Austin's Blog

Strengths and Challenges- Nick Strengths and Challenges- Saad

Some of my strengths as a writer is using real life experiences and relating them to my writing. I can start to identify different connections in my life and make it into a well-developed story. I have learned the many different steps of writing and this has truly changed the way I view a writing assignment. I still feel like I have a lot to learn, but I also feel like I have grown a lot as a writer over this past school year and I will continue to use what I learned in years to come. I feel that I need to work on the in-depth development in my papers. I have always seen this as a weakness of mine and I wish to improve on this in years to come. I feel that the area of developing a paper is very important and is a reason why I wish to look more in depth into this problem. It is important because all good writers can covey exactly what they want the reader to understand and fit it nicely into their story. I look forward to fixing this problem and progressing as a writer.

I have never been a particularly strong writer. Throughout my years of school I have noticed that I have excelled in maths in sciences. I see myself as a more analytical thinker and it's harder for me to be an abstract thinker when I am writing. Blog posts are probably one of my most challenging works this year in English. Aside from them being due every Monday. I feel that we are presented with a rather small topic and are required to stretch it out into two strong paragraphs. These posts are most likely easy for many people, but for some reason I find them difficult. The literary analysis we worked on this year I saw as one of my best works of writing. Since I was retelling a memory in vivid detail and I could look back and just tell my story just how i remembered it. It required less abstract writing than most papers and I found it less difficult. I also feel like written a paper like that is also my most improved type of work. I've wrote essays and summaries in the past, ...

Saad- Relationships Nick- What are you grateful for?

Wikipedia is described as a "multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project supported by the Wikimedia Foundation and based on a model of openly editable content." Basically it is a single website that has any answer you could ask for. This website is extremely easy to gather information, but it also has some catches. It is openly editable to all people which means that some people can post on this website even if they are not fully qualified to speak on the topic. Many students may want to go straight to Wikipedia to get their information because it is extremely easy, simple, and mindless. However, this may not always be the best option. You may receive false information and this will come back to hurt you after turning in your assignment. I us wikipedia to maybe get a general topic overview, but I do not use this site to gather all the information needed for my assignment. It is better to dive deeper into your research and find reliable sources from people wh...

Purple Hibiscus  is beginning to change a lot as the story progresses. Many of the characters begin to change as well. We begin to dive even deeper into the character's head and we learn more and more about them every time we read. Jaja and Kambili go to visit their cousins and stay at their aunt's house. Kambili and Jaja start to change and try to adapt to their cousins way of life.  Kambili begins to see Jaja finding joy in helping around the house and smiling. Jaja loves staying with Aunty Ifeoma and enjoys the activities and life they live. Kambili does not seem to like it there, she feels that that they do many ungodly things and that Papa would not approve.  Father Amadi is also introduced, he tries to change Kambili's point of view on the world for the better. Kambili has a little crush on Father Amadi but keeps it to herself. She also sees him as a different type of catholic priest. On the other hand, Papa-Nnukwu comes to live with them. He is dying and everyo...

Nick- Gun Control Peyton- trumps tariffs on steel and aluminum

Trump Vows "Big Price" for Syria Attack Author: Julie Hirschfeld Source: NY Times Just the other day Syria poisoned many people, around 42, in a mindless "chemical attack." Many died and many were sent to the hospital.  Donald Trump and the rest of the united states government is infuriated with these sick acts by the Syrian  government. President Trump puts the blame on Syria, but  also on the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin.  Trump and the United States government have thoughts on  a potential missile strike. I feel that Hirschfeld felt the need to write this article to inform the people on this important event and people needed to know about it. I am not an expert in this field, but do I believe that this is a very serious matter, and that we do anything  possible to put this sickness to an end. I do hope that Donald Trump thinks his decision through clearly before jumping into the wrong solution.

JC- Creative Free Post Nick- Free Post

Purple Hibiscus is a very interesting book. Just by reading the first part of this novel I find that it is a very different read than other book she have read in the past. Many twist and turns occur in the book and you have to read carefully to spot them. At times it is is hard to understand some of the events that occur in the book until discussed with the class. The main character and narrator, Kambili, is a fifteen-year old girl living with her wealthy family in Nigeria. Wealth and religion play a huge role in the development of the general meaning in this novel. We see the family go out into public and see the oppressed people outside of their house walls. We see the very religious family pray, attend church, and even visit with the priest outside of church sessions. Us as Americans also notice many bad things happening throughout this novel, but they see it as a normal occurrence.

