Animal Farm Project- Paralleling

My poem!

The poem I ended up choosing for Poetry Out Loud is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. Each time I recite it I get the same pictures in my mind of one time when I was seven or eight and I went on a nature walk with my mom, my friend and her mom. While we were on the walk I collected all different shapes and colors of leaves. When we came to a bend in the road, we together chose which way we wanted to go, sometimes wondering what would have been different if we had taken the other trail. Sure I have been on plenty of other walks but this was I time when I wasn't good with directions and every little thing interested me.

With the metaphorical meaning of this poem it makes me think of when I have had to make decisions. I've never had big decisions to make but my parents have and it would have affected my life if they had made different choices. For instance, my dad was going to go to law school but he thought he chose journalism school. Also, he was offered a job in San Francisco before he met my mom and if they had never met I wouldn't even be here. When my parents made the decision to move to Washington from Kentucky. I wonder sometimes what life would be like if other decisions were made but I never want to go back. Which is like the line from the poem that says, "I doubted if I should ever go back.

To show the meaning of this poem in my performance I am going to have a somber look with a little bit of happiness because he is serious but then he chooses the road he takes still looking back on the road not taken. I am going to wear a nice outfit that shows I am prepared to preform this great poem. I plan to not use any gestures because I don't want to distract the audience from what I am saying and it is not a natural thing I do when I speak. I am going to speak slowly and take my time while I am up there. I have noticed teens today often mumble and rush when they are speaking and I am going to do the opposite. The reason I will slow down the speed of my poem is so I have people in the audience thinking about what it means to them.

Extra Credit Blog!

Before I began writing my second 5 part paragraph I looked back to what I needed to work on with my To Kill a Mockingbird paragraph. I felt that I had a strong first 5 part paragraph but some of the things I would change were the dead words and other words that didn't need to be in the sentences. Mistakes made various times in our class were lack of transitions but I thought mine were included very clearly. In this paper, I made sure my transitions were obvious and clear. The way I developed these skills were looking at the blog of what I needed to work on but the most helpful for me was having the final draft of my other 5 part paragraph where Ms. Gilman changed a couple words. To see what she would have changed about the paper made me understand what to change in this paragraph.

Poetry Out Loud

Part One:

1. Eagle Plain

2. Keeping Things Whole

3. Nude Descending a Staircase

4. A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky and The Luggage

Part Two:

1. The poem I like they most was A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky by Lewis Carroll because of how he uses language that relates to Alice in Wonderland. Also, I believe the words he uses create images in my mind of what is going on to help me understand.

2. I did not like the poem Eagle Plain because to me, the word weren't interesting and I didn't get what the meaning of writing the poem was.

3. I would like to study A Boat Beneath a sunny sky because Lewis Carroll, also author of Alice in Wonderland relates the poem. Or I might do Happiness because I love the meaning and the symbolism used.

4. The poem that connected with me was how I had vivid pictures with the Alice in Wonderland and with the other poem I connected with it because I know how it feels to be happy and to have those feelings.

Part Three:

1. The criteria that will be easiest for me is physical appearance because I have good posture and will be confident with what I am reading.

2. Voice and articulation will be the hardest for me because sometimes I have trouble slowing down while I talk so it comes out with a slur of words.

3. You need to focus on what you look like, how well you recite the poem, how much you get into the poem, how hard your poem is and how you read it. Also, you will get judged on your overall performance.

Part four:

Allison Strong recited the poem My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun and it was very well done because she sounded like she enjoyed every word of what she was saying and because of her dramatic output.

Madison Neirmeyer recited I Am Waiting. I liked how she read the poem and how she got into it. It made her sound strong and seemed like she felt song about the poem. Madison made me like the poem she was reading and appreciate it.

Part Five: Poetry out Loud seems like a strong program in which many students in the US recite poems from this website. I think the competition will be scary at first but fun to listen to what they have chosen to say as their poem.

