Aaron's English Blog

 Prompt: One family tradition that is important to me is eating a Christmas meal together on Christmas Eve. We have a mini grill and cook food on the table while we talk and listen to music as a family. This is important to me because it is a time when everyone is happy. It still matters because I still like good food and spending time with family. Summary: Absent Reflection: Absent

 Prompt: As I have gotten older, the holidays have become less about presents and more about spending time with family. As a child, holidays like christmas were about giving and receiving gifts. Now, we exchange a few small gifts and mostly spend time eating together and visit relatives. I think now the holidays are more emotional because I care less about what I am getting and more about the quality time. Summary: Absent Reflection: Absent

 Today I recited “The Dream Keeper” and here is my poster.

 Prompt: The thing that I enjoyed most about this class was that it is 5th period, meaning that it is a longer class period. This made it easier to get work done on time and reduced my stress as I had less homework after school. The poetry poster was my favorite assignment because it allowed me to be creative and it connected with the poetry aspect of class. One area that I feel I need improvement on is my writing skills. Summary: Today in class we worked on the blog posts. Reflection: This post made me think about this school year so far.

 Prompt: Something I can't stop thinking about is finals next week. I can't stop thinking about it because I still need to do a lot to be prepared for finals and there are many classes I still need to study for. I also can't stop thinking about finals because, once they are done, I can go on vacation and visit my grandparents. This makes me want to do well on my finals so that I can go into the break feeling satisfied with my effort. Summary: Today we chose our classes for next year. Reflection: I am considering doing dual enrollment next year.

 Prompt: Something I have outgrown but still miss is watching Lego Ninjago. It was a very fun show to watch and my brother bonded a lot over it. I have outgrown it because I have not watched it since the beginning of middle school and my brother is in college now so it is unlikely that we will watch it again. I miss it because it was during the pandemic and my brother and I spent a lot of time together. Summary: Today in class we took a vocab test. Reflection: I am happy that I studied for the test.

 This is my cultural mask: Summary: Today in class we presented our cultural masks. Reflection: I enjoyed learning about the cultures of other people and what they feel is their cultural identity.

  Prompt: The best gift that I have ever received was a trip to a treetop adventure course when I was in elementary school. I went there on my birthday with a few of my friends and family during the summer. We spent a few hours exploring the course and going on ziplines. It was not my favorite because of the activity but because I had a lot of fun with my family and I still remember the fun I had. Summary: Today we worked on vocab 5. Reflection: I think that the final project will be fun.

 Prompt: A time when I followed what looked cool or fun and realized it wasn't the best choice was when I chose not to do my school work. It was near the end of the school year and a lot of people were playing games because they were done with their work. I still had work left to do, but I joined in anyway because it looked fun. I realized it wasn't the smart decision later when I did not do as well as I wanted on a test because I had not done my work. Summary: Today in class we read "We Real Cool". Reflection: The poem made me think about the challenges of peer pressure.

 Prompt: I am most proud of the diverse German bread culture. I like that, in Germany, the bread is much better and there is a bakery around every corner where one can get fresh bread every day. The bread is also much healthier as it does not have as much sugar in it. I am proud of this because it represents the German cultural value of quality. Summary: Today in class we read a poem by Langston Hughes and began a cultural mask. Reflection: The mask made me think about my culture and what it means to me.

 Prompt: The masks in the film represent the pressure to fit in by showing how one mask is the ideal and everyone is trying to conform to it. One moment that stood out to me was when the students were sitting in class and we could see that the girl's mask was the only one that had a special design. This stood out to me because it foreshadowed that the girl would break free from the mask at the end. The film connects to the poem because the film is about repressed identity and the poem is about showing your true self. The part of my identity that I want my mask to reveal is that I enjoy cooking. Summary: Today I wrote this blog post and got caught up with the other blog posts. Reflection: The video made me reflect on conformism in school.

 Prompt: A memorable experience that I had over the break was my basketball trip to Florida. It was a three day trip and we played two games during that time. Sadly we were not able to go in the water, even though the hotel was right by the beach. I felt most thankful for the time that I was able to spend with my friends and for the time that I spent playing basketball. Summary: Today in class we got a new list of vocabulary. Reflection: Looking at the parts of the words helped me understand their meaning.

 Prompt: An encounter that I had with a homeless person was when I was in a car at an intersection. There was a homeless man holding a cardboard sign and asking for donations. I did not have anything to offer him but I did not try to help either. The encounter made me think about how homeless people are often overlooked. Summary: Today in class we started reading the short story "The Life You Save May be Your Own" Reflection: The short story seems interesting as the characters all have some flaw.

 Prompt: A time I had to look out for myself in a silly situation was when I had to submit an assignment in history about the roles of the presidency. I was feeling lazy and did not want to do the assignment, so I pushed it off until the last second. I was going to submit it unfinished and just take the bad grade, but I decided to push through and complete the assignment. Making this decision made my life easier because I did not have to worry about a bad grade and could go to sleep in peace. Summary: Today in class we continued working on the questions for the short story "The life you save may be your own". Reflection: The story showed how people often only do things for their own interests.