My Visit to the Writing Center

The writing center helped me and I encourage everyone to visit it for each paper they write! I was never struggling with a paper this semester, but I did go just for a quick proof read. I was mainly wondering if there were any major changes that were needed, but they helped me with the little stuff making my paper more interesting. Honestly, I would really like to know how my grade changed from before and after the paper they helped me revise and edit. 

I wasn't prepared at first, and didn't have an appointment (everyone should probably do that before). Luckily, it wasn't busy and two of my friends were in there. One was the writing fellow, and the other was getting help on the same paper as I was working on. Thankfully, my friend let me sit in and we both got helped at the same time. We were both getting advice. It was mainly for the support they gave me. 

Student- generated prompt

How is ninth grade english compared to eighth grade english?

Ninth grade in general is a lot different than eight grade english. I like ninth grade a lot better than eighth grade and especially the work ethics that are expected of us. When I like a teacher, I find that the subject is more enjoyable. English isn't my favorite subject and it takes me a while to do things, but I like ninth grade english a whole lot more.

In eighth grade, there were many assignments to just keep us busy and not making much sense. In ninth grade, there are higher scaled projects and papers that are spaced out for certain turnitin dates. More is expected of us during high school and moves at a faster pace, but it is more organized and we are expected to be more responsible. We have to write more papers and have an understanding of the organization of it. We also have a deeper perspective from us expected such as the LOTF project. I like ninth grade english way more than eighth grade english; and I hope there are better years to come.

Reading Times- 12/2

LOTF:

11/25- 2 hour
11/26- 3 hours

Reading Times- 11/18

LOTF- more than 3 hours

Free Post

Last week on Friday was the best night i've had in a long time! Rihanna was ending her Diamonds World Tour in New Orleans. I've always looked up to Rihanna and admired her talent! Her performance was absolutely amazing and her voice, as usual, was incredible! I'm already planning to see her whenever she has her next show!

I went with my 2 friends and we had a blast! My friend's mom that we were going with surprised us with floor tickets.. 2ND row. My friend and I started crying, I have pictures to prove! It was absolutely amazing and I wish I could go back. She inspired me, not as a musician, just with her spirit and energy she brought to the room!

Free Prompt- Where In Our Country Would You Rather Live?

Where in the country would I rather live?

My first answer always seem to be "anywhere but here."

Although Baton Rouge or Louisiana is a great place to live, I would just rather be some where else. My grandparents live in Santa Barbara, California and ever since I was young, I have planning to move there. For my 10th birthday, while other girls asked for makeup kits, stuffed animals, and peace sign pillows, all I wanted was to take a trip to New York. Now, I try to visit every year to my favorite place I've visited so far!

Considering my favorite places are on opposite ends of the country, people tell me it expresses my diversity and that I will be a world traveler soon! Over all, I love the people and spirit carried out through California. But, I love the energy and my mood when I'm in New York. I am automatically put in a better mood as soon as I know I will be visiting soon. By now, I think I know my way around midtown New York and Santa Barbara better than Baton Rouge! If I could live anywhere in the United States, i'd choose to own a plane to fly back and forth from the two places that make me the most happy!

Next plan: to go to Bali!

Free Post- Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year! I always know it's coming when the weather starts to change and that's what gets me excited. Thanksgiving has always been the happiest time of the year for me, that I get to share with my family. Ever since I was a child, I loved going to my grandparents house, especially because I knew there was going to be great food and my favorite people. 

Our family always had a Thanksgiving lunch with our huge family on my mom's side. The food is always amazing at my grandparent's house, but during thanksgiving there was triple the amount of food, and it would still all disappear. During that time of year has always created the most memories and I'm so happy to create more in just a few weeks. This year Thanksgiving day falls exactly on my mom's birthday, so it will be an even bigger celebration! Thanksgiving day seems to make everyone happy and I love seeing everyone get along! 

Deserted Island Experience

I really enjoyed the interaction with our classmates we had on thursday! As we first walked in, it was the end of the day, we went straight to sit in a circle, and we were talking about where our class wanted to go on vacation. It seems that our class is filled with enthusiasm and energy. We decided a leader quickly with no hesitance. In real life, it might have worked out in the beginning.

