My AF Project

Click on this link to get to my Animal Farm project:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/46050413

Have a nice day!

Poetry Out Loud: I wandered Lonely as a Cloud (by William Wordsworth ((whose words are worthy!))) :)

I chose the poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", by William Wordsworth. I chose it partly because it sounds pretty, and the theme is interesting. It just made me feel happy and peaceful inside. The poem is about a person dreaming about watching and marveling over daffodils from a cloud's perspective. Sometimes having the privilege of seeing something really beautiful can make you a lot richer than what money can give you.
I really like flowers, though I don't exactly have a personal connection with daffodils.
The person who is speaking in the poem is changed by what he/she sees, and is a different person at the end than at the beginning. I want to convey this change by putting on facial expressions that change as the poem goes on; generally kind of peaceful at the beginning, then excited and happy, then peaceful, then excited again, but not alternating. I just can't think of the exact words off the top of my head right now.
I want to look peaceful, and like I am looking off into space during the parts when the person is describing his/her dream/daydream. I will make the mood obvious to the audience and judges with gestures and facial expressions. When the poet refers to things, I want to look like I am actually seeing it.

P.S. This was a fun blog.
P.P.S. It was really fun annotating and analizing my poem.

Poetry Out LOUD

Part One
1)Contraction
2)November Cotton Flower
3)Israfel
4)Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
5) I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

5)Cold Blooded Creatures

Part Two
·I liked I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth, because it was a little ironic and made me wonder. How could a crowd of daffodils beat a whole ocean in beauty? The tone was also very peaceful and calm.
·I didn't like Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night because I didn't really understand why the author hated night time so much and why he had to be so mean to it.
·I am most interested in studying farther I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud because it is really peaceful and quiet, and there's a lot to ponder about the author's purposes of word choice and theme.
·I really like flowers and one of my favorite places to be is the beach.

Part Three

·I think evidence of understanding will be easiest for me because I'll need to interpret things like meanings, messages, allusions, irony, and tones of voice. In class I have done a lot of annotating and I feel I am pretty good at it. Also, I think I will do well on the voice and articulation because I'm good at expressing things.

·I think I will score a bit lower on the level of difficulty because the poem I am considering is fairly easy and short. I also think that it will be hard for me to get a higher grade on dramatic appropriateness because sometimes when I talk I tend to make meaningless hand-motions and that would distract the audience from my poem.

Part Four
Writ on the Steps of Puorto Rican Harlem, by Gregory Corso. Recited by Stanely Andrew Jackson: This was a successful performance because of the way Stanley used a lot of gestures at appropriate moments, and it was kind of like he was preaching. His facial expressions and tone of voice reflected the various moods throughout the poem very well. I really enjoyed his performance because of the way he expressed everything, like he really enjoyed the poem. If I were to read that same poem to myself I would probably have been bored, but the way he recited it made the poem really interesting.

Bilingual/bilingue, by Rhina P. Espaillat Recited by Sophia Elena Soberon: This was a successful performance because Sophia used a lot of body language and talked like she was the girl from poem, using very good voice. It was interesting how after Sopia introduced herself she lowered her head, and when she looked back up it was like she was a different person. Her facial also expressions fit the moods very well.

Part Five

I think the competition will be a little scary and I will dread it, but it won't turn out to be that bad and will go by quickly. I think I will do pretty good and the competition will be memorable.

Something Interesting About Lobsters

When I read the poem "lobsters" for the first time the meaning of the last line had seemed obious: people are like lobsters (in a way). "...the flame that boils the water..." I just could not figure out what the flame and what the water is. When we had our discussion about the poem and this particular line was mentioned, I heard other thoughts and opinions that had never ocurred to me before. For humans, the water is what surrounds us, and what surounds us will eventually be what kills us.
I think that the water and flame in the last line of the poem are very symbolic. The water is something we take for granted and can't survive without. Then one day something unknown will turn it into our death.

Sooooo many paragraphs, sooooo many skills!

I think a "good paper" needs to have correctly embedded quotes. Listening to my classmates read their paragraphs and critiquing them, I noticed that a lot of people had forgotten to embed their quotes. I think people should thoroughly read the checklist and grading rubric, that Mrs. Gilman so graciously offered us, before turning their essays in. Another key to a "good paper" is the presence of proofreading. Before printing out your piece of writing you should always read through it a couple times.
In order to improve my writing skills for a future 5 part paragragh I think that I need to read through the checklist more thoroughly. I also should look something up if I don't know exactly what it is. Like how to embed quotes correctly.

P.S. This is kind of random, but I am so glad we use the Gilman method to write 5 part paragraghs, and not 5 part essays with 5 individual paragraphs like Ms. Clear made us do!

