Audrey's Blog Response

How is 9th grade English different from 8th grade english?

9th grade English is some what different from 8th grade English. I think it is A LOT better for many reasons. One reason is I love the atmosphere in Dr. D's class it doesn't feel like a class that when I walk in I should be silent and just be lectured all class. In general the learning atmosphere is way better in high school than it was in middle school. I feel like I have gotten stronger in all my subjects especially English.

I think having a teacher like Dr. D who wants me to succeed just helps me know that if I dont understand anything I can always go to her for help. It is really nice that in English this year if you need an extension on a paper it isn't just considered late and -5 points which i hated in middle school. It added more stress to getting things in on time and they were never my best work. So far I think 9th grade English is way better than 8th grade and all of middle school English!

Writing Center Reflection

I went to the writing center twice this semester. I found it helpful when it came to confusion on my papers. The writing center helped me understand more things about writing especially on my literary analysis which helped my paper be a lot stronger. Mrs. Spaht and Garbielle both helped me make my paper as strong as it got. It took many visits and hours for my work to pay off but I learned a ton of new information on my visits.

I think that for most of my papers I will need to visit the writing center only for the best though. I do not abuse the use of the writing center at all. I know that when going down there I am making my own corrections and realizing the mistakes I have made. Since I make my corrections and edit my paper it gives me a lot more confidence when I do have to write an essay or short answer on a test because I now have a checklist to go over each time. I think that the writing center when only benefit me in the long run and make me a better writer.

Reading Times

5 hours- LOTF quote and final project
2 hours- 10-12 annotating and reading LOTF
1 hour studying information for exam

Reading Log

LOTF- 1 hour 45 4-7
Project for LOTF- 1 Hour doing quotes and explanations

Free Post

This Wednesday select dance ensemble and the classes will put on our dance concert. I am excited to preform but I am also very nervous. I have a solo and a duo with Madison Underwood. Madison and I have been working very hard on our duo because Mrs. Vic is hoping to take us to a national competition. Since I have when doing my duo so much I never got to start my solo.

  I learned my solo at the beginning of last week. I gave up all my study halls and tutorials working on my solo to perfect it for the show. Other than not having my solo where I want it, I am still very excited for the concert. I think it is one of the best shows I have been in for school! I really suggest coming to see all the hard work we have put into the performance.


Reading Log
2 Hours total chapter 1-3 LOTF
30 Minutes peer review
15 minutes on Literary Analysis

Prompt

Blog about the things you are thankful for. Think about all the things you are blessed to have! Happy Thanksgiving!

Free Post

Reading Times
2 hours on Literary analysis
1 hour reading LOTF
30 minutes editing Literary analysis

Since Thanksgiving is coming up I have decided to blog about what I am thankful for. Which is a a lot. But mainly I am thankful for everything my parents give me. Even though sometimes I have to work for it and it can be frustrating I still am thankful. I am very thankful to get to go to Episcopal and Camp during the summer. But I am mainly thankful for my parents understanding me and all the things I do. I do not get home till 10 almost every single night because of my after school activities. I am thankful for my parents coming to get me from my school sports, bring me dinner, then take me to dance, and also waiting for class to get out. It makes for a lot of stress on my family but I am blessed that my parents still allow me to do the activities I enjoy and make me happy!

I sometimes wish I did not do all these activities because I only get to eat a family dinner on the weekend which usually I am off doing something if it is dance conventions, volleyball games, or being with my friends.  But sometimes when I am just to exhausted to stay out all weekend and I stay home my family they always want to do something with me which I will always be thankful for!

Reflection

I think if our class was in a real situation where we had crashed on an island we could have some how made things work. We did not get frustrated with each other easily nor did we raise our voices. We made sure we created a system for people to talk and everybody got a turn. I think the only challenges we would have faced would have been people ding what they shouldn't be doing. We have a tendency to do this a lot in our class. Other than that I think our class could have made being stranded on a island work very well!

