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I got an early dismissal, so I will learn whatever lesson there was in spirit.

Reading to Write

I enjoyed the first few minutes of class; I say that because there was a celebration for honour roll children, and I took the opportunity to skedaddle as soon as 11th graders were called. Hooray for me! Anywho, the class went over the book 50 Essays, where I read an essay by Stephen King. Truly an iconic writer! I did not get to read the entire essay, but the gist of it involved the art of reading to improve writing. As the man more or less stated, it is difficult to write an impressive work without first reading an impressive work, and vice versa with avoiding bad prose. It was informative with a bit of humour, my favourite way to receive info. Now time to eat some generic pizza as my reward at this celebration. Hooray. 

Vocabulary Videos

I received new vocabulary words last week and was instructed to find clips that corresponded with the words this time. It was a bit more difficult this time around; PowerPoint certainly did not help, and I had to do rocket science to figure out how to manipulate a large file to my teacher with the few methods I have on my phone. In the end, thankfully, I managed, and was able to give my presentation without complications! My clips were purposely chosen to weird my class out, because that is what I derive joy from.

History Assessment

Because my teacher was not here today, I went to the neighboring classroom where my sub would be. I surely did not expect to hear the teacher say, "Take out a piece of paper and number it one to fifty-five," the moment she walked in, but here I am. It was an assessment to see where the class was so far, since a good portion, if not everyone, will take her next semester. Well, I got a harsh suckerpunch of a reminder about my disgraceful naivety of history. Was I even taught history? If I was, I sure did not retain anything, that assessment was as easy to me as it is to find a reason to get out of bed in the mornings. That is excruciatingly difficult. I hope to eventually learn these topics next semester, so hopefully I will not be an embarrassment to humanity.

Quiz

The duration of time was spent on a rhetorical device quiz; I expected questions and matching, not writing an essay on a prompt I could care less about and had no opinion for. Welp, I had to make one in that second. It was an inquiry on whether college football players should be paid. As I mentioned, I did not care, and my inexperience on the topic probably reflected in my writing. On the bright side, there was enough time left that I am currently writing this entry in class. On the bad side, I wrote as I thought, so I probably wrote nonsense.

Frankenstein

What a wonderful day I have had today! Instead of hours of boredom, I embarked on a field trip to watch a play of the old classic, Frankenstein. It was enjoyable watching the portrayal, and even more so to be with my friends outside of school. That includes you, Mr. Rease. The play as a whole was a memorable experience, especially how much I wanted to whack Victor on his balding head. After the play, I went to Steak n' Shake, which was my first visit. Although the shake was good, the meal was admittedly disappointing - the burger was lackluster, the fries were overwhelmingly thin, and the sprite tasted more like carbonated oil. Still, the laughs I had in the restaurant with my pals outweigh it. Mostly. I returned to school in time and had a leisurely bit of chilling in class. Oh, yeah, and Mr. Rease put on a wig. Truly an enlightening moment, my eyes were opened to greatness.

Vocabulary..?

As today was 90s themed and there was a 90s party that I paid for, I did not stay long to see exactly what we did. I actually bought my ticket late, so I was in class for ten or so minutes before I ran out quicker than a certain blue hedgehog once an announcement was made. Of course, I was morose over leaving class and my friends, but it did not last long once I was chilling in the bleachers. If the class watched a movie after I left, I will be calling the authorities.

Vocabulary and Similes

Today, I had fun with vocabulary! To be honest, I have always had an affinity for vocabulary, I do not know why. Maybe because I just like to learn new words and utilize them? Who knows. Anywho, the class was assigned a little quiz that required me to pick four vocabulary words and familiarize myself enough with them to define them. Posters were harmed in the making of the assignment. After putting the pictures on the poster, I had to give an oral definition of each word and explain how the pictures correlated with my words. It was truly fun watching everyone's presentation, especially one student named Jada. Afterwards, it was time for more rhetoric (hooray) and we delved into simile. Like hyperbole, I was not too excited because simile is the John or Bob of rhetoric, but I learned something new about that as well! I never knew the word "so" could be used correctly for simile, "like" or "as" has been ingrained in my head enough. Hopefully I get to learn more devices, I enjoy them!

Brainstorming

I was surprised that we veered off the track of rhetoric and onto brainstorming. The ordeal was an interactive little shindig, where the class collectively thought about health implications and determined if it was fair or not if employers were more strict on unhealthy people. Specifically the obese and smokers in this case. That was the class' assignment, I enjoyed it, no reason to stress.

Rhetoricals and Proce- Procati- Procatalepis

I already had a general idea of what a rhetorical question was, so I was not too excited to write notes on it, but just like hyperbole, there were secrets within. The fact that it is a key tool in an essay was beyond me, as well as the fact that it can be overused. The answer is implied with these questions, and can either drive your point home or lose the reader's trust. It is also a cousin to hypophora, which is growing a family tree at this point. Next is Poliomyelitis- Sorry, procatalepis. This beautiful device, which is also related to hypophora, deals specifically with objections, often without stating the question. It has the pretense of knowing what the reader is thinking and offering an objection to any counters ahead of time, which is why it is useful in argumentatives. I happen to like it, I sure love objecting things.

Whatever Will I Do Without My Rease's Pieces

What I did without them was some remaining work of other classes, then I took a nap. 

