Macbeth Big Idea

I think that the biggest, most important idea though out the play is whenever Macbeth kills King Duncan, and characters such as Ross and Lennox discuss these weird things taking place. After Macbeth assumes that the people think he killed Duncan, he set out two people to kill Fleance and Banquo. Once Fleance gets away, this is when things start to go down with Macbeth, and makes the story interesting.
Once Fleance gets away, Banquo's death starts to mess with Macbeth's emotions. For example whenever Macbeth was talking with his peers, and he imagines Banquo's bloody ghost next to him but no one is there. This forces Lady Macbeth to run over and silence him, which appears to be very unusual. I picked this big idea because this builds up drama and suspense throughout the rest of the story.

Working Times
2 Hours - Portfolio

Quotation

The quotation I chose in Macbeth during Act 1 Scene 1 is at the very beginning of the book. The quote was said by the three witches and goes like this; "fair is foul and foul is fair." This quotation caught my ear the first day we read Macbeth as a class and never let go. Every time I open up a Macbeth book, I think about that quotation in the back of my mind, I think of what is actually means, and how it connects to the book as a whole.
The quote "fair is foul and foul is fair," can mean several different things; however, I have my own interpretation. To me, this quote is a paradox, but you have to understand it. If you do something fair, some may love it, but it will always be foul to a other people. Also, if you do something foul, like kill King Duncan, that is fair to you and you family (Lady Macbeth) because Macbeth would then be the King. It is difficult to understand but that is what the quote means to me.

Working Times

Portfolio - 30 minutes

Macbeth - 60 minutes

Reading Times 

Berlin Boxing Club - 30 minutes

Reading/Working Times

Berlin Boxing Club:
27 Pages - 30 minutes
25 Pages - 30 minutes
28 Pages - 30 minutes
29 Pages - 30 minutes

Free Post

The Episcopal Knights of 2014 have just ended their regular season with a with against a division three A school, Saint Charles Catholic. We started the season off rough; however, we are better than ever. We have a strong and clever defense that will only let up on average about four runs a game. Our offense is also very strong and can score about five runs a game. Every game we have won has been very close, but end the end we have easily defeated the opponent with many hours of hard work on and off the field.
The playoffs start Wednesday, but we will know when and where we play Tuesday afternoon. Most likely, we will play on the road, then if we win we will play at home. I believe that we will make it all the way to the finals and win it, but we will need lots of support from family, friends, and the community. Everyone should come support our fellow knights, whether it is home or away, and cheer us on until we win it all.

Reading/Working Times

Reading/Working Times:
Berlin Boxing Club
25 Pages - 30 minutes
23 Pages - 30 minutes
26 Pages - 30 minutes
27 Pages - 30 minutes

Two Statements

If you are in a position of power, you are happy. I disagree with this statement because you will always be stressed out with things. For example, if you are the king of England, there will always be violence or disagreement within the country. There will also be that one group of people that hates everything about you and what you do.  This relates to Macbeth because Macbeth himself is in a high position, and just in scene one he is fighting for his life against dozens of other people.

Everyone is capable of lying, betrayal, and violence, which are basic parts of human nature. Everyone will be temped to do one of these basic parts of nature. It doesn’t matter where you grew up or how you were taught to do things; lying, betrayal, and violence is going to occur more than once in your lifetime. This relates to Macbeth because in the same fighting scene there was violence everywhere; blood, hate, anger.

Reading/Working Times

Gentlemen
30 minutes - 18 pages
30 minutes reading poetry throughout the week
60 minutes working on research paper.

My Poem

Going to Kindergarten by David Tatman

I was small student strolling to class

Eager to learn with no knowledge

Excited in the new uniform

I smell the scent of the school

Missing the scent of my dwelling

I want to go home, but it is to late now

Warm greeting from teachers

Faces I’ve never seen before

Numbers and letters

Watching the colossal kids stomp

Imagining myself above five feet

Being the boss of the school

It is the first day; I expect fun and games

I don’t know what I’m getting into

Excited for nothing

Berlin Boxing Club

Pages 1-17

17 pages - 30 minutes

Pages 18-35

18 pages - 30 minutes 

Gentlemen

Pages 67-84

17 pages - 30 minutes

Pages 85-100

17 pages - 30 minutes

Analyze a Song

The song “Umbrella” by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z, Rihanna is saying that she is close to an important person in her life; however, he doesn’t feel emotionally attached like she does. She shows this through her words and tone. On the second paragraph, she states, “When the clouds come we gone, we Rocafella,” which is a symbol because she means that they will run off together when the person changes his mind about her. She uses stronger words in the song to get the audiences attention such as “you’re part of my entity, here for infinity.” Enjambment was used to create a dramatic effect; “precipitation. Stack chips…” in the second paragraph.