Reading Log

Literary Analysis- 1 hour and 45 minutes
Detailed outline- 1 hour and 15 minutes
Short Story peer review- 30 minutes

Reading Response: Literary Analysis

The 3 stories i have annotated are The Snipper, The Araby, and Sucker. These stories are pretty cool. I feel like i am still a little confused on writing a literary analysis. I think that Sucker will be a more promising story to write about because I understood it the best. It is also a good length story not to short and not very long! I think the only promising thing about it is that I can understand it the best so I could write a strong paper about it.

Free Post

This coming Tuesday is the last day of school volleyball. I am so sad that the season is coming to an end. It has been so much fun! Even though the practices are hard it has all paid off during our games. My team has improved a lot from last year.  We all have a great attitude with each other and understand how important it is to treat each other fair and not skip on practices. I am on JV and play middle blocker. I had never played this position till this year. It is one of the hardest because you have to do a lot of jumping and get a lot of hard balls. I have gotten hit in the face multiple times this year. I even managed to get a black eye at one game but it wasn't to bad. Our team has put a lot of effort in to volleyball this year. We got 2nd place in a pink tournament so it was awesome because we had played awful all day then finally had a couple of good games and got 2nd place! It was also for a great cause so we were all just excited to be playing to help breast cancer awareness. I am sad that the season has to come to a end but I am so excited for soccer to start. I am hoping it is also as fun as volleyball is! I cant wait for the season to start back this coming summer! I am hoping to try out for a club team so I can become even better for high school season.


Reading record
2 hours on annotating short stories
20 minutes in class reading
15 on Kisses from Katie

My Personal question is: What makes me the reader I am and why am i the reader I am?

I have still been reading kisses from Katie which is an amazing book. I highly suggest this to people to read!!

I spent 1 hour reading a book about fashion in the decades then the other hour on my short story.

Short Story Setting

The setting for my story has not yet been all the way taught of. I have many ideas though. I do want to have a big climax that is shocking and surprising to the readers. I think I want it to be in the 21st century just like it is now. I kind of want a mysterious atmosphere where the weather is awful but everything around you is gorgeous.

I know I want to make up the city and state but I want the people in my story to act like we act now. I think it could be a really weird story. For my falling action I know I do not want any deaths because I do not like that because it seems weird to put a death in a sort story.

Post 1 Short Stories

A lot of the short stories we have been reading have been a little confusing for me. I am understanding what to annotate just not the stories. That is probably because they aren't normal stories I read or have heard about.

I think if I get a lot of practice annotating these stories I will understand them a lot more. So far i am enjoying what we are doing with these short stories and it helps me understand what I am being taught in class!


Reading Record
 45 minutes-Kisses Form Katie
1 hour- Reading and annotating short stories

Reading Record

I am still reading Kisses from Katie. This book it literally the best book I have ever read! I am Obsessed with it. Like I have mentioned before it is not like something I would choose to read. I was highly suggested this book and I highly suggest this book to you.

Following a young girls journey from being perfect at home to not even being able to talk to her friends and family in a different country is just something that makes me want to keep reading. I Could read this book again and again and never get bored of it!


45 minutes- Short story reading and annotating
20 minutes- in class reading
30 minutes- Short story reading and annotating
25 minutes- Reading Kisses from Katie
28 minutes- Reading and annotating short story

My Character

As I fall asleep well at least try to fall asleep everything goes through my head. Why does it have to be right nowI just want to sleep. I start worrying i didn't do all my homework if I get one more bad grade my parents will flip. Great now I am scared that I will have a bad grade and my plans will be ruined.

Why do these things have to stress me out so much. Why am I such a stressful person. Go to bed.Go to bed. Thats all I want to do. Oh no I forgot to finnish English homework. I knew it!

E Book

I am so excited to write this ebook! I have lots of ideas for what our class could come up with. I am a very creative person and would love if I could do lots of things with the design. It could be a very cool and fun ebook.

This is a different way for the class to write things. I think this will help us write lots of things in a short time. I am excited to get started on the ebook. I am just a little confused on the time we have. But I think the time we have the class should all get to write the same amount.  

Reading Response

A recent writing I have read was a student literacy narrative in my block. I do not recall who wrote this but the way they wrote very well and the way their sentences flew together made the narrative very intriguing. Even though I did have lots of marks on their page for corrections it was still a very well written paper.

