Student-generated prompts

What would happen in a world where it was the child's choice to go to school? Would you go to school?

If I lived in a world where it was the child's choice to go to school, I probably would not go. School is not all that bad but I would like to sleep in more and not have to do homework. I think that our world would be very divided if we had a choice to go to school because their would be the smart ones and the dumb ones. The smart ones would be rich and smart with a good job, while the dumb ones are poor and dumb because they couldn't get a decent job. Their would probably be more dumb ones than smart ones and the schools probably wouldn't get enough students because I am sure that most people do not want to go to school which would lead our world to problems. We wouldn't have any new inventions and have pretty much what we have now.

Writing Center

My first trip to the writing center was not at all what I was expecting. I was expecting to be told I was an awful writer and that I couldn't fix it. I was nervous and scared to walk in and have my literary analysis rough drat worked on, but I was still scared out of my mind. I knew it needed work and I had a mental block on my last couple of paragraphs. When I walked in the nice lady at the desk went and got a writing center helper. I went at my English block because that was the only time they had open before the rough draft was due. While I waited for my writing center helper I chatted with my friends who were in their for study hall and that helped clear my mind and not be as scared. By the time the writing center helper came, I was nervous but not as nervous. He made me read my thesis statement and said it was good. After that he helped me with my mental blocks and helped give me suggestions on what I needed to work on and what ideas I could put in my paper. When my session was over I felt better about my paper and feel that he really helped me. It was a great experience and i will not be nervous next time I go because they were nice and helpful!

reading log

11/21/13-Looking for Alaska-45 mins
11/22/13-Looking for Alaska- 15 mins
11/25/13- LOTF-20 mins

Self Prompt

Who do you think you relate to in LOTF?

I believe I relate to Simon in Lord of the Flies. I think this because for one I have always been a little short and go in the middle when people walk. Also I like to stand up for my friends instead of bring them down and be rude to them. I don't really stand out to most people but when I am needed I can be a great help just like Simon. I am glad I got Simon to annotate because I can relate to him.

Free Post

This weekend is going to be another busy weekend. On Saturday I'm going to my cousin, Scott's wedding and on Sunday I will be performing my cheer routine for "Show Day". I am very excited to witness Scott getting married to his girlfriend Chelsea. They have been dating since highschool and they are both so sweet! I am so happy for them! I can't wait for Sunday though. "Show Day" is like a cheer competition except were not competing against anyone and the only judges our our LA coaches. I am super excited to see everyones routine because I know they will be awesome! I also can't wait for them to see my routine! Me and the 18 other girls who are like my sisters plus our fabulous coach, Justin have put so much work into our routine  and I believe that it will be great! This cheer season started off really tough but I'm glad that we finally came together as a team and are able to show everybody our routine that we have worked so hard on.

reading log:
11/30/13- LOTF-1hr
11/29/13-LOTF-1hr
11/31/13- Looking fir Alaska-30 mins

reading log

11/5/13- Looking for Alaska- 40 mins
11/7/13- Looking for Alaska-30 mins
11/9/13-Looking for Alaska and Lord of the Flies-1hr30mins

Free Post

This weekend was a great weekend! It started off with the 2 mile color fun run with most of the soccer team! It was fun and Nicole and I were the first girls to finish! It was a strange color run though. They sprayed us with silly string and at the end handed us colored powder to put on ourselves. After the run our team had to go play two scrimmages. There was one for varsity and one for JV. I played midfield and forward in varsity and played forward in JV. It was so fun and we won both games! After soccer my dad and I went hunting in our camp in Natchez and we saw lots of baby deers that were so cute! The only thing I regret about this weekend is waking up at 5:30 both Saturday and Sunday.

desserted island simulation

This week in class to start off our new book that we will be reading Lord of the Flies we did a desserted island simulation. It was interesting but really fun! Every one came up with  great ideas! I was put in the gathering stuff from the crashed airplane. I remember that Azzie was on little kid duty and Trevor was the leader but Eli kind of took over. They both had creative ideas though that would help us if we were in that situation! In that ten minuets our class had a pretty good plan of what we would do if we had ever been in that situation!

reading log

10/30/13-looking for alaska-30 mins

10/31/13-looking for alaska-40mins

peer review-40 mins

literacy analysis-20 mins

Free Post

         Today I will be starting soccer. I have played since kindergarten through 7th grade. I love playing soccer but I quit in 7th grade because I just didn't love it as I had before. Instead of playing soccer in 8th grade I did competitive cheer. I love competitive cheer and do it almost everyday.
       Now that I am in high-school I really wanted to do a high-school sport and since I didn't make episcopals cheer team I decided to play soccer. I have really missed playing soccer and can't wait to start playing it again. Even though i will be extremely busy with both sports I cannot wait!

