Danny's English Blog

 Response: Whenever I think about Thanksgiving I always think back to maybe about 2019 or so when me and my parents had Thanksgiving over at my Mema and Pepa's. At that point they lived in a really big and cozy house and I always loved visiting there. I remember Thanksgiving dinner we all sat down at the really big table they only ate at on special occasions. My Mema had filled up the table with tons of good food and gave us fancy plates and silverware. I also distinctly remember her bringing out the turkey from the oven and placing it on the table. It just felt so classical and nostalgic for me. Summary: Today in class we did our quiz on The Life You Save May Be Your Own. Reflection: I found the story really interesting and I really got to test my knowledge well with the quiz and I am really confident about it.

 Response: Once when I was talking to my dad about the new Superman movie. He had talked about wanting to watch other DC movies like The Batman 2022 together. I had been thinking of watching it and really was looking forward to it. I didn't really want to watch it with him because he had talked and complained through the Superman movie while I was trying to enjoy it. I knew if I said I didn't want to watch it with me he'd be upset and complain more. So I decided just to brush it off and pretend I wasn't super interested in it in hopes he'd drop it. Just ending the conversation was probably a good move because I didn't want to get him upset but I also wasnt eager to watch The Batman with him so it did help de-escalate a potential argument. Summary: We finished reading The Life You Save May Be Your Own. Reflection: I found the story really interesting and the video we watched, aside from the abelism, was pretty helpful to visualize the story I guess.

 Response: I mean I haven't ever really personally interacted with a houseless person. I mean I have seen people sleeping under bridges or at sidewalks but ive never had cash on me to donate so we dont interact. I felt indifferent, like I'm upset about their situation and angry at the institutions that let people go hungry. But on a personal level I just regarded them as anyone else, especially out in public I tend to mind my own business and do my own thing. Summary: We read some of The Life You Save May Be Your Own Reflection: I found this story pretty interesting so far. The characters were really interesting and Im excited to see where the story goes.

 Response: I am thankful for my friends. I am really lucky to have met such wonderful people. I was really worried about high school in freshman year. I had a pretty crummy middle school and I didn't have a lot of friends. But as I got into high school I was surprised to find that I had a few classes with my friends, I was still alone in some of them but as I have made it through high school I have had more classes with friends, mainly because I have been making a lot of new friends. They are the main thing I look forward to in my day and definitely make school a lot easier. Summary: We did Vocab lesson 3 Reflection: I thought these words were really fascinating. These practice problems will be really helpful to work on studying for the test at the end of the semester.

 Response: I used to use duolingo to learn some new languages. I had a almost 3 year streak and had been using it super consistently to learn a lot and I took it pretty seriously. I also really liked duolingos marketing, they were very clever and very down to earth for such a big company. They were quite funny and really relatable so I was really surprised when they revealed they would be using AI in their work. This really shocked me because their main base of users were younger people who were more progressive and against AI. It felt like a really big plot twist and shed a bad light on the company. I almost immediately deleted the app and never really looked back and I still am really upset with the turn the company took. Summary: We took a test on A Rose For Emily. Reflection: I think working on the test in groups was really helpful cause we could really discuss thoroughly but some of the questions were annoying because there was a lot of bleed between the "technically right...

 Response: I think the weirdest story I heard about was the case of Marybeth Tinning. I had to do research about her in forensic science last year for our serial killer project. She had around 10 or so kids thought her life and killed 9 of them. It had been written off for years as tragedies and SIDS for years until she was caught suffocating one of her kids. It was a really interesting case because she would give birth to a kid and kill it but then continue raising her other kids and even fostering a kid without killing it. After she was imprisoned and died in jail she was diagnosed postmortem with Munchausen by proxy. Summary: We finished reading A Rose for Emily and watch the video adaptation of it. Reflection: I found this story really interesting to read, going over it thoroughly helped me envision it more. I found watching the movie really interesting because it really contrasted to my personal interpretation of the story.

 Response: A place that holds deep memories for me would be Oak Grove Methodist Church. I used to go there for daycare when I was about 5 or so and grew up in that environment for so long. I went from aftercare preschool to youth group for years and years. But once covid hit I stopped going and even as lock down ended I had pretty much become a new person and by that point moved away from Christianity. My parents still wanted me to go to church even if I wasn't Christian just to stay in a supportive  community but after covid I had changed a lot and it felt like church just wasn't a part of me anymore. Whenever I go back I can only really think of me as a kid running around there and just really puts a wedge in how I have changed. Summary: We read A Rose for Emily and answered questions on it. Reflection: I thought this was a really interesting short story, the questions helped me follow along with it and understand the perspective and meaning of it.

 Response: I have heard the word metamorphosis used a lot since I was a little kid. We used to talk about nature a lot in elementary school, especially in the nature club after school. Of course we talked about butterflies and we brought up their changes in their lives. We talked about how caterpillars would go into cocoons and metamorphize butterflies. Before I even knew the basic definition of the word I understood what it meant. Today when we went over it I recognized the word immediately and was quickly able to tie it to its definition because I had already heard it before. Summary: We worked on new vocab. Reflection: I think I am getting better at understanding our vocab better. I have been learning more words and I think I have found myself being able to remember them easier.

 Response: My parents disciplined me by grounding me and taking away electronics and stuff. In all honesty I think that was a pretty good approach because whenever I did something bad it forced me away from my phone or something. This would let me actually reflect on what I had done and I really worked on doing better. Also this meant I had to be creative a lot, with no electronics from anywhere to a day or month it would lead me to finding other ways to entertain myself. Because of this I would play with building blocks or start drawing and that really opened my mind to be more artistic and less reliant on my phone. Summary: We worked on our group projects. Reflection: Being the researcher has helped me work better on looking for relevant information. It has also taught me to actually learn about the context of what I am reading.

 Response: When I was younger my parents told me that if I keep crossing my eyes they will get stuck like that. While it wasn't technically declared forbidden it was kind of implied that I shouldn't. I think it was such a small thing but I had been thinking of it today so I thought I'd wright about it. I think they said it'd get stuck because crossing your eyes all the time actually could cause some issues maybe? I honestly never figured out why they didn't want me to but it worked and I never really did. Summary: We read The Rockpile and began working on our group projects for it. Reflection: I think this will be an interesting project. It will really help me further understand the story and see things I probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

 Response: In general I actually think in general the vocab we have been working on in this class has really helped me understand the various other things we've had to read in class. While I cannot remember a specific instance of this off the top of my head I do remember hearing some of the words in our discussions I think particularly about the war short story and knowing those definitions really helped me follow along with the various discussions. Summary: Today we worked on new vocabulary. Reflection: I found working on new vocab really helpful. I had heard some of the words before but I am glad I was able to actually figure out what they mean.

 Response: I have been feeling more moments of stillness while I wait for the bus in the morning. For a few years now I have been trying to make sure I take a break from my [hone in the mornings when I walk to the bus stop. I take that time to listen and watch the world around me. I think I have really benefited from doing this because I have noticed a lot more about nature around us. I thought it was interesting to see how animals adapted to the changing seasons for example. As it got earlier I really noticed how much more quiet it got and made me really think about the animals I usually heard closer to summer. Summary: We did Robert Frost one pagers. Reflection: I found these one pagers really interesting to do. I found it useful to work on analyzing our own poems so we can work on analysis better on our own.