Comments Week 25

Jack - Hits and Misses

Kaelyn - anticipating our next book

1. Ambition is a positive, desirable trait in a person. 2. If you are in a position of power, you are happy.

      I agree with the first statement. Ambition is the force that drives us to continue what we are doing and eventually achieve different things. It fuels us to try new things and to aim your goals higher each time you succeed at something. If people lack ambition, they will continue to do the same things that they think is capable of them, and will not strive to improve on themselves and achieve higher goals. Also, ambition is capable of producing brilliant leaders that can improve the world, like Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. However, too much ambition can have a negative affect. Ambition can also teach us that greed is good. This shows us that even though ambition can propel us forward, it can also propel us towards a bad direction.
      I disagree with the second statement. While gaining power can seem like gaining happiness, it is ultimately not. One reason is that if you rise to power, you will eventually fall from power, like most leaders of the world. Also, being in a position of power can put people under extreme emotional stress from the expectations of the people around you that look up to you. Being in a position of power can also lead to people turning against you. There is never a leader who only has supporters- he or she will always have opposers alongside them. Having opposers provides more stress to a person in power. This is why I think that being in power does not necessarily grant that person happiness.

Hits and Misses

      We are almost done with our first year of English class in high school. This means that we have worked on a number of writing assignments, such as a literary analysis, personal narrative, self-evaluation, etc. Out of those, I would have to say that the easiest assignment for me was the personal narrative. When I write a personal narrative, I can choose whatever moment in my life that fits the prompt of the essay, and I do not have to analyze anything, as all I need to do is to write down what happened and how I felt. 

      The hardest essay for me to write during this year has to be the research paper. Not only was it linked to our history class, therefore adding pressure to that class as well, but we were introduced to rules of writing, such as how to correctly cite sources. Also, this paper put more emphasis on the MLA format of writing, and on top of all that, we had to get it approved by both our English teacher and our History teacher. This is why I believe that this paper was the hardest paper to write during this year. 

Comments Week 24

Ian - Purple hibiscus strategies

Lathan - New York Times Post

Reading Strategies

      Recently in class, we have been reading a book called Purple Hibiscus written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The story revolves around a 15-year old girl named Kambili, who lives in Nigeria during a period of British colonialism. Now, this book is on a more advanced reading level than the books we have read previously in English 1, such as The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, so there is obviously a deeper level of thinking required to fully understand the book.
      One method of reading that has helped me understand this book better is to read through the chapters first, and then go back and reread it while underlining and annotating the important information. Since it requires you reading the book twice, it can take some time, but it can definitely help you spot the information important to the story if you put enough time into it. However, this can be a difficulty for some people, as they might not have enough time on their hands to reread the book twice. For those people, I would recommend reading the book much more thoroughly once, so that they do not have to go and reread the book in order to find the important facts within the book.

Personal Writing Prompts

      For my prompt, I decided to choose prompt number 337: Where do I want to go to college? I have thought about the matter even back in middle school, and I considered several factors that would decide where I choose to go in the future. After thinking for a long time, I think that I would like to go to Japan for college.
      The reason that I want to go to Japan to study is because of my dream. I hope to go into engineering or technology when I go into college, since I am interested in robotics, computer coding, game development, and hardware/ software development. Japan, among with the United States and Germany, is one of the best technologically developed country in the world. Another reason that I want to go to Japan is because it is very close to my home country, South Korea. I would like to be able to visit home regularly when I get a job in the future, and an airplane trip from South Korea to Japan takes only about an hour. These are the reasons I have decided that I want to attend college in Japan.

Comments Week 23

Sarah - political post-human trafficking

Sophia - Political Post

Political Article

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/29/512305163/fact-check-trump-tweets-on-christians-isis-and-vetting-miss-the-bigger-picture

        Trump has recently issued an executive order banning people from six Muslim countries from coming into the US for ninety days and banning all refugees for 120 days. This is significantly different from his previous executive orders in that the ban does not affect people who have green cards or a valid visa. Nevertheless, this order still bans all other people from Muslim-majority countries, which were two aspects that were still prominent in the previous executive order and were suspended by federal courts. One fact is that 46 percent of 2016 refugees were all Muslim. Trump states that blocking foreign refugees will decrease the amount of terrorist attacks in the US. 

        I disagree with Trump's opinion in several ways, both opinion-based and fact-based. First, Trump's biased views on Muslim terrorists are statistically incorrect, as The World Post states that 94 percent of terrorist attacks from 1985 to 2005, a twenty-year period, were caused by non-Muslims. Blocking refugees from Muslim countries may help the situation, but in my opinion, I think that preventing internal terrorist attacks takes a priority rather than preventing refugees from entering the US. 