In a real life situation, no one would be as calm or excited as we were. I don't think we all would have excepted the fact that we were alone with no adult to look up to for guidance. Also, I could see a lot of us butting heads. We have some very intelligent people in our class and after a while, I could see the leadership come out with the knowledge of each person's abilities. I also see that a couple classmates don't seem to have a problem with having a bunch of first graders around. 

Reading Log:
Literary Analysis- 120 mins.

Reading Times 11/4

Detailed Outline- 70 mins.
Literary Analysis- 70 mins.
Short Story Peer Review- 40 mins.

Free Post- Freshmen Retreat

Last Friday, the freshmen class took a retreat to the Greenwood Park in Baker, Louisiana. At first, I thought it was a learning experience with our grade to get to know each other better. I found out first thing that morning that it was a service learning opportunity.

Our class was divided by advisory and sent out to complete different tasks, such as, clearing a path way for a new nature trail, learning camping/ outdoor sing advice for maintaining a better environment, and canoeing out on the lake and picking up trash. It was unexpectedly a lot of fun! I felt like I was doing something with meaning while not dreading it. I recommend this to other classes and think that it is a great learning experience.

Reading Response to Literary Analyses

The Chrysanthemums: 1 hour 

Sucker: 1 hour

The Sniper: 35 mins. 

The best possible short story I found the most information on was The Chrysanthemums. I actually understood this story and found it easy to follow. I have also found that setting has been a constant literary element to annotate for. There can be many other examples to give as evidence to a thesis.

I am still confused on exactly how/what the thesis is supposed to be. Are we going to receive more information on how to come up with a strong thesis? I don't know what a thesis is directly supposed to include. 

Reading Times and Personal Questions- 10/14

Reading Times:

10/8- Violet On the Runways: 40 mins.

10/9-The Return: 20 mins.

10/11- Violet On the Runway: 40 mins.

10/12- Violet On the Runway: 20 mins.

Personal Questions:

Why do I enjoy teen fiction the most? What makes me enjoy it?

What is a book I can read outside of my comfort zone?

Reading Log

Short Story- 60 mins
Waltz of the Fat Man- 30 mins
The Girls in Their Summer Dresses: 40 mins

Plot Map

Reading Responses- 9/30

While reading these short stories, I have noticed that I have trouble with comprehending the reading even after I do annotations. The two stories I still am not sure about is "Harrison Bergeron" or "A Very Old an With Enormous Wings". I haven't always been a fan of science fiction or magical realism and I couldn't keep up with the style of writing and how I was supposed to make annotations on it. The one reading I have been able to understand was "Dry September". I understood it better mainly because I had background knowledge for the story and that it is realistic. 

For the most part, I understand the notes/assignments for the annotations but I have trouble putting the skills into action to annotate. I find things that stick out to me but find out that I am missing important chunks of the information related to the topic. From a young age, I have struggled to be able to remember vocabulary words I have learned and apply them in my everyday speech. I have gotten into a habit of underlining "big" words I am having trouble with understanding. Every time I come across these words I don't know, I look them up in the dictionary to have a better source of understanding the work I am reading. 

50 mins: "A&P"

20 mins: "VOMEW"

50 mins: "Dry September"

Me, Myself, and I: Ivy

I'm a sophomore. I'm 16 years old. I'm ready to get out of here. And I don't think I have enough patience to wait around 2 more years. 

MeMe has it all. I know she's my sister and people tell me we are so much a like, I just don't see it. She has so much more ahead of her in her life, but won't take the chances. She was nothing I could live up to. Track star, A+ student, mom and dad's favorite, homecoming queen, and every boy's dream. But she's not doing anything about it. She's been accepted into the top schools, but chooses to go to Alabama to stay within the "south", with her friends.. All those times spent as a child, talking about our futures, I thought she was better than that. I always pictured her going to UCLA and going out of her comfort zone. Turns out she's different. 

Which is where our differences become clear.

I want to get out of this suffocating world surrounded by walls trapping you in Birmingham, Alabama. 

I was looking forward to joining MeMe at UCLA just like we had talked about. I feel like she's abandoning me. Leaving me here. Alone. For 2 more years. 

I can't think of her leaving without a puddle forming in my eye creating this blurry vision I seem to carry with me once I lock myself inside my room.  

My best friend, my partner in crime... is leaving. Going away, to do everything she can in this southern state school where I never saw myself since a young age. 

