Writing Center

I went to the writing center a few weeks ago for help with my literary analysis. I found it very helpful and definitely will go back next semester. My writing fellow was Mrs. Spate and she really helped me revise my paper.

At first, I was really nervous because I was not 100% confident with my paper. When we began to edit, she made me read my paper out loud, which was pretty scary. When I finished, she said I had some really strong points. She basically said all I needed to do was take out a few sentences, and fix my quotes. When I left, I felt really good about my paper! I will definitely go back.

Reading/Working times
Thursday 11/5- 2 hr- reading journal and annotating
Sunday 11/8- 1 hr 15 minutes- reading/annotation chp 12 and focus journal

A day in the Life

I usually start my day at 6:30ish in the morning, woken up by my phone alarm clock. I lazily change into my uniform and go downstairs for breakfast. My breakfast is never anything special, maybe some scrambled eggs and toast or a biscuit. I then go back upstairs and brush my teeth and brush my hair. By now, it is about 7:05. I then pack my bag for soccer and wait for my little sister to get ready. I leave my house around 7:15 and get to school at 7:30.
When I get to school, I talk to friends, finish my homework, or study. I then head off to my classes. At 3:20, I hurry out of class to soccer practice. I always hope it is an easy day of just scrimmaging, but it really hasn't been for like two months. After soccer ends at 5:30, I go home and eat whatever we are having for dinner that night. I then take a shower and start my homework.
I usually start with my AP World homework, because I can get that done pretty quickly. I then move on to geometry and suffer my way through that. Then, I have to study for my Biology daily quiz. I then finish off my homework with reading LOTF. Depending on what time it is, I usually watch one or two episodes of Grey's Anatomy or some show like that. By midnight, I am so tired and I fall asleep!

Reading/Working Times

LOTF chapters 4-7- 1 hr 45 minutes
Reading Focus Journal- 30 minutes

Free Post- Rihanna Concert

This weekend, I went to the Rihanna concert with Claudia and Laurel Ann. After school on Friday, we drove down to New Orleans and got ready for the concert. We then met up with Katherine Ann, Arden, and Camille at an Italian restaurant. After, we loaded up in the car and left for the concert. When we got to the concert, the opener, A$AP Rocky, was about halfway done performing. When he finished, we sat in our seats and waited for Rihanna. We actually saw Monica and Pierre Thomas while waiting.

When we were about to take a picture with Pierre Thomas, the lights went out and it was time for Rihanna to come on. She opened with a song I did not know very well, "Mother Mary." but after the first four or so songs, my friends and I got really into it. We had so much fun! This was her last stop of her entire world tour, so when she was about to sing her last song, "Diamonds," she got very emotional. When the concert was over, it seemed as if I was the only one with any energy left. I actually had more energy at 1 AM than anytime earlier that day! I was so thankful that I was invited and overall, it was a great night!

My Prompt

My Prompt- What has been your favorite thing about English this year and why?

My favorite part about English this year has been the literacy narrative unit. I loved writing mine and I love writing about personal situations. I also found this to be one of the easier things we have done. I had absolutely no trouble figuring out what to write about and how to write it.

I also liked reading other people's narratives. I found all of them interesting and it helped me get to know the other person a little bit better. All of the narratives I read were really good! Overall, this has been my favorite part of English so far.

Reading Times
Mon. 11/11- LOTF 45 Minutes (Chp. 1)
Wed. 11/13- LOTF 1 hour (chps 2-3)

Deserted Island Activity

On Thursday, we did the deserted island activity in class. At first, everyone just started yelling and everyone wanted to take control. But by the end, we had it all figured out. In real life, I really do not know how some of the people in my class would have lived with each other for a long time on a deserted island. Our class definitely has a lot of people with big personalities, which would have pluses and minuses.

I think we would have no problem getting set up at first, but as time went on we would get tired of each other. We would be able to get everyone a job and everyone do their own thing that they need to do. We would have trouble when we needed to make really big decisions, I think there would just be too many opinions. Overall, I think we would make it out OK, but we would be tired of each other by the end.

Literary Analysis rough draft- 1 hour

LOTF- 35 minutes

Free Post- Alabama

This weekend, I went to Birmingham, Alabama for the LSU game. I left Baton Rouge at around 8:30 AM on Friday morning. I had packed up all my red clothing (I'm a Bama fan if you did not know...) and was so excited to go. After the 5 and a half hour drive, we had finally reached Birmingham. I was totally in my element as everyone was wearing red Alabama clothes, which I do not see a lot in Louisiana. That night, we went to my favorite restaurant in the world, Chuy's. It is a Mexican restaurant that is just amazing. We finished our dinner and headed back to the hotel to get some rest for the next day.

