Group Essay

1. I was unhappy with my transitions so I changed those and reworded those sentences. I made my commentary a little clearer and hopefully my paper is easier to understand.
2. I feel like I am say lying and the thesis in my commentary too much. Any ideas on what else I could say? We also need to think of a couple more solid sentences in our introduction.

Dishonesty in The Importance of Being Earnest

Dishonesty is shown all throughout The Importance of Being Earnest in many ways. Epigrams are used all throughout the play by saying things about life that are the opposite of how they should be. An example could be how they refer many times to marriage and say one who lives for pleasure doesn't get married. There is a lot of satire of marriage. One of many examples talks about how people didn't know each other before they got married. A satire of social class is shown by the rich people being all stuck up and very fake, and the servants boring and rude. There is also much dishonesty in the name Ernest/earnest. Jack lies about being Ernest and having a brother Ernest and Algernon also lies about being Ernest; which are all very un-earnest things to do. The Importance of Being Earnest also shows that to pursue and get pleasure, you have to be dishonest. Jack and Algernon lie about names and what they are doing to be happy.

Through the characters and their speech and actions in the play, dishonesty is portrayed as a regular part of life. He shows that everyone lies and is more likely to lie than tell the truth. He uses dishonesty so much it also causes me to think that he may believe the exact opposite of everything he writes. Maybe he thinks lying is a horrible thing and people do it too much and don't think it's that big of a deal. He wanted to prove a point and send a strong message about society through his play in a fun and entertaining way.

Animal Farm Project Evaluation

1. Grace, Molly, & Sarah made a movie and they did a very good job at portraying animal farm in a correct an entertaining way. They used music to show where the plot changed and did a great job showing corruption of power.

2. Brooke made an interesting song on garage band that showed all of the major events throughout animal farm with light happy music and other more intense music. I think it was a very creative idea and she did a good job.

3. Rachel made a game about animal farm that showed the importance of animal farm through trivia questions. It seemed like a fun game to play and also thought her project was very creative.

4. Alena & Mackenzie made a funny movie and very craft fully used animals in a barn without making it look too fake. They did a good job at showing the evil of Napoleon and things that were going wrong.

5. Olivia thoughtfully wrote a haiku. Although it is short, she showed that Jones is gone and the pigs take over.

6. Melanie made a power point that showed all of the critical points of animal farm along with pictures and music to enhance the project.

7. Kayla made a picture of the animal classes. She did a good job at showing before and after. It really showed how the farm had really changed and the pigs had taken over.

8. Sara made a picture in a creative way that I didn't think of. She did a great job at showing how the farm should look like because of the corruption and I can't believe she made the picture on the computer.

9. Reagan wrote a poem that I loved! It was very creative and she did a wonderful job at portraying animal farm. It showed the "tyranny" through and through in animal farm.

10. D'andra wrote a Poem and I like how she kept repeating the beginning words to create a message. She did a great job at showing what happens in animal farm.

My project: I feel that we did a good job at conveying the literary elements of animal farm and in an entertaining way. Neither of us are super tech savvy and we probably could have tried to find more help on that, but overall I'm happy with the project we made. It was a fun project to do!

Extra Credit: New Year's Resolution

(Starting to take more pictures. Picture of my doggy yawning! RAWR)

I cannot believe that it is already 2011! I usually don't really think about resolutions that I want to make, but I have a few this year. I am satisfied with my grades and activities in my life, but I feel like I could be doing more simple things. I want to start helping out around the house more without being told because my mom does a lot for me and I feel it's time to start repaying her! I also got a journal that I wanted for Christmas. I love to write and I don't want to forget the best moments before I'm all grown up to maybe share with my kids someday. I want to write all of my good thoughts and favorite things down so I will never forget! I have also resolved to take more pictures because I feel like I don't take enough! I plan to start carrying my camera in my purse as well as my journal, and when I'm sitting around bored, I will get up and be more useful around the house! I can't wait for the great year ahead of me and the rest of my freshman year!

Animal Farm Creative Project

Enjoy :)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IedxHclr6Ww

 

 

 

Poetry Out Loud: My Poem

When we went into the computer lab a couple weeks ago, I had no idea what poem I would do. I read many poems and liked a lot of them, but none of them stood out or gave me a good feeling about presenting it. I finally picked one that I liked and was ready to start memorizing. Then I had to think about how I connected with it, but it just wasn't the right poem for me. So another night, I went on the Poetry Out Loud website and looked for a long time. I finally found a poem called Ice by Gail Mazur. I just felt all fuzzy when I read it and instantly connected with it.

It describes a day in a little town when it's so cold with ice. At the end, a girl skates with her father and has a better time then she could have or anyone else has. Its about the special moments and being with an important person is better than being with everyone else. It makes me think about the special relationship I have with my father and special relationships I have with all the important people in my life.

At the competition, I intend to say my poem with different paces and feelings. My face will be smiling, but serious at times. I don't intend to use very many gestures, but the ones I do use will be small. I am nervous, but very excited to recite my poem!

Poetry Out Loud: So many poems!

Part One:

1. "Dog" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
2. "Learning To Swim" by Bob Hicok
3. "Onions" by William Mathews was suggested to me and I suggested "Dog" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
4. "Hero" by Paul Engle and "Tree" by Joyce Kilmer

Part Two:

• I really liked all of the poems, but my top favorites were "Dog", "Hero", and "Tree". I liked "Dog" because I could really picture it and have thought of some of the things it was saying. I liked "Hero" because it was really thoughtful and inspiring. I liked "Tree" because it was an all together fun and happy poem.
• I wouldn't say I disliked the other poems, but they just weren't my favorites. "Onions" was one of those because it was funny, but I just plain don't like onions. "Learning To Swim" was one because it was about an old man and a little boring.
• "Dog" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti!
• I see the author relating a dog to someone who can't say their opinions and do what they want to do because they are a dog. I'm still a kid, or a teenager, but I haven't yet felt the freedom to do what I want to do and decide everything for myself.

Part Three:

• One of the criteria that will be easiest for me is Voice and Articulation. I am good at speaking and love to speak. If I truly have it memorized, then I will be able to say it loud enough and in a good rhythm. Another criteria that will be easiest for me is the level of difficulty. I still can't believe I chose such a long poem and the overall meaning of it still confuses me. There are also words I don't know how to pronounce or what they mean.
• One of the criteria that will be more difficult is Evidence of understanding. There are many ways of perceiving something and sometimes it's hard for me to tell exactly what the author is trying to say. Another criteria that will be more difficult for me is Dramatic Appropriateness. I sometimes feel weird standing up on my own and trying to act or be dramatic so I think that could be a problem.
• The Evaluation criteria subjects are Physical Presence, Voice and Articulation, Dramatic Appropriateness, Level of Difficulty, Evidence of Understanding, Overall Performance, and Accuracy.

Part Four:

• I watched "Forgetfulness" by Billy Collins performed by Jackson Hille. This was a successful performance because I was very intrigued to keep listening because he made it funny without being overly dramatic. His voice and articulation is very good by using the right tone and spacing out the words.
• I also watched William Farley perform "Danse Russe" by William Carlos Williams. This was a successful performance because he gave out the tone of the poem really well by performing the poem whimsical, but also serious at times. He spoke very well and gave out the right body language for the poem that all just fit perfectly together.

Part Five:

I think the poetry out loud website was very interesting and something fun to get into. I am nervous for when I have to perform because watching those perfect videos makes me think that they had to work very hard at making their performance just right. No matter if my performance ends up being perfect or not, I believe this will be a great and fun experience!