English

This year, we focused on figurative language as one of our first units. Figurative language is often used as a writing device in expressing the opposite or exaggerated version of a situation, place, or thing. The following slideshow includes some of my notes on figurative language as well as examples that helped me put each writing strategy into practice. 

As a follow-up activity for my figurative notes class, I was assigned a poem of my choosing to analyze and highlight any examples of figurative language. I chose a very well-known poem, The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. In the following document, my highlights can be found in the selected passage as well as a key to my highlights.

Below is a poem I composed, using my newly acquired figurative language skills. The poem, written during English class from the scraps of ideas floating in my head at the given moment, is called The Old Mans Ways and depicts a cozy fall scene, intertwined with the use of figurative language as practice to conclude my figurative language unit.

Following last year's tradition, this year I created a new vocabulary spreadsheet. This spreadsheet helps me organize all my new vocabulary, found primarily in the books I read for English class. In this spreadsheet, there is the vocabulary word, its definition, an example of its use in a sentence, and where I found it (ex: title of the book). My ongoing spreadsheet can be found below.

As our first school book this year, I selected a book by the well-known author of Eat Prey Love, called Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert. Big Magic is a non-fiction book on the creative process, and it offers a look into the specific creative process of the author herself, Elizabeth Gilbert. As this was not my favorite book, I do think it is worth reading for anyone looking for a deeper look into the creative process- and its magic. 

Below is a document divided into sections with my notes on each section I read as homework. Usually, my book notes include questions, but with this book, I found myself writing more observations and summaries on what I read.

To conclude my reading of Big Magic, I wrote up a short essay about my creative process, and what it looks like in my everyday life. This essay helped me not only summarize my reading of Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, but it also provided a time to reflect about how the creative process works in our individual lives.

A short unit on complete responses proved to be surprisingly helpful. Complete responses are extremely important, especially in aiding our communication skills with others. A full, comprehendible response to any given question can change the way you communicate with people, and the way that people converse with you. Below is a small activity I did to practice my complete response skills.

One of my big projects for English this year was writing a novel. To start writing, I had to familiarize myself with the essential parts of a story. I had to figure out my character's motives, darkest moments, negative traits, and a goal they had to reach. I've attached the activity below with my 'beat sheet'. 

A beat sheet helps provide a roadmap for a plot, and it is the first thing that provides a written-out description of a novel, act by act and scene by scene. During this process, I read Save The Cat Writes A Young Adult Novel by  Jessica Brody, which helped introduce me to the concept of novel outlining. Another thing I did to help familiarize myself with the structure of a book, was watch the movie Castaway. Movies often have similar structures to novels, and the movie Castaway was similar to my plot in many ways. 

As my second school book, I chose The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes to read along with my teacher. This twisted tale was captivating and wonderfully written. It follows the fictional character, Avery, as she is thrown into a new world when she receives a grand inheritance from a stranger. During the book, she must start life in a new town, decipher codes and messages to lead her to the answer and make peace with the other inheritance owners.  

When writing, it is good to inspire yourself through reading. Many parallels can be made between a text and a personal project. These parallels are important to notice because they can help inspire and guide you in writing your own, similar scenes. Throughout writing my novel, I read stories like The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, and All Summer In A Day by Ray Bradbury.

I have always enjoyed reading books based on the Second World War, but The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is an outstanding book among all the others. Officially my favorite book, The Book Thief follows Liesel Meminger as she struggles to find meaning after being separated from her mother and witnessing her brother's death. Liesel must find her purpose in the boiling events of the Second World War. Which side will she be on? And is death such a scary thing, if we all face it in the end? Poetically written, this book provided room for analysis, and I had lots of fun sharing my perspective and experience reading it, as well as decoding the bountiful examples of symbolism in The Book Thief.

Along with our regular conversation starters and observations I wrote down while reading, we dived deeper into the analysis of The Book Thief with a slideshow in which I wrote down quotes, which we later analyzed during class.

To practice my complete responses, I read a few articles and watched a video on the topic of the Second World War. It also gave me additional information for context after reading The Book Thief.

In preparation for an essay on the topic of the Second World War, to conclude my reading of The Book Thief, I created an essay planner. I found topics I was interested in writing about and tried to find as many sources and quotes as I found necessary for my essay.

After much research and planning out my essay, I was finally able to turn my skeleton of an idea into an essay. The Power of Words can be read below.

Diving into my unit on plays, I first had to understand the elements of a play. Below is a document with the elements listed, and the descriptions I gave them.

To summarize my unit on plays, I read the classic, Hamlet by Shakespeare I enjoyed reading this play because I got to read a Polish translation we had at home apart from the English version I analyzed in class. Below are my notes from reading.

Another Shakespearean play I read along with Hamlet was Twelfth Night. 

The next classic I read this year was Sherlock Holms' The Hound of The Baskervilles. Below are my notes.

The next book we read was Undelivered by Jeff Nussbaum. Undelivered is a fascinating archive of speeches that, throughout history leading up to modern times, were never delivered. I greatly enjoyed reading this book because it gave me a 'behind-the-scenes historical context of what could have happened if certain speeches had been delivered, and what speeches were delivered instead. I think this book is an essential part of understanding our history, and it really proves that words matter. Below is my notes document for this book.

On the topic of speeches- delivered and undelivered, I had the task of writing my own speech as a summarizing project for the book Undelivered. First, I found a topic I was passionate about; Wetlands and Wetland conservation. Next, I started drafting and planning my speech. I wrote it out, and then I read over it a couple of times to remember key lines and phrases, and then I wrote down notes that I could glance at during my presentation. I was very worried about getting stressed and messing up my presentation of my speech, but in the end, I got a good score and I talked at a good pace and delivered all the key information I wanted to. I think the topic of Wetland Conservation is a very important, yet often overlooked one, so I'm glad I got to write and present a speech on it. Below is my speech text along with the grading rubric.

As a summer assignment, I was tasked with writing up a quick summary of a book I read over the summer. I chose to write about a classic I read this year and finished this summer, Little Women by Luisa May Alcott. Below is my summary.