Outside Reading Reflection

     As a reader I have learned that I a great vocabulary and I understand complex plots. I like read to a lot and when I really like a book I have a tendency to read fast.  I mostly read science fiction books , but I also like to read adventure books, picture books, autobiographies, some biographies, and mystery books. Those types of books appeal to me the most because it stimulates my imagination. I have a very big and creative imagination and science fiction books and many other types appeal to my imagination.  I am, however, surprised that I am able to understand the complex writings of a playwright like Shakespeare.  I normally don't read Shakespearean plays, but we were required to read it and I ended up really liking the book. 

     Outside reading has helped me a little when it came to recognizing where to put commas and other punctual mistakes.  Sometimes when I am being really meticulous I look for punctual errors. It makes me feel good because I'm getting better at recognizing when a comma is needed or not.

      

Macbeth Perspective

     That was a horrible dream I had last night.  I can't get Duncan's face out of my head.  It's like reliving those events every night.  I think I'm losing my mind slowly.  At least I'm the king though.  It feels nice to be wealthy and popular.  Wait.  With wealth and popularity comes envy and jealousy.  Since Banquo's children are to be next in line for the throne then I shall make sure he has no children to inhabit the throne!
    I know what I will do.  I will hire a group of murderer's to kill him and his heirs and that way I can kill two birds with one stone. Banquo you have been a very trustworthy and great friend to me, but I must do what is necessary to retain my reign!  If that means that I have to have you killed then so be it!.

Letter to my Classmates

Dear Block 4 classmates,

                                    I have had a great first year with you guys.  It has been great to have share a class with such fun loving, caring, and studious classmates and friends.  We had a rough start in the beginning of the year.  It was hard adjusting to each other’s personalities, a brand new teacher, a different way of learning and not to mention the ox load of homework received on a daily basis.  As the weeks passed we became more and more acclimated to each other and our great English teacher Dr. deGravelles.  We participated more and even looked forward to going to class at times.  I must say the hardest book that we have read this year was Lord of the Flies.  It was the most confusing book I read during my freshman year.  Though it was hard to understand and slightly boring, I came to like the book.  It was interesting in a twisted way.  There was so many allusions in the book and once you connected one idea you couldn't stop.  It was like a wild fire once it spread there was no stopping it.  We continued on into the final parts of the semester and as it came to a close we started looking more like mature high schooler's.  I think everyone, (besides the Biology Honors students)  would agree that Dr. deGravelles midterm exam was the most frightening exam we had.  It turned out that it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be and we all did pretty well on the test. 

    Coming into the second semester was probably the hardest thing this year because you have to translate all the hard work, study habits, and initiative into finishing out the school year strong.  Most of did well of closing out this year strong.  Some of us poorly and that includes me, but that stories for another day.  The second semester flew by quickly with many laughs and two new additions to our English class crew.  We were lucky enough to get to awesome new students named Lele Keller and Peyton Gutierrez.  I'm sure they enjoyed the end to their freshman as much as me and our other classmates enjoyed it.  Overall I think I had a great freshman year in Dr. d's class it has been a very tough road and I have learned a lot from my mistakes.  I hope that I can do even better in 10th grade.  Farewell Dr. d's 4th block  English class!

                                                                                                                                 Sincerely,

                                                                                                                               Jerry Dunbar, Jr.

                                                                                                    

Evalution

     This fourth quarter has been the worst performance of my high school career.  I'm always prepared for class having my material on my desk ready for the days lesson, but when the class starts it seems that I cannot stay focused. I'm not the type of person to ask to go get water when I don't need nor do I ask to go to the bathroom when it is obviously not an emergency.  Lately I have not been checking my email so that has really hurt especially since teachers have been emailing showing their concern over my grades.  I appreciate that, but it seems that I still could not get it together in time.  I'm ashamed at my poor effort this quarter, but I am optimistic about next year because this has been a great teaching lesson to me.

     As the fourth quarter wore on I became more and more pessimistic in my classes.  I stopped taking notes. I did however continue to participate because in some cases I was sincerely interested in the topic at hand.  I like d Macbeth but I really disliked annotating especially when I had tons of other homework every night so sometimes I couldn't get to annotating, but that's no excuse.  Work that is assigned is meant to be finished and sometimes my work simply wasn't finished. I think I did great when it came to giving my peers the attention and respect needed when they were confused on something in class.  However, I would get off topic sometimes because I was worrying about the wrong things.  I should have been more focused. 

     I would say that 60% of the time I was focused on the work that was given to me.  As you might have realized I have a very hard time focusing on classwork especially when it is to be done independently.  I completed the work assigned most of the time. I stayed on task when working on assignments and I tried my best to not to disturb other while working.  

     I saw significant growth in the first months of school.  As the year wore on however, I began to deteriorate. I stopped turning in homework. I didn't pay attention in class.  I hope to improve and to keep improving next year so that I may have a successful high school career.