My expectations for high school...

As soon as I started elementary school I couldn't wait to get to middle school. And in 8th grade I couldn't wait to be a freshman. And I had heard stories, some good some bad, but I didn't know how it was all going to be in real life. It all just kept getting more exciting. And now, I am finally here. I feel like I've worked my whole life, and done everything, every test, every math assignment, every writing prompt to get here. to high school. And I love high school just as much as I thought I would...no, even more. 

On my first day, I fell in love with it. I fell in love with the 10 minute break, in between second and third period, I fell in love with all the hustle and bustle throughout the whole school in the morning. I fell in love with the fresh-plopped-on-a-pan-straight-out-of-the-package-and-stuck-in-the-oven-cookies, I fell in love with the orange peels strewn across the cafeteria. I fell in love with all of it, and I feel really satisfied inside, because I know that if I didn't feel this way about high school, I would need to push myself to do my homework and find some way to just keep going. But I am already doing that, I am motivated. I am motivated to become more intelligent, become more creative, and be eligible to get in to a top notch college by the time it's my senior year.

When, I came to high school I expected all my teachers to be boring, and loud and so uninteresting that I would fall asleep in every class (by the way, may I just point out that I have only ever fallen asleep once in my Spanish class,) and I expected my teachers to stand at the front of the class and take roll with an almost hypnotizing expression and their eyelids slowly falling. I expected high school to be like Farris Bueller's Day Off. I expected there to be so much homework, I stayed up all night every night trying to finish it. I kept picturing my teachers yelling "pop quiz" every other day.

What I expect to get out of high school, is a really great education, to become a better singer, and be apt to sing in front of my peers, and to find myself, and figure out who I want to be for the rest of my life. That's a lot to accomplish in just 4 short years. But I'm not worried because I know I can do it. And I know that these 4 years of high school, will end up feeling like 40.

Poetry out Loud

For poetry out loud, I chose to memorize a poem called The Orange. I chose this poem because I thought it was really cute and creative. And I will be honest I also chose it because it was not as lengthly as some others, but also it made me feel relaxed and comfortable reading The Orange because it is pretty short but also it has a very creative mood. I feel pretty good about memorizing this and reading it in front of the class. I usually don't have a problem with reading in front of people and I have memorized quite a bit of my poem.

 I can relate this poem to some poems I have written. I like to write shorter fun poems that give me a good feeling. It's hard for me to explain just what that feeling is, its kind of a feeling of hope and happiness in being where you are in your life, and thats what this poem brings to me.

Three poems!

We read The Road Not Taken today in class. And I think it really speaks to me. It is about someone who is choosing which path to take with his or her life. Deciding if they want to take the road that they don't know much about, the road that is uncertain, and mysterious, undecided and unfamiliar. He or she is trying to chose which will be best. Robert Frost is writing about a big decision someone is going to take, if he choses the road that is calling to him, his body feels he wants to take it, or the road that most people take because they know this is the safest and most sure road they can take without any problems or unpleasant encounters.

"Then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim, because it was grassy and wanted wear." The relates to me because, I am always wanting to do other things that sometimes other people think are really dumb, or stupid and pointless. like art, I do a lot of art and poem writing because it helps express myself!! and  I love to be creative, I think I am a very creative person, but people look down upon the things you love.

The Movie

The scene that really stood out for me is when Jem and Scout find Dill in ms. Maudie's garden, because it is just so different then I pictured it when I was reading the book. When I was reading the book I had imagined Dill popping up from inside a patch of cabbage or something! It was just so much different in the movie. It was different from the movie because in the movie he is really sort of full of himself and is bragging in an obnoxious sort of way. Dill is such a cute little boy with huge horse teeth sticking out of his face, so it is just so surprising to see him with so much self confidence. 

