conclusion

I always felt like writing this blog was such a hassle. Now that I look back on my writing I noticed that it improved over time. My latest blogs are very much improved compared to the first ones I wrote. Also, my punctuation has definitely improved. My writing style is very much the same. My vocabulary has expanded, but the way I talk definitely shows in my writing because I use a lot of the same words. I also noticed that some of my later work was more interesting to read and get into the the first blogs which were very boring. There was just no excitement in them. I think what helped me a lot was reading all the books this year like Great Expectations, Romeo and Juliet, ect. Each book showed me a different writing style and widened my vocabulary. A quote that I think really expresses this blog is

“One of the greatest moments in anybody's developing experience is when he no longer tries to hide from himself but determines to get acquainted with himself as he really is”

-Norman Vincent Peale I think that this shows that over time these blogs really helped us find out who we are as writers. Now that we have wrote and read over blogs of ours we can see the way we write and become comfortable with it while still developing our writing which I think is a very important step in improving in english and will help us all move onto honors english 10

essay writing

This year I have learned so much about essay writing. I may not be the best essayist, but I'm definitely getting better. I have learned a lot about how to construct essays. I also am seeing what a good essay is like and how to improve on my writing. The hardest part for me is coming up with original and exciting ideas. I always have to try and change some of the things I say in my essay because I am very repetitive with the words and ideas I use.

I am thinking I will get a B on this. I think it is a well written essay, but it does lack some originality. I didn't think of to many creative ideas to add to it. Another thing I need to work on is good transitioning. If I can get some better transitions in my essay I think that will help the flow of it.

Summer reading

This summer I want to read This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen. I love the author Sarah Dessen and I have read most of her books except for this one. I plan on reading it so I can have read all of the books by her. They are all love stories and I like reading romantic books. That is the reason I want to also read The Note Book by Nicholas Sparks. It is a romantic novel as well. I have seen the movie and it is one of my favorites so I'm planning on reading that book.

Fate

I was born on January 12th. That means that my astrological sign is Capricorn. Capricorn personality means that you are practical, patient, careful, and reserved. This definitely doesn't fit my personality. I talk a lot and I am very loud when I speak. Also, I am not very careful or patient at all. When I'm excited for something It's all I talk and think about, I can hardly wait. Capricorns are also workaholics. I hate working and I can barely stay focused on anything. I try to focus on work, but I am so easily distracted by the things around me that it takes me so long. All of the websites went to really focused on getting work done fast and being patient which as I said is not part of my personality, but even the smaller personality traits such as distrusting and unimaginative don't fit me either. Because of the fact that my personality is nothing like these websites say it should be like, I don't really trust horoscopes. The thing that the websites said that struck me the most though is that they said Capricorns are very independent. This came as a suprise because I am very dependent on other people for so many things.

So after all this research I decided I don't trust astrological signs. In Romeo and Juliet they talk a lot about how the stars, fate, and things like this have to do with love and what is supposed to happen, but now that I've read my sign I don't think I believe that. When they talk about how fate brought them together that made a lot of sense to me, but I'm just not sure anymore after reading all of this.

Culture shock- nicole ide

This is a modern movie about women who write letters to Juliet looking for advice on love. Letters from many years ago and letters from recently. This shows that the characters from the novel Romeo and Juliet are timeless. Women now a days can relate to the character Juliet about love. The relationship between Romeo and Juliet in the book can be seen in many modern day relationships. Today there are still people who want to be together, but there families have problems.

Skits!

One scene I think should be performed is the scene where Miss Havisham catches on fire. She is too close to the fire and her clothes catch on fire. I think we should perform this scene because it is humorous, just imaging her running around screaming makes me laugh. I think it would add some fun to the skits.

A second scene would be when Magwitch has his flashback. It's a flash back that Magwitch is having. His hard childhood struggle for food then meeting Compeyson. This flashback shows a lot of who Magwitch is and that he is not as bad of a person as he come off as. He only steals for food and he doesn't try to be someone he's not. Magwitch is an important character because he is the person who has been looking out for Pip and giving him money. He couldn't have become a gentleman without him.

The third scene is Earlier on in the book when Pip is meeting Miss Havisham for the first time. She is one of the people in Pip's life who he has looked up to and no matter where Pip goes something about her always comes up, especially since he thought she was the one providing him with money.

Great Expectations Question 2

One character in this weeks reading that I don't fully understand is Compeyson. Abel Magwitch tells a story about him on page 346 which confused me a bit. Magwitch says, "A man whose skull I'd crack wi' this poker, like a claw of lobster, if i'd got it on this hob." Obviously magwitch doesn't like this man. What I wanna know is; Who is Compeyson? My guess is that Compeyson is the other convict.

