Karol's English Blog 7thpd

 Prompt:  As the first semester comes to an end, take time to reflect on your learning and growth in this course. In a well-developed response, explain what you enjoyed most about the class, identify the project or assignment you found most engaging, and discuss which aspect of the course you connected with the most (such as poetry, fiction, writing, or discussion). Finally, reflect on one area where you feel you need additional support or improvement as we move into the spring semester. Prompt Response: What I most enjoyed about this class was how funny my classmates can be, the only entertaining people of my day since everybody in my other classes are either boring or annoying. I also enjoyed the work, not always but the majority of it was not overwhelming and I appreciate how Mr. Rease thoroughly explains what we need to do. I haven't felt completely clueless in a while and its a great feeling compared to last year. I don't really recall any project or assignment that I fou...

 Prompt:  How have the holidays changed as you have grown older? Compare your experiences of the holidays during childhood with how you experience them now, focusing on shifts in perspective, responsibilities, or emotional meaning. Prompt Response: When I was a child, our family used to host Christmas dinners, this was when my parents were still together and would invite friends & relatives. I can recall helping my mom to cook with my older sister, placing the food on the table and preparing the ingredients, while my younger siblings go outside to play with the neighborhood kids in our porch. Sure I complained about all the work but it was these moments about the holidays that remained memorable for me, over time we slowly got distant with other people and relatives until it was only us as a family celebrating together. Realistically as I grew up, I didn't have the same excitement for holidays as I did when I was younger, my perspective toward the holidays only grew more b...

 

 Prompt:   Many holidays center around traditions. Describe one tradition that is important to you or your family and explain why it still matters (or why it no longer does). Prompt Response: We don't do much family or holiday traditions anymore, before we stopped we used to set up a Nativity scene with this fragile baby Jesus we have and would go to midnight masses as a family. We also had this big white Christ candle that we would light up to pray with, when we gathered as a family we would surround the nativity scene and spend hours praying or exchanging gifts. It was very important to us as Catholics and it was important to me as it brought unforgettable memories, the last few times relatives and friends came by for Christmas. I do not know why we stopped, but years have passed and only recently did I find my mom building a Nativity scene again.  Summary: Today, the only thing we need to do is to complete our blog posts and start or continue working on our final assig...

 Prompt:  Write about something you’ve outgrown but still miss. Prompt Response: I think I outgrown the ability to binge watch shows and youtube videos, when I was younger I had the ability to not care how much time I spent online watching things. Over time I couldn't bring myself to finish a show or start a movie, mainly because I always felt like I could be doing soemthing more productive instead of feeling like I'm wasting time. I miss those days and the joy when I felt like I had more time, I had sadly outgrown this mindset.  Summary: Today we took a test over the vocabulary we had learn through lessons 1 to 5, it had about 40 questions and we were given the majority of the class time to complete it. After the time limit, we had to quickly finish this one assignment that involved reading a poem and answering its questions. Time was running out and Mr. Rease helped us answer the questions so that we were able to turn in the work before leaving school. Reflection: I lea...

 Prompt:   Write about the best gift you have received.  Prompt Response: I guess the best gift I had received was the big bear I've talked about in my previous blog posts, the big fluffy brown bear plush with a rainbow dress that I had received by my dad years ago. There's a printed picture of me hugging my gift on that exact same day, I like to look back into it since it reminds me of the early memories of my childhood. I still have the plush to this day, in the corner of my room and I refuse to give it up. Summary: The assignment today was to write down the new vocabulary words of lesson 5 and finish exercise 1 on a separate sheet of paper, once it was done we turned it in to Mr. Rease. We had the whole class time to complete the assignment, everybody finished it since it was quite easy. The exercise needed to be written down in sentences, not just the answers to the blank lines.  Reflection: I learned that soluble was part of college vocabulary, this was a word w...

 Prompt:  Write about something that you can't stop thinking about.  Prompt Response: I can not stop thinking about eating some darn food, after taking out my wisdom teeth I have been starving everyday without any real food to feed myself. I'm thinking of fries, burgers, coke, juice, steak, hotdogs, deserts, conchas, Mexican food, etc. This is the fifth day of my torture, I see my family eat good in front of me while I eat yogurt for the billionth time.  Summary: I wrote a blog post today, right before the class needs to head out the library so that we can register for our classes next year. 

  Reflection: This assignment helped me reflect over my character and how simple I can be, I already knew some of the basic stuff about myself and it was nice to look back into it again. I barely needed to introduce my character or personality with other people so this is one of the few experiences that I get to do so. 

 Prompt:  After watching the short film  Identity , write a blog post reflecting on how the masks in the film represent the pressure to fit in and the struggle to discover who you really are. Choose one moment from the film that stood out to you and explain why. Then, connect the film’s message to Langston Hughes’ poem  “I, Too”  and to the mask you are creating in class. What part of your identity do you want your mask to reveal? Prompt Response: In the short film, everybody is wearing a mask that associates them with a group they belong to, the narrator's mask is the only one unique and different compared to her other peers. She does not quite fit in with the others, one moment that stood out to me was that girl who switched masks when going to a different group. Because it shows how people change themselves just to fit in with a group of people, switching masks is like they're changing their character. The film connects to the poem through personal identities...

 Prompt:  In  “I, Too,”  the speaker expresses pride in his identity and his rightful place in America. Reflect on your own life: What aspect of your cultural identity are you most proud of, and why? Prompt Response: One aspect of my cultural identity that I am most proud of is the language, I could say our religious beliefs in God, but I feel like its also important to mention the language especially for those who may be atheists. I am not as fluent in the native language as the other kids and it would not make sense for me to feel proud of the language, but I can agree it helps connect our families and reminds us where we came from. It's beautiful to consider how speaking a language can direct your life and connect you to your cultural identity.  Summary: Today we spent the first 15 minutes finishing the assignment we weren't able to finish on Tuesday, once it was handed over to Mr. Rease we began to read a new poem "I, Too" by Langston Hughes. After reading t...

 Prompt:  In  “ We Real Cool ,”  the speakers make choices that seem exciting, bold, and rebellious, even though those choices lead to consequences. Write about a moment in your own life when you followed what looked cool or fun, only to realize afterwards that it wasn’t the smart or responsible path. What influenced your decision, and how did your perspective change later? Prompt Response: I do not recall an exact moment where I did something regretful thinking it was cool to do, I probably did experience it a couple times. As a kid I was too cowardly to follow what seemed cool for the other kids, there would be times when I would like to go along with them but never had the courage to include myself with them. Even now I wouldn't dare to do something risky and rebellious, I fear the consequences, growing up it was always scarier to get in trouble by the adults. Summary:  We read and analyzed the poem "We Real Cool," by Gwendolyn Brooks, with Mr. Rease and woul...

 Prompt:  Discuss something meaningful or memorable you experienced over the break, or reflect on what you felt most thankful for during that time. Prompt Response: There was nothing too meaningful or memorable during the break, it was just like how I do my weekends and the most I had been thankful for was the food my mom took the effort to make for us to enjoy. Other than that, the rest of the break was fine and I got to get more rest than I usually would on a school week. Some assignments and studying was done, nothing too extreme and I had played games with my friend since we both barely got to see each other.  Summary:  Today was another day for vocabulary, the assignment was to do the exercises 1,2,3 and 4 for lesson four. We were told in advance that there would be a future test for all the vocabulary throughout lessons 1,2,3,4 and 5. On a sheet of paper we write down our answers, we had to write full sentences for the first section and the rest would simply be...