Bell sounds and day begins rush to class or you be late when bell sounds be in your seat be on time to keep a clean slate throughout the day this routine repeats last bell sounds they day is over walk outside and hop into the rover Skrrrrtttt

Somebody Else Will- Tristen Poem-Dylan

The car is fast Whoosh You are already in last  As you make a move the breaks boom the screeching skidding of the tires on the asphalt Slam The cardinal colored car crashes into the wall.. not so fast The car had no chance of surviving that crash Dead last. Alliteration Sibilance Onomatopoeia

You on l y need the l ight when it's burning l ow Only mi ss the s un when it s tart s to s now Only kn o w y o u l o ve her when y o u let her g o "Let Her Go"- Passenger Lyrics This rather popular song is written in a poetic form. Everyone hears it on the radio and might think about the meaning of the song as they listen to it, but have they really look at the lyric in detail. After looking at the song in detail, we notice the end rhyme (orange), the rhyme that keeps the song flowing smoothly. This song is also filled with assonance (green), the repetition of certain sounds and letters emphasize the very last word in the line and make it stand out. Euphony is used throughout the story, it makes the song appear as if it's talking to you in a soft voice. The words that "make a sound" are used to tell a big part of the story and even makes it pleasant to listen to. Sibilance is used in the second part of the song, all the "s...

Free Post- Naya Free Post- Fox

Jonny always wanted to be a part of a team. He had always dreamed of playing basketball and winning a state title and having everyone cheer and raise him in the air, like he had seen in the movies. Jonny lived is a small town in Iowa which had about 102 people who lived there. He had never even held a basketball. He worked all day on his family farm. Jonny loved waking up everyday and seeing the sun come up as he is milking the cows in the barn. It seems to be very hard work, however, Jonny loved to do it. After his long day of work he would finish his chores and go watch tv. He had a large collection of basketball movies which he had watched time and time again. He would watch until he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore, he would fall asleep and get ready for the day ahead of him. Jonny wakes up the next morning just as any other, but this morning he walks downstairs to see his parents packing all there stuff. Jonny is very confused and frightened. He asks his mom, "Mom,...

Launch Day was a fun, relaxing day, filled with food, music and lots of learning. I found many of the presentations very interesting. My favorite presentation would most likely be Graham Frazier's. I payed great attention to his project because I was very interested in learning about the stock market; Something that I have always known was in our day to day life but never knew what it really was. I had a general idea of how stocks worked but I really understood after listening to his presentation. He presented his information in a way that everyone could follow and understand. The stock market is a very complex system that run this world in a way. I understand how hard it is for a presenter to take such a complex idea and condense it into a ten minute presentation that everyone in the room can follow. He gave a great presentation and was very well spoken.

Research Post- Dylan Reading Response- Drew

Mansa Musa was a very important Malian king back in the early 1300s. He was also the richest man to ever live. Mansa Musa introduced new forms of taxation and began mining in Mali to reach his absurd net worth of $400 billion US dollars. Mansa Musa was a kind and generous man. He would give away lots of money and treat his servants rather well. My question is, Why was Mansa Musa the most superior and powerful Malian king? Mansa Musa was also a devoted Muslim. He used his money to build mosques and spread the religion. He decided to undertake the hajj. The hajj is a holy pilgrimage to Mecca and is a duty of all able-bodied Muslims and is expected to be carried out at least on in their life time. Musa also made many changes to the government including, revamping the judicial system and dividing the empire into providences. Mansa Musa made a huge contribution to Mali and made many important changes to better the empire.

The  Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a very entertaining and well thought-out book. Junior is a young cartoonist living on a small Indian reservation. He was born with a few medical problems and was made fun of by everyone at school. Rowdy is Juniors best/only friend, besides his dog Oscar. At the beginning of the story Oscar was very sick and Junior's dad had to put him down. They had no money and couldn't pay for Oscar to get help. Junior had no money and was not happy with the life he was living. He tries to make the best of things for the moment. Him and his friend Rowdy have lots of fun together and try to forget about all their problems they are dealing with. This is a touching story and is a truly good read for someone who needs a laugh.