What color represents you? Why?

The color that represents me is orange because I am enthusiastic, fascinating, happy, creative, determined, attracting, successful, encouraging, and stimulating.

SPA Prom 2011 or Free Write

I didn't go to prom this year, but I had a really great time at home. I made a very tasty chicken sangwitch. I was qiute intriguing. I was riding a housemate's bike up and down the only street that we have. On Saturday, I spent time with my girlfriend and I went off campus to go on a food-run. It was awesome. My Sunday went really well. I played basketball and then I got chocolate. Yummy, the kit-kats were delicious.

Quote, Summary, or Paraphrase Paragraph

Welcome students! Today, I am going to teach you about what is evidence and some ways to use evidence. Evidence is a thing or things helpful in forming a conclusion or judgment. You summarize evidence when you do research papers. To summarize you write the main ideas in your own words and it is usually shorter than the information given to you. You quote evidence when you copy the words of another, usually with acknowledgment of the source. To use a quote you pull a piece of information from the evidence. You paraphrase evidence when you want to use a sentence from the evidence, but don’t plagiarize, switch up a couple of words to make it your own. To paraphrase you rewrite pieces of the evidence in your own words. To help you remember this, you should practice it when a teacher assigns a research project to the class.

Comment-Seeking Post

We all heard that Osama Bin Ladin is dead. They even talked about it on the news. To me, he is still alive. The way the U.S. acted upon his death by celebrating and cheering "He is dead, he is dead!" It was not appropriate. I think that he is still alive, that the United States shot a decoy. Or maybe he is dead but it was part of a plan. It's sort of an easy thing to think of getting back, like retaliation. The U.S. shoots him, Afghanistan plans for revenge, and they kill somebody that is a leader to us. It's a non-stop combat between the United States and Afghanistan.

Check-In Letter

Hi Ms. Priester,

How are you doing? I have been doing great. I've been working hard on catching up with my missing assignments for your class. So far I only finished 16 assignments and still increasing, but I think I'm going to need some help on some things. My day has been going good so far and I'm hoping that the end of this quarter I have at least a 2.5 or a 3.0.

I'll see you in summer school. We are going to have a lot of fun together. Can't wait until spend my whole summer vacation with my favorite teacher. I want to pass the 10th grade so I don't have to be behind on credits. This experience would be beneficial to me because it's letting me know that I need to work harder and get all of my work done and turned in on time.

This year's extra curricular activities were very hard with not being eligible to any of them. I don't want to be on academic probation when football comes around next year. I was on the baseball team and it was something I enjoyed doing, but I didn't stay on top of my school work and I wasn't eligible to play anymore.

Fourth Quarter Goals

My goals are very simple for fourth quarter. My plan is to try to get a 2.5 or a 3.0. I have a great support group who support me every step of the way, improving my grades. Another one of my goals is to improve my behavior in class and try to stay focus on my work. I have been noticing that my behavior has change but it’s okay. I’m sticking to these goals because I want to graduate with my Sophomore class. It’s is going to be awesome n shocking if I get an outstanding GPA this year. I’m looking forward to the awards assembly.

Testing Tips, Strategies, and Plays Reflection

Knowing tips, strategies, and plays can help me on testing because they are given hints. My feelings about the upcoming CST is very relaxed. I'm not worried about it because if I follow the tips and strategies, it would make the questions easier and if I know my material it would make the questions more understandable. I just need to take deep breathes and not spend too much time on one question. I think I'm going to do great on the CST this year. I hope all of my classmates pass the upcoming CST. This is going to be a lot of fun.

Free Choice Blog Post

SPA Fest was on Saturday and I had a friend come over. My friend is more like a sister to me than a friend because she is on my behind about school work. The worst part was last week when she had Becky made sure that I did my work. It made me feel like I was living in a nightmare. But in the end, it's worth it because I don't have to worry about if I failed or not. I know that I have people caring about my education because they don't want me to end up in the streets like a bum on a sidewalk.

Third Quarter Awards Review

My reflection about the assembly was good. I was not feeling good at the time because I had a fever, but It was desent. My favorite part was when we left for lunch because I needed medical attention really bad. Even though I didn't get an award, I'll try to get one next qaurter. It inspired me to get my work done and getting a 3.0 for fourth quarter. To acomplish this goal, I will turn in all of my work, study for tests, and pay attention in class. One part of the assembly that I really liked was when Johnny from the cafe got recognized by the Y.E.S. program and Ms. Taylor. Another part that I liked was when the Friends of San Pasqual recognized some of the students for their hard work.

