Danny's English Blog

 Response: I found other peoples projects very diverse. A lot of people followed a bit of a theme which I thought was neat. You could tell some people made metaphors related to sports or cars or just generally something they are interested in. I didn't end up doing that but it made me really reflect on how to make future similes and metaphors really specific to me. Summary: We looked at other people's projects. Reflection: I found it really interesting to see what other people wrote for their similes and metaphors.

 Response: When writing similes and metaphors I struggled most with appearance based judgement. I just haven't really received a lot of judgement about it outwardly. Then past that any judgement I have gotten hasn't really been worked in the way of a metaphor or simile. In general appearance based judgement is something I have just not experienced or outwardly ignored criticism about my appearance and mostly just do my own thing. It took a lot of thinking over but I did finally get a metaphor that is pretty mediocre. Summary: Worked on our poster project. Reflection: I found this poster project a good opportunity to revisit and revise my previous similes and metaphors. I also really got to flex my artistic skills when making it.

 Response: This exercise mainly led me to reflect on an instance of each scenario, which honestly I found quite difficult to do. Remembering a specific situation off the top of my head is pretty difficult and I had to really think about how I would react in each situation. On top of that I found myself struggling to fit a metaphor or simile into that idea. I had a sort of writers block when trying to describe my feelings in a short simile. I found myself honing in on one genre of simile and found it difficult to pretty much paste something into the space. Summary: We started writing our own similes and metaphors. Reflection: I am really struggling with coming up with proper similes and metaphors. I find it difficult to come up with stuff like that on the spot just based off a small prompt.

 Response: Over break I got to travel to New York City. I got to see some really interesting exhibits at the MoMA and the Natural History Museum. I also got to see some really interesting musicals on Broadway. I saw Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York as well as Chess and I really liked both of them. I also spent a lot of break working on crew for our school show Anything Goes. We did some set installation and I worked on sewing a few of the costumes. Summary: We read and studied Maya Angelou's poem "Still, I rise" Reflection: I found the poem really interesting to look over. Looking for similes and metaphors really helped me understand the poem a lot better.

 Response: When we began talking about rhetorical analysis essays I started to get really worried. I have never really thought of myself as a very good writer and I was nervous to work on an essay. I have done DBQs and LEQs for my social studies classes but I have never really written an essay for my literature class so I was kind of nervous. As we got further in and did the practice body paragraph my worry eased a little as I got a better hang of writing a paragraph. What really helped me was breaking down the different aspects I needed in each section. breaking it down made it all the more understandable and easier to swallow. The essays I did last year on the AP World test definitely helped me write quickly and overall I am pretty confident in my rhetorical analysis. Summary: We wrote our rhetorical analysis essay. Reflection: I was pretty worried about writing this essay at first bust as I got further into it I found it wasn't actually all too bad. I think a lot of the prep wor...

 Response: Step three really helped me get a better grasp of what I was looking to do for this analysis. The bubble planning really made me think critically about the different forms or rhetoric. When I really thought them out and defined them more clearly I was able to identify which ones were used the most often and how they were used. This helped me a lot when I next planned out the thesis statement. With the previous planning already thought through I was just able to glance back and see which which devices were the strongest. Summary: We learned more about outlining a rhetorical analysis. Reflection: I think outlining the thesis and paragraphs together in class really helped me get a better understanding of what I need in a rhetorical analysis./

 Response: I think a perfect day spent with one of my friends would be to maybe go somewhere and have a meal while walking around a small area maybe near a park and just talking for a while. I also think spending some time hanging out at one of our houses would be fun, maybe do some baking and playing some various video or board games would be fun. Summary: We worked on outlines for a rhetorical analysis. Reflection: I think this outline will really help me figure out what I missed and how to write a structured analysis so I don't miss anything.

 Response: The best advice I have recently gotten from my parents was when my mom told me to take life slowly. I had been really stressed about school that week and had been airing out my worries about school and my future when my mom told me about her experience in college. She said she always stressed herself out and wound herself up so badly and it really took a toll on her health. She told me that trying to micromanage every detail wasnt worth it and that sometimes you just need to put one foot in front of the other. I really took this to heart and it has really helped me balance stress and work. Summary: I was absent on this day. Reflection: Absent.

 Response: The most difficult part of working in a group for me is working with people I dont know. When I am set into a group with strangers I can find it really difficult to get into a groove. I also find working with strangers means a lot of people don't really pull their own weight and I end up carrying the group. This happened in 9th grade when we had a month long project on Macbeth and I was assigned to a group of strangers and over the course of the month none of them did any work at all. I literally did over 80% of the work that entire time and it was very frustrating. Summary: I was absent this day so idk what we did. Reflection: Absent.

 Response: When I was in middle school I was a lot more shy and socially awkward than I am even now. It was especially bad in seventh grade when we had gotten back from lockdown. My literature teacher in 7th grade had us make book reports on a book of our choice with a visual to go along with it. I was all fine picking out a book that I liked and I pretty easily made the visual display. When it came to the presentation in class I was sweating bullets. I was worried I would trip up on all of my words and embarrass myself in front of the class. In the end I went up and just had to lock in and make my way through it. In the end I was super awkward and had a bad day. But that said looking back on it it really wasnt that bad and everyone there probably doesnt even remember a random presentation anyhow. Summary: We worked further on our MLK analysis body paragraph. Reflection: I found today's work allowed me to go further in depth on rhetoric. This exercise will help me further improve m...

 Response: I think the beginning of high school felt really powerful for me. When we took a tour in 8th grade of lakeside it felt like I saw this whole new world full of new opportunities waiting for me. I got a glimpse of what felt like true adulthood. As I entered into high school in August I felt like a completely new person. I was able to remake myself into a more aware and involved person. As I have gone through school I have only become more confident as I built off of this new beginning. Summary: We learned the structure of a rhetorical analysis paragraph and started a rhetorical analysis of MLK's I Have A Dream Speech. Reflection: I found the speech really interesting to analyze.