I liked the way the writer was so honest on what they were writing about. The writer also made everything connect very well. It had a great idea to it. Most of the corrections I made where for dialogue or format other than that the paper very a very well written organized paper.

Tuesday- 15 minutes Kisses from Katie
Wednesday- 1 hour on Literacy Narrative
Thursday- 1 hour at WC on literacy Narrative
Thursday- 30 minutes on Literacy narrative
Friday- 1 hour on Literacy Narrative

Reading Log

Thursday- 2 hours 45 minutes Literacy Narrative
Friday- 30 Minutes Literacy Narrative
Sunday- 45 minutes Kisses From Katie

Reading Response

I never expected to enjoy a fiction book so much. Kisses from Katie has made me want to sit down and read all the time now. I not only enjoy the story line but I also enjoy how the layout of the book is. It has entries from her journal and really makes me feel like I am apart of her life.

I highly suggest this book to anybody who wants to read about a girl on a life changing journey. She over comes many obstacles and changes who she is in an even better way then she already was. I have really enjoyed reading this book and I will probably read it more than once or twice. 

Dialogue

Kim goes up to Emma this morning in the kitchen
"Are you excited for your first day of high school?" says Kim
"Yes I am hoping it will be fun" says Emma
"Make sure you stay focused on your school work and have a good day" says Kim as Emma walks out the back door to leave for school

Before Emma has even gotten into the car Kim is already asking questions
"Emma did you enjoy your first day?" Says Kim
"Yes I did I liked all my teachers" Emma replies
"Well thats good!"
"I think it will be a good year, I know Anna enjoyed her freshman year" says Kim
"I agree I am excited and think I will have a good 4 years!" Says Emma as she falls asleep after a long first day of high school in the car.

Writing Response 3- Literacy Narrative

Recently I read an article on safety. This article taught me many things. It was mainly for girls when they are by them self and how they need to realize how dangerous things can be. My mom sent me this article and told me to read it! I learned many new things like when you walk to your car do not unlock it till you are there, lock your car when filling it up with gas, and always try to act like you know what you are doing and where you are.

This article was very good. I enjoyed it because it taught me some safety information. I did not want to read it at first but in the long run it could help me! If I can find the title and who wrote it I will post it. It is a very helpful article with lots of information!

Reading record 3

8/28- genre reading 45, 10 Kisses From Katie
8/29-10 kisses from Katie
8/30- 10 Kisses from Katie
9/2- Vocab Cards 45 minutes 30 Kisses from Katie

Reading Response 3- Kisses From Katie

Kisses From Katie might be one of the best books I have ever read! My counselor from camp never stopped talking about how much she loved it and I decided I had to read it! It is not like something I usually read, but I think I have found a new genre I like! I highly suggest this book to people if you want to read about a life changing and inspiring story. Even though it is fiction it is not not just packed full of information it is a story of an amazing girl who wants to help the world!

This book is about a 18 year old girl and how she thinks God wants her to take a year off and not go to college to teach kids in Uganda. She gives up her whole life to serve people who have nothing when she has everything. She was homecoming queen and senior class president and she was a selfless person who could give up everything to serve! I highly suggest this book it is truly amazing!

Reading Record 2

Wednesday- Perfect 45 minutes

Thursday- Lauren Conrad:Beauty 1 hour

Friday- Lauren Conrad:Beauty 24 minutes

Sunday- The Allegra Biscotti Collection 40 minutes 

Monday-The Allegra Biscotti Collection 10 minutes 

Reading Response 2

The current book I am reading is the Allegra Biscotti collection. I randomly found this book in my house and decided to read it. It is not my favorite book but I do enjoy it! This book is written by Olivia Bennett. I have never read one of her books before but she is defentialy a very creative writer! 

I am not to far into the book but so far it is a very exciting book! Im hoping that is does pick up a little more because right now the story is a little confusing. I think if It doesn't get better in the next 3-4

Chapters i will switch books. There is a couple other books I would enjoy reading! I do suggest this book to anybody who likes creative fiction! 

