Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Final Blog


We will grow little by little until we find out who are true friends are.
In the beginning of my freshman year I didn't know how to do half of the stuff i have learned in honors English. I feel like i am better at English, this is one subject that i have always enjoyed and now i have gotten even better at what i love most in school. When you first introduced the idea of having a blog, i loved it! I have never done anything like this before and its way easier than writing it on paper. Plus you can actually see what other people have to say, which is always fun. When i was looking over all of my blogs that i wrote this year, I realized that nothing has changed from the beginning of the year. Like our first blog when we wrote about what kind of books we like and where we like to read. I still have to have it be really quiet for me to read. If its loud then it doesn't work for me, and i wont remember anything that i read. When you first told us about annotating, i wasn't all that thrilled about it, but then i realized how much it helps you pick up the main points in the book that you are reading. The first book that i ever annotated was Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, which was a pretty good book! One of the main literary elements in that book was imagery, the authors like to use this go grab hold of the reader. As a scrolled up the page i found the post "Early Childhood" this brings back the memory of when you lose something you don't realize how valuable it is to you until its gone. I still remember when i was 3 years old and i had a cat come to my door everyday. I used to play with my barbies and play vet with them, that was my dream to have a cat! Then one day a cat shows up at my door meowing, wanting in. I played with that cat like it was a stuffed animal, i would not let it out of my sight or grasp! Then the next thing you knew hes sitting by you on your chair at the table eating your chicken nuggets, which kids don't like when they get their food stolen, but i didn't mind. When i was 14 years old i lost my best friend of my childhood to cancer. We will always miss you Henry. Although i have always had a best friend since 3rd grade, and her name is Katherine Frank. This girl has been there for me ever since elementary school. We hang out almost every weekend and share many memories together. Having a best friend is always great, especially is you have one like Katherine! My "Life Lesson" is always communicate better, which sometimes i still don't do. But hopefully i will get better at it. The book To Kill a Mockingbird was a pretty good book, it was my second favorite book that we read in honors English. This book had a lot of potential of being good. The books story was told well by the author by having key points that were hidden within the text such as "What does to kill a mockingbird mean?" The imagery also helps you follow the stories content. Now to talk about my favorite book that we have read this year which is Animal Farm. I love books that involve animals in them so this was a perfect match to what i like to read. This book caught my attention when i was picking the summer assignment too but i didn't pick it because i knew we were going to read it later in the year.When you told us what the story was actually about it kind of changed my perspective on the whole book. I didn't think about the animals anymore it was the people that represented the animals instead. I also think that the video project that we did for this book was a TON of fun! My group decided that we would do something different and so we did. People seemed to have liked it and thought that it was funny which is good, and we enjoyed making it! After this we started reading Great Expectations, i wasn't really sure what to expect in this book but when i got half way through it i realized that i hated it with a burning passion! I could not force myself through the book, it made me bored just to think about it. The essay was hard for me to write too because i hated the book, but i really liked the group essay idea because it helped me a lot since i didn't have to write a whole essay by myself. During the school year some of us made "New Years Resolutions" I tried to do my goals and almost achieved them. One of my goals was by the end of the year i wanted to do the slits, well that goal is still in progress, but I'm almost there! Romeo and Juliet was a interesting book. The only thing that bugged me about the book was the writing of it, it got to be way to confusing for me. I would rather it just be normal writing. I would have enjoyed the book more if i could understand what somethings meant. Most girls like love stories, like me which is why this summer i want to read The Notebook. This year i saw the movie for the first time and i loved it so much! One of my favorite things that we did in honors English was the whole poetry unit. For some reason i have always liked poetry, i find it interesting how people put a simple message in like 4 lines but in different words! Writing poetry can be easy or hard depending on the person, some people can do it but others have problems with just thinking on what to write it about. There's one quote that could tie into any ones life and help them and that would be "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"-Dr. Seuss. This quote makes me notice how important it is to be yourself and not anyone that people want you to be. My freshman year has been amazing! I cant believe its over. I have learned so much in honors English, that i never even knew existed. Thank you Mrs. Gillman for being my teacher and helping me become better at English, your a great teacher. I hope that you and your kids have a good summer!

The Final Blog

Friday, May 21, 2010

Essay Writing: Challenges and Conquests

I have definitely learned a ton about writing essays this year! In middle school it was just like a basic summary of the book and the essay would be three paragraphs long. Now you have to put more thought into how you construct the intro, three bodies, and a conclusion to make up your essay. I have learned how to write a thesis and how to put all the different literary elements together and make your essay more like a report and something that i am more proud of. The purpose of literary elemnts is to get the reader thinkning, you also have questions to answer about the elements that always can make the book way deeper than it actually is.

When i looked at the rubric i noticed how much i repeated the word fate and love. I constantly used those words when i could be using different and more complex words to switch it up. This has always been a huge problem since i was in middle school and i always seem to do it. I also noticed that i didn't embed one of my quotes so it sounded very weird and didn't make sense.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Summer Reading

My first book that i would like to read over the summer is The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. I saw the movie last month for the first time surprisingly and i loved it!! I have heard that the book is really good and good in depth. I love love stories like this, they are just something that makes you happy and is enjoyable for most girls to read.

The second book i want to read is The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. This is of course another love story, but its one of his newest books. Its one of those books about a girl in the summer time where she doesn't fit in but then she falls in love with this guy. They end up on spending the whole summer together. It sounds like a really good book!

Friday, May 7, 2010

FATE

My sign is an Aquarius, one meaning shy, gentle, and sensitive. The other is they tend to be active and keep things to themselves. We love to cheer people up!

I am more shy, gentle, and sensitive because when i first meet people its always a little slow. I love talking to people but its always at first it feels weird. I am always active towards people and in sports. People say that i am always smiling and keep a positive attitude. I love to make people smile and laugh. I enjoy to be around people.

Romeo and Juliet were meant to be together. When they first locked eyes they both knew that they were each others true loves. Even though their parents don't approve of their love they keep it strong from how they feel! Fate brought them together.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Cultural Shock

The book Romeo and Juliet reminds me of the Notebook and the Titanic in a way. In both of these movies the girl is a higher class than the boy which isn't aloud. The parents don't allow them to see each other but there love can not separate them. These stories also take place in a older time than today. In the Titanic he dies in the end while letting her live. Romeo and Juliet could never be separated either, dead or alive.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Skits

When Pip goes to Mrs. Havisham's house. Talk about how when he walks into her weird house and meets her. I think that this would be funny and a good important scene to act out especially with good acting!

When Estella told Pip that she was not meant for him and she was going to marry Drummle. This takes place at Mrs. Havisham's house. This is one of the really important scenes where Pip finds out that the girl he really liked doesn't feel the same way. This would be a good dramatic skit to act out.

When Mrs. Havisham catches on fire and starts to yell in a dramatic funny way. I think that this would be a very funny scene to act out especially if someone is very dramatic and serious about the part!