Looking for Alaska

       This week I started reading "Looking for Alaska". Most of my friends had read this book and told me it was amazing and it is. I'm not very far into it because this was my first week but so far its amazing! This book leaves me with so many question and keeps me hooked. Some question it leaves me with is why did the main character want to leave his home so bad? or why he has a map on his wall? does he want to travel the world?

       More questions that I have are why does the cover has smoke on it? or why does it not have any color? Why black? I cant wait to read the rest and get my several questions answered. I really want to figure out though, why its called looking for Alaska. I know that there is a girl that the main character likes but why would he be looking for her?

reading log

10/22/13-looking for alaska-40 mins

10/23/13-looking for alaska-10 mins

10/24/13-looking for alaska-50 mins

10/25/13-looking for alaska-20 mins

personal questions and reading log

Reading Log:
8/8/13- Looking For Alaska-50 mins
8/9/13-Looking For Alaska-50 mins
8/12/13-Looking For Alaska-20 mins

Personal questions:
Why do i like to read the books I read?
What makes me more interested in these types of books?

reading log

10/1/13-we'll always have summer-40mins
10/2/13-we'll always have summer-20 mins
10/3/13-we'll always have summer-60mins

My Short Story

Exposition: Introduce the two best friends Caylie and Morgan and all of their history together and characters thoughts about each other.

Rising Action: Caylie goes to tell Morgan that she loves Morgan's boyfriend that she's had for a month now.

Climax: Morgan and Caylie get in a huge fight and their whole grade gets involved.

Falling Action: Both are upset and boyfriend texts Morgan saying they need to break up.

Resolution: They become best friends again and both promise to never date the boyfriend again.

Short Stories

        In these past two weeks we have annotated several short stories. Most of them are weird but interesting. Some were incredibly boring though. I have struggled with some words and what the writer meant in some parts because like I said they are weird and some parts don't really make sense the first time. Dr.D talking to us in class and asking which questions we have has really helped me. I would be totally lost if she did not do that and it helps me know about which questions we all have.
       The short story we have recently annotated was "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings". This book was different from what I usually read and was somewhat confusing but I figured it out at the end!I think this short story was quite different from the other ones. I think this because the people were extremly rude and in the other ones they deffinitly were not as rude as them. Also, their were people who turned into spiders and an angel in it. Their were no other short stories so far with creatures like that!



Reading log

9/24/13-we still have summer-30mins

9/25/13-we still have summer-60mins

9/26/13-we still have summer-40 mins

characters mind before going to sleep

Wow I screwed up bad. Will she ever forgive me? I wouldn't.Maybe I could take it all back? nahhh that won't work with her. Maybe I should be mad at her. Yeah, I should she said some mean things and made me cry. I deserve him, not her. Wow this bed is really comfy.. I should probabaly go to sleep I have to go to school and face her tomorrow. Ugh its to hot in here (takes blanket off) never mind now its to cold. (Puts one leg out of blanket) yep this is perfect. Wow that lamp is pretty. Did I do good at dance today? Oh yeah I did. Wait.. did I do my math homework? Oh yeah I did. I need to check my phone(checks phone) well thats a lot of angry messages. Wow I wonder if my two thumbs had a fight who would win. I bet my right thumb.

We'll always have summer

         This week I started reading the book We'll always have summer by Jenny Han. My question to this book is What mistakes will the main characters make throughout this book? So far their parents think that they have made the biggest mistake by wanting to get married. In my opinion I don't think its that big of a mistake. They could wait longer because they are only 19 but they have known each other for their whole lives and have dated for 3 years.
         This book is a lot better than I expected it to be. I had read the other two books in the series and hated it, but I wanted to finish the series just to figure out what ends up happening.This book is very girly and its not something I would really read but I wanted to push myself to see which books I would like, and I do like it! It has drama and romance that keeps you into it and it also has some funny parts.