Free Post 2-A new year of Dance

This past week I started my 13th year of dance! I was so excited to get back in the studio after having a month off! Dance is something I put a lot of time and dedication into! This past year at the end of the year I tore my hamstring practicing my solo. It was such a hard injury to come back from. I kept re injuring it and the hardest thing was having to sit out of dance for 3 months. I never thought that an injury could put my out this long. I was being so stubborn about sitting out and kept ignoring my physical therapist to the point where he told me that I would never be able to dance or play sports again. Luckily that knocked some senses into me and I sat out of everything I did and let my leg heal. It was such a terrifying thing hearing somebody tell me that the only way you could become better was by surgery which I refused to have. 

After a hard 3-4 month of physical therapy and lots of extra work I finally was getting back to my hold habits but I was still scared of re injuring myself. I luckily still got to preform in my 12th recital but it was such a painful and hard day. Now I have learned to hold myself back if I am hurting and take everything by pain. I'm so excited for my 13th year of dance. It was so exciting to see all my friends and get to dance again!  I'm hoping that everything goes smoothly and injury free this year! 

Reading Log

Monday- Mini zine;30

Perfect;25

Summer reading project;1:00

Tuesday-perfect;10 

Wednesday-0

Thursday -Perfect 30 

Book chat;20

Free Write- My phone

What is something you use everyday? For me that is my phone. I have a white iPhone  5. This phone does almost everything for me. I use it way to much and I'm typing this blog on it right now. I found it so interesting how you can have a small hand held device that can entertain and help you. When I'm bored and don't have anything to do I can just open up one of my many fun apps like Instagram, Twitter, Candy Crush, or Netflix. But sometimes phones can get very distracting especially and iPhone. For the month of May I used over 2 million gigabits in my data plan. EvenIi was shocked when my mom told me! Lots of people think having a phone is awesome and they have to have one but honestly I could live without it. I think having a phone that does so many things distracts me from what I need to be focused on. When I'm doing my homework I put my earbuds in and listen to music from my phone. While I do my homework I always get side tracked by a text or a notification. This make be take a 5-10 minute break when I really don't need it. 

During the month of July I go to a summer camp where we can not have our phones. Lots of people get so upset and hate passing their turned off phone to there parents for the month. But for me its easy! I love to write letters during camp and its nice not having somebody text you all day long distracting you from doing something productive. Even though my parents are always like you're on your phone way to much Emma, I do agree, but then again there is sometimes when I'm never on it! Sometimes my parents say "we should have never given you a phone" but I don't think they realize how often it has saved them from forgetting me! I tell my mom every morning what time she is suppose to pick me up and what to bring me and yet she always forgets and I have to text her as I'm sitting after school waiting for an hour for her to fight traffic and get me.  This always ends in an argument on "why didn't  you text me to remind me" or "Dont expect me to remember what time you told me when I was half asleep". But the days I do text her she always remembers but the complains I'm on my phone to much! So in the end my phone has lots of Pros and Cons! I am very thankful for having a phone when some people do not but then again it can be such a distraction from school and other important things! 

Reading response to Perfect by: Natasha Friend

Perfect by Natasha Friend really shows a modern day story of a teenager girl. I think many people could relate to Isabelle Lee in different ways. Last year in 8th grade we had a woman come speak to the girls in our grade. She shared a very surprising story of how she was bulimic and anorexic. Her story was so shocking to me and really got me interested in the topic because I didn't know anything about it. I came across this book randomly and decided to read it for my choice book. I really enjoyed it!

I think that Perfect really shows the pressure people have when they do not feel perfect. As I read this book I could not figure out was it was titled Perfect. But then it hit me. Lots of teenage girls feel like they have to be perfect in other peoples eyes. They will do anything to feel perfect. As I read, Isabelle Lee's life was amazing but then her father died and then she made her self sick all the time. She did not feel perfect anymore. She was making herself sick to make sure her body looked good so she could feel perfect. But really when she might look perfect to some people she really was suffering. I think that lots of people could relate to Isabelle Lee in ways other than not feelings perfect. She had to deal with choosing the right group of friends and suffering from the lose of her father.