Roy’s English Blog

 Summary: Today what I was supposed to do was finish the Benchmark test from Monday. What actually happened was, I finished the test on Tuesday, and I didn't have anything to do for the whole class. It might have benefited me to know this information on Tuesday, however "it is what it is". Reflection: I wish I had known or been told that we would've spent today finishing the test. In that case, I would've taken more time on the MCQ section, and probably gotten a better score than... what I got.  Evaluation: I am glad the test is over. Ever since 6th grade, when they started making me do the benchmark tests, they've always felt like a chore. I did learn from this one, however, that I can write a full essay in 30 minutes. Weirdly enough, I actually did that again today in AP US History. We had to write an LEQ on the American Revolution in ~35 minutes, and I literally put my pen down as the bell rang, having written 2 and a half pages by hand (If I am forced to d...

 Summary: Today we just had a sub and did another vocabulary assignment. Granted, today's assignment was much less ambiguous than the last vocab assignment. What I mean by this is that the instructions only had one interpretation, and I had an easier time for it.  Reflection: I thought today's assignment was reasonable (I don't know how else to say what I mean.) I finished within the time limit, and I actually didn't know some of the words.  Evaluation: I have always been partial to vocabulary assignments. This is mostly because linguistics have always intrigued me. Fun fact: I was actually the only 6th grader on the podium of the 2018 Henderson Middle School spelling bee. 

 Summary: Today we finished doing the benchmark test from yesterday. As you intended, we only left one question for today, being the extended essay question. Or, at least I was supposed to. I had to do both 19 and 20, so I only had around 25 minutes to write a full essay. Reflection: Given that I only had 25 minutes, I was glad to see that the topic was something I knew off the top of my head: US Foreign Policy. Side note: taking AP Gov and APUSH have helped me a lot more in other classes than I would have thought. Evaluation: I am abysmal at English MCQs. However, I believe that I am actually pretty good at writing, which is why this test frustrated me. Why should I be given a 40/100 for only knowing how to express the content I’ve learned in a way other than that which the admins think I should be able to? In my opinion, that approach squanders individuality of the student.  It is what it is.

 Summary: Today all we did was work on a benchmark assessment. These are compulsory tests given by the district that- in most cases- are purely formative. This specific test gave us a few passages to read, and some questions to answer- including both MCQs and FRQs.  Reflection: This test was actually not the hardest one I've taken in this class so far. The questions weren't super esoteric, and I understood most of them. That isn't to say they were free points, but at least for the part about the Monroe Doctrine, I could understand what they were asking of me.  Evaluation: I am not very good at questions related to interpretation. This is because of the way my brain approaches the topics at hand. In other words, I overcomplicate most of the things asked of me, and English is harder for it; this test is a fair example of this. 

 Summary: Today was a modified schedule, since we’re having a pep rally today. So, our class was only 30 minutes long, and all we got to discuss was covering more about arguments, and how to put together a body paragraph. Reflection: I like the days of this class where we just discuss stuff. Like today, it was cool just having a conversation about the example points you gave when talking about arguments, and the same goes for what we did yesterday. Evaluation: Today was fine, nothing I need to make note of here. I would enjoy more of these conversational-yet-educational classes.

 Summary: Today we spent the entire class going over rhetorical appeals. We did so by reviewing examples of each one in various forms of media, such as political ads, commercials, and campaigns. We also detailed the 3 types of claims - value, policy, and fact.   Reflection: Some of the examples you gave I felt could have been any of the 3. For example, I feel like there is a justification for the soda ad (Drink it and believe it) to have been ethos, as they gave a guy who was an accredited actor, logos because they said it has 60% less sugar than other sodas, and pathos because the ad aims to make you envious of the actor, who is traditionally attractive and drinks the soda. Evaluation: I felt like today was an effective way to learn. It was relatively simple for the most part, and I grew to better understand what rhetorical appeal questions are asking me to find.  Nitpicking: I don't love  the tardy mark 30 seconds after the bell rang because I had to go throug...

 Summary: Today we did notes on argument. We talked about the 3 elements of an argument, the definition, and the types of appeal used in arguments. Reflection: This is the 4th year in a row we’ve talked about rhetorical appeals, so I’m hoping I’m good at this unit. I also turned in the vocabulary paper from yesterday - reluctantly.  Evaluation: I felt like today was different from usual. I can’t exactly describe how, but it was. One thing though, it would help to expand your vocabulary on identity.  … ANYWAY, I think I’m a better writer than a reader, so this unit should prove better than the last one.

 Summary: Today we did a vocabulary lesson with fill in the blank answers. Or at least we tried to the best of our interpretational ability. Some of the words were, abysmal, impecunious, abate, etc. Reflection: My reflection is that I took too long trying to understand if you wanted us to use just the words on the back, just the words on the front, or both. The instructions said each word would appear twice, so we weren’t sure if that meant only one side would be used, because there are 20 vocabulary words.  Evaluation: Next time we have a sub assignment like this, I think it would be better to have a student read over the instructions and make sure they’re concise. I know the board said it’s due today, but I want to ask you in person tomorrow morning and make sure I don’t turn in the wrong set of words for a 17/100.

