Reading Times 12/9/13

30 minutes of LOTF reading
1 hour of annotating LOTF
1 hour 30 minutes of Reading Journals for LOTF
Total Time= 3 hours

For the two blogs of the week, I am using an optional blog done earlier in the quarter and I was selected as one of the students who's prompt was used. 

Reading Since 11/18/13

1 hour and 1/2 of Reading/Annotating LOTF chapters 8-10
1 hour of Journal Response for LOTF chapters 8-10 quotes and 3-5 summarized

Work for 11/18/13

2 hours Reading/Annotating- Lord of the Flies
1 hour 30 minutes- Chapter 1-4 Reading Responses Black Board

Free Prompt- My Awesome Neighbor

My neighbor is twelve, but at a maturity level, she can be sixteen. She goes to Episcopal, and is in middle school. We've known each other since day one. She is not only one of my best friends, but a sister. She has been with me through thick and thin, and it will stay like that forever.

I consider her family like my own. We are always together, and she knows she can always count on me. From beach trips, to those daily rides to school everyday that I love. I hope to be a role model to her and continue to set a good example for her. She will be starting high school in 2 years, prepared to say the least. She has heard more drama and stress from all my years in all lower, middle, and upper school. She knows it all and hopefully picks up on the good things and pushes away the bad. I hope she has half as much fun as I had and am having, because high school is one of the best times of your life. 

Prompt: Favorite

This week you will be blogging on your favorite thing would have covered this year. You can write about any acquired knowledge in English 1 with Dr. D this year. It can be about Lord Of The Flies, Literacy Narratives, or Literary Analysis. Any of which compete two paragraphs describing what is your favorite and why it is? If it happens to be a small topic then go into detail about it please.

My favorite thing we have covered this year so far would have to be literacy narratives. At first I had no clue on the topic. After countless meetings with Dr. D at tutorial and a writing center visit, I finally mastered it. I learned that the writing center and using your tutorial time wisely could really help you as well. Writing the literacy narrative was actually a lot easier once I understood the topic. It was also really encouraging and exciting once you looked at what all you had learned, and then your paper. 

Reading/Working 11/11

Work for 11/11
1 hour 15 minutes on LOTF annotating/reading
45 minutes on Literary Analysis work (20mins. at tutorial)

Free Post 11/11 Thanksgiving

I can't wait for Thanksgiving! It is one of my favorite holidays, and I love the meaning of it. I always feel so grateful for all my family. I'm truly blessed getting to see all my cousins and relatives. Seeing my Dad's side of the family only once a year makes me really cherish it even more.

Flying to New Jersey with my family is also fun. I bond with my brothers and my Dad, which is good because I don't see my older brother a lot since he is in college. My whole family, which is about 75 people, break into teams for a scavenger hunt that the whole town knows about. I have won 4 years in a row now. All the games, blessings, and pictures save a great memory for me to keep forever.

Reflection on Deserted Island

If I had one word to say about the activity on Thursday it would be noisy. Everyone's ideas were all said at one time. When a leader was assigned, nothing was really enforced. Nobody’s ideas made since with others and everything was jumbled. After I overhead someone say it was the Lord of the Flies introduction, I was confused. 


       At first, I tried to see how it connected to the book. Which since I wasn't at school on Friday, because I was sick and haven't started the book. Also since we have 15 or so first graders along with us was difficult to deal with. Maddie suggested taken care of the kids, which was a good idea. Many others were talking about stealing people's stuff or leaving the group for survival. Nina even suggested cannibalism, which is seriously scary. Overall, it would be a difficult task to accomplish organizing a system and surviving with nothing. 


       I think things would be a lot different in real life, because we would actually have to make life or death decisions. Everyone would be willing to listen to one another and cannibalism would hopefully not be even kinda an idea. Our class as a whole has smart people, and I think people who aren't so book smart would branch off and show their "street smart" abilities. The imagination and creative our class has is great and could be very useful. We have babysitters and hunters in our class as well, which is helpful. Disagreements would also be present. With the whole class and the 15 first graders, a disagreement is bound to come about. If we were truly put to the test I think everyone would come together and be a lot different than in class on Thursday. 

Another Free Post

Ugh... It is currently 10:50 pm and I am exhausted. I really want these optional blogs to be turned in, because I know I will greatly appreciate an off week of blogging. I think blogging is cool and I love the concept of it, it gets annoying to do every weekend. Free posts are especially fun to write because you can write about absolutely anything and as long as it meets the requirements you are good. Free posts lately have become a ranting session or a way to get all of the stuff bundled in my head onto a computer screen.

