Elijah’s English Blog

 I was absent.

 Today we went straight to reading " Fences". Our plan was to finish the story since we were slightly behind the other classes, but we ran out of time. The story got very riveting when we found out that the Father of the story, Troy, was cheating on his. This wasn't all that surprising from him, but I was really stunned when he revealed that he got the other woman, Alberta pregnant. Then to top it all off, Alberta died giving birth and he asked his wife, Rose, to take care of his baby. All in all, the story was extremely compelling today.

 we were on lock-down for most of today. I was stuck in 2nd period. My teacher played the movies " I am Legend"  and " The Day After Tomorrow".  With the abundance of time had, I was able to finish some work for my other classes and take a nap.

 Today we only had about 45 minutes in class due to picture day. We immediately started presenting our 1 -pagers. Since I wasn't at school on Friday, I was one of the people who had to present. I think I did pretty well, since I had a lot of positive feedback. It was also nice to see the thought process of my classmates and their designs of their 1 - pagers.

 Today we did a class discussion about Hispanic Heritage. It was nice to get a broader understanding of their culture and debunk the abundance of stereotypes  that they go through on a daily basis. We also continued reading Fences. I read the part of Cory, which helped me stay engaged in the story. It was a little challenging at first because I had to find where we left off using the pdf.

What I know about Latino Culture is a little bit about their food. I know they eat churros, tacos, and these sugar cookies that Ms. Granda gave me last year. I also know about the Day of the Dead, which is a celebration for them to honor their past loved ones. I would like to know more about their cultural traditions. 

 This is my 1 pager for Rockpile 

   Gabriel stated, " Yeah boy, kneel to me and learn your place in this household". John looked at Gabriel with defiance. Before he could say anything he thought to himself, " responding back will only make matters worse". John got up off the floor, handed Gabriel his luchbox, ran to his room, and slammed the door. Roy decided to check on him. Roy said sincerely, I'm sorry for what Pa said to you, but you can't convince him it was my fault. If you let it go I'll do your chores for the rest of the year". John hesitated with his response, but soon agreed. John decided to forgive and forget the day, and Roy has been doing he and John's chores since. 

     Today was pretty simple. We read and made connections with the story “The Rockpile”. I found the story to be really relatable to my life because I was known as the rebellious one between me and my brother. I often went against my parents orders because of my  urge of curiosity, and at times I have gotten hurt because of it. All in all, today really simple and I found the story to be relatable. 

     My neighborhood is fine for the most part. The thing that I love about my neighborhood is that all the houses are different and are different colors. The only eyesore that I can think of is that some of the houses are really old and the amount of dirt on the houses can definitely build up over time. I personally don't hang out with the people in my neighborhood, mainly because they participate in activities that I am not fond of. We also have one specific neighbor that likes to call the police because she assumes people look at her through their window.All in all, it's not too bad, but can definitely be better.

    In Mr. Rease's class today, we read the story "Ambush". The story was about a soldier writing about his war stories and how he would describe his experiences to his daughter if she was old enough. I actually liked this story because it made the class interesting by hearing all the view points of the other students and how well the story aligned with their morals. This day was certainly needed with the amount of testing we've been all this week in Mr. Rease's class and others. At the end of the day, today was a fun way to get a slight relief from testing.

 One specific way in which a veteran’s past experiences might affect their present life is detachment issues. Some veterans have experienced so many loved ones die in battle that they prefer to distance themselves to not continuously get heartbroken. 

    This afternoon we finished part 2 of a benchmark test. We did a little review about how to properly structure an argumentative essay. I felt a little rushed because I had to go back and finish part 1. I don't feel like I did my best on the essay, mainly because my last paragraph was a little rushed. Overall I feel slightly disappointed in myself because of my essay.

    Today we had to take part 1 of a benchmark test. We didn't really have time to accomplish anything besides the test. I think I did okay on the test because the texts were quite easy to understand. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to complete my last short answer question, but I hope I will have time to finish it tomorrow. 

    Today was my first day back since my week-long quarantine. I was still trying to get back into the groove of things and find out how much work I missed so that I can do the work to catch back up. Mr. Rease handed me the assignments I missed and informed me that I missed an important test. I felt a little nervous taking a test on my first day back, but I think I did pretty well. All in all, it was a long day of catching up.