UnGoogable Website Evaluation

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tfpZiyXBYYVjW4I_beaQeg-2-V2_9S2QeBAScu5eH4I/edit?hl=en

“Switch” Play Audience Member Experience

My experience as an audience member at the Playwrights Project Project play “Switch” was quite intriguing and emotional. There was a part in the play that I related to when I was a little boy. When C.P.S. took the kid away from his mother. It gave me a flashback of when they took my sisters and I away from my grandmother. I liked how the play was structured and how it was put together. I would really recommend this play for people to see how our lives are. It was an amazing experience for me.

CAHSEE Reflection

The CAHSEE was easy today. There was a few questions that were tricky, but I managed to do my best. The whole room was so quiet that I actually heard myself thinking. The essay portion of the test was pretty easy, but the hard part for me was the engaging opening and that's supose to be the easy stuff. I think I'm going to past the CAHSEE because I tried so hard to remember the material for each problem.Taking the test took me so long that there was only two people emaining, JoJo and I. I'm glad that I got that done with and over.

Feelings about the CAHSEE

My feelings about the CAHSEE are saying, "This is going to be a piece of cake." I'm not worrying about it. I know if I try my best I will at least pass it with a big star. I am going to prepare myself more on the English portion of the CAHSEE because I struggle a little bit. I'm good with numbers, so the Math section is going to be like nada (nothing). I'm excited that I'm taking this test because I just want to get it done with and move on to the next big thing, My grades. This is awesome!!!!

"Ex- Basketball Player " Paragraph

Athletics are important to me because I am an athlete myself. I do think that it prepares young people for life because you need to have grades in order to play sports. For example, you need at least a 2.0 or higher to be eligable to play all sports. Additional, it can be some sort of motivation for kids to do classwork and homework in order to stay on the team. As a result athletics are important in a young persons life because it would leave the kid looking forward and work hard to be an athlete and prove that they are one.

SPA Poem

Some days are good

and some are bad.

People say be grateful

for what you have.

Some days feel like it's lost

and some feel like it's found.

People say get up

if you hit the ground.

We may be surrounded by groves.

We may be surrounded by mountains.

You can say this place looks

like the bottom of many fountains.

This place has its days,

days that you would be amazed.

This place has its days,

days that you would try to get away.

They say this is the best place

out of many places.

A place with many different faces.

Faces of many different races.

We may have our downs

and we may have our ups,

it seems like half empty cups.

We come together.

We come as one.

We come as strangers

that like to have fun.

Tonight's Basketball Game

There is a game tonight. I hope we win. This is the last game of the season and we need to go hard. I'm going to eat a lot of chocolate and drink a lot of soda. Before my fun can start, first I need to do my homework. I feel like I am the energizer bunny when I'm at games because I get so hyped up. GO DRAGONS!!!!

"Grape Sherbet"- Graphic Organizer 2011

"Grape Sherbet" Blog post 2011

I can relate to the "Grape Sherbet" poem because I can remember my favorite dessert when I was 8 years old, it was chocolate covered poppers. They were the best. The phrase that help me imagine this poem is "Each dollop of sherbet is like salt on a melon that makes it sweeter." Imagery helps the reader to visualize the story or poem in their head and understand it clearly.

Favorite Food Description

"I am Offering This Poem" Emotion

The emotion that "I am Offering This Poem" by Jimmy Santiago Baca expresses is love. For example, when the author said, "it's all I have to give, and all anyone needs to live". He is trying to say that everybody just need a little love in them to keep on moving. Another example, the author's way of sending this message out was very visualized. That's why the emotion of this poem was love.

"Remember" Homework paragraph

I think these statements are logical because we do make up the world. Our actions, our decisions affects the world around us and everything with in it. For example, if the economy continues to fall, then bigger riots will occur and jobs would vary in time. I do agree with the two statements being logical. The author is trying to say that if we continue to distroy the world, we would risk the lifes of many.

"Heart! We will forget him!" Paragraph

In the poem "Heart! We will forget him!" the speaker in the poem speaks directly to her heart as if it were another person, a possible reason she talks to her heart seperately could be that she feels the need to talk to somebody, but nobody is there to talk to. Her boyfriend probably cheated on her with another woman for about 5 months and he never told her. She had to find out through her friends and as soon as she saw him, she slapped the bageebees out of him!!! One way I can relate to this poem is that I did that once to a girl, but she never slapped me.

“A Storm in the Mountains” One with Nature

It was during summer break, I went camping up in Julian. I had a whole week to clear my mind out. I needed the time to myself. There I was sitting on a log just thinking about all of the things that were stressing me out. I heard the howling of the wind brushing against the leaves of the trees. I can see the slow process of how a plant grows. I was taking deep breathes of fresh air and I smelt the different fragrances of the flowers in the air. I got up and went to an empty grass place and laid down. The feeling of that was like laying down on cotton-like pillow. This experience changed the way I was by relaxing and changing my set of mind into a mellow mood.