We are gonna grow apart. She might be a few minutes away, living in her dorm room. But she will have new friends and grow further and further apart from me and I won't be able to tell her everything like I used to. 

I just can't imagine my past 16 years of life, separating me from my life long friend. 

Reading Response 9-23-13

This past week, my reading time of 2 hours was spent on our short story readings. "Harrison Bergeron", a futuristic view of the world, and "To Da-Duh, in Memorium", written in the past about a past event. I struggle with understanding the plot of many stories even after I read it multiple times. By annotating these readings, it helped me get a better grasp on the important information. As I had trouble completely understanding these stories, I later got an explanation in class that cleared up all of my questions. 

While I was reading "Harrison Bergeron", I was confused on the initial purpose in the story. It is set in our futuristic world where everyone is equal and no one is better than any one else. Harrison Bergeron though, was an exception because the Handicap Services could not change or disfavor him without him breaking the rules and still being better than everyone else. 

Once I had gotten a better knowledge of annotating these short stories, I read "To Da-Duh, in Memorium". I liked this one better than the reading before. This story contained more facts and was more realistic. A relationship of a girl and her family from New York with her grandmother living in Barbados. The girl's grandmother, Da-Duh, was eventually found in her home after a heartattack of a threat from planes in Barbados.

OR: Violet on the Runway by Melissa Walker-

9-10-13: 20 mins- 11 pgs.

9-13-13: 10 mins- 4 pgs.

9-16-13: 10 mins- 4 pgs. 

9-18-13: 10 mins- 5 pgs.

"Harrison Bergeron": 9-15-13: 40 mins

"To Da-Duh, in Memorium": 9-18-13: 30 mins

Another Literacy Narrative

Editing other literacy narratives in class helped me on my writer's block after I had been staring at my computer screen for too long. Getting a different perspective from other writer's helped my flow of ideas arrive on paper.

I read Emma Scott's literacy narrative and actually agreed on everything she wrote about. She was describing her trouble with reading from a certain scene which is how I started off as well. It helped me realize and come up with new supporting details to improve my literacy narrative. I wasn't exactly sure on what to edit. I really enjoyed her organization and structure which encouraged my sometimes confusing wording.

I spent my 120 minutes outside of class reading time working on my literacy narrative.

Class e-book

I am very excited to be making our own e-book for our literacy narratives. It is going to be interesting to have our work actually published and have that feeling of many people commenting on your work.

Going over the examples in class, I like the structured-ness of the one from your summer course, but really enjoyed the over all look of The Boulevard. I love the idea of Wordle that Dr. D showed in her blog, but wasn't sure where exactly to incorporate it. I think it would be interesting to make a class Wordle.  It could have our names, some adjectives describing our time together so far or on time spent on literacy narratives, or describing our papers. It could give it a more over-all modern feel for a unique touch.

My Literacy Narrative

Finding a topic for my literacy narrative was difficult. The time we spent in class doing our free writing where we did not not stop sparked all of my ideas. I began to realize how many moments there were that established me as a writer that came from reading.

After I found a topic and started to write, I noticed that I was able to describe some moments in vivid details but had trouble to put some of them into realization for others. I'm also having trouble with the flow of my sentences, some are found to be awkward or confusing. When I write, I try and put everything I want to say in one blob but can't seem to find the right wording when I put the pieces together.

I worked on my literacy narrative for 120 mins out of class.
70 mins: 9/4
50 mins: 9/5

Reading Response: 9/3/13

I have finished reading Perfect by Natasha Friend and I must say it has been a deep book. The main character has really grown throughout the whole book and she has learned a lot from her therapy group, friends, and family. Dealing with her disease and loss of her father was really tough for her and her family and for the majority of the book, they all grieved in different ways and was hard on all of them. By the end of the book, all characters begin to cope with their problems in more healthy ways and overcome their issues quietly with confidence. This book was slow but captured many details which was good for me to keep interest and easy to follow. I recommend this book for people who have trouble finding a good book and keep interest in. While reading the book, you really get a feel for the emotions the characters have and you get a chance to put yourself in their shoes. Are there any other good books that I should read fellow classmates?

