The Conclusion

I cannot believe how fast the year has gone by! So much more work, so many blogs. Some blogs have been really fun to write about, but some have been really annoying, especially when I forgot to do them until the last night or even later. My blog is all about everything I have learned and looking back on them, I see how many things I have learned that I didn't know a year ago. The quality of my writing and the depth of my writing has increased as well. I remember late nights when I just remember about the blog and great feelings when I get it done early. I would say that I have liked the blogs because it is a fun way to write about what I am learning because there is a voice behind it. When we write essays, we aren't supposed to make it personal. The blogs are about my views, opinions, and the way I have learned. I like sitting in the comfort of my own home typing on my laptop, even if I'm in a rush to finish it. It has been such a good way to communicate with others. Even though we write about educational things, I have learned things about other classmates and I feel like I know people way better in English than in any other of my classes. Sometimes the blog may seem tedious, but "Practice makes perfect"(My dad) and all of these blogs have helped us improve as a writer. This will be my last blog and I am happy to say that this has been a great year, blogs included!

Reflecting on a Memorable Assignment

We definitely have done many things in English this year. Out of all of them, I would have to say the most memorable thing for me was poetry out loud. I'm not a big poetry and fan wasn't very excited at first. There were so many poems to choose some and was excited that I found ones that I liked. I highlighted each stanza a different color and made myself memorize piece by piece so that every single word was perfect. When I heard that I was one of the winners in the class I was so excited. I thought it was a mistake because when I was up there I felt like the whole world was shaking.

I am proud of this because it took a lot of time to do this and make it meaningful. I also didn't know that I could memorize things so well. I found in a number of instances this year that I am actually good at memorizing things! I will definitely remember many things from English freshman year, but I will never forget how I felt at both poetry out loud competitions.

A Good Experience with Poetry

When I was in elementary school I don't remember any reading any other poems other then ones written by Shel Silverstein. I loved those poems. They were easy to understand and about things that I actually liked and made me smile. I have never been really interested in poetry. I don't like the rules and structures. In fifth grade, we wrote short poems about our cispus experience and that was really fun, but whenever I write poetry, I feel like I don't have a big enough window to be creative and make it perfect. Last year in eighth grade, we wrote poems and I could never come up with ideas I truley like. I also remember reading poems. The unit I remember the most was the Edgar Allen Poe and they were weird; I like happy things.

When I here the word poetry, I think of someone out in the wilderness writing in a notepad. I don't really feel happy when I here because I am not a big poetry fanatic.

Conflict in Romeo and Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet, there are many different conflicts. In act four, Juliet wants to escape from her life and get away from having to marry Paris by killing herself, but Friar Lawrence gives her a potion to make it seem like she is dead instead. This could be a couple different types of conflict; Juliet and Paris, Juliet and Capulet, and even her marriage against her parent's wishes. So this conflict is person vs. person as well as person vs. society. This conflict throughout the book develops a theme of trying to escape and get away from something. It is important because without it, major events and especially the ending of the book would never even happen. It develops themes by making the characters make hasty decisions that affect their life and the whole book.

This type of conflict is present in many ways in our society. Sometimes I just want to leave my house and get away from my parents, I want to leave and go to college, but I'm stuck here, and my parents still tell me what to do since I am not an adult and I want to escape their authority. Other people could want to escape anything; a bad situation, a job, or homework. The conflict is significant because without it, no one would strive for things they want, find out what they like, and be who they want to be. I don't really have a lot of conflict, but when I think of conflict, I mainly think of my brother and stressful things dealing with school. The way I deal with conflict, is to not make it worse, stay calm, get help if I need it, do my best to fix it, and move on if there is nothing else I can do. It kind of depends on the conflict, but generally, I do the best I can to make it go away and I think most people do that to because nobody really likes conflict. Well, I guess crazy terrorists and bullies do, but I think normal people try and have as much peace in there life as they can get, I know I do.

Romeo and Juliet: It's Everywhere!

Romeo and Juliet has definitely influenced many things in our society. A part of a movie that relates to Romeo and Juliet could be Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. In this one, Anakin becomes Darth Vader and Padme dies. In Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Padme and Anakin secretly get married because he is supposed to be focusing on his Jedi training and she is older than him; so they hide it, like Romeo and Juliet do. Also, in the third one, Anakin turns evil and is dead to her. Obi-Wan also fights him and leaves him to die and Padme probably thinks he is dead. When Padme is in childbirth, she doesn't have the will to live so she loses her strength and lets herself die in childbirth.

Connecting with Romeo and Juliet

To me, all of the ideas we have been discussing in class have challenged me to think about the novel more than I would have if I was reading it on my own. The personalities of each character is unique and different. It seems like no one really wants to fight anymore, but they are enemies and feel like they have to. I don't understand how Romeo and Juliet fell in love and knew they were the only person for each other when they didn't even know the other person. I could specifically connect with Juliet when she didn't want to be set up with someone to be married. I don't connect with her loving Romeo so fast, but I do connect with her because if I really did love someone that is the only person I would want to marry. I also connect with Capulet not caring that Romeo was at the party and not wanting to fight.

Reading Romeo and Juliet has been really hard for me. It is just one of those books that I can't understand. The placement and words they use are so confusing to me. I read at home and kind of get an overall understanding of what happens in the scene, but it helps me a lot to read it in class and discuss it. It is a little easier as I go along I guess. I read the left side pages and that helps but it's really annoying to keep going back and forth. I think the goal of getting a deeper and more complete understanding by reading in class is definitely working and helping me.

Wrapping Up Great Expectations

Now that we are finished with Great Expectations we are thinking about our overall understanding of the book. To me, Charles Dickens meant a few different things when writing this book that could be universal. One thing he meant was only do things if you want it, not for someone else because you won't end up happy. He also wanted to say that people and affection is way more important than jobs, money or social status. Also, that just thinking about yourself and doing anything you can to make yourself better pushes people away. You have to stay kind and loyal to your friends. You can't expect everything to always be fine and don't abuse friendships and take the people you love for granted. I believe that the most important theme was that people are more important than possessions and just because you have everything and have a high social status, doesn't mean you're going to be happy. An example could be someone unhappy living in a small house not being able to go shopping all the time or go out to dinner and all they can think about is the money and what it would be like to have that money and be popular. But what would they have to do to get it? They would probably push everyone away trying to get it and lose everyone they care about in the process. Then once they get it, they would be unhappy with no one to enjoy it with. Then it might be too late to get the ones they cared about back. Overall, Dickens, and I, are trying to say that happiness is simpler than it seems to be and you don't have to have everything you want to have it, just love.