Lobster Discussion

In the discussion about the poem "Lobsters," Levi brought up an interesting point when he shouted, "Slave trade." He was comparing the poem and how we choose lobsters by picking any one we want which was a lot like slave owners picking out which slaves they wanted. I had never thought about slave trade relating to this poem but when he said it I was really surprised how much they compare. They both have a higher authority choosing which one they want of the lower selections. I found it interesting how many different ideas were brought up in the discussion.
When reading through the poem first, I thought it was about going to the store and eating the lobster but when I continued to read over it and after the discussion, I had a whole new view on what the meaning of writing this poem was. I think the author wrote this to show the taking and choosing between social classes and humans taking advantage of what is available for them like when he says, "needless pleasures." We don't need Lobster to survive people just enjoy having it. I believe the reason Numerov used lobsters because they are one of the few foods you bring home to kill and eat. The discussion helped me fully wrap my head around the ideas of the poem.

Recipe to a successful paragraph!

In order to write a wonderful 5 part paragraph, you first need to make it clear about what you are going to write about. In your topic sentence, it is good to have a hook to make the person continue reading along with a small amount of background information. After you have chosen the topic you should find concrete details. In the theme paragraph we used quotes as our concrete details so with the quotes make sure they are related and go along with what you are writing about. After you have the quotes, add in some commentary that does not restate the quote and have it be your own thoughts. When you have all of this together add in some clear transitions indicating that you are switching topics. Finally you should make a conclusion that sums up your paper but does not repeat what you said in your topic sentence.

The thing I put down as a weakness in my journal about other papers was people not being clear enough, lack of transitions and spelling errors. The papers that were not clear enough we ones that had quotes that did not relate or overused words. To improve my writing skills I shall continue to make multiple drafts in the process and realize that you can keep on editing a paper and it will always have something somebody else sees that they would have fixed. When I write my next 5 part paragraph I want to list all of what I am going to write about such as the commentary and concrete details before I jump in and write it.

Informal Diction!

This weekend was very cool. I started off by seeing my bro for a nice chill session. He's in college in Canada so I don't see him much. Then he left me to go see his sqeezetoy, Eveyln so I was annoyed with him. So he was gone for hours and I was kinda bored but it was all better when my 'rents got home and made us some chow. I was starved after spending the day at my hiz and not eating a bit of anything.

After we had supper, my homegirl Leanna came over and we watched a rockin' film called To Kill a Mockingbird. I really liked how much it was like the book. It's probably the movie that is most like the book. When we were near the end, I had fallen to some deep z's while my nut of a friend went along watchin' it. The next mornin' we went to the mall in our footie pajama's which was ober embarassing. That's something I will never do again!

Different.

When I was eighth grade, I wrote Different. This was my first large writing assignment that required me to hours at a time, perfecting the piece as the weeks went by. The story is about a boy who is harassed everyday because of his sexuality. Looking back and reading it, I am actually very proud of how it turned out. It was quite a mature topic if I do say so myself. I start the book out with Journal Entry #1 which is him writing about his day and how he can't deal with the pain of being made fun of. I use, "I can't do this. I can't always be the one who is the center of each conversation I hear in the hallway" to draw in my readers and show how hard of a time Bailey had everyday. Throughout the short story there are four journal entries. I liked the way I used Bailey writing in his journal and narrating, to portray information. My class did so much with the short stories including, writing draft after draft, making cover art and even making a podcast. Writing my short story Different, I learned writing takes sweet time but it is worth it in the end. My family enjoyed my writing along with my classmates. Of course glancing back, I realize mistakes I could have fixed, which illustrates what I have learned over the summer and in English so far.

The Catcher in the Rye

When I first sat down with this book, I knew that I had to choose it to read. One simple reason why is because I understand it. Although The Catcher in the Rye uses some words I don't understand I was able to read more to figure out what it means. Another reason was because I enjoyed the intro. Never before have I read a book where the character doesn't start out describing themselve or even giving small facts about their lives in the beginning. So far pretty much all I know is Holder Caulfield is a rebel who was kicked out of his prep school because of bad grades. Overall, I really like this J.D. Salinger novel.