When I woke up Saturday morning, I was so excited, but I had to wait until 7 to watch my team play. In the morning and some of the afternoon, all we did was shop to kill time. After, we loaded up in our car, with me wearing my red Southern Tide sweatshirt with jeans, my mom wearing black (she says she is neutral, but I know she goes for Alabama, her alma mater.), and my dad wearing purple and gold. When we drove 45 minutes to Tuscaloosa, I was so ready for the game. We walked around and tailgated for about 2 hours. Then, it was time for the game to start. We headed to our seats and I could easily spot my two favorite Alabama players (AJ McCarron and Cooper Bateman). I had a good feeling that Bama was going to win. The game was very stressful for me until the 4th quarter. As Alabama was pulling away with a bigger lead, the stadium was on fire. From the visitors section, I could see the student section erupting. There were chants of "We will, we will rock you" and of course the singing of "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Dixieland Delight". When the game ended, everyone went nuts singing Rammer Jammer. It was crazy. Overall, I am so glad I went to see Alabama win and experience Bryant Denny Stadium.

ROLL TIDE

Reading Log 11/4

Revising Short Stories: 30 minutes
Literary Analysis Work: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total- 1 hour and 45 minutes

Free Post

This week I finally start soccer again. I am really excited to play because it is one of my favorite sports. I usually play center midfield, which is pretty tough. I'm excited to get to know all the girls who play, whether they are on JV or Varsity. I also am a little nervous to start soccer. We had our first practice today and it was a little scary with all the girls who are really good.

However, since soccer is starting, it means I can't play tennis as much. Tennis is my favorite sport and I played every Monday, Wednesday, some Saturdays, and Sundays. I like it because you only have yourself to worry about (unless you are playing doubles) and you can't blame anyone else for having a bad game or playing terribly, it is only you. So I guess starting soccer is a good and bad thing.

Reading Response (10/28)

The three short stories I read were The Sniper, Sucker, and Araby. So far, Sucker has looked the most promising because of the change of the character's attitudes towards each other. I really enjoyed reading this story because I could understand the whole thing. I understood like the fighting with a sibling (this case a cousin) and crushes.

I think I am still a little confused with what exactly a literary analysis is. I know it is like analyzing the story for literary elements, but I am still confused with what exactly should be in the analysis.

Reading Log

10/8- Safe Haven (10 minutes)
10/9- The Return (20 minutes)
10/10- Safe Haven (30 minutes)
10/13- Short Story (30 minutes)
10/13- Revision of Lit. Narrative (30 minutes)

Personal Q's:
What kinds of new books can I explore?
What is love?
What genres do I enjoy most and why?

Reading Log

10/1- Short Story (Girl's in their Summer Dresses)- 15 minutes
10/2- Short Story (Waltz of the Fat Man)- 30 minutes
10/3- Siddhartha- 1 hr. 30 min
10/6- Safe Haven- 10 minutes

Plot

• Exposition
• introduce Cat (16, pretty, popular, has a great boyfriend, great grades, but parents are unfair too overprotective), family, Cat's friends (boyfriend, best friends)
• Setting- City along the east coast

• Rising Action
•  Cat hears about a party she wants to go to this weekend. She hears it will be one of the best parties ever.

• Climax
•  Cat and parents fight over going to the party which leads to a fight over school, freedom, etc. Cat says things she doesn't mean.

• Falling Action
•  Cat calls friends and tells them she can't go to the party.

• Resolution
• Cat's friends come home and stay with her and have a girl's night. 

Reading Response

While reading the literacy narratives, I am usually confused with most of them. Almost all of the stories we have read have had some sort of fictional thing in it. However, I do like how we focus on one literary element per story. This helps me understand the literary element better.

I wish we would spend more time going over the elements. I do not feel like I have a complete understanding of psychological setting.

Time spent reading:
Wednesday- 20 minutes (Safe Haven)
30 minutes- Short Story reading/annotating
Thursday- 20 minutes (Safe Haven)
30 minutes- Short Story reading/annotating
Sunday- 30 minutes (Siddhartha)

Before Sleep as Character

Ugh, I am so tired. I probably should study more for my biology test tomorrow. Oh well, I think I will do fine. I can't believe what Claire said to me earlier... Why am I friends with her again? I really do not know. I also can't believe what happened at lunch. So much drama. Oh, why won't my parents let me go out Friday night.... I mean I'm 16 and I want to be social. I have perfect grades and everything is perfect in my life right now. I mean I have the best boyfriend, best car, best everything. But oh wait, one thing I actually want to do, I can't do it. I don't want to sit at home at watch Netflix all night like I usually do. I reallllyyyyyyy do not understand this. They should let me go. I do everything they want me to. I play tennis, soccer, AND run track. I also play piano, which I absolutely HATE, but can I quit? No, of course not. But still, not allowed to spend one Friday night away from my parents. Hmm... maybe I can sneak out when they go to bed. Yeah, I'll do that, like always. Okay, I'm tired now. Time to sleep.

