyme. The singer also states that you shouldn't treat her unkind, because shes already been givin the dark turn of mind. So it is irony because it seems like a bad thing to have a dark turn of mind, but then she is ready to give it to someone else. Then in the 2nd stanza, its all about the senses. "Now I SEE the bones in the river and I FEEL the wind through the pine and I HEAR the shadows a-calling." I think that she used this technique to get the reader to really embrace the song, and make it enter into the body through the ears, eyes, and skin.

In the 3rd stanza the singer uses a technique called imagery. In the first 2 lines of the stanza there are 2 words that start with night and then the last line in the stanza states,"When the sun goes down." There is a dark image that is brought up. In the 4th stanza "And leave me if I'm feeling too lonely
Full as the fruit on the vine
You know some girls are bright as the morning
And some have a dark turn of mind
This to me translates into, Make your spirit leave my body, as I am full on your blood. Some girls like the daylight then some girls flock to the night. The 5th stanza is nothing shy of creepy also. "And some girls are blessed with a dark turn of mind." The transition between the 2nd and 3rd stanzas are significant.

Outside reading

This week for outside reading I spent a good hour on reading 4 poems and listing techniques, and then having to explain why the author uses that technique to make a conclusion. It is very hard work. The first poem I read and annotated was the most difficult. I felt like I couldn't do it. It was long, and complicated, and in my opionon hard to annotate. But, once I did it, I felt like I accomplished something, and from then on the poems got easier to annotate.

For my outside reading book, I am still reading My Brother's Keeper. I read for 46 minutes which completes the requirement. I left off at the part where he found out the his brother didn't care for anything anymore. I felt bad and sorry for him. He is missing out on life. Meanwhile, Toby is trying to cover up his brother's use so that he spares his mom some trouble. Personally, I felt like that was the wrong thing to do because Jake's drug use might get worse and worse.

Outside Reading

The analyzing poem was easy but hard at the same time. I was surprised by the fact that the teacher made us analyze the poem over a blog, so it was hard to convey what you said so you had to use distinct words to get your point across. I think I did a good job though and I can also tell that I am getting better at analyzing stories and poems. So thats a plus.

I'm still reading "My Brother's Keeper", and I left off at the point where he found out that his brother did drugs. Although my brother doesn't do drugs, it is very easy to relate to the book. The main character collects baseball cards, and I was like finally a book I can relate to.

Analyzing a Childrens poem

"My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke

I read all the poems, and this was my favorite. The poem has 4 stanzas, and the 1st and 3rd lines rhyme and the 2nd and 4th line rhyme. Their is also a stop at the end of line 2 and 4. In the 1st stanza their is a sense of smell. When it says "But it hung on like death", it gives you the horrible smell of alcohol breath. The second stanza gives sound. "Slid from the kitchen shelf", makes you imagine the sound of pans hitting the ground. In the 4th stanza, you get the feeling of a clock in your head ticking and "At every step you missed..My right ear scraped a buckle." I think this is a good story to analyze because it has a lot of fluency, rhyming, patterns, sound, smell, and feeling. But, I think the author says in the 4th stanza that implies that more is hurting from his dad's alcoholism.

My Brother's Keeper

The main character collects baseball cards. So I thought good I get to relate to this book. I was happy that I might have found a good book that I could relate to as well as read the whole thing and not stop in the middle becuase it was boring. Then, he is a Pittsburg Pirates fan. I like MLB baseball so that was another thing that I liked.

The book took a sudden turn, and he ended up getting the most valueble card to a Pirates' fan. I was once again happy for him. But, then he went home to show his brother, but he was stoned. When I read that I did not beleive it so I read that one sentence like 3 times to make sure that I read it right. So far it looks like a good book.

3/15-75 mins
3/17-75 mins

My weekend

My weekend started off with a baseball game on Friday night against Catholic High. We lost but we gave our all. Then the next morning was ST. PATTYS DAY. But I had another baseball game, so I had to wake up early and play that game at 10 then we had another game at 2. But after that I went to a party(missed half of it).

But, I got to sleep in the next day, so it worked out great. Also, to earn a couple extra bucks I helped my mom in the yard and did whatever job was needed. Overall it was a good weekend, with great weather, and fun things happening.

End

The end of Nervous Conditions was not at all surprising to me. At first like I started to get the hint that everybody had a condition but I soon realized that Nyasha's problem was the worst. So there for I was not suprised when she went to the insane place and had to spend the night.

Also I enjoyed reading this book, but at times it was hard to get through like the chapters were so long that it was just exhausting trying to read and annotate a 30 page chapter.

I read 150 minutes all in one day

Free post

So, this weekend went by too fast, kinda like third quarter did. Im so glad to be starting a new quarter because I was not doing so hot. The new quarter allows you to get out of the hole you dug yourself, and allows you to just start fresh. I always like to slack off 4th quarter since it is so close to summer but since it is high school Im aware that I can no longer do that.

High school has been a blast so far. We are 75% of the way done, and have 25% left of the school year then I become a sophomore. There was soppossed to be a three day weekend but there was a baseball tournament that I had to work at and it took the whole weekend up. But, I had a good time.

Mardi Gras Break

Mardi Gras break is one that I look forward to ever since 3rd quarter starts. It is a one week break from school, and it is when my couch becomes my best friend. You can chill, and get a break from working at school. The only disadvantage is you do not get to see your friends as much. But, you get to go on trips to places you havent ever been to and it is fun. Most people go to Colorado and that area to ski and snowboard.

Whenever Monday rolls around, its time to get up early, and rush to the bus. I always get headaches after a break. I get ajusted to the easy life really quickly, and when we get back to school, the teachers lay it on us. I understand why they do it, but I wish we could just have one day at school where we just discuss stuff, and not do any work.

Outside Reading

Nervous Conditions
2/23/12-100 minutes
2/24/12-55 minutes

In chapter 6, Nyasha gets in a fight with Babamukuru.I wasn't that stunned, but I also did not expect it. When I reread and found out that Babamukuru started it by hitting Nyasha, I was really surprised that he would hit his own daughter. But, when Nyasha fought back, I expected it since she was beginning to rebel her parents authority, and she would be the one to defend herself.

In chapter 7, Tambu goes home to see her family, and Lucia does too. Lucia had slept with Takesure, and got pregnant but says the father is Jeremiah. I was confused at this point because Lucia and Jeremiah are siblings in law. So why would Lucia want to have a baby with Jeremiah? I was confused, surprised, and kind of mad at Lucia.

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is starting! The parades have already begun! But, I havent gotten to go to one yet. My parents say that we are just gonna wait till next week when schools out. We get a week off of school and my family usually goes on vacation. This year we are going on a trip. My parents say it is a secret so Im not sure where we are going but we always go somewhere fun. We are going for three days which leaves time for us to go to parades.

My favorite parades are the ones in New Orleans. Orian is probably my favorite only because the theme, and the amout of beads and number of floats is superior to others. I can't wait to have a break from school, and relax for a week without homework, and all that "good" stuff.

Reading Responce

2/8/12-1 hour
2/10/12-25 mins.
2/12/12-25 mins.



The book that I'm reading is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It takes a long time to read, but its worth it, so far. Harry is a wizard kid who lives with his aunt since his mom and dad were killed. He starts to get letters from a place called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry. His aunt and uncle do not want him to go so they ignore the letters. My responce was of surprise. Just let him go, they treat him bad enough.

Then the letter start to pour into the house. It was alot of letters. Harry became happy, because he had hurd of Hogwarts before and wanted to go there. I felt good that the aunt and uncle finally let him go. When he first gets to Hogwarts, they go into the "cafeteria", the author described it to where the place was huge. So I was like I need to watch the movie to really see this!

Movies

I recently watched the movie Moneyball. It was a great movie! The movie is about a man who was an excellent baseball player but skipped college to play pro ball. It turned out to be a HUGE mistake. He ended up not being able to be a good player, and finally ended his pro career after being traded between teams over and over and over again. He then turns to managing a team.

I can not tell the rest but it is a great movie, and I really recommend it to likers of sports, and also to people that like real stories that are put into movies.

Tricks

Try to crack a raw egg in your hand just by squezzing. You can't! My friend once told me about this, and he told me that its impossible. I thought it was ridiculous, he wasn't strong enough, and he was just trying to trick me into breaking an egg all over myself. Well not until I tried was I unsuccessful. If you do it with two hands then your cheating. It also has to be a raw egg straight from the egg carton in WalMart.

Global Issues paper

We worked on the global issues project for English and World History this week in English. We started with making a thesis statement and an outline. Then, the next day we worked on a detailed outline so that we would be able to work on a first draft soon. I ended up getting more than expected done in the lab. Although I did miss one day due to a talk about coming into high school. I am working on a draft right now, and am almost half way done. I plan to have a full rough draft by Friday.

Overall, it was a week with accomplishments, and productive work.

Reading Responce to The Hunger Games

1/17-60 mins
1/18-20 mins
1/20-45 mins

After Katniss takes her sisters spot in the games, she goes to the government, and then the hunger games start. I was surprised at how fast the games started. I expected them to be able to prepare for it, and get mentally ready. Also it was sad because she might get killed at any moment since it is a only one person in the games can win, but they have to win by killing all the other participants.

In the next chapter Katniss goes into hiding whenever people start playing the hunger games. She hides up in the trees where nobody sees her. One person sees her, and becomes her ally. I was struck back at how she hid instead of going out into the games and competing in the challenges. I was happy for Katniss because the person that saw her eventually became her ally.

Free post

Dreams are weird. Dreams are when your mind thinks while your at rest, but there is a picture and a life-like feeling to it. If your mind was at rest while your body was too, there wouldn't be any dreams to pass the time as you sleep. I had a friend at my house the other day, and we were up till 1:30, and went to bed watching SportsCenter.

Well turns out we both had really similar dreams. We dreamed that we were in jail for something that we didn't do. That got me to think that, maybe minds think alike in ways that if something is said earlier in the day, and had a lasting impact on you in which you thought about it alot or you argued heavily about it. Then, your mind is thinking of things to think about. I just found it really strange.

Reading Responces

The book that I'm reading is called The Hunger Games. Katniss introduced her whole family, and I was suprised because their life had been horrific, and they had a horendous past. They introduce a game that is called the hunger games. It is where a person is chosen to go to a arena and fight till the death, until a victor is crowned.

Katniss' little sister has been chosen to be in the hunger games. I was astounded because usually they pick randomly, but for someone in that family to get chosen was a big shock to me. Prim was that 1% out of 1,000,000% to get picked. Thats when Katniss volunteers herself to play in the hunger games, instead of her little sister having to participate in the games. I was proud for Prim because she didnt deserve it, but her older sister doesn't want her to get hurt.

New Quarter

A new quarter is alaways stressful. Coming back from a lengthly break, and then the first day you go home with homework. I have a hard time adjusting. To going from sitting on your couch, watching television all day, to 8 hours of constantly taking in information.
A fresh start is always helpful, but if you waste that opportunity, and miss homework assignments then you have to play catch up all quarter.