Roanen's English Blog

 Prompt Response: In the creation of my presentation, images have definitely required the most thought and creativity. The requirement of two images per slide really makes you think deep about what to put on there. There are no images specifically of the story to put on there, so you have to think about things related to the story that you can put on there. Maybe some symbolism or a representation of the themes, It could also just be objects that are in the story. It takes a lot of thought to come up with pictures that make sense in the context.   Summary: We worked on our presentations. Reflection: I continued to analyze my character and develop my presentation. 

 Prompt Response: I think that doing this powerpoint on a character absolutely does help us better understand it. It really makes us look deeper into the character to find the answers to the questions that we have. The assignment forces us to look past the surface and see the themes behind the characters and understand why the author wrote them like they did. It is a lot better than a traditional worksheet because those are often very surface level. They don't really help us look at the more important meanings behind things in the text.   Summary: We worked on our project. Reflection: I analyzed my character and developed my project. 

 Prompt Response: One time there was this lady that I helped. She needed help moving boxes of files into her office. She was older and she couldn't really handle the boxes on her own anymore. So I went and helped her move everything inside. She was a generous lady and she even gave me money for doing it. She wanted to stay connected with me so she could give me further job opportunities. This really changed my perspective on helping people just to be kind. I never expected that all of this would have come out of just helping her move some boxes.   Summary: We finished The Life You Save May Be Your Own. Reflection: The story had a very interesting ending and I learned about the deeper meanings and themes behind some of the things that happened in the story.  

 Prompt Response: I once had a friend that was really cool. I met him a while ago, and we kind of hit it off. We had some mutual interests that we talked about for a while, and he was fun to talk to. Then one day he suddenly stopped talking to me. I have no idea why this happened, and I never saw him again after that. My first impression of him was that he was a cool guy, but this changed after he just disappeared. My first impression of Mr. Shiftlet is that he is very weird. He sounds like a nice guy but then he says things that contradict that. I'm not sure what his true nature is because he makes it hard to understand it.   Summary: We read "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" Reflection: This was a fun story to read and it made me curious of the deeper meanings behind some of the things that Mr. Shiftlet said. 

 Prompt Response: You would find food wrappers in my trashcan because I love eating. You would find used gift cards in my trash can because I love spending money on things. There would probably be some shoes in the trash can too because I like to do stuff a lot and my shoes get worn out. Those items would probably be in there, they define my habits and some of my personality.   Summary: We completed an assignment about what a character from the rockpile would do. Reflection: I completed a song list for Roy from the rockpile. 

 Prompt Response: I usually say funny things so someone might gleam that I am funny from my speech. My facial expressions are hard to read sometimes so someone might not be able to characterize much from my thoughts. Since I am usually funny, I make others laugh, that is my usual effect on others. I talk to people and am pretty social, that much can be found out from my actions. I smile pretty often so people should be able to find out from my looks that I am a friendly person.   Summary: We characterized characters from the rockpile. Reflection: I characterized Roy from the rockpile. 

 Prompt Response: I sometimes felt that I have been treated differently because I am a boy and my siblings who live with me are girls. Obviously we are different and so sometimes we receive different treatment. But it is never unfair or weird, just different because we are different genders. Just like how bathrooms are separated, our treatment is separated like that sometimes.    Summary: We worked on the rockpile questions. Reflection: I finished the rockpile questions that we started. 

 Prompt Response: One time there was a thing that I wasn't supposed to climb outside. I was young and curiosity was very powerful. I ignored the sign next to me that said "Do Not Climb" and I went up anyway. As I was climbing up, I slipped and fell off. I landed all the way at the bottom and broke my wrist. The temptation to climb to the top was just too much and I had to go up there.    Summary: We worked on the rockpile questions. Reflection: I completed some of the questions. 

Prompt Response: The COVID-19 pandemic might have helped understand what it was like because when it first happened it made me very uncertain for my future. I wasn’t sure if life was ever going to go back to normal and I was ever going to go back to school. It caused a lot of change like making us go to virtual school. We also didn’t leave the house nearly as much anymore. These changes and uncertainties made the future very hard to look forward to. Im sure that people felt similar right after 9/11 happened. Summary: We took a test on A Rose for Emily. Reflection: This made me utilize my knowledge and skills I gained from this story to test myself.  

  Prompt Response: I think that people have a difficult time accepting change because they are afraid of new things. Some people like the way that their life is right now, and they are afraid of anything changing and possibly making it worse. My grandpa is old and he doesn’t want to try new things anymore; I think that he is afraid of change because he doesn’t want to make things worse. Summary: We finished A Rose for Emily questions. Reflection: I understood the deeper themes and writing behind this complex story.

  Prompt Response: My tiny old house that I used to live in years ago holds special memories for me. It is where I grew up and spent all of my early childhood. It was in a quaint little neighborhood where I played outside all the time. This is different than my current home because we basically don’t have a yard. This makes me miss my old house sometimes, I wish i could go back there and run around in our big yard again. To me, it will always represent home, even if I haven’t lived there in many years. Summary: We worked on A Rose for Emily questions. Reflection: I learned about the deeper meanings of this story and the unique style it has. 

 Prompt Response: Just the fact that I'm a junior and I'm very close to going to college is already crazy to think about. Time passes by so quickly, I had never even thought about living in a place without my family, but I'm already close to going off to college. It's a colossal thing to think about, becoming an adult and traveling to new places. It really makes me value the free time that I have now, and the things that are given to me for free, because soon, I'll have to provide for myself.   Summary: We analyzed Emily Dickinson's Because I could not stop for death Reflection: This helped me further my understanding of how Emily Dickinson's poems are structured. It also helped me learn more about the complex meanings behind simple lines in poems.  

 Prompt Response: I felt truly belonged today because it is my birthday. My family all said happy birthday to me and my friends texted me. I really felt cared for with everyone talking to me and texting me. I think that being appreciated and seen by everyone created this feeling. It is very heartwarming when someone remembers your birthday and this acknowledgement is essential to this feeling. It really does create a sense of belonging when you have so many people that care about you.   Summary: We worked on the Missing Your People CommonLit. Reflection: This assignment helped me understand the psychology behind the feeling of belonging. I learned about the different ways these feelings influence us. 

 Prompt Response: One fear I have overcome is a fear of talking to strangers. I used to have very bad social anxiety, and I would panic when I needed to talk to new people. I gradually overcame this as I met new people that were very nice to me. It isn't that hard to talk to people now, and I'm completely fine with meeting new people. I actually like meeting new people now, because it is always good to have new friends that I can have fun with. I'm glad that I overcame this fear, because it would probably be very lonely to be too nervous to meet new people.