Victorian Research

The Victorian Reseach helped me to get a better understanding of the play The Importance of being Earnest. Many things have changed from way back when to now. Alot more behavioral choices are excepted nowadays. The expectation of men and women have changed as well. Marriage and love were the main topics I was interested in as I was researching.

Marriage was a like a buisness. A young girl gets married to a much older man who has money. Then they have children while the wife is still young. Once the daughter is set off for the rich man to come and take care of her, this puts the family into a higher social standing. Marriage wasn't about love. Nowadays marriage is about love and people are free to marry whom they chose. Lady Bracknell is a selfish mom who only wants Cecily to marry a rich man so that the family can be at a higher social level. I also have a better understanding that at a tea party husbands and wifes are split to different tabes. this is so they can mingle with the company around them. It was considered improper to sit together and flirt with your spouse. The people would flirt with each other while they mingled even though they were married. Jack didn;t want to go to the tea party because of this reason. Tea parties aren't popular today, but flirting with other people while being married is unexceptable.

Extra Credit 2010

This New Year's I want to focus on becoming organized. I try hard to use my binder and neatly put my papers in there but sometimes
I just shove them in. Luckily I don't have missing assignments or loose papers. Along with getting organized I want to not wait unto the last minute to finish home work or study. These are realted goals that can fit in the same category. If I suceed with these goals I will become an even better student.
To acheive these goals I will use my binder. I will keep all my papers and use my assignment calendar. As soon as I get home I will do my home work and study for about ten minutes in each subject along with doing my homework. As soon as I am done with my homework I will check off my assignments in my calendar. If a big project is coming up I will start it sooner than I would have done in the past. I will work on it throughout a period of time rather than at the last minute.

Animal Farm

Animal Farm:
Revision of the Past
Poem

No animal shall sleep in a bed.
Old Major is dead.
Napoleon takes over.
Pigs sleep in beds.

No animal shall drink alcohol.
Napoleon takes over.
The pigs are not sober
Pigs drink alcohol.

No animal shall kill any other animal.
Confess! Confess!
Animals will confess.
Napoleon takes over.
Animals are killed.

All animals are equal.
Pigs on the farm; think they are best.
They are treated best.
They sleep in beds.
They drink alcohol.
They control the killing of animals.
Pigs are like dictators
Napoleon takes over.
Napoleon takes over.

Poetry Out Loud Performances

In Joshua Kelly's performance of "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen, he showed a well understading of the poem. This is a difficult poem. He articulated it well. His performance stood out the most to me becasue his voice inflection was well done. His dramatization was not over the top, but it fit the poem.

"Dulce et Decorum Est" is a poem about the horror of war. Joshua Kelly conveys this well in his performance as he uses voice inflection and dramatization in the right places. As I listened to his performance I could feel the fear and nightmarish reality surrounding a gunner’s last living moments. His performance was excellent.

Mockingbird Motif

At the beginning of the year I thought motif and theme were basically the same thing. As we worked on To Kill a Mockingbird I now have a better understanding. Motif is the reoccurring theme in a novel. There can be many themes in a novel, but there is only one motif.

The motif in To Kill a Mockingbird is racism. Tom Robinson is accused of a crime he didn't do just because of the color of his skin. Atticus defends him in court, but Tom is guilty of the crime he didn't commit. Tom Robinson is like a mockingbird. Mockingbirds are a sign of peace and innocence. Tom can represent these things as well. The motif of racism is used throughout the themes in the novel. One example is when Tim, the dog, has rabies the people disgrace against him. Atticus once again steps in to help, and kills the dog so the disease doesn't spread. The dog symbolizes how people are prejudice.

Life Lessons

Ever since I was little my parents always taught me to try my hardest. If I tried my hardest, they would be happy with me no matter what. They would remind me every time I did an assignment or a project, to install this in my head forever.

I am glad they taught me this becasue every single time I work on something, I try my hardest. My parents are always there for me, and encourage me to do well. But, if I work my hardest they are even more proud of me. Becasue I try my hardest, I succeed in school. This is very beneficial because every assignment counts, and I want to go to college.

My Best Friend

One of my best friends is Kayla, who goes to Timberline. I met her in sixth grade. She was new to my school, so I thought I would be nice and talk to her. Since then we have been really good friends. She has brown hair just like me. We both love to play basketball as well. We look alot alike and are always together, so people get us confused. (Especially our coach.) We do everything together, were practically sisters.

I would describe her as crazy, but not in a bad way. She is really fun to hang out with, and is never boring. We always think of something to do. She has an extrovert personality. She says alot of random things, but so do I. She doesn't care what others think of her. I admire her for this because that is a hard thing to do.