Totally Low Diction (like seriously!)

Last weekend I went to my totally awesome friend's house for her big b-day party. For a b-day cake, we had these way sweet chocolatey cupcakes with chocolatey frosting, chocolatey sprinkles, and a chocolatey filling, which was called chocolate(y) ganosh, or something. They were SUPER sweet.
We watched this frikin' awesome movie called "Prince of Persia, The Sands of Time". Most of it totally ruled, except for the end, which sucked and ain't very good. Seriously! Why? Because everything that happens in the movie gets reversed after the main character goes back in time!! I mean seriously! Also, the movie is so romanticish, and then everything that happens never happens, and it's totally sad, because the girl comepletly forgets the guy, but they get married anyway. The end...WHAT KIND OF ENDING IS THAT! Ahem...

Outside Reading

• I am reading Wuthering Heights, and I'm loving it! So far, not one part of it has been boring at all. I think one of the things about this book that makes it good is the characters. They all have such interesting and realistic personalities. One moment I like a character and the next thing that they say makes me hate them or like them even more. I think that well written characters make a good book.
• I'm thinking a literary element I might choose is characters. In the novel, the colorful personalities of the characters helps trigger the plot. The qualities and behaviors of the characters make the plot.
• Wuthering Heights kind of reminds me of a book I read called, When You Wish, because both books are about love and the way it affects people peoples' lives. Though the writing styles are comepletely different.
• I honestly have no ideas about what to do for a creative project.

Extending the theme

One theme in To Kill a Mockikngbird is the way siblings always stick together through thick and thin, carinng for each other and looking out for each other. A part that stood out to me in this book was the way Jem and Scout were so close to each other. I have a little sister named Glory, who is four years younger than me, just like Scout is four years younger than Jem. It was easy to relate to Jem (even though I'm not a boy) while reading To Kill a Mockingbird. The way Scout was always sticking to Jem and following him everywhere was very similar to the way my sister did when she was little. Jem and Scout's relationship helped me to realize just how loyal siblings are toward each other. I also realized a little more about how special and precious my sister really is to me.

P.S. I showed this to my sister and at first she frowned and looked angry. Then I told her to read the rest of it and she smiled.

My Boo Radely

When I was little I was scared of learning how to ride a two-wheeler. I would wonder how a person could balance on only two thin wheels and no training wheels! This fear is similar to the relationship between Scout and Boo Radely because both me and Scout didn't fully understand what/who we were dealing with, so we were scared of it.
Of course, I had to learn a two wheeler sometime, and it wasn't that hard with my mom holding on to the back of my seat (and letting go when I wasn't looking). After I had mastered riding a two-wheeler, I loved riding my bike. It was instrumental to my development because I used to ride it to school sometimes, and in past summertimes my friends and I would often ride our bikes together. If I hadn't learned how to ride a two-wheeler, I would have been very bored and sad during those summers.
After Scout met Boo Radley for the first and last time she never saw him again. My experiences with my bike are also similar to Scout and Boo's, though a little different, because the bike I first learned to ride on without training wheels was given away. I will never see it again. But that's okay because I have a different bike and I see it everyday!

Blog Intro

I love reading. Whenever I have some free time I want to grab a book and read. I like to read my books from cover to cover and I get very annoyed when people read books by reading the end first and skipping around. I also think writing stories is fun, though I don't do it very often. To me, reading is a lot more convenient. When I do write stories though, I tend to end my stories with sad endings. I hate reading sad endings in books but love making sad endings when writing my own stories. I think sad endings are funner to write than ending a story with all the problems solved.
In English class, I like to try hard and do my best. I look forward to reading the books assigned to us this year. Someone who follows my blog will expect to see my opinions and beliefs. I will explain what my reaction to literature studied in class by expressing my own opinions.
I think the meaning of English class is to help you with reading, writing, and communication for the future. English class will help a student with lots of things that are essential in later life. It is important to learn how to write effectively. Also, in English class you are required to read, and when you read other peoples' works it will help you to improve as well. Being able to write well is important because it can show people how smart you are.
Why is four years of English class required in college? I think it is because people need to be able to write well when on their own and living their own life. For example, an occupation. Studies show that people who are better in English will have a higher paying job. Also, all jobs involve writing. When you apply for a job you have to write a letter to the employer telling how you are fit for the job you are applying for. You are judged by the way you speak and write. If you know only the basic English you learned from elementary and middle school chances are, you won't get hired. If the employer sees that the applier has good writing skills it will help convince him/her that the applier will be good for representing the business. Employers don't want people with bad reading and writing skills representing them because it gives the impression that they aren't very educated.