Eliana's English Blog

  Prompt:  Write about a conversation that changed you. I remember I was talking with my mom one day about how I was feeling insecure and how I didn't look like the people I wanted to. I was just comparing myself to other people. My mom told me "comparison is the thief of joy" I remember that because of how it made my perspective change. Comparing myself wasn't going to help me with anything. Instead I could just focus on myself and what I could do to help myself. It really changed my perspective because just comparing myself wouldn't do anyone any good and its not beneficial to me.  summary- we wrote some claims about social media and how it affects teens mental health  reflection-    How to write correct claims 

  Prompt:  Write about something that you believed as a child. When I was younger, I only believed in Santa for a short amount of time. I think I stopped believing in him when I was in like 3rd grade. But when I did believe in him, it made Christmas very magical. But my parents always reminded me that Santa didn't make Christmas happen, and Santa was not the reason that we celebrate Christmas. When I believed in Santa, I heard in songs how Santa is always watching you. So I thought that God and Santa would be up in heaven watching out for me .  Summary- I was absent during this class because I had a dentist appointment  Reflection- Nothing because I was not there.  

  Prompt: As you grow older and face new experiences, what issue or topic do you think you'll have to stand up and debate most often, whether with friends, family, or society?  I can think of two topics currently. One being climate change. The earth has been heating up so much and it seems that no one is really talking about it. It's so important to care for our planet because that is what gives us life and helps us survive. Animals and environments are just getting destroyed for more money and just for more things that humans want. We should all watch the lorax again.  I think racism is another big topic. In our country it is so complex and so harsh. When people talk about racism it always seems to be something that doesn't really matter to some people and people just say that it doesn't really matter when that is not the case and everyone should be accepted.  summary- we did a deeper dive into logos, pathos, and ethos and learning how people and companies use it an...

  Prompt: Write about a truth you were afraid to accept. When I was little, my older sister found two stray dogs wandering around in our neighborhood. They were pretty small, and guessed to be around 2 years old. One had darker coloring and had a more brindle fur while the other one was white with large brown spots for his fur. We had them for a while and naturally me and my sisters got attached to the dogs. But they were not potty trained and they were still young. We had to keep them inside the garage because they didn’t know not to use the bathroom inside. I felt sad that they had to spend all their time in the garage. But eventually my parents got tired and they said that we could not take care of them anymore. They decided to give them to someone who could foster and give them to their forever home. I couldn’t believe that my parents would make this decision without us. It was so hard to accept that they would be leaving us to go live somewhere else. We also assumed that they ...

  Prompt:  Write about a time when you were judged unfairly. I remember a time in elementary school, when I was in around maybe 3rd or 2nd grade, and we were in gym class. Some of the boys thought that it would be fun to race across the gym to see who would be the fastest runner. They ran the race and someone won. The boys then said that the girls should race each other to see who was faster. I remember one of my friends asking one of the boys why we can't all race together. He laughed and said that if the boys and girls ran together then all the girls would lose because girls are always slower than boys. They were judging us unfairly because they just saw us as girls and they didn't think we could beat them in a race.  summary- we did a common-lit in class reflection- the common lit talked about how fear should be something that we worry about but instead something we can use for storytelling and more.  

  Imagine you are learning about Hispanic/Latino heritage for the very first time. What would you be curious to know about the traditions, foods, music, or celebrations? I would be very curious about their many different traditions. I would ask about core holidays like the day of the dead. I would ask about the traditional festivities during these celebrations. I would ask about traditional clothing and I would ask about the the famous 15th party and the traditions within that. I would ask about traditional party food and candy. I feel like there is so much culture and richness within Hispanics and Latinos and it should be appreciated and celebrated. summary- we worked more on brainstorming and thought of more ideas.  Reflection- I learned how to quickly brainstorm and  come up with ideas connecting to those  

  After viewing your classmates’ poem posters, select one presentation that caught your attention. Describe what you enjoyed about it or something new you learned from their work. There were two specifically that I really enjoyed. The first one was Daylin's poster. I really liked her poem but the think I most admired was how she compared time to a sunset. How its so beautiful but its so quick and its gone before you know it. It reminded me how you should always be living in the moment. The other one I really liked was Colin's. I really liked how his poem was different and he talked about his walk with the Lord. I thought it was very powerful and I just really liked that he made his poem about the Lord.  summary- we shared our poem posters to the class. And then started to talk about essay writing and the steps to writing it.  reflection- I learned a lot of lessons from the poems that my peers shared. Some of them really spoke to me and I really like how creative and diffe...

  In “The Interlopers” by Saki, Ulrich and Georg view each other as interlopers, outsiders intruding on their land and their lives. Think about a time when you felt like an interloper or when someone else felt out of place in your world. How did that situation affect relationships, emotions, or outcomes? Prompt- Most of the time, when me and my family go vacation in more southern parts of Georgia, I personally feel out of place. I feel as though everyone notices us because we are different from them and we don't look like them. Most of those towns are predominantly white and sometimes I even feel a little fearful. Feeling and looking different can bring you attention that you didn't want or ask for. It can feel scary, especially when you can feel people know that you aren't like them. As for relationships, I feel as though this brings me and my family closer together, because we are in this together and we can lean on each other for support.    Summary- We did a common li...

