Anna's English Blog

   What I enjoyed the most was being able to work with my friends and work through poems because I struggle the most with figuring out what poems mean. the project that I found most engaging was probably this one, because it allowed me to dive deeper by myself into a poem that I might not have understood before. the course I connected with the most was most likely fiction. I like reading fiction stories because I understand them well and I like being able to imagine the stories. one area I need improvement on is studying and paying attention because I struggle with getting distracted easily. 

 One tradition that is important to me is going to see Christmas lights. my family has always had the same tradition every year of going to see the callaway gardens Christmas light show. We get to stay in our car and drink hot chocolate while we drive through the lights. this tradition is very important to me because I have always loved lights in the dark, for example, city lights, and especially Christmas lights. We still continue this tradition and we don't plan on stopping. I was absent 

 The holidays have changed a lot since I have grown older. For example, as a kid, everything is new and exciting and more colorful. When you get older, after you see things a number of times, the Christmas spirit slowly fades away. Now, instead of only receiving gifts, I have to worry about buying other people gifts and paying to go see Christmas lights myself. Even though it's different, I still try my best to do holiday activities to make it feel like Christmas.  I was absent 

 something I've outgrown is a friendship. I used to be best friends with a girl named Zoe for a long time. we were extremely close with each other, and spent almost every moment together. However, once I moved away and she went to high school, our friendship fell apart and we both matured in different ways. I still miss how close we used to be, but looking back I realized that I just grew out of the friendship.  I was absent 

 something that I can't stop thinking about is Christmas. I love Christmas, and it is my favorite holiday of the year. I love being able to see family, open gifts, and spend time with the people I love. This year, I'm excited to open gifts especially because I asked for some really exciting things to me, like a digital camera. however, even if I don't get the things I want, I am still going to be grateful. this day we presented our cultural identity masks. I learned about my classmates. 

  Today we presented our masks I learned about all of my classmates interests and ethnicities 

 The best gift I have received that I can think of is my trip to Europe. My mom and some other family members helped pay for a trip to Europe this recent summer. It was the most fun I have ever had. I have always wanted to leave the country and travel, and that finally happened. I visited 4 countries and saw so many things with my friends.  today is vocabulary monday I learned the vocab words of lesson 5, and i also learned what my poem is for the final and how to do it 

 one moment in the film that stood out to me was when she took of the mask in the closeted room. To me, her sad facial expression showed that she did not want to be like everyone else, and truly wanted to be herself. I think this film showed a strong sense of feeling like you have to fit in, and I can relate to it because in high school, it's important to everyone to be cool and fit in. Hopefully my mask can be transparent to who I am and act as a mask, and simultaneously reveal my traits and passions.  today we finished working on the mask I learned that you shouldn't hide who you are. 

 the cultural identity I am post proud of is the fact that I am American. Many people from other countries envy america because of its freedom and justice, and I am lucky enough to be from here and live here. I think America shows and resembles freedom because although we have typical laws, we have freedoms like speech and voting, which some people in other countries don't have. All together, I am proud to be an American. today we read I, too I learned about the poem and the belief of pride that the speaker felt. 

 When I was in 8th grade, I was friends with a rebellious group of people. During this time, I would attend the activities that they would do, and hangout with random people, a boy and a girl. One time, I was at the beach with my best friend who was in high school. She convinced me to let two random people sneak over that we met at the beach. This was very dangerous because we didn't know who they were or what they were capable of. Luckily, nothing bad happened and we had a lot of fun, but her mom came outside in the backyard and told them to go home.  today we read we real cool I learned that you will die sooner if you partake in dangerous 'cool' activities. 

 Something meaningful I experienced over the break was playing with a little girl named Penelope. At my moms boyfriends thanksgiving, I met his side of the family as well as this Penelope. I ended up playing a bunch of card games, puzzles, and building magnets with her. I also colored with her. During this time, I was very thankful to have people that entertained me and spent time with me when I was little because I know how much it meant to me then.  today we did vocabulary  I learned about the vocabulary lesson this week and studied it.