Litotes, Antithesis, and Hypophora: Devices With Ridiculous Pronunciations

After pulling from the bag of rhetoric devices, I left with three new terms that I actually have never heard of! Well actually, I have heard of antithesis before, but thought it meant a thesis that negated something, or an evil thesis. I had my reasons. Anywho, enough of what I thought, here is what I learned! From what I have garnered, litotes are basically understatements, but with a word choice that says the opposite of what is referred to. For example, if I say, "My dog is not the most ferocious creature," I am saying that she is very docile. I sure hope that makes sense, because I am still learning. Antithesis, which is not a malicious thesis, is the device used to bring out a contrast of ideas. The sentence, "Light is to purity as dark is to tainted," contrasts light and dark with each other, along with purity and tainted together. Lastly, I got to hypophora, and was surprised to know I use this device quite often, especially in this blog! What is hypophora. It is the act of asking a question, then later answering said question. It serves to inform and include the reader, and is typically used in speeches. Overall, hypophora was my favourite, while litotes were not, only because I need assistance. Rhetoric devices are actually pretty fun, though that may stem from my general liking of Language.

Rhetoric

After my somewhat refreshing three day weekend, I am back to the old grind and ready to suffer learn more in this brand new quarter! Today, I was able to get deeper into rhetoric and learn about two different devices - hyperbole and understatement, the new devices available for order today. Well, they are not new, and are used every day! I had a general understanding of the two, but was pleased to delve deeper and also understand why writer's use them, as well as experienced ways to use them correctly. It was harder than I thought it would be to create over-exaggerated and overly simplified sentences with the topics given to me, so that is evidence that I could stand to practice more. I really want to understand understatement more, as I love some good satire in my life.

The Art of Listening

I never expected myself to have a lesson on listening, but it seems this class is full of surprises! I learned about the key differences between hearing and listening, bad listening habits, obstacles that deter listening, and why listening makes things easier in life. When I was presented with all the bad habits of listening, I felt pretty called out. Pretending to pay attention? Already forming a mental response? Being easily distracted? Winner winner, chicken dinner, I am responsible for all of those things. I want to try better listening habits and see how well my understanding of everything improves!

Mistake Corrections, Mostly

Through the magical process of elimination, I was able to understand (slightly) why I got certain answers wrong on the EQT, and most were due to my own folly of overthinking. Mr. Rease put us in the groups chosen for us before, Patriots and such, to collectively discuss and eliminate certain answer choice. Some explanations I understood, others I did not, and the class was unable to get through the entire EQT, as expected. Who knows what questions I got wrong and why? Tune in next time for the next episode, because even I do not know.

EQTs

I took the EQT for this class today, and I am not satisfied with the results. Sure, I passed, but I could have done better.

EQT Essay

With the horrendous thing that is the EQT here at last, I went to 4th block first today and began the first inkling of it all - the essay. Honestly, it was not bad, the only problem was the time limit! Writing usually comes easy to me when I am not in a class environment; unfortunately, I was in a class environment. Well, it does not matter since I finished the essay, and my darling, beloved teacher gave the class more time in case they did not finish. It looks like someone is invited to my wedding! The essay lasted the entirety of class, so that was also nice. Hmm, the essay itself was not very troublesome, maybe this will teach me not to stress over everything? Ahah, no.

EQTs and Poems

Well, less "EQT" and more "writing section of the EQT', but it is still there in essence. The beginning of class was spent looking over past essays to get a good grasp of what to do and what not to do in the writing. As always, I am stressing despite how easy the task seems. I am just perpetually stressed. Afterwards, I was able to read a poem by Robert Frost depicting the whimsical joys of childhood and how the narrator longs to return to it. How? Well, climbing trees apparently works. Then I was introduced to a... shorter poem. When I first saw it, I burst out laughing because it was so small! One, maybe two lines! That was when I was introduced to imagery poems, or something along that line, and understood the short length. In the end, it perfectly achieved a sense of an image! I am supposed to create my own tonight, and I already have an unwilling subject! Heheheh.

EQT Review

For the most part, the class was told the primary components of the EQT, such as identifying claims and evidence, providing an argument, and the prompts for a future essay. The class began with an assignment where the class received an image involving a wife and a dead husband, and had to guess what happened using evidence. Long story short, I am sure the wife did the crime, she must do the time. Watching the O.J Simpson trial took up the rest of class, where we learned that a good argument can turn a verdict in one's favour despite counterclaims. It was an easy day, thankfully.

The Final Presentation

Today was the day for the final oral report for Wild, which I am glad about since I am tired of that book. Though that is my own fault since I have not been reading lately due to my other classes competing on who can give me the most work to do. So far, Biology is winning. Sorry, Mr. Rease. After the presentation, I learned about the units that will be on the EQT and the prompts of the eventual essay for Wild. It is hard to think EQTs are only next week, what on earth have I been doing?

My Interactive Oral Report

Today marked the sacred day it was time for my group to present our oral report of chapter 15 for Wild. Am I upset that one of my esteemed partners did not arrive? Yes. Was I peeved that the other partner who came clearly had no idea what was going on? Oh, absolutely. But in the end, things still went well and I received an A along with my friend who also did more than the barest bare minimum. That was good, considering I had to pick up the slack for the slackers and get up early in the morning to type, then print over twenty-eight copies. This is why I despise group projects.

Kahoot!

I am glad to say that because of Pre-ACT shenanigans, the time in 4th block was cut considerably short. Aside from a single quick write, the class played Kahoot together in teams that Mr. Rease thought of. Because of my A in the class, I was able to be captain of one of the teams- the Patriots! Yes, them. The Kahoot game served to earn the first points in the teams, and I am proud to say that I single-handedly led my team to victory! No question was wrong, fools! Honestly, I was surprised; another team, the Bears, would have caught up if one member did not got an answer wrong. Heheheh.