  Of today’s 15 vocabulary words, which three do you think you will use the most in your speaking and writing this semester? Explain why each word feels useful or powerful to you. The three most useful words for me will probably be animosity, affinity, and agape. I really like the word animosity because it can be a good alternative word and can maybe be a stronger word that hate. It can be very powerful and can improve my vocab. As for affinity I think that its really interesting how it is like the complete opposite of the word animosity. I think that this word is powerful and can be more descriptive then normal or more common words. Agape can just be a really good descriptive word, and can be used in more stories and can be more descriptive.  summary- we worked on vocab and learning new and complex words reflection- I learned lots of new words that can hopefully help my story telling and writing skills. 

 Prompt-  It’s Homecoming Week! 🎉 What do you love most about being part of the Lakeside community? How do you show off your school spirit? What is your favorite Homecoming tradition or event? I like that the Lakeside community is very diverse and there are so many different cultures and ethnicites that attend Lakeside. I show off my school spirit by dressing up for spirit week and participating in most major school events. I cheer at the pep rally and I like to go to dances. It's a good place to have fun and connect with people. My favorite Homecoming trend is probably the actual dance or seeing people get proposed to HOCO. I love seeing all the creative posters and they are always unique and fun. And I love picking out your dress too. Summary- We took a quiz on a the poem "Constantly Risking Absurdity" Reflection- We took a quiz and I used my skills to infer some of the answers. 

 Prompt-  Which learning method do you enjoy the most? Class discussions, worksheet work, or hands-on activities. Select one and tell why.  Prompt- For me, I would say hands-on activities helped me learn the best. I like being active in my learning and it helps my brain to be active. Doing the actions and actively leaning helps me to actually focus and be engaged in the lesson. I also like to be doing fun things while I learn. I'm also pretty good at class discussions. I like putting input in when I know what we are talking about. I like hearing other peoples input  too because it can be different or have different perspectives of what we are learning. Summary- I finished my poem and I started on my poem poster  Reflection- Learning how to write poems and be able to use Adobe better with the animated character.   

  Prompt-  Which aspect of creating a poem do you enjoy the most? Tell what it is and explain why.      My favorite aspect of creating a poem is probably putting little hidden messages into the poem. Like using words, objects, or animals in the poem and them having such a deeper meaning that seen at first glance in the poem. I think it's so interesting how you really have to pick apart a poem to get to the deeper meaning. I think this aspect of making a poem kinda makes it sort of difficult to understand the poem. I know for me, usually I cannot pick apart a poem and find a theme because they are so deep into the words on the surface. But I think it is so intriguing and such a key part of poetry and poetry would not be the same if the words and meanings of the poems were just put out on the page. Poetry is so beautiful because of the mystery that it holds.   summary- today we started making and writing our own poems in class. And we reviewed figu...

 Prompt- There was a time, last year, when one of my friends asked me to accompany her to a military ball. I agreed and was excited for the event. When the day came, before eating or dancing there were special guests who spoke to the cadets. I realized that one of the announcers was someone I found to be good looking, and a quiet kind person in general. Later that night, when we were dancing, I informed one of my friends that I thought he was cute. She told she was going to go up to him and ask him if he wanted to dance with me. I felt so absurd and foolish and bold in that moment. My heart was pounding when she went up to talk to him. Later when she was finished talking to him, she told me he said he would have, but he was leaving already. I felt a little foolish but it was bold at the same time. I will always remember that moment of taking risks and being a little foolish.  Summary- We analyzed a poem that compared an acrobat to a poet.  Reflection- Looking for hidden m...

  You are currently working on a soundtrack for selected Emily Dickinson poems. With that in mind, if asked to choose a song to describe your life right now, which song would you select and why? The song I would probably choose for right now would be "We Are Going To Be Friends"- by the White Stripes. I chose this song because its talking about how strong and powerful platonic friendships can be. Right now I am just really enjoying my life with my friends and they are such a big impact on my life. I really cared and love them and I would not be the same without them.  Summary- We took a test and connected songs and poems  Reflection- Learning how songs are poems with music and connecting them with their meaning.  

Prompt- If I had to write a poem, I think that the aspect of life I would focus on would be relationships, specifically friendships. I feel so much love for my friends and they are so important to me, so I think my topic for the poem would be love. I think the overall message would be something like "surround yourself with people who will grow alongside you, in every season. Then I would use flowers in my poem to represent the people in my life. Who grow alongside me and are with me even when I wilt.  Summary-  Today we annotated and analyzed more poems by Emily Dickinson.  Reflection- I liked finding the themes and uncovering all the different meaning within the poem. I like how things could look different when you just took at them quickly instead of really trying to uncover the underlying meaning. 

 Prompt-  You’ve been in American Literature for 4.5 weeks now. How has the class been going for you so far?  So far, it has been a moderately enjoyable class. I like that we don't get to much work and we have enough time to do the work. Doing the blog posts everyday is quite easy and sometimes fun to complete. It's fun to recall back younger memories and write about them again. The class itself is pretty easy to understand and the content isn't too hard. I think some of our discussions that we have in class are interesting and easy to engage in. That being said I think that we could spend a little more class time covering more topics. Sometimes our class gets off track and we find ourselves talking about something that I can really connect to the topic that we are currently discussing during class time. But overall I like the class. The main thing I like is how minimal the workload is.  Summary- Today in class we worked on analyzing a poem by Emily Dickinson. It was...