Comments Week 22

Sutter - Free Post

Jack - Learning Reflection

Michael Vey: Fall of Hades

       In middle school, I have enjoyed a series called Michael Vey written by Richard Paul Evans. However, I finished the last book in eight grade, and the author did not publish this book until now. When I saw it in the library, I immediately borrowed it. I am not far in the book yet, but I am already enjoying the book immensely. The plot of the Michael Vey series revolves around a high school student called Michael Vey and his friends, who are able to manipulate electricity in different ways, such as disabling electronics, shooting out bolts of electricity, manipulating brain signals to read minds, etc.
        I would recommend this series to anyone who is interested in science fiction, action, and mystery. The objective changes with each story, so it adds variety to the storyline, but the main goal of the series is to take down an organization called Elgen, which is hunting the electric children. There are lots of action in each book, and the plot is not very confusing, so it is very easy to read. I loved this series ever since I was in middle school, and I recommend this to anyone who wants a fun, easy book to read.

Learning Reflections

        Now that I am finished with my third quarter of my freshman year in high school, I have learned many different techniques and methods, especially in English. Doing multiple assignments in class has taught me what kind of student I am. Whenever I am completing an assignment, I feel like I become sidetracked often. I also do not prepare for assignments and tests as early as I should, and find myself doing them at the last minute. I feel that I am most productive when I focus on my work, instead of doing other things.
        Now I know what problems I face in class, and I can make sure to fix them in order to do my best in the last quarter of the year. First, I need to make sure to focus on my work. I have found that getting sidetracked is one of the best ways to lose precious time that you could be using to get my assignments done. Another thing I need to make sure I do is to prepare much earlier. Studying late in the night can make me forget what I am doing, which does not help me much in the way of studying. One last thing is to review whatever I am working on. After I write a paper, I do not spend much time looking over them, which causes me to overlook mistakes I made on my paper.

Comments Week 21

Lathan -  Free Post Prompt

Sarah - Free post-Poem

Comments Week 20

Sutter - Free Post Poem

Hudson - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Free Post

It is that time of year

When the streets of New Orleans 

Start to fill up and bustle

The festive atmosphere begins to fill the air

And people flood into Louisiana 

Eventually the festival begins

And the streets of New Orleans are filled with tourists

The floats pass by out in the streets

Such a vivid mixture of purple, gold, and green

And the smell of King Cake 

Such an exciting festival 

Its name is Mardi Gras

Analyze a Song

        The song I decided to analyze was "Paradise" by Coldplay. This song tells a story of a girl chasing her dreams as she grows older. In the 2nd stanza we can find an example of anaphora, as a phrase is repeated at the beginning of the sentences to describe her environment around her and the harshness and difficulty of pursuing her dreams. The character has a hard time achieving her goals, but she continues to believe that she will eventually be able to. 

In the night the stormy night she'll close her eyes
In the night the stormy night away she'd fly

        This song also uses cacophony to set the mood of the song. In the first and second stanza, Coldplay uses these harsh words to describe the struggles the main character faces while chasing her dreams. 

When she was just a girl she expected the world
But it flew away from her reach and the bullets catch in her teeth
Life goes on, it gets so heavy
The wheel breaks the butterfly every tear a waterfall

        The character is going through a hard time in her life. She is pursuing her dream, but it keeps going outside of her reach, and she feels broken and sad. However, even though he goes through tough times like these, she always believes that she will one day achieve her goal. One of the lines in the fifth stanza is "I know the sun must set to rise," which is an example of metaphor. Coldplay compare the character's dreams to the sun, in which even if her dreams seem like they are gone, they will always come back, just like how the sun sets and rises. 

Comments Week 19

DJ - Poem

Hudson - Vocabulary

Christmas

Quickly my sharp eyes snap open

I hear the ticking of my clock

As my sleepy mind slowly processes what day it is

I am hit with a surge of happiness and excitement

It's Christmas. Finally. 

I jump out of bed and land on the floor with a soft thud

I see my bedroom door slowly swinging open

The floorboard creaks as I quietly step down the stairs

In the living room my goal lies

Both my parents are soundly sleeping under their bed sheet

I hear the crackling of the living room fire

As I tiptoe towards the Christmas tree

I see them: the gifts that occupy my mind so much

that I do not realize the footsteps coming down the stairs. 

Poetry Terms Used:

Cacophany

Euphony

Sibilance

Alliteration

Onomatopoeia

 

The Flood

        This summer, Louisiana experienced a devastating flood. It lasted for many days, and many people lost things that had both monetary and sentimental value to them. People gave up on their homes and moved elsewhere, and some of those who remained did not receive any government subsidize. There are even people who lost their lives in the flood. Luckily I was not a victim of the flood, but even now I continue to hear about those who lost their homes and family in the flood.
        The flood was a catastrophe that quashed people's happiness and hopes. As I watched the news and listened to others, I personally thought that it would take much longer for Louisiana to recover. However, I was surprised at the amount of people who were willing to help others out, even in their own times of need. After also working as a volunteer to help clean up the aftermath of the flood, I realized how much people can grow from an incident like this.

