Sarai’s English Log

 One time that something in my life changed more quickly than I expected was all the times I'd changed schools in middle school. I went to a different school in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. I would say this connects to Frost's idea that "Nothing Gold Can Stay", because, it seemed like as soon as I'd gotten comfortable in a new place, and I'd finally made friends, I'd have to move again, which showed that sometimes good things don't last forever. Today in class we analysed two more Robert Frost poems, "Nothing Gold Can Stay" and "The Road Not Taken", and did an assignment based on the second one. Studying these poems has helped me to better understand them to some extent, and instead of being totally clueless now I can get a gist of what the author is trying to say.

 My favorite word to use right now is problably like, and it's not even on purpose. Sometimes when I'm talking to someone I realize how much I actually say it, and I realize sometimes it's not exactly a good thing to use a filler word so much, but I just do it subconsciously. Today in class we worked more on our "Climbing Back to Childhood" presentation. Working on this presentation has helped me get better at formatting my presentations according to the rubric, and helped me improve in my ability to make aesthetically pleasing presentations.

My imagination helps me cope with stress by giving me a way to escape reality for a little while. When I feel overwhelmed, I like to picture peaceful places or imagine positive outcomes to calm my mind. It allows me to focus on something uplifting instead of the things that worry me. Using my imagination helps me find comfort, even in stressful situations. Today in class we read and analyzed another Robert Frost poem, "Birches." and started working on our "Climbing Back to Childhood' presentation. Doing this assignment is helping me work on connecting poems to my real life experiences, helping me gain a better understanding of it and make me actually care about what I'm reading once I make a personal connection to it.

One time I faced a high pressure situation was during an important school presentation where my group relied on me to deliver the main part. The pressure was high because our grade depended heavily on my performance, and any mistake could affect the entire team. I had to stay completely focused to remember every key point and keep calm in front of the class. It was risky because one mistake could have cost us the high score we had worked so hard for. In class today we started reading poems by Robert Frost, and we read his poem "Out Out" and analyzed it. Analyzing poems like this help me to better my ability at recognizing the deeper meaning of different literary devices like metaphors and personification that are used inside the poem.

 Over fall break, I mostly just stay inside, although I did go visit my grandma and my aunt. I just spent majority of the break playing games and watching a bunch of movies. I also crocheted a lot over the break, I was able to finish one project and started two more over the week. Today we started making a comic strip using our new vocabulary words. Making this comic strip has helped me think of ways to actually use these vocab words. It's different knowing what a word means and then knowing how to actually use in in writing and speaking.

 One thing that I do the enjoy small moments throughout the day, even when I have a lot going on is listening to music because it helps me calm down and it's calming to me. Another thing I do is read at least a little bit everyday, because it's something I've enjoyed since I was little. The third thing I like doing is watching one of my comfort shows like Dance Moms or Smallville. Today in class we worked on our Ambush argumentative paragraphs. Working on this argumentative paragaph has helped me to realize the small mistakes that I sometimes may make in my writing. It has also helped me improve with argumentative writing in general.

 On time that someones words had a lasting impact on me was last year when I opened up to my aunt about my mental health struggles. It was very had for me because I feel like in general it's not something we talk about much in my family, and when I have before with my mom it was basically just forgotten the next day. She actually listened and understood what I was saying, which made me feel a lot better. Today in class we praticed reconginzing mistakes in peoples claims. Doing this assignment has helped me be able to understand what to look for when revising my own writing.