Dear Classmates

Dear Block 4 Classmates,

            First of all, I just want to thank you all for a great year that we have had together.  Each and every one of you have made this class to be the fun, yet successful, course that every student wants to have. From Nation to Macbeth, we have learned new things and secured old things through not only English but teamwork. When I look back to my freshman year, English class will definitely be something that I remember fondly. The perfect group of students was put together in one class, and I am so lucky to have been a part of it.

             One thing that set us apart from the other English classes in my belief was our ability to debate for the entire hour over issues that came up in what we were doing or reading in class. It was something that I looked forward to a lot, and was never let down.  This class also had the ability to get everything done while having a good time, and that is something that is hard to do as a high school student. I have loved seeing all of us grow as a group of students, and hope that next year as we get put into different classes we all remember a little bit of what we did this year together as a group. I wish you all success and a great year next year, and thanks a ton for the great one we had!

            Love always,
            Victoria

English Evaluation

            This year in English 1 has by far been my favorite year of English.  Not only did I succeed more than I expected myself to, my class has always gotten things done effectively and had fun at the same time. Looking back to the beginning of the year, reading the guidelines that were set for us seemed a little bit intimidating.  I remember looking around at my class and thinking to myself, there’s no way that we are ever going to get anything done.  I am so happy to say that not only did we all succeed in the guidelines set for us, but we also had a great year together.  

            Evaluating myself, I have thought back to the specific areas and my performance in each.  The first area I examined was general procedures.  Overall in 4^th quarter, I would have to say that I am generally always following each of these guidelines.  With the exception of a few occasional side conversations, I am always prepared and ready for class and cooperative and helpful.  I would say that over the course of the year, my performance in this area has improved, but around the same general area.

            The second area that I thought back to was lectures and whole class discussions. I have to say that over the year, I have definitely improved in this area.  Again, with the exception of a few small side conversations occasionally, I have improved greatly over the year and I am almost always 100% attentive and taking good thorough notes.  

            The next area that I examined was the overall individual and group work.  Of all the areas of performance, I would have to say that this area is probably one of my best. I love working with groups, but I also have the OCD to stay on task and want to get things done.  I find that I am generally successful when working in a group, because there is more than one person with more than one good ideas and it always helps to have extra thoughts when it comes to something being discussed in class.

            The last area that I thought about was my growth as a student, and how I was at the beginning of the year compared to how I am now.  I think over the year, I have definitely improved a ton.  At the beginning of the year, I was a lot more immature, and didn’t have the self control, or want, to prepare for what we were doing in class. Now, at the end of the year, I can definitely say that I have grown up a tremendous amount and am happy and excited to discuss, debate, and learn in class, in order to be successful.  

Macbeth from Lady Macbeth's Perspective

Being married to Macbeth has had its ups and downs, but I couldn’t imagine not being married to him now.  When Macbeth told me that the WeÏrd Sisters told him that he was going to take Duncan’s job of being king in the future, I spotted an amazing opportunity for the both of us.  Someway, somehow, King Duncan was going to have to give up the throne, and Macbeth and I would be right there to take it.  Recently, I started to realize how badly I wanted to rule Scotland.  It became something that I thought about a lot. Because I have complete rule over Macbeth and what he does, I decided that if Duncan wasn’t going to die on his own, we needed to kill him. By we I mean Macbeth.

Like I mentioned before, I have complete rule over Macbeth.  From the outside looking in, it might be harder to see this, but in reality, I have complete control over him.  I can decide what he does and how he does it by just looking at him with a certain stare. It is so much fun! I am happy with the result of the killing of Duncan, even though there were a few hiccups along the way (Macbeth’s fault—not mine) Now that Macbeth has killed Duncan in his sleep, I am more than excited to be able to rule Scotland too!

Outside Reading 2011-2012 Reflection

As freshman year comes to a close, in a lot of classes we have been reflecting on everything that we have done in the school year.  This past year, I have not been completely satisfied with my outside reading as I have been in years past.  One thing that I have definitely learned this year is that I have a hard time sitting down and focusing on a book, often enough that I don’t get bored and eventually finish it.  This did not happen as often as I wanted it to, which really made reading something that I didn’t look forward to. This was very unusual for me, because I have always loved reading, and for some reason I just didn’t all of the sudden. Looking back, I have realized that I didn’t really get into reading this year because I didn’t take the time to find a good book that I would be interested.  More times than not, I would just pull something off of the shelf and read it because I knew that I should be reading. Towards the end of the year, I started to take more time to pick out a good book, and actually ended up finishing most of them. It really surprised me that I wasn’t enjoying reading because of something so simple.  This has now made me more aware of what I read, and how to realize earlier on if I am interested or not.

            This summer and next year especially in my reading, I plan on being careful about what I pick to read for outside reading, and knowing that I am interested in it early on.  I am one who always wants to be productive with my free time, and I want to feel especially productive when it comes to outside reading.  Though I am not very happy with how I went about my outside reading this year, I think that with what I have learned from it, I can be very successful in the next school year.