 Summary: Today we did a complete assessment on Emily Dickinson. The test covered 3 different poems, their meanings, imagery, and themes. It also covered maybe trivial knowledge I don't remember hearing, like the people she loved in life (I remembered Susan, but none of the other guys). I ended up with an 84 on the test, which is more than enough for me, considering the scores I get on some of the other  tests I've done this week (bad). Reflection: I don't think I've ever been very good at analyzing texts, so poetry is always a pretty complex unit for me. The test wasn't that bad, though. Most of the analogies or imagery that were on it weren't too out there, or hard to grasp. I'm just ready to be in a different unit, or at least study a different poet.  Evaluation: As I said, we've been on Dickinson for I think  2 or 3 weeks, and as much as I take interest in her life and views on things, it's been a while. Other than this, nothing really stood out ...

 Summary: Today all we did was work on finishing the quote analysis thing from Tuesday. There were 20 of them, and most of them involved some aspect of life, or a philosophical perspective on living.  Reflection: I didn’t think I would actually finish all 20 until I did at 9:30 (class ended at 9:40), and I was quite pleasantly surprised when it happened. I think my favorite quote wasn’t even one of the ones from the list, but one I wrote analyzing them: “In other words, one must know nothing, to love something.” I was pretty proud when I wrote that. Evaluation: The only real thing I’d say I disliked about today was how fast I needed to write each analysis for each quote to finish on time. There were at least 70-80 sentences in the whole assignment, and that’s a lot of writing. But, I WAS able to keep up, so I guess it isn’t that much of an issue.

 Summary: Today we started an assignment where we analyze 20 quotes from various poems. The quotes covered a lot of themes, from life to fulfillment to the afterlife.  Reflection: I asked if it was due today and you took that and made a negative example of me for the whole class, which was fun. Other than that, we got through 2 of the quotes together, and I retook the first quiz that I got a 75 on, and made it through with a 100. Evaluation: I think an assignment like the quote analysis is good for block days. One where we can just do it on our own for the whole class, and ask questions if we need to. I don’t know yet, though; I haven’t done it yet. 

 Summary: Today in class we watched our classmates present their One-Pagers from Friday. The One-Pagers were supposed to summarize, analyze, and represent the poems they were assigned to. The poems that I DIDN’T get were about hope, the world, etc. Reflection: We didn’t get to mine before the bell rang, but I did finish my One-Pager over the weekend. I started mine by writing the boxes for the quotes too big, and I really didn’t feel like starting it again, so I worked around it by writing the other 85% of the project super small. It could have been better, but it works. Evaluation: I’m not a big fan of presentations, mostly because I’m bad at it. If you pay attention to me when I present tomorrow, you’ll notice there’s a 99% chance I’m fidgeting with my hands because I’m nervous. Other than that, the one-pager wasn’t too bad. Note: I capitalized “one-pager” all but once because I did it the first time and was too stubborn to change it, so I capitalized it every time until the last...

 I can write an elaboration on the content (such as the questions- which I didn’t have enough room to expand upon), if need be.

 Summary: Today in class we worked on a one-pager about a certain Emily Dickinson poem, which was assigned yesterday (This is news to me). The poem I was so graciously assigned was the "hard" one, titled My Life had Stood - A Loaded Gun . I took today's class to just read and analyze the poem, and I haven't actually started the one-pager, but that's what the weekend is for, other than doing literally anything else. Reflection: So far, I've learned that Emily Dickinson was very religious. A puritan, to be specific. At the time she was active, puritans were a more conservative sect of Christians, that had defected from the Church of England after a fruitless attempt to rid the Church of Catholic values. I also read that she rarely ever reflected her political views in her poems, and stuck to more esoteric and social matters. However, she was notably married to another woman, which was incredibly rare for the time.  Evaluation: I started this unit admittedly tire...

 I went on an orchestra field trip to play at the Yellow Daisy festival at stone mountain, and thus didn’t attend class today.

 Today I learned that for the past 2 weeks I've been doing these wrong! So, here is the first blog using the correct format, which I have dubbed the "SRE" system. Summary: Today in class we read and discussed a poem by Emily Dickinson regarding success. The theme of the poem was along the lines of "You can't appreciate success without having experienced failure." Reflection: For the opener, we were asked "What do you define as success?" My answer was, "Having gained the mental and physical strength to adapt to and overcome the challenges of life." I was proud of this answer, as it addresses a root issue with most challenges I personally have faced in life.  Evaluation: The presumed goal of this lesson was not only to learn how to analyze poetry, but also to learn what we believe 'success" means. It was an effective way to incorporate the lesson into learning about the personal values of other classmates regarding the issues discu...

 Ok. I know I'm too late to write this. However, I realized I forgot to write this entry on Saturday, and I remembered that you said "It has to be on the day of the entry", however this has been weighing on my conscience since then, and I want to have something in for Friday at all. This Friday, we learned about Emily Dickinson's poetry, and how she wrote about her unique views and experiences on life events, such as getting over a breakup. (Herein are the documents I promised I would put here) Later on, we talked about the state of America in the 17th century, under the rule of Britain, and how that came to be from the first contact of colonizers landing in the New World. In Physics, we did a lab, where we measured our reaction time, and used that data to find out how well we'd be able to handle a sudden deer jumping into the street as we're driving (I survived with 2 meters to spare), and ended the day in AP Government going over a sample FRQ, and learning h...