Reading log

9/18/13-we'll always have summer-40 mins

9/19/13-we'll always have summer-40mins

9/20/13-we'll always have summer-40 mins

e book

      I am so excited that we are making an e book! I think it is a great way to bring our literacy narratives together so we can all see them! I have never heard of an e book, but after Dr.D showing us it in class I think it is cool how it looks like an actual book!
   
      In my literacy narrative their is only one person who I would like to change the name of and that would be Mrs. Abadie's. I would like to change it because I called her mean and I don't think she would like to be called that if she read it. I would love to have another proofreading just because its always good to have more people look at your work to make it the best that it could be. I love getting back my corrections because I know they are trying to make my work better.

Insurgent

         This week I finally finished Insurgent. I know its weird to say this but it felt good to finish it. Everything finally came together and Tobias and Tris had a happy ending. i was upset though by the way it left off. It was so shocking that it made me want to read the next book right now!Sadly, I'm pretty sure it has not come out yet. so I will have to wait for it.

         My question for this book was "how will the characters change in this novel?" My reesponse to that is that they had changed. Tris and Tobias got in several fights, did not trust each other, and went behind each others backs but at the end of the book they finally worked everything out! Tris tested herself in this book and had become almost a different person after her parents died in the attack. She did every daring thing she was offered, she fought, she made several enimies, she was mad a lot, she gave up on life, and even cut off most of her hair.  This book was amazing and I would suggest everyone should read it!


Reading log

READING LOG

9/9/13-insurgent-40 mins

9/12/13-insurgent-30 mins

913/13- insurgent-40 mins

9/14/13-insurgent-20mins

dialogue

Millie marches into her living room with only one shoe in her hand.
   "Rachel where in my other shoe?" she demands loudly
   " I don't know.."
   "Did you take it?"
   "No of course not!"
   "Then why are you in this picture on instagram wearing these shoes?"
   "Those are not your shoes . There mine."
   "No Rachel they are deffinitly mine I got them a week ago and now ones missing and this one has mud on it. Where is it?"
   "I already told you I don't know where you precious shoe went."
    "Fine."
Mille pounces at Rachel madly and starts tickling her obnoxiously.
   "Stoooopp Millie! I can't breath!"
    "Where is it?"
    "Fine its upstairs under my bed!" Rachel says out of breath.
Millie goes and gets her shoe.
    "Why didn't you tell me where they were? Or why didn't you ask to wear them?"
    "I didn't tell you because I wanted it and I took them without asking because you wouldn't have given me them!"
    " Ha, of course I wouldn't! Are you ever gonna take my stuff again?"
    "Nope."
    "Okay bye!"
    "bye."

Insurgent

      This week I am still reading Insurgent! Its so amazing! I am almost done with it actually. I will probably be done by next Monday! I really enjoy the way Veronica Roth brings the characters to life in the book and its so different then all the other books I have read. This week the book got very intense.

     This week Tris and Tobias turned herself into the Erudite leader, Jeanine. Tris went because the her friends were going under simulations and they would only stop if she turned herself in ,but Tobias went because he thought that Tris was going to die and he wanted to die to if she was.Now they are being abused and looked at carefully by the Erudite who are using them to get information about divergents and dauntless. My only question is why did they have to turn themselves in? They could have just kept everyone under survalents till they stopped going under simulations. I am excited to finaly get to the end of this book and have everything "click" together!

Reading log

9/4./13 - insurgent- 20 mins
9/7/13- 1 hour
9/8/13- 40 mins
pgs: 258-358

Response to other text

My response to "Proficiency" by Shannon Nichols in Nortons Field Guide to Writing with Readings and Handouts. In this narrative there is a brilliant student who is trying to pass the proficiency test. In her first two attempts she passes every part but writing. This makes her upset because that is one of her better subjects. Plus, she always thought of herself as smarter than the rest of her grade and they all passed the writing part. On her third attempt she had finally past the writing part but this experience had changed the way she felt about writing. Even though at the end of the narrative she came to the conclusion that not everyone will like her writing like her other teachers, she was still upset on how long it took to pass the test. The moral of this story is to never give up and always try your hardest even though things wont always turn out how you want it to.