Although flash fiction was recommended since I'm so tired working on other work and trying to get my literary analysis on "it's feet and going," I'm going to have to skip this recommendation. After submitting my detailed outline, I deciding that I should go blog real quick. I had already done my working/reading log for the week and since it was an optional blog I should just do it. Having to not worry about blogs is a great feeling. I'm very glad I have spent this time to finish my optional set of blogging for November 4^th, 2013, and hope I enjoy the off time one of these days when I'm stressed to not have to do blogs. 

Literary Analysis Update

So far I have been struggling very much with the literary analysis. Just the concept itself is hard to get wrapped around my head. I know what literary means and what analyzing is but them together is just a brain cluster. I was one of the first one's in the class to get a thesis statement together. That was good to get a head start but also I was one of the last to turn in my detailed outline including the thesis statement, because I have OCD turning things in. 

I am starting to understand literary analysis more and more as we talk about it in class and move forward on writing one. I am somewhat ready to start a "rough draft." The good thing about rough drafts is that they are just a rough draft; nothing final just a beginning piece, like a backbone to a paper. The power points that we have gone over in class really help me understand it more. I don't usually have enough time to watch the Ted Ed videos, which look very interesting, so I might watch a couple of those before writing my rough draft. Moving forward, I would like to write a very helpful rough draft that is complex so I have to do less work to make a great literary analysis on Sucker.

Reading/Working Log 11/4

Working on Literary Analysis- 1 hour 20 minutes
Peer Review- 25 minutes
Re-reading Sucker- 15 minutes

Reading/Working Record 10/28/13

2 hours- Annotating and Reading Araby, Sucker, and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.

Annotated 3 Stories

The 3 stories I have chosen to read and annotate were Sucker, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, and Araby. They all have somewhat interesting titles that make you want to read the stories. After reading each of the titles, you can predict many plot lines to each story. I made many conclusions after finishing all the stories. Most of the stories were long and hard to comprehend, but I did it.

 I never knew how much I could really connect with the story. Sucker actually really changed my mind of heart. My cousin Josephine, we call her Josie is always left out. She has always been the closest with me, but I need to watch my words and what I say to her because she does take in every little thing I say. Not only Sucker but the other stories as well. Every story virtually has a message. You can take that message differently than others but the author is writing the story to send a message in most cases. Taking the story in is something different. I have to make the story personal to usually understand the story. I put the characters in my shoes and plug them in as people in my life, and I understand the stories much better. 

Free Post

          I’m so unbelievably stressed! I have so much work to do! All the homecoming stuff, decorations, homework, studying, projects, and volleyball. I have no clue how I manage to do it all. I have no time to right this post, so I'm just going to rant the whole time.

          We only have 2 more days of volleyball, which is both happy and sad. Both at the same time actually. Release of stress but I will miss all the games and fun practices we had. I think my grades will also reflect being able to go home right after dismissal hopefully. I have a huge biology project tomorrow that I am not prepared for so after I'm finished annotating my stories and blogging, I will finish that. Moving on to the next blog, but I really like free posts!

10/14

Working/Reading Record for 10/14/13
Working on Short Story- 55 minutes
The Return- 45 minutes
Re-reading Short stories for Test- 35 minutes

Personal Questions for Quarter 2

-Why do you read what you read?

-How can I push myself as a reader?

Reading Record Week 8

55 minutes of "And of Clay Are We Created"
40 minutes of "The Girls in their Summer Dresses"
45 minutes of writing my Short Story

Reading Record Week 7

1 hour for Dry September
30 minutes for A&P
30 minutes for A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
120 minutes total of reading Short Stories

Short Story Plot

Plot for Short Story 

Exposition: Introducing Allie and her background life

Rising Action: Training for the Grand Supreme competition, and all the stuff leading up to the competition

Climax: Losing the Gem right before going on stage and winning with out it

Falling Action: Her thoughts after winning with out the gem, and how her overcoming has led her to several resolutions

Resolution: Getting the gem back and going back to her every day junior life

Short Story Reflection

After reading five short stories and learning three literary elements in the short story unit, I think I have learned a lot. The short stories are not that short, and you have to pay attention to details very closely. Some of the stories can easily change moods, and are not all what you expect them to be. For example, when Dr. D told us that the short story Harrison Bergeron was going to be creepy I had no clue it would be about a guy who escaped from jail and had all these restrictions. That one was a little more than creepy.

Many of these stories have been very confusing but they do teach us a lot about setting, character, and point of view in general. I like to learn the difference between literary and literacy, because I get very confused between the two. I am also very excited to write my own short story. Using the skills I am learning now, I hope my short story turns out to be half as good as the ones we have read so far. I look forward into reading and learning more and more about short stories as we begin to write our own.

Reading Log Week 6

3 hours to read short stories: Harrison Bergeron, A&P, and To Da-duh, in Memoriam  

Allie's Thoughts

 Why? Why me? I just don’t understand why it happened to me. Out of 7 billon people in this world. Me. My parents. Dead. It’s all I think about, especially when I’m laying in my oversized bed just thinking. Dings go off, I know its Noah so I just stay right where I am. If I could only rewind time and make it all go away. Make that guy not go to the bar, not put his key in the ignition, and not run into my parents.