Even those who aren't children have a childish side. This theme statement might be something I want to use in my creative project. Holden Caulfield is a sarcastic guy who acts like a ten year-old. He is older than ten but still has some characteristics of a young boy. For my creative project I want to make a movie because I think that would be the most fun to watch and I would get to use some of my best talents in it.

A book I've read that reminds me of The Catcher in the Rye is The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The main comparison is two of the characters. In The Outsiders, Dallas Winston is a member of the Greasers who laughs at the everything, even rules or laws. With Holden, he jokes around and doesn't follow the rule of getting good grades so he was forced to not attend Pencey any longer. If anyone tries as hard as possible they will have success in what they strive but you have to want it and be serious about wanting it.

To Kill A Mockingbird: Extending the Theme

Have you ever had a novel teach you something that you can use everyday as a help to you? Well I have. To Kill a Mockingbird taught me some life lessons that I never thought a book could teach. Not only did I learn about racism in the South, but I also learned lessons that can help me in my everyday life. Courage is a great example because Scout learned to never give up even in the toughest situations. If Atticus would have said no to defending Tom Robinson, Tom wouldn't have had the chance to win and like Atticus said, "...if I didn't I wouldn't be able to hold my head up in this town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you and Jem not to do something again."

To have courage is a great life lesson or theme because if I was to walk onto the soccer field against a hard team, I would need courage to try my hardest and play as hard as I possibly could without just handing over the win. Like my coach always says, "Leave it on the field." For Atticus he was trying as hard as he could to win the fight to prove Tom Robinson not guilty and Atticus "Left it all in the courtroom." I can't imagine how hard it would have been to stay focused on winning when you have the whole town against you.

Another lesson I learned in To Kill a Mockingbird is about judging people you don't know. Boo Radley was an important character who was feared up until the end because people didn't know who he really was. "A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born." -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

This quotation applies to To Kill a Mockingbird because when Scout finds out that Boo Radley had saved her and Jem, she realized that Boo was not the scary person that she had thought but a realy caring person.

My Boo Radley

When I think of my Boo Radley all I can think about is my great uncle Gregory. When I was 5, I met Uncle Greg for the first time because he lived in Miami, Florida, across the country from us. My first impression stuck with me, and I won't forget because he only shook my hand. I thought that was quite weird because we were family and I was only 5.

When I was older I asked my mom about him and why he hadn't just hugged me. Her response caught my full attention as she said, "He prefers not being social and isn't into the whole family gatherings idea."

Although I was never close to him, just like Scout wasn't close to Boo, but I still learned a lesson from him and that was "forget what people think about you, and don't judge others."

He gave me this advice and I think the story behind what he taught were things that happened to him. He compared his life now to back then and made it a teaching for me.

I suspect he used to be judged for the type of person he was and he wouldn't want me to do that or have to go through the pain. I still think about when he talked to me.

We were at a wedding for my aunt and as we sat at the dining tables he looked over after not talking to me all night, then blurted out a statement which was very deep.

Some people would have just forgotten something said by a person who wasn't that significant in their life. He left the earth; but he will never leave my heart.

Welcome to my English Blog!

Reading and writing have been my strengths since a young age. When I was only 5, the summer before first grade, I was already reading small picture books and writing short sentences. Everyone in my family has a job that has to do with communicating, and communicating well, so I have a lot of support at home. You can expect to see neat work and full and complete answers. To enlighten people reading my blog on literature studied in class, I will make understandable and interesting posts about books, to keep my reader entertained.

English class is key to having a bigger picture view of the world. Only by understanding how we communicate, can we truly communicate with others. Taking a course in learning new ways of reading, vocabulary, grammar, writing and communicating with a group of people helps a person grow. I think the reason you need four years of English to go to college is because it is one of the subjects that is used every day. People use it to talk, write and read. If you did not learn English each year you would forget useful information and not learn to the extent that colleges look for. Excelling in English will help me become more successful because it will assist me becoming a better reader and will help me understand the joy that words and communication can bring someone.