8/28: 40 mins- genre reading in Norton Book
8/30: 10 mins- 8 pgs.
9/1: 20 mins- 13 pgs.
9/2: 50 mins- 37 pgs.

Literacy Narrative Response

In my Norton book, I read a literacy narrative called "Write or Wrong Identity". I didn't know much about literacy narratives and reading this writing, I noticed that the author brought every scene alive using very descriptive detail. I felt like I was there, in that moment where she realized she was a writer. This long essay turned out to be many descriptions of the moment she realized she was a writer. By giving her age, her city, the classroom she was in, and the writing assignment helped to narrow down that one moment. Going down the list of the 6 traits of good writing, it came clear to me that the author expressed each one with vivid details, word choice, sentence fluency, the way she expressed her ideas, and more. She gave her examples which help me with my brainstorming for my literacy narrative. 

Reading Response/log- 8-26-13

This book, Perfect, was not what I expected even when I thought I had a pretty good explanation from a friend. Before I started reading this book, I got a reasonable summary from my friend and it really caught my interest. Isabelle, an 8^th grader, has just suffered the loss of her father and is struggling with her strive to become “perfect”. As her mom finds out about her bulimic actions, she sends her to a therapy group to run into an unexpected classmate. As Isabelle gets to know one of the girls from her grade from this group, they develop a relationship and have get-togethers where they share the times for their binge eating and making it come back up. It is interesting how Natasha Friend describes her situations so deeply and expresses them where I feel like I am right there with her or living through her emotions with the details the author gives.

Perfect by Natasha Friend

8/19: 30 mins- 18 pgs.

8/20: 30 mins- 20 pgs.

8/23: 20 mins- 16 pgs.
8/25: 40 mins- 30 pgs.

Story Time

Last year was one of the hardest times of my life and it came down to me making a decision to uphold my for my high school years. I’ve played volleyball since third grade intramural league and last year wasn’t the best experience. It almost lead me to a choice I knew I would regret. After talking with my coach, I decided to spend the summer practicing with the team and made the decision to stick with it my four years of high school like I’ve wished since I was in third grade. I was feeling great this whole summer, but recently I’ve been combining full days of school and I feel my fatigue catching up with me. In a way, volleyball has been a motivation for my need of sleep. I realize that I have wanted to get to sleep and not stay up to watch that one more episode on Netflix, knowing I have a full day the next. Volleyball has recently been a great impact on my life.

Reading Log- 8/19

8/12: mini-zine- 50 mins
8/15: book chat prep- 35 mins
8/18: read 23 pages of Perfect by Natasha Friend- 35 mins

Fresh Start for Freshman Year

In the 3^rd grade my cousin and I planned out our whole lives with what job, family, car, etc. that we wanted, starting with my number one goal of getting to high school. I have been looking forward to high school for so long and I am finally here. The main reason I’ve wanted to be in high school was that we are open to more free time and more individual opportunities to do without having someone telling us that we have to. From only being in school for one week, I already love it.

School for me has never been an awful experience, but the only bad moments I’ve had have been from procrastinating or poor time management. By getting off to a good start has made me feel confident about my grades for this year. I have a brother that’s a senior, which helps with me getting to know people. Also, I have talked to a few of the upper classmen about high school in general and know that I can turn to anyone if I need it. I’m looking forward to an exciting new year and more to come!

Reading Response to The Notebook

Reading The Notebook made me realize a pattern in all of the other Nicholas Sparks books.  The similarities are more within the plot line with characters and settings more than the little details. As I've noticed, Nicholas Sparks' books always happen to be set in North Carolina, some place by water, and particularly about a summer romance. The main two characters being a boy and girl, one of them happens to be coming from a family with money, high-class, and choosy parents, like the character Allie in The Notebook. Another character happens to be coming from a single-parent home with not as much money and not as prestigious, describing Noah, another main character of the book. 

In between their summer romance, there comes a climax in the story from when the two are so happily in love, to being disturbed by what I found it to usually be from the home where the set of parents are, which refers to Allie's parents in The Notebook. Another interesting pattern I noticed was that the single-parent figure ends up passing away. It is also when the two lovers have broken up in some sort of way, like how when Allie comes back to her hometown with her fiancé to find out that Noah’s dad passed away.  When I think about it, it is just a repetitive theme of the author Nicholas Spark, which I love noticing and comparing the connections.