I dream of walking down the aisle with my dad and bonding sessions with my mom. I miss them. Everyday. I just wish they were here, as my eyes start to close and my mind starts to go blank. Every night the same thoughts come back as if I was reliving everyday. 

Short Stories

We have started reading short stories this week. To be honest when we first got the book of many short stories, I was very intimidated by them. I don’t like being forced to read, and I HATE annotating. I like to annotate in my head or if I feel like there is something really important to remember not because I’m forced to focus on one thing and everything that applies to that needs to be written to the side about.

As I started to actually read the first story though, I started to like them and annotated wasn’t so bad. They are short stories, which I like because they are short! Although it takes a long time to finish, it ends up being worth reading. We have only read 3, and I have enjoyed all of them. I am very excited about continuing the section of short stories. 

Reading Log

Reading Record
120 minutes on literacy narrative
30 minutes of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (pgs. 400-461)

E-Books

The idea of creating an e book is very interesting I think! In class on Friday, we saw an example of an e book and I thought it looked very cool. Publishing is a huge process of writing, and making our literacy narratives go public is very exciting!

       Personally the fact that people are all open to reading my narrative is pretty nerve-racking! There opinions mean a lot and I have worked very hard on this piece of writing. I think it is going to be good to see the differences and similarities between people’s narratives. Overall, I think that it is a very good idea to see other people’s ideas as well as yours combined in one!

BLOGS ON BLOGS ON BLOGS!

Commenting on blogs can be very stressful. I can never pick just two peoples to comment on out of the 15 or so. I like to comment on blogs when I actually do my blogs; just hoping somebody else has already done theirs. I feel like I should have gotten into the hang of it by the 5^th week now. Commenting on the blogs is a cool way of seeing people’s thoughts and writings, and I like that a lot.

      

       Kaylin’s blog is absolutely the most creative and unique blog ever! Every time I click on her page, I say in my head that I wish my blogs were like that. She always has pictures and her writings are long and full. She fulfills the assignment, and it seems effortless. I love reading her blogs, and the vivid details in all her writings such as the literacy narrative. I might need a few lessons on doing my blogs. Keep up the good work Kay. It really pays off!

Reading Record Week 4

Reading Record
120 minutes on rough draft for Literacy narrative
30 minutes of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (pgs. 364-400)

The Group Text

     Hannah, Lilly, and Gretchen are three best friends! They tell each other everything and nothing was kept as a secret. 6^th grade is one filled with new memories and obstacles, but when you have two great friends by your side nothing can get in your way! Ryan Klemperer was the cutest 6^th grader in town! Everyone thought he was the cutest and these 3 were determined to get him to text at least one of them!

"Hey y'all," Hannah types on her brand new Iphone 5.

“Hey,” both Gretchen and Lilly reply in the group message between the three.

“Big News,” Hannah tries to express her exciting emotions through the message.

“Spill,” Lilly and Gretchen both click send at the exact time.

"RYAN TEXTED ME," Hannah typed in all caps.

“What did he say?” Gretchen and Lilly both sent the exact same message.

“Come to the Movies,” Hannah types with kissy emojis.

“OMG you're so lucky,” Lilly types.

Gretchen who is so proud that at least one of her two best friends is going on a date with “The Ryan Klemperer.”

“Have fun Hann,” both girls reply to end the conversation of the night.

     Hannah ends up going to the movies with Ryan, and he becomes friends with all three of the girls. The group texts continue to go on, and Ryan is now the forth member of the group text!

Literacy Narrative

         My literacy narrative is about a persuasive letter Audrey, Sophie, and I wrote to my dad trying to convince him to take us to the beach over Spring Break. I really like the assignment of writing my own literacy narrative! Reading examples in class has gotten me very excited to write my own. I am struggling with dialogue in my narrative. I have read over the section of notes we have gotten three times and I'm working on using it correctly in my paper.

         Overall, I really like the idea of publishing our own paper to share for others to read. I think it really preps us for harder papers that are assigned to us in the next few quarters. It's a good opening process to getting back into the groove of writing. I'm working very hard on my narrative and I'm very excited for it to be published.

Reading Log Week 3

Reading Record- Week 3

1 hour and 30 minutes of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (pgs. 181- 324)

30 minutes (in class) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (pgs. 123-181)

A Time To Kill

I watched, A Time to Kill yesterday, one of my favorite films in the world! It brings out a different side of me. I have major issues with racism, and I don’t allow it to occur around me. I like the ending the best, obviously because it ends better than it starts in a long way.