I think also in the movie Scout is a very whinny little girl, where as Jem is much different then I imagined as well. Jem is not very nice to Scout it seems, and is snotty to her because she is his little sister of course. Atticus was very much like I imagined except for he didn't seem so old in the book to me, in the movie he seems a little bit out of things and not very down to earth as I thought he would be. Over all the book is quite similar to the movie in many ways but has some differences, most of them minor and unnoticeable (except for the fact that there is no Aunt Alexandra in the movie ) I loved the book! and I am loving the movie too! its is very fun to read and great to talk about.

The book that changed my life!

Well I guess this book has changed my life in many ways. Every time I am getting ready to argue with my mom about something (or my brother) I think about how the issue looks from their point of view. And I put myself in their shoes for a while. When I first started To Kill A Mockingbird, honestly it really didn't interest me at all (maybe because the font is so tiny, and there are so many words on one page!!) but I knew I had to keep reading it, and as I did it pulled me in and then I was reading more than what was asked every night!!

I also learned a lot from this book. I learned to be happy with what you have, to be aware that others have much more harsh lives that we are aware of. Also I agree with a lot of what is in this book, and I feel like in a way it relates to me, "She seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl." It's true there is so much skill!!!

Life Lessons

Jem, as we recently read, was at court with Atticus, without him knowing about it. But while he was there I really think he got an earful about racism and how black people were treated very unfairly. He observed the judges side with white people on every subject. He observed Tom Robinson  being treated very unfairly, and with no respect what so ever. When Jem found out about Tom Robinson being shot form trying to escape I think that just said it all. Also i think that Jem could have understood a lot better if he had heard what Tom said when he said "I am really tired of white men's chances, and I prefer to take my own."I think that really showed Jem that there was a lot more to the world that what he had known. 

I think this is a very important lesson to learn because, we are taught in school about racism. There are books, movies, documentaries, and stories, that we are taught. But I think it is really important to know how segregated we used to be. different bathrooms, drinking fountains and stores. We should feel really lucky how different is is now. There are still some ways that this country, and this world are in some way segregated. But we've made a really big change, and it's important to know about the past. And the history of the world.

My non-tedious class :)

M.s Gilman's third period class puts a very enormous grin on my face. Maybe its the way when you ask her about her kids, or say "so.....m.s Gilman hows the potty training going?" you can get her off subject for at least 8 minutes or more! or maybe its the teenager-ness that M.s

Gilman secretly has hidden underneath her teacher version of M.s Gilman. It could be any of those things or many more. I have never had an actual English class before,  just Social Studies. But I love English. I love to write, and learn new amazingly confusing words every day! 

The class room it's self is just an ordinary one (smells like expo markers, is always -20 degrees and the carpet has mushed-into-the-carpet-gum ) but the atmosphere is really nice to be in, you I always just feel like I can say anything, and tell the truth and feel comfortable in there. I think the people in the class room are a bit insane sometimes, but I love the feeling of being able to just speak our minds without being judged, and yes we are talkative and loud and crazy, but m.s Gilman puts up with us for the most of it and just pushes through all the crap we give her. The assignments we get are always very interesting and creative, and fun to do with partners. If I had to summon up my english class in one word it would be. creativeawesomefunexcitingdifferentinterestingsmartmellowunderstanding

T\[[hemes!!

The theme I chose to write about is, "different perspectives" 

I think this theme applies to To Kill A Mocking Bird because throughout the book (so far) Atticus, and Scout bring perspectives up in many different ways to each other and other people in the story. Some examples of this are when Mr Walter Cunningham and the other folks are down at the County Jail to beat up Atticus and scout is talking to Mr. Cunningham about his son walter j.r. in the same grade and school as Scout. And it really made Mr. Cunningham rethink his attempt to hurt Atticus, and realize that he was a father just like Atticus, he had a son. So thankfully Walter just called the whole thing off, and left Atticus in the same condition he was in before. "Son you'll understand folks a little better when you're older. A mob's always made up of  people, no matter what. M.r Cunningham was part of a mob last night, but he was still a man...." Atticus seemed really thankful, but I don't think he expressed that very well to Scout. I bet he will though one day.

