NataliaEnglishBlog

 In class we started off by taking an assessment on illuminate on Langston Hughes poems. Since we have been reading his poems the last few days we had to answer questions about them. I think I did kind of good for the most part. We then got introduced to our assignment on making a Culture Poem. I decided my topic of my poem would be the Lake of Stars Festival celebration that happens in African culture.

 We read another poem by Langston Hughes, about America. The poem explained roles of people who have to deal with oppression because of a certain trait they might have. We also discussed the issues that were pointed out in the poem and our personal resolutions to them. The end of the poem was similar to Donald Trumps speech, with the line “making America great again”. Overall I think the poem pointed out some big issues we have in America that need to be fixed to become great in the first place.

 Absent on Monday.

 Today in class we did a worksheet on the poems we have read in the last weeks. We broke down the curriculum in sections to explain the poems. We first did a poem together, determining its theme, topic, claim, complex argument, and using evidence to back up all of them. It was kind of easy determining the things needed after we did an example as a class. My day is going good.

 On Thursday we read a poem by Langston Hughes, called Mother to Son. The poem was about a mother giving advice to her son about how life isn’t always perfect and that he will get through the bad times. I liked the images used in the poem to describe her hardships and pain. Overall the poem is a great read with many great points. We then answered questions to go with the poem for better understanding.

 Today in class we watched a Nike advertisement video that read a poem called Dreams Deferred. The poem is about delayed or putting off your dreams and it lists what might happen if you let them be deferred. Things that can happen for example are you could forget about them or you could wait to long and end doing something else in life you don’t enjoy. The Nike advertisement basically said just do it, meaning follow your dreams no matter what. Then we asked ourselves what is our dream and how we would accomplish it in the next 10 years.

 On Thursday, we started off class by watching a video on Oprah Winfrey interviewing people in a town full of white people. The conclusion from this video that I made was that the people wanted to self segregate themselves in their town away from black people because they were racist. We then read and annotated three poems. I liked the first poem we read because I agree with the message being conveyed about black people being apart of America too if they are a citizen and have the same rights as everyone else. We defined some terms in another poem like freedom, refuge, and liberty.

 Today we read a poem called The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes. The poems backstory is that Langston was on a train on the way to see his dad in Mexico when he looked out and saw this river he began to write about. In the poem he talks in first person but is really speaking for black people as a whole. He talks about black people being as ancient as a river because we were the first race here on earth. He names rivers close by eachother on the map to convey his story more. He also says that his soul has grown deep like river’s insisting that he gains wisdom.

 Today in class we had a substitute because Mr. Rease was not here. The assignment on Canvas we had to do was on Common Lit. We had to read chapter 8 of the Great Gatsby and answer some follow up questions. The questions were easy discussion questions and went along with the text. Chapter 8 gave the story behind Gatsby and Daisys romance.

 Today in class people who didn’t present on Thursday got to present today. People in the class mostly did characters like Tom Buchanan, Gatsby, and Myrtle Wilson. The projects were very interesting to see what people thought would be in their trash cans and web history. We also did a black history month bell ringer and made a T chart. The chart was about respectful and disrespectful things people could do relating to someone’s culture.

 On Thursday we started our black history month bell ringers. I learned about a black historian who was the first African American woman to serve as the U.S. Secretary of State. Her name is Condoleezza Rice. After this we began to present our Great Gatsby project on the character we chose. I presented my project on Tom Buchanan’s web history with all the websites I think he would visit. At the end of class we did an assignment about what songs describes our life and what would be in our trash can.

 In class we read chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby. Then answered some questions to go with the text. In the chapter Tom has finally come to the realization of what’s been going on between Gatsby and Daisy. This chapter also revealed more about the characters and their past. I completed the worksheet and turned it in.

 Today we planned for our projects on our character in The Great Gatsby. My character is Tom Buchanan, and I picked to do websites he would visit. I was able to find 3 in the time I had in class. Most of the websites on the Chromebook are blocked so it is hard to find ones that aren’t that relate to my character. I think I will be able to find more when I get home.

 We did an assessment on illuminate with five questions. The questions seemed easy to me so I hopefully I passed. After we got done with the test, we looked on canvas at our mini Great Gatsby project. I chose to do the website options for the project on Tom Buchanan. I picked him because he presents a lot of bias on topics in the books so I think I can find some websites that represent his character.

 Today in class I read chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby. The chapter started off surprisingly with the real origins of Gatsby. I would have never thought his story would be described as it was but in the end makes much more sense. This chapter described Gatsby as leading a life of fantasy and living in the past. I then completed an assignment on the chapter.