As I watch A Time to Kill, I connect it to many books I have read too. It is something I do a lot when I either read a book that is like a movie I have seen, or vies versa. To Kill A Mocking Bird, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry especially. Both books have a problem that has racism and prejudice in it. I love the genre of starting off sad, and growing to be greater and greater as the book or movie goes on.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Week 3

            I’m still reading the Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, and I’m still entertained. The further and further I go into the book as I read on and on, it makes me read more and more. Stieg Larsson words get more adult like as you read on also. Reading an adult book, like Larsson’s means you have to be mature. I really I’m enjoying the book still.

Although the book is very entertaining, it is very difficult to read in my opinion. I have trouble understanding everything that is being put across. I find myself reading over and over again. I think overall the book is a challenge to read but worth your time.

Reading Log Week 2

Reading Log for The Week

40 minutes in Tutorial working on presentation

55 minutes of Reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (pgs. 55-123)

25 minutes of studying rhetorical skills

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

I am currently reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The girl with a dragon tattoo is very much an adult book, but it is very interesting and entertaining. My mom has read almost all of Stieg Larsson's books and saw the movie for, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I wouldn't say she recommended it for me, but she enjoyed them herself so I tried it out. It's very long and sort of hard to read, but I like it. 

I am really hoping to finish this book before the end of next month, but I am a terribly slow reader and I analyze every page. I have to fully develop and understand the page before I can turn it. I also have volleyball everyday after school, and my favorite TV series shows twice a week. What makes me want/not want to read? It's a question that I have asked myself forever, and I don't think I will ever have a definite answer but a book that is catchy and entertaining will defiantly make me want to read.

BR dance

This weekend was my first high school cotillion dance. It was very enjoyable and worth going too! The theme was The Great Gatsby so the outfits were very unique, and there were lots of varieties. Getting ready is a long process for us girls, so we start at like 4. We just kind of listen to music for like 30 minutes and wait for each other to finish showering.  After everyone is done, we move to the blow-drying part of the process. That takes a while, especially when Sophie and Audrey’s hair is very thick or long. After about an hour of blow-drying, you actually start “doing the hair.” Depending on the theme, it kind of sets the mood for the hairstyle. Not everyone wants to have the same “all curled” or “all straight” so we all pick and then get to work.

            The next part of getting ready is more time consuming! Make-up, getting dressed, and pictures are big! Usually we all do our own makeup and then show each other our outfits. Pictures also take forever, everyone has to have “their side” and make sure they look good before posting or if there bad, they’re deleted. They end up all being good and we proceed to the dance. It was so much fun, and I saw so many people that I have not seen in a long time. I’m now very excited for the next dance.

Reading Log 8/12/13- 8/18/13

Reading Log for The Week

25 minutes on Zine

45 minutes on Prep notes on Free Choice Summer Reading Book

50 minutes of Reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (pgs. 1-55)

High School Volleyball

Volleyball in high school is very different from middle school volleyball. Practices, meetings, games, and tournaments are so much more intense and challenging. Missing practice in middle school isn't very a big deal but in high school it's not an option. Games are later in the day and more competitive as well. Also tournaments are further away and way longer!

Every little thing matters in volleyball. Every pass, serve, set, hit, block, and dig are all different pieces of the game that are all needed to be met to succeed. Tryouts are important and nobody has a spot, you have to earn it. I am so lucky to be apart of such an awesome athletic program at EHS and I'm so honored to have the opportunity to play and practice everyday!

Reading Response Divergent

I honestly don’t like summer reading. I never have and I thought I never would. It’s not that I don’t enjoy reading; it's just that it's in the summer and I want to be outside and not cocooned in a bed reading. Divergent was such an awesome book! I can’t even explain how much I was entertained by reading Divergent. Last year at the end when a few seniors came and spoke to us about summer reading for Freshman year, I was not looking forward to it therefore not really being attentive or listening to the stuff they had to say. When I first went to Barnes and Noble to buy my books, I picked up The Knife of Never Letting Go first and I was so disappointed of the amount of pages it had. I basically decided that I would spend half my summer reading this one, so I prayed Divergent was small. As I went down the aisle and finally came to a stop at the book, I couldn’t believe it. Divergent is double the size of The Knife of Never Letting Go, not really but it seemed like it at the time. I slowly grabbed a copy and slumped all the way over to the checkout line.

When I got home, I decided it was probably a good idea to start with the longer book so as the summer went on I could knock out the hardest or longest one first. I went into my room and read one chapter, and was already tired of reading. Of course the book was fabulous, but the tempting text tones I heard from my mom’s bedroom, where my phone was being kept, were intriguing me to stop reading. Days went on and it was getting too late, I was tanning with Audrey at her house and decided to start reading again. I couldn't put the book down after that and I finished it the next day. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and my mom is forcing me to read it with her again and I’m okay with it. I think Divergent was a great selection for Summer Reading, and I think more books like it should be picked to read in the future.