Also, another example of "perspectives" is, when Atticus tells Scout to try and be in other peoples shoes, and then see life. like Walter Cunningham and his sons, and also from the Ewells perspective. They are both quite poor families, and view life quite differently. My idea's about this book are that it is very interesting and has a lot of meanings that are not on the surface all the time, but you have to stop what you're reading and just think about if for a second. But I think it is a really great book.

I think Atticus is a very healthy and good father. And when I say healthy I do not mean he eats greens and organic stuff, I mean he knows ho to raise his children and what to teach them, and what to hide from them without lying. Atticus comes off to me as a nice kinda person in general, and his parenting skills are the same as his lifestyle.  And there have been a few situations with Scout and Jem, one of them being with Miss Dubose and Jem tearing and cutting down all the flowers in her yard. And as a result Jem had to read to her every day after school for two hours and for a month. Atticus handled that very well like all other situations with his kids. He simply told Jem "easy does it, son, she's an old lady and she's ill. You just hold you're head high and be a gentleman. Whatever she says to you, it's you're job not to let her make you mad." And that was it. Atticus is always very calm in situations like that.

Atticus teaches his children important lessons about the world. And about being on other peoples shoes, and looking at things from a different perspective or sometimes someone else's. 

He is trying to get across lots of little messages about how to be a better person in the world, and respect and kindness.

Since the time periods are much different back then they are today (we don't go around shooting blue jays all the time) but I live with my mom, and she is really relaxed or as some say "chill" about doing homework, and jobs at first ect....  But if I don't follow through after a while she can get mad! I have quite a bit of freedom in my life and so I use it responsibly because I know it can get taken away very quickly. My mom is in general a pretty un-average mom considering that her maturity level is about as high as a 6  year old's.

changing perceptions of Boo Radley.

some of the things that happened in chapters 4-8 that changed how I thought of Boo Radley from my original opinions, were that when Jem left his pants at the Radley place, he went back to get them and they were "sowed up, not like a lady sewed ' em like somthin' I'd (Jem) try to do. All crocked." Which to me says that he is really a nice man (or boy). Although nobody has really see him, he seems really kind to me. And I think that the true Boo Radley is a man who wants to be known as a touch, scary, mean, creepy, mysterious person but on the inside is really caring and thoughtful. And not a bad person at all.

And I think that the discussion with Scout, and m.s Maudie was interesting because it really seemed like she cared for Boo, (Arthur) and it also seemed like she knew some things that maybe Scout, Jem, and Dill didn't know. And when the children were playing the "Boo Radley game" and Atticus found out about it. He wanted them to stop because he felt it rude to make fun of and mock m.r Boo Radley. I think Atticus is a good person who feels it is important to be respectful to people even if they are not respectful to others. 

First impressions of Boo Radley!!

 I think that some of the rumors about Boo Radley are true. Some of the ones I think are true are maybe that he only comes out at night. And that he was locked in his house for 15 years when he was a child. But I do not believe that he eats dead animals and that maybe the red stains on his hands are not blood stains....ever did anyone ever think of that?? could be blackberries, strawberries. Maybe he has a strawberry fetish. 

 And maybe the people of Maycomb make those things up because they want to assume that since they know he has been locked up that he is crazy. And they want to make up a reason for his seeming insanity because we all do it. It's called "gossip" and they talk about him, making lots of things up that may or may not be true which is called a "rumor"

 I think I am most like Jem, because Jem knows what he is talking about and is proud, and certain of things. but isn't mean about it. He just wants people to know he has an opinion that should be heard too.

Quote: "Im little, but Im old" -Charles Baker Harris.

Ahh the english that keeps me up till 11

Since we have started English we haven't done very much. But my favorite thing we have done so far, is the "I Am" poem. The reason I liked that project so much was because I have done something like it before in 7th grade, and it was a lot of fun. you get to chose what you want to fill in the blanks with. It can't be about anything but you can express yourself through the words of things you love/ have loved.