Josiah’s English Blog

Prompt Response:  During my freshman year, I wasn't doing great overall. My grades started to drop, and I was more focused on games than on fixing those grades. One day, I had failed a test and missed some homework, and when I got home, my dad was livid. I walked into his office, like I do any other day, and after greeting each other, he asked about my grades as he checked them. Seeing how much of a bad state I was in, he started to talk about what would happen if this continued. I realized what I was doing wrong and picked myself up afterwards. Summary: Today, we worked on writing evidence. Reflection:    We read through two passages about social media and its effects, then used what we found in the texts to write a claim. evidence to support the claim, and an explanation of the evidence

Prompt Response:  When I was a child, I used to believe that Digimon and the digital world were real. I was a very imaginative kid and was always looking for ways to get there, like trying to walk into the TV or open up a "gate" on my tablet. Eventually, I came to terms with reality, accepting the fact that Digimon aren't real, and that the digital world exists, just not in the way I wanted it to. Summary: Today, we worked on 15 new vocabulary terms. Reflection:  It was a light day, back to boring work, copying from a book. Some of the words I'm familiar with, but others are new to me.

Prompt Response:  A time I was judged unfairly was when  Summary: Today, Mr. Rease was absent, so we had a CommonLit assignment. Reflection:  The work was boring once again, but the story itself was intriguing. Even though I have an affinity for more hands-on, interactive work, I do enjoy the texts on CommonLit sometimes.

Prompt Response:  As I grow older, I think I'll have to debate the topic of my freedom/permissions more with my family. I'd have to debate what choices, actions, and responsibilities I should make for myself and which should be made for me.  Summary: Today we continued with our notes from Tuesday and branched off into claims. Reflection: I "enjoyed" today's lesson because it didn't consist of just writing notes. We watched videos on political attacks and advertisements and had to decide which rhetorical appeal they fit under. It was a fun discussion and a nice deviation from the usual "mindless" note-taking.

Prompt Response:  Back in eighth grade, my great-grandad passed away. I was shocked because I  found out right after school, and it was unexpected. I was devastated. For as long as I could remember, every Thanksgiving, we would drive for seven hours up to Detroit from Lexington or Loiusville. We spent the entire break with him, listening to his stories, cooking, playing cards and board games. We always stayed in his giant house, where he lived on his own. But I had to come to terms with the fact that we wouldnt do that anymore. I had to accept that he's in a better place now, living on through our memories. Summary: Today, we went over Ethos, Pathos, and Logos  Reflection:  We did an exercise where we had to use the three rhetorical appeals for several different prompts.

Prompt Response:  I would be most curious to learn about the food and music, and the origins of both. Summary: Today, we continued with our clusters. Reflection:  I liked some of the ideas my other classmates had, and they made me think about other topics I can use for my cluster.

Prompt Response:  Davyon's poster really caught my attention. At first, I was going to give it a low score, but the animations raised the score I was going to give it. And in my opinion, it was the best presentation. Summary: Today, we read and presented our poems to the class.  Reflection: I was very embarrassed to present because it was a personal poem, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Prompt Response:  Last month, my best friend had a birthday party. He goes to a different school and invites some of his friends, but forgot to invite a lot of people. I didnt know any of them, and I felt out of place. The party went well, I got to know all of them, and now we're a big friend group. Im glad I went because I made new friends, and a few of us went out this past weekend. Summary: Today in class, because Mr.Rease wasn't here, we had independent work on CommonLit. Reflection:  It doesn't really matter too much to me; the work wasn't difficult, but I did like the story we had to read.

Prompt Response:  The three words I will use the most are Ambiguous, Affinity, and Adroit. Ambiguous can be used to describe a plethora of things. Affinity is a word meaning to like or have an attraction to something, and that can be used in many different situations. Lastly, Adroit describes something or someone as skillful when using their hands or mind, and I think that there will be many opportunities to incorporate this word into my vocabulary. Summary: In class today, we took a break from poetry and began working on new vocabulary terms for the College Bound. Reflection: The break was alright, but the work was back to the boring, monotonous stuff. We read vocabulary words, put them into sentences, and then answered some questions about them. The work wasn't hard; it just wasn't intriguing, and it was hard to focus on. 

Prompt Response:  My favorite aspect of being part of the Lakeside community is the events. I don't usually show off but when I do its for character day. I'll find a character I like and ill dress up as that. Summary: Today in class, we took our tests on the poem "Constantly risking absurdity" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Reflection:  The test wasn't difficult, and using our annotated papers helped quite a bit. Some questions stumped me, but in the end I got it done and passed.

Prompt Response:  In class, I enjoy hands-on activities the most. It's a chance to deviate from the monotony of a regular work day and use skill that we usually don't utilize. I also enjoy class discussions because we get to talk about what we read and hear other peoples opinions/takes on the discussion. Summary: Today we started creating posters for our poems. Reflection:  These posters have much less content on them compared to the origin myth posters but the requirements are much more strict and exact. My poster isn't anything extravagant but I believe it checks all the boxes on the rubric.

Prompt Response:  When creating a poem, I enjoy telling the story the most. It's an artistic way to retell an event and it adds a spin whether its rythmical or more passionate. Summary: We began writing our own poems today. Reflection: I wasnt sure what to write my poem about at first, but after some thinking I decided on something. The topic itself is somewhat embarassing but it's the only topic I can really write about.

Prompt Response:   An absurd personal experience I've had is in july. At a camp for engineering, during lunchtime, I had fully stacked my plate, I was starving. After I got everything I wanted, I was walking back to my table with my friend when two girls were walking past us. At first they paused, then out of nowhere, one girl pointed at my plate and did a "scream laugh". I wasnt quite sure what had happened in the moment but they just walked away giggling afterwards. I looked at my friend and he was just as confused as I was. We shrugged, continued to our table and ate lunch. Summary: Today, we read and analyzed Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem and watched a video of Nik Wallenda crossing the Grand Canyon. Reflection:  Seeing Nik Wallenda stepping over the canyon like that made me wonder what he felt while doing so. Why did he choose to be an acrobat out of all things? Is it because of his grandfather? Are there other factors? 

Prompt Response:  If I composed a poem about an aspect of my life, the topic it would fall into would most likely be my high school years. The overall message would be "Staying in your shell is okay, but the longer you do, the harder breaking out will be." Summary: I was absent from class today due to a field trip, but I completed some work. Reflection:  I reviewed some of the work I missed, and it appears interesting. The soundtrack assignment really caught my attention.

Prompt Response:  So far, the class is going pretty good. The work isn't too difficult, but it does require deeper thinking and analysis. Summary: Today, we re-reviewed the poem "Heart, We will forget him" by Emily Dickinson and started working on hearts to represent the poem. Reflection:  I have an idea for how I want the heart to look, but im not completely sure how to implement it. What I've drawn so far isn't horrible, but the colors will help out a lot.