Oh shoot. Did I do my geometry homework? Oh yes I did, never mind. Oh no, I have a Spanish test tomorrow. I really do not know anything on it. Well, I will study at break. Ugh, I have it first tomorrow so looks like no time to sleep in. I'm still mad at my parents. They never let me do anything. It's not like I'm bad, or failing school. I deserve this. I can't wait to move out and go to college.

Reading Response

I am still reading my book, Safe Haven, by Nicholas Sparks. The book is starting to confuse me in many ways. At some times, it will be a flashback, at other times, it will focus only on Katie's ex-husband, and some times, it focuses on Katie. This just confuses me, and I can't keep up with when everything is happening.

Katie told Alex about everything, finally. She told him her real name isn't Katie, which does confuse me at times because when the ex-husband is talking, he says Erica, and I have to look back in the book to see who that is.

Tuesday- 10 minutes, Safe Haven
Short Story reading and annotating- 30 minutes

Wednesday- 10 minutes, Safe Haven

Thursday- Safe Haven, 10 minutes
Short Story reading and annotating- 30 minutes

Friday- 10 minutes, Safe Haven

Sunday- reading short stories and annotating- 15 minutes
Page at beginning of week- 185
Page at end of week- 225

E-Book

I am excited about making this e-book. I do not need to make any changes to my literacy narrative to protect the innocence. However, I may need another round of proofreading just to fix a few things.

I don't think I will be on the design team- I'm not very artistic. So, I think I will be on the editing side of this assignment. I think people in my class will come up with a great cover design. I think the fonts and sizes of the fonts should vary in each narrative.

Reading Response

Since I have not been reading much this week, I have decided to write a response to my classmate's literacy narratives. In my group, I thought all of the narratives in my group were very good. All had great vivid details.

Eli's literacy narrative had a ton of dialogue and used great details. Trevor's narrative had great details and was a good story. Emma Scott's narrative was very descriptive and I could understand her feelings. Overall, I thought everyone's narratives were very good.

Monday 9/9- Literacy narrative- 30 minutes
Tuesday 9/10- Literacy Narrative- 15 minutes
Wednesday 9/11- Literacy Narrative- 15 minutes
Thursday 9/12- Literacy Narrative- 1 hr 15 min

Reading Response

I have chosen to write about the literacy narrative I am writing this week because I did not read much this week. I am looking for feedback on my paper to see if I should put more details, more dialogue, etc. I am somewhat excited about writing this literacy narrative, however I do like writing stories more. I think my narrative will turn out pretty good.

I am struggling with really focusing on what my paper is actually about. I am concerned that I am not focusing on how I felt or how the event changed my views on writing. I also am struggling with dialogue to put into the paper. Since the event was three years ago, I don't remember a whole lot, but I remember major points. I am interested to see what everyone else comes up with and writes about!

Wednesday 9/4- 30 minutes- Literacy Narrative
Thursday 9/5- 1 hr 30 minutes- Literacy Narrative

Dialogue

Catherine goes up to Frank during break at school one day in the quad.
"Are you going to the dance this weekend?" Catherine asks.
"Yeah, it should be fun I think." Frank answers.
"Oh I'm going too! What are you wearing?"
"Umm.. I don't know."
"That's cool. Who's house are you going to before and after?"
"My friend's."
"Does he live in CCL?"
"Yeah."
"Oh! That's where I'm going too. Do you want to hang out after?"
"Sure, I guess."
"Are you going to the LSU game on Saturday?"
"Yeah, probably."
"Me too! Where are you sitting"
"Section 110."
"Oh ok. Me too I think. Are you tailgating before?"
"Yeah, at the student union."
"Are you feeling ok today?"
"I'm alright."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm just tired and my head hurts."
"Aww, are you going to tennis after school?"
"Nope, I have a test tomorrow."
"In what class?"
"Social Studies. It's on like Mesopotamia."
"Are you going to class right now?"
"Yeah, I'm supposed to."
"Well I'll talk to you at lunch! Right"
"Yeah.. See you later."

Literacy Narrative

While reading "Proficiency", I understood how she felt. She described her feelings each time she got the scores back of the test. I understand her feeling, being a smart student and getting a bad response to a standardized test. She described everything in detail.

I thought she wrote this really well. I wanted to keep reading to find out if she ever passed, and she provided vivid detail.

Free Reading Response

In the chapters I read of Safe Haven, we finally find out Katie's past. She told Jo that he had abused her. I wonder why the author did not tell us about what happened until now. I like the way the author presented the information, some of it was a flashback, which provided a great description of what actually happened.

I am wondering if Katie's ex-husband will come back into the picture and find her.


Safe Haven (Nicholas Sparks)- 8/29- 10 minutes
Safe Haven (Nicholas Sparks)- 8/30- 45 minutes
Safe Haven (Nicholas Sparks)- 9/2- 90 minutes
Page at beginning of week- 115
Page at end of week- 185

Reading Response

I am reading Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks as my free book. So far, the book has been OK in my opinion. Katie has just moved to a small town, where everyone knows everyone. Katie's past is a mystery and I guess we will find out near the end of the book. In the book, Katie has a hard time trusting people, so maybe someone did something to her.

I am wondering if Katie will let people into her life and into her past. Her neighbor, Jo, tells Katie a lot, but Katie doesn't tell her anything. The same goes with the "love interest" of the book, Josh. Josh tells Katie his wife died from cancer, and he is a single dad with two kids. All he gets back is, Katie wanted to start over. I just hope by the end of the book Katie lets people in.

Friday 8/23- 10 minutes (Safe Haven) pages 61-68
Sunday 8/25- 2 hours (Safe Haven) pages 68- 115

This Weekend

On Saturday night, I went to élan cotillion's back to school dance. Before the dance, Emma Scott, Camille, Catherine Courtney, Carson, Laurel Ann, a few girls from Uhigh and I got ready together. I really was not nervous for this dance, unlike Baton Rouge cotillion's back to school dance (BR cotillion's had grades 9-12, élan just had 9th grade). Everyone wore somewhat the same thing, we all wore other people's clothes. I wore a senior's football practice jersey, and Laurel Ann wore a senior's soccer practice jersey. Once we finished getting ready and took fifteen minutes worth of pictures, we were ready to go.

Once we got to the dance, it was already packed and you could barely walk into the door. The first thirty minutes were pretty boring, just because we could not find anyone. After those first thirty minutes of getting into it, the party really got fun. I saw all my friends from Episcopal and other schools. The music was great and everyone was having a blast. The last hour got really fun despite everyone was sweating and it smelled terrible. Once the party was over, Laurel Ann, Catherine Courtney, Camille, and I went back to Emma Scott's house. We were all so tired from such a fun night!

Reading Record

Wednesday- 15 minutes (Book Chat preparation)
Thursday- 60 minutes (Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks pages 1-45)
Sunday- 45 minutes (Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks pages 46-60)

My Summer Vacations

Over the summer, I went on three vacations. I went to Los Angeles and Orange Beach twice. My trip to LA was so very exciting. The full day, we went to Universal Studios and walked around Hollywood. We saw all the stars on the sidewalk and the Chinese theater. The second and third day, we went to Disneyland because my sister was dying to go. It was fun, but I would much rather be shopping. The last full day, we finally got to shop on Rodeo Drive. I bought a necklace and a new purse. For lunch, we went to the Ivy, a restaurant in Beverly Hills. That night, we went to eat in Chinatown. Unfortunately, we did not get to go the beach because we didn’t have enough time.

            My two beach trips were very ordinary. The first one, I went with my family, my sister’s friend’s family, and my friend, Catherine Courtney. We went to the pool and hung out the first day. The next two days, we took the boat out and went tubing in the bay. I actually did pretty well! My last beach trip, I only went with my family. It rained everyday we were there, so we did not get much sun at all.  My favorite trip of the summer was definitely Los Angeles.

Divergent Reading Response

            Over the summer, Divergent was the school-wide summer read. What I liked most was the action in throughout the book. Every part in the book was action-filled, and there never was a dull moment throughout the entire book. Also, you could never guess what would happen next. For example, when us as the readers found out that Caleb, Tris’s brother, was transferring from Abnegation to Erudite, I was shocked. I would have never thought that he would also transfer. I never wanted to put the book down because of the action and the twists and turns throughout the book.

            As I was reading the book, I never really thought something big would happen at the end. I figured, OK, maybe something big happens, like Tris doesn’t make it into Dauntless. However, I was terribly wrong. I read the last one hundred pages very quickly because I knew there was something huge happening that would impact the next book greatly.  Something that surprised me was the end. I did not expect the Erudite to try to kill all the Abnegation.