Reading log

8/26/13-insurgent-10 mins

8/27/13-annotation-40 mins

8/28/13-insurgent- 10 mins

8/30/13-insurgent-60mins

9/2/13- martin luther king-17mins

Insurgent

                This week I am still reading Insurgent. It is getting better and better. It is actually a book I don't mind reading. It catches my attention with the way the author words the book and the way the author brings the characters to life..

                The characters are being secretive and not getting along well. . Tobias and Tris are being very secretive because they aren't telling each other anything about what they are doing. Tobias seems to be trying to mend there relationship but they are both being stubborn. The factions aren't getting along and have split into groups. The erudite and the dauntless traitors have joined together and had an attack on the dauntless and candor. 

First Day at Episcopal

       August 9th,2013 was my official first day as an Episcopal high schooler. Yes, I was extremely nervous but I was also excited and I couldn't wait to finally be at Episcopal! It was finally time for me to grow up from my old school St.Luke's who babied us. It was good to finally have freedom and make my own choices. Even though it was time to leave St.Luke's and go to Episcopal I was glad that some of my friends were going with me especially my best friend Emelia. 

        The first day was not as hard as I thought it would be. I was expecting to get lost and make no friends but I ended up not getting lost and making some friends thanks to my awesome mentors who walked me around on orientation day. Even though I only remember like 15% of the people I met at this school, I am hoping to get to know more people and be great friends with them. I have loved this transition and hope that everything goes as great as it has so far!

Insurgent

             My current outside reading book right now is Insurgent. Insurgent is the second book of the series for Divergent. I am not really into reading outside of school for fun but this book really got me hooked from the first sentence. Its one of the only books so far that I don’t mind reading because it is just so amazing.
             Even though I’m not that far into the book I can already see an answer to my question. My question for this book was “How will Tris change in this book?” So far she is changing. She has not been acting the same since both of her parents have died in the other book Divergent. She has been sadder and is making wrong decisions. She hides things and that makes her deal with more difficult things.Also, She is sometimes out of it and does not act like herself. She even sneaks around looking for answers and gets in a fight while in Amity which broke their staying law. This book so far is fantastic and I would recommend reading it!

Reading log:

8/20/13 -Insurgent-60 mins

8/23/13 -Insurgent-60 mins

page-163

Reading Log

8/16/13-Insurgent-65 mins
8/18/13-Insurgent-55 mins
pages-87

Divergent

            My favorite summer reading book this year was Divergent. As I was reading, I got more and more interested. The book had so many different things going on like romance, war, violence, family, and betrayal. What I liked about it was that it was different from most books I have read. One thing I didn't like about it was that I had no clue why it was such a bad thing to be divergent and it made me wait till the end to find out. Something that surprised me was when she chose to be Dauntless because she came from Abnegation, which was so different from that. 

            What I never understood was why they made where they live into factions or why the Dauntless wanted war against the Abnegation. I understood that the Erudite wanted more power, but the Dauntless didn't want power so I don't see why they helped the Erudite. This book was writing amazingly and had really great plot. In fact, I am reading the second book in the series called “Insurgent” for my free read and I already love it.

Free Post

         My summer was great from the very beginning to the very end! The hour after I got out of the last day of school I went to a pool party with all of my friends from St. Lukes. It was great that we had such a great last day together because after that we were all going to different schools! The second week of summer our family went to Florida for our beach vacation that we have taken every year since I was three! We rode bikes around seaside, took a boat out to crab island for the day, went shopping, went to family dinners, tanned and of course swam in the ocean! 

         For my birthday on July 15th my mom and I went to visit my best friend Emelia up in New York for the week! It was an amazing time. We went to central park for the day, went to the zoo, saw the Broadway play 'Momma Mia', went to Dylan’s Candy bar, went to Times Square, shopped, and met Cato from 'The Hunger Games'. The rest of my summer was my family, friends, and I going down to our camp in Mississippi which is always fun! We tubed, told ghost stories, fished, hunted, and swam. On my last week of summer I was up at my gym to cheer everyday for eight hours for my teams choreography camp. Choreography camp is when my team "Ice" got our routine that we will perform at every competition. Yes, eight hours is a lot but it was the best because I love cheering. It’s my favorite thing to do!