Great Expectations Questions

On page 214 it says "'Molly,' said Mr. Jaggers, not looking at her, but obstinately looking at the opposite side of the room, 'let them see both your wrists. Show them. Come!'" Molly is Mr. Jagger's maid and he seems to be very controlling over her. It then goes on to say, "The last wrist was much disfigured-deeply scared and scared across and across." Molly seems very innocent and it is unusual that this was brought up. Her wrists didn't seem to have much to do with what was happening in the story.

I think this will show up again in this book. Everything in the book seems to come back again somewhere else in the book. It seems as though maybe this has a deeper meaning in the book that we haven't discovered yet. We were never told the reason that she had these scars so maybe later on in the book we will be told why. I want to know how she got these scars, do you have any ideas of how she got them?

Photo Post-Great Expectations

This picture represents pip trying to climb up from a low social class to a higher social class to impress Estella. Each step in the picture is like a step he needs to take to become the person he wants to be, a gentleman. He makes it his goal to become a gentleman after Estella was rude to him for being lower then her. He then goes to London to be a gentleman and goes through man steps on the way to become the person he wants to be. And somewhere at the bottom of the steps would be joe, Mrs. Joe, and all the people he left behind to become a gentleman, because people now feels he is higher then the others

Great expectations

This quote is referring to when Pip went to Miss Havisham's house and met Estella. She was very rude to him and made him realize he was lower class then her. This thought was not on his mind before he met her, but she made him realize he was and she made him feel like she was better then him. Because of Estelle, Pip feels bad and wants to be in a higher class. For some reason even though Estella is mean to Pip she changed his life and he doesn't want to forget her.

This reminded me of the day i met my best friend. We were in kindergarden and even though she was very mean to me, i just never forgot her and i'm glad i didn't. She made me feel bad because i wasn't as popular as her. But i'm glad i didn't forget her because years later she became nicer and now we are best friends. Even though that day i met her she was mean, i never forgot it because i just made it my goal to become more popular, like how Pip wanted to be a higher class, but now were both best friends and that stuff doesn't matter to us anymore.

The importance of being earnest group project

My group is doing dishonesty. We are doing lower level, middle level, and higher levels of lying. I happen to be doing the middle level. This is when Miss Prism loses a baby and never tells anyone. It's really bad to lose a baby, but she didn't do it intentionally so the lie isn't as bad.

Topic sentence: Oscar Wilde shows using humor that a lot of the people in this era don't care so much about other people, they can be very selfish. People can be dishonest to different levels just to help help there social status.

For my first CD I used the quote from page 85, "A day that is very branded on my memory." This is said by Miss Prism. She can't forget it yet she didn't bother telling anyone, which shows her selfishness. Also, she knows what happened in detail, but not where the baby is which is the most important part. For ,y second CD I used a quote from page 86, "Uncle Jack seems strangely agitated." This is said by Cecily. He is figuring out who he really is and Cecily takes it as no big deal. Also, he was just agitated. I would have been freaking out over something like this. For my third CD I used a quote from page 86, "(calmly) It seems to be mine." This is said by Miss Prism. She is so calm when someone is figuring out who there really parents are. Also, she is calm for someone who is being caught for losing a baby and never telling anyone.

Nicole's The Importance of Being Ernest

When researching the victorian era I learned there are many things that tie into the book. Things such as male and female roles in society. I think that understanding of the roles i learned in my notes will help me understand the roles in the book and why people are treated in different ways. Women in the victorian era were mainly there to stay home and take care of the children and do house hold things like that. You can tell there is a difference in the gender roles with the relationship between Gwendolen and Jack. Jack just chose he wanted to marry Gwendolen. Gwendolen wants to marry Jack but because she is a girl and parents chose everything for girls until they moved out so when her mother told her she couldn't marry Jack she was forced to leave.

I also noticed that in the book and in my victorian research the social classes are very different. The way lower class people are treated and the way upper classes people are treated is completely different. Algernon is a lot more respected then his servant Lane. People view Algernon highly because he has lots of money and dresses well. Lane serves Algernon everything from food to letters. This is not only how it is with the characters in the book but this is how the social classes were in the victorian era.

Nicole's New Year's Resolution

Lately, a couple of my grades have been dropping. Not only are my parents worried about this, so am I. I care about my grades. I want to get into a good college when I am older. Another thing is, if I have bad grades I can't play school soccer, and soccer is a big part of my life. One last reason I am worried about my grades is because I want to push myself to do well academically.

Because some of my grades are low I need to work harder on my academics. I am making this my new year's resolution to improve them. I need to complete all homework assignments, study hard for tests, and listen to everything my teachers tell me. I believe that if i do each of these things I can get my grades to improve. I need to work hard all year to maintain those grades though. I want to impress my parents and I want to be proud of my self, I definately will be if I reach this goal. Also, I believe I can reach this goal if i set my mind to it and do the best that i can do.