Comments Week 18

Jack - Research

Ian - reading response

Research

      For the past few weeks, we have been working on a World History/ English collaboration research paper. Now that we have finished the rough draft, we need to wait until we get our papers back. Once that happens, we can start working on the final draft. However, we can still learn a lot before working on our final draft. Working on a research paper has taught me many things I did not know.
      One thing that this research paper assignment has taught me is that we need to be very careful about citing our sources. I always knew that we need to credit sources to their original writer, but I also learned about in-text citations and the proper methods of citing a source. Annotations were another skill that helped me during my paper outline. They allowed me to find the important information among the 11 sources that I had, and saved me time on finding actually useful information.
     

Reading Response

      So far in Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Arnold (Junior?) Spirit decides to leave the reservation and attend Reardan High School. At first, he finds himself treated differently due to his skin color and financial difficulties by students and teachers alike. However, he eventually finds out a way to overcome his differences and fit in.
      This story can be applied to anyone who transfers to a new school. People who transfer to a new school can often feel alone and disconnected by themselves. However, if we try our best to approach others, it is very easy to make friends. Junior managed to make friends at Reardan, such as Roger and Gordy. All we have to do make friends is to be ourselves, like Junior did.

Comments Week 17

Jack - Winter weather

Gautam - Social Media

Music Competition

      This Saturday was a very pressured day. It was the day of the music tournament. There were multiple different categories, such as vocal, piano, cello, violin, etc. There were numerous competitors in each categories. I was entering the tournament with the cello. It was an intense tournament in which everyone was aiming for 1st place.

      I would like to say that I performed my best, but if I was honest with myself, I do not think that I performed to my fullest ability back then. My finger felt stiff, and I heard an excessive amount of metallic sound from my cello. Now, I can use this experience to further improve my skills. 

Reading Response

      Recently in class, we have been assigned to read a book called Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I thought that it would be a boring autobiography of someone, but it was anything but that. I was very interested by the artstyle and narrating fashion of the author.
      When I start reading a book, I pay attention to the tone of the author. Sometimes books are written with a formal tone, while others are more casually written in an informal tone. When I read a book, I prefer more informal and casual reading. The narrating style of this author engages me into the book.

Comments Week 16

Caroline - What I learned

Gautam - My Research Paper

Post 2

      Recently, we have been assigned a project for both English and World History. We have to research a historical event and make an argument for it. I was pondering what kind of topic to research on, and I decided on a question: What was the biggest military effect the Korean War left on Korea, and why?
      The Korean War was one of the most significant wars fought, and it had a huge impact in Korea. It ultimately led to the separation of Korea into the North and South. Fun fact: turns out that the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin was responsible for helping a communist government rise and persuaded help from China in order to invade the South, so if you want someone to blame, then here you go. This question matters (or at least i think it does) because the antagonism of North Korea is a worldwide threat not just for South Korea, but for the US and other countries as well.

Post 1

      Last semester was my (and pretty much everyone's) first year in high school. It was a very new experience for me, and I was both very excited and worried. I thought that in high school, we would have more freedom but more work as well. As it turns out, I was right. (BIG surprise, right?) There were plenty of things that I expected, but a lot of things that I did not see coming. 

      One thing I learned from last semester was not to leave assignments until the last moment. If not, I tend to end up staying up very late, completing assignments. This semester, I will need to focus on my schoolwork much more in order to finish them earlier. One other thing is to take more careful notes in class in order to use them to study. 

Comments Week 15

Sarah - MLK

Caroline - research update

Free Post

      This Saturday, I attended a Mu Alpha Theta math tournament at Baton Rouge High. It was my first math tournament of high school. I could not attend any other tournaments before, since I always had something else scheduled on the same day, or not enough people signed up. I was excited, but nervous at the same time, since I was used to much more easier middle school math tournaments.
      I was in the geometry section, so at least I was being tested on stuff I knew. I was nervous during the test. I was getting some strange answers that looked incorrect. I was nervous coming out of the test room and waiting for results. However, when they announced the results, I ended up getting 1st place. It was a real surprise!

Research Paper

      For my research paper topic, I decided to write about the military effect that the Korean War had on South Korea. For that, my main research was the events that happened during the Korean War and the DMZ, where most military tension is located. I managed to find plenty of primary sources from the library database, which made my research easier. 

      One thing that went well during my research was finding information about the military effects the Korean War had on South Korea. There were many things during and after the war that had effects on South Korea, so it was not difficult to find information of them from the database. One thing that was difficult was thinking of a research question that I could argue for. Simply writing about the Korean War was too vague, so I had to come up with a more specific question.