Paragraph to Persuade You to Read My Poem

The name of my poem is “Cadillac Moon”, written by Kevin Young. Someone should read my poem because the way the author is very descriptive in the poem actually catches one’s interest. You should not read this poem if you don’t understand the way the author writes “slang or omitted words”. You should read the poem anyways because you could the density and the tense behind the poem. The best part of the poem that I liked was “a car stole his spleen. Blind sided. Move along folks—nothing to see here” because it proves that some people just don’t care about the life that is in danger. There is also a counter on it too because the person put himself and other people in danger when he hot wired the car.

Imagery in a Selected Poem Paragraph

In "Cadillac Moon" by Kevin Young, the mood it sets off is very anticipating. The way that it is said and described. For example, "Joy ride. Hot wired. O the rush before the wreck— each Cadillac, a Titanic, an iceberg that's met its match"; It uses the sense of sight because it wants you to visualize how bad the accident was and by comparing it to the Titanic heating the iceberg. Another example would be "playing stickball, a car stole his spleen. Blind sided"; This part of the poem appeals to the sense of touching because it is telling us how the collisionof the automobile felt like. Another example, "Red Cross—the pill-pale ambulance, inside out, he hitched to the hospital"; this appeals to the sense of sight because it is describing the ambulance. The use of imagery expresses feelings by giving descriptive words that we can visualize in our heads and know what is going on.

Third Quarter Goals Reflection

My goals for third quarter is to get a 3.0 or higher. I have been trying to do all of my work in class and at home. I have been participating in class. What I need to do differently is not to get distracted and to stay on task. If I meet my goal, I would would give myself a hug and give Ms. Priester a kiss on the cheeck.

Poetry Experience Paragraph

I like poetry because it is like going into the writer’s mind. It expresses their feelings and it describes their personality. In poetry, you can speak your own mind and express yourself on paper. It is another language to learn and understand because sometimes the things that are said or written mean something else. To be honest, I have rapped with my brother-in-law and my housemates. I have written poetry for. The last time I written one was about 3-4 days ago. When I write my poetry, I like to listen to music while I’m writing. Music is another form of poetry. Music inspires me to write my own material. I want to see if I can improve my poetry in my lyrics.

Symbolism and Allegory Unit Reflection

I learned, within a couple of weeks, how symbolism can be a meaningful object. For example, a wedding ring can represent the vows between married couples. The way I learned symbolism is by reading "Through the Tunnel". I also learned about allegory by reading "Notes in a Bottle". My favorite assignment is the blog post about Foster Youth Initiation because I literally wrote about my initiation. I put my all in my work. At first, I didn’t know very much about allegory, but with a little learning I got the point. I gained more knowledge about literature and all of the puzzles in it.

"Animal Farm" Allegory Graphic Organizer

Animal Farm to the Real World

In the story "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, the war between the animals and the humans has allegorical meaning. For example, when the animals attacked Mr. Jones when he walked in the barn. It represents the time when the U.S. went to war with Britain to earn their freedom. The animals wanted to get rid of the humans and run the farm their way. The U.S. wanted to depart from British rule, so they fought to get their independence. The U.S. also went with a constitutional government than to be governed by monarchy. Additionally, when the animals started to say, "Two legs bad, four legs good"as a way to indicate that they run the farm. That can represent the segregation in South Carolina the white folks and the black folks. The animals are basically saying that having four legs is better than having two, also being an animal is better than being human beings. Same thing with segregation in South Carolina, white people thought that they were better than the colored people. Even though most stories about animals are written for children, they can have similarity events that happened in our world, but just stated in a different way.

Symbolim in "Through the Tunnel"

Here is the link to my Symbolism Poster.

“Through the Tunnel” Foster Youth Initiation

Even though they don’t have to swim through a tunnel like Jerry in “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, foster youth are initiated into the foster care system. As a foster youth, I know I was initiated when I went through the stages of loneliness, anger, and depression. The reason I felt lonely was because I was taken away from the people I loved and felt secured around. A minute later I felt anger because it wasn't my fault that I wasn't taken away from family, but it was them. They were the reason why I'm not with them today. Going through depression was the worst. I would feel like there is no reason to care or respect anybody in general. As a result of this initiation, I learned how to be strong and very responsible (when I feel like it).

“Through the Tunnel” Prove Yourself Paragraph

The day that I had to prove myself was when Beth, the Residential Director, had a meeting with both my house parents and my social workes including me. She told me that I had the potential to be a leader in my house. I looked at her like she said something out of the ordinary. I heard the same thing from other people and I always blew it off. But when she said it, I felt like my heart stopped. I started thinking about what she said. She told me that the middle school kids in my house look up to me and I may not see, but it's true. So ever since then I try to set a good example around the house especially around the youngsters. I felt good knowing that I can be a good role model to somebody.