Lois’ English Blog

Prompt Response: My favorite word right now is diva. I feel like it really embodies the feeling of understanding other women. It also works really well with everyday language. I say it at least once a day to describe people that understand me. It really just fits any situation.  Summary: We worked on our vocabulary comic strips. Reflection:  I learned that florid meant turning red. I will use this to expand my understanding of root words in the English language. 

Prompt Response: We used to accept racism, but obviously most people don't agree with that anymore. People have never liked things that are different or new, so seeing different people might have been confusing. This led to normalized racism among all people over the world. Nowadays most people rebuke racism, but there will always be people that disagreed. Summary: We worked on a commonlit in class. Reflection:  I learned about how child labor laws came into place. I will use this knowledge to continue to fight for better child labor laws. 

Prompt Response: I remember when my friend was telling me about a mutual friend of ours. He said that she was acting "weird" and "different". I told him to talk to her about it instead of talking about her behind her back. This connects to how the poem mistreats people because they don't know any better, and they use their naivety to their advantage to turn others away from them. It also connects to how children tend to be mistreated. Summary: We read a William Blake poem about chimney sweepers and analyzed it. Reflection: I learned about how children were mistreated in the past. I will use this to make sure I continue to fight for children's rights. 

Prompt Response: When me and my best friend watched Twilight for the first time, we played the mustache game. We stuck mustaches on the screen at random, and waited for them to align with faces. Twilight in itself is already pretty funny due to its cultural relativity, but seeing Edward with a hot pink twirly mustache made us lose it. We laughed so hard we couldn't breathe. I didn't even finish the movie. Summary: We worked on our one pagers. Reflection: I learned that religion has a strong hold in western culture. I will use this to connect to how I see the world through Christian influenced lenses. 

Prompt Response: I had this friend that I had been close to for almost a decade. At some point, we had grown apart, but I still considered them my best friend. Then, one day I was told that they were in the mental hospital for a series of accidents. I was so scared that we were going to lose them. Almost losing them made me realize that life is futile, and it just takes one bad day for someone to lose it all.  Summary: We read "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" and started our one pagers. Reflection: I realized that even if you're afraid of something, that thing may not be evil. I will use this to be considerate of animals or people that may come off as frightening. 

Prompt response: My mom had a c-section for my birth. My parents drove to the hospital at around 4:00 a.m. I was born around 5:00 a.m on May 1st. The due date was May 9th, but I was a breech birth, so they needed to do a c-section. It was a smooth delivery with no issues. I opened my eyes immediately after being born. Summary: We read two poems by William Blake and discussed it as a class.  Reflection: I realized that birth can have both a scary and a good experience. I will make sure to be considerate of mothers and babies. 

 Prompt response: Over the break I submitted college applications. I also baked chocolate chip cookies and made banana pudding. I slept a lot, but when I wasn't sleeping, I was crocheting at my desk. I also helped make towels for the elderly. On the last day, I went to Ponce market with my family. 

Prompt Response: I like to be able to listen to music even when I have a lot to do. I also find myself sleeping as a form of relaxation. Another thing I like to do to enjoy the small moments is make paper stars here and there. I like being able to connect my day through little crafts because I like feeling creative. Over all I just like relaxing and putting my mind off of things. Summary: We did the Fences quiz. Reflection: I thought the book was very interesting because it taught about family dynamics in the 1950's. It  made me think about how different we are in recent times.

Prompt Response: I used to hate my hair because I thought it was too flat. It lacked volume and it was a boring color, but one day, I went to a hairdresser. She told me that my hair was very nice. She said that many people wanted my kind of hair. I still remember that fondly now, and I really like my hair.  Summary: We presented our character posters. Reflection: I learned that we can have very different interpretations of the same book/characters. I will use this to remind myself of how different people can think. 

Prompt Response: I was never good at comforting people. It's my worst nightmare to comfort someone incorrectly and make things worse. Despite this, my friend needed someone to talk to and I was going to be there for them no matter what. I wish I was better at words when it came to things like this, but I did my best and they got better in the end, so I guess I didn't do too badly. Everyone has to work on their weaknesses sometimes after all. Summary: We worked on our character posters. Reflection: I realized that finishing your work ahead of time saves a lot of trouble. I will do my best to continue to finish work early. 

Prompt Response: I  had a dream where I felt like I was sinking in water. I was just dropping in the water eternally. It wasn't a nightmare because I wasn't scared. I had just accepted that I was going to keep sinking forever. Then I woke up and thought it was weird.  Summary: We finished reading Fences  and finished our character posters. Reflection: I learned that forgiveness is different for all people. I will think of this whenever I try to forgive people. 

Prompt Response: I've always been really into dinosaurs and extinct animals, and I wondered why they went extinct. If they were perfect forms of their species, then why would they die off? I always really liked them and I wondered what they actually looked like compared to their reconstructions. I still like learning more about dinosaurs and extinct animals.  Summary: We worked on our character posters. Reflection: I learned about how Lyons represents certain aspects of family. I will use this to compare his character to other characters. 

Prompt response: I would tell the friend to confess at first. If they didn't confess, I would tell the partner. I think that by delaying the truth, you would be delaying the inevitable and making the situation worse. The best course of action would be to confess and be honest so that there is a chance of forgiveness. I also think that lying would lead the situation to build up to an explosion of anger. Summary: We read Fences  and began working on our character posters. Reflection: I realized that in marriage there needs to be both a give and take. I will use this information when I start relationships.