Things I noticed in this song were some sound patterns and rhymes. I first noticed assonance at the end of each line on the third paragraph; heart, apart, star, dark, cars. The “a” sound was repeated over and over which came to my attention. Also, I saw sibilance in the chorus; “When the sun shines, we’ll shine.” I noticed that the chorus also has euphony because of its use of smoothness. Also, on the last paragraph, there may be a use of an anaphora; “It’s raining, raining,” which is repeated about four times.

"Umbrella" by Rihanna feat. Jay-Z

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rihanna/umbrella.html

Reading Times

Gentlemen by Michael Northrop 
17 Pages - 30 minutes
18 Pages - 30 minutes
17 Pages - 30 minutes
17 Pages - 30 minutes

Rough Draft

In my research paper rough draft, I feel pretty confident about my introduction. I feel like that is the strongest part of my paper and I trust that it will get the reader hooked on my topic, which is The Haitian Revolution. However, I am unsure about some of my arguments. I feel like I have made a good argument but they may not make sense, making them bad. For instance, I have transitions that might be taken the wrong way, or I might have repeated myself in the same paragraph.
To make my paper better, I have to change some of the transition to make them less "awkward," and edit a few of my arguments to make them very advanced. Also, I need to make sure I properly cited all of my sources. I need to focus my feedback on transitions when I read. I know how to do transitions, but not enough to get an A in that category. So, I am feeling well about how my paper will turn out, and cannot wait to be finished with it.

Free Post

This past week, school was canceled Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. So instead of making up those days in the summer, we had three virtual school days. These virtual school days are something that I would like to do on emergency closing. I get to wake up whenever I want, and do a little bit of work in each class. Some people didn't like it, but I thought it was a genius idea, mainly because I didn't  have as much work as usual.
On the other hand, the snow days were cool. It didm;t really snow except for the 2 hours on Tuesday night, but it was sleet and melted the next morning. It wasn't a lot of snow/ice but it was really interesting and a cool experience considering we do not have days like this; maybe once every three to four years.

Research Paper
Monday, three virtual school days, and Friday
Worked on Rough Draft - 157 minutes

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
20 Pages - 30 minutes
19 Pages - 30 minutes
16 Pages - 23 minutes

Research Topic

My research topic is The Haitian Revolution. I chose this topic because I have never really learned about Haiti in a history class before, and thought that I might learn about a country that is very close to the United States, and Louisiana. I have learned a lot during my research. I have heard of names in the past, but never knew what they did; however, now I connected the dots and know a lot more names: Toussaint L'Overture, Napoleon, Vincent Oge. The Haitian Revolution, or the only successful slave rebellion in history, is a unique topic, and very interesting.
The Haitian Revolution was not only ten years of war, but also debate in the government. The constant fight to end slavery, and for the slaves to get equal rights was a difficult battle. At the start of the Haitian Revolution, there were many different times, where government officials or military generals violate human rights. There were also trust issues between men, which lead to dreadful things. After much research, my thesis (first couple of sentences in the second paragraph), has tied everything together. Knowing what different people did helped me shape my thesis. 

120 minutes: 
60 minutes spent on research paper
21 pages - 30 minutes
21 pages - 30 minutes

Reading/Working Times

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian 
Friday 1/17:
22 Pages - 30 minutes
22 Pages - 30 minutes

Research Topic 
Tuesday 1/14:
60 minutes of research on the Haitian Revolution

Research Topic

My topic is about the Haitian Revolution and why it contains human rights and responsibilities. The Haitian Revolution takes place in St. Domigue which is also the world's most profitable colony. This means that St. Domingue makes a lot of money. However, you cannot make money if you don't have slaves working the fields. The slaves have had enough of working, getting yelled at, and getting tortured, so they decide to leave a revolt under one of the most famous generