Q4 week 1 - learning reflection

My first year of high school has gone by very fast and I can't believe that I only have 9 weeks left. I have learned a lot about myself as the way I learn as a student, the kind of reader I am reader, and my writing styles as a writer through my English class. I have learned that I am the most effective as a student when I write things down and participate a lot in class by asking questions and getting extra help when I need it. I have learned that if I find a good book, then I actually enjoy reading. I have learned that if I have the right mindset, writing can be easy and enjoyable for me.

I will use these things I have learned about myself to do the best I possibly can during the last 9 weeks of my first year of high school. I am going to be an active learner by participating in class, getting extra help during tutorial or at a break when I need it to understand the material, I am going to read books that I enjoy reading so that I will read more and become a better reader, and I am going to have the right mindset when starting a piece of writing so that it can be as good as I am capable of writing. I have learned a lot about myself as a student this year.

Q4 week 1 free post - reading response

For my independent reading book, I am currently reading "Everything Everything" by Nicola Yoon. This book is by far one of my favorite books I have read this year. The main character, Maddy, has a disease in which she cannot go outside. Maddy cannot experience the world for herself until one day everything changes. A boy named Olly moves in across the street and Maddy falls in love. She wishes she could see him all the time and do things in the world outside with him all the time. 

One day, this all changes. Maddy decides to go outside. In the middle of the night she writes a goodbye letter to her mother and leaves the house. She goes to Olly's and they pack up and leave to go on a trip to Hawaii. Maddy has been wanting to see the ocean her entire life and now she finally will get to. The author lets the readers feel like they are right there in the plot with the characters by using imagery and giving lots of vivid detail. I am excited to finish this book and see if Maddy will survive. 

blog comments Q3 week 7

Ella - Free Post

Savannah - Analyzing a Song

Q3 week 7 - free post

Mardi Gras break this year was definitely one I will never forget. It was filled with lots of fun, great people, lots of laughs, and many memories. Over Mardi Gras break I went on a trip to Disney World with my friend Olivia and her mom. We drove the entire 12 hours there. Once we finally got there, we were so excited that we could not stand it. We got there late Tuesday night so we didn't have time to do anything that night but chill in the hotel and get ready for the next 3 days of being in the Disney parks all day. We got to go to Universal Studios and the three disney parks, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. We went to Universal Studios on Wednesday, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios on Thursday, and Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios on Friday.

My favorite rollercoaster was "rockin roller coaster" in Hollywood Studios. It was a ride that was very fast and dark with upside down turns and sharp turns. I also liked the rides Tower of Terror in Hollywood Studios, The Hulk in Universal, Splash Mountain in Magic Kingdom, and Space Mountain in Magic Kingdom. On Thursday of the trip, my friend, my friend's mom, and I were walking out of a store in Magic Kingdom and her mom tripped and broke both arms and hurt her ankle. She refused to go to urgent care until later that night after the infirmary people in Disney told her she needed to go to the hospital. The three of us rode an ambulence out of Magic Kingdom and to the hospital, which not many people can say they did. As the trip came to an end, I was very sad it was over and that I had to go back to school. My trip to Disney World is one I will never forget.

Q3 week 7 - analyzing a song

The song I chose to analyze is "Umbrella" by Rihanna. Rihanna uses an alliteration when she sings, "Good Girl Gone Bad" because of the repetition of identical or similar sounds at the beginning of neighboring words. She also uses alliteration when she sings, "Under my umbrella", because of the repetition of the "U" sound. Rihanna expresses her love to whoever she is singing the song to by saying "when the sunshines, we'll shine together". This is an example of a euphony because she is using the pleasing smoothness of sound to express her love.

The speaker of this song is Rihanna because she is singing it. Rihanna's purpose for writing this song is to express her love and say that she will always be with her lover and "stick it out 'til the end". The tone of this song is romantic because it is about love.

Q3 week 4 post - reading response to ATDPTI

At this point in the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, I am on page 207. This book is about an Indian named Junior who lives on the rez and decides that he wants to go to an all white school called Reardan. Junior experiences many things since he is transitioning from a poor school that only Indians attend to a white school called Reardan where it is unheard of for an Indian to attend an all white school. Junior has some trouble the first few days. The other students at Reardan are not very accepting to the fact that an Indian living on the rez has just suddenly showed up at their all white school. People make fun of Junior and he is not liked the first few weeks of the new school.

At Juniors new school, he meets a white girl who he thinks is the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. He is in love with her, but doesn't know what to do about it because he is a poor Indian and she is a rich white girl. Junior starts to hangout with the white girl, Penelope, and he becomes more "popular" because of this. Junior joins the Reardan basketball team and is liked by the coach and most of the players. I like this book so far and it has many important lessons that readers can learn from.

Q3 week 4 - research post

I have learned many things from our research work in English class. One of the many things I learned that I feel like is one of the most important is how to correctly include an in-text citation in a research paper. At first, I had no idea what I was doing but the more I started doing it, the more I understood it. Knowing how to include in-text citations in a research paper, or any paper that uses another source, is very important and I feel like since I know how to do this now, I will be able to use this skill for the rest of my writing days in high school and college. In-text citations are used to prevent plagiarism and give credit to the source you are using. Another important skill that I learned during the process of completing the research paper is how to properly include a list of MLA citations at the end of my paper and how to properly format them. All research papers should include a works cited page that is properly formatted, includes all the sources used in the paper, and is in alphabetical order. I can use this information that I know about creating and adding a works cited page to a paper in the future to help prevent plagiarism by giving credit where credit is due. Knowing how to use in-text citations properly and knowing how to properly include a works cited page are two very important skills that I learned during the process of writing my research paper.

One thing that we have learned about that I don't feel very comfortable with is connecting each paragraph to the thesis with a strong transition from one paragraph to the next while still connecting it to the thesis statement. I did do that in my paper, but I feel like it is a skill that I could improve on to make future papers stronger and better. I would like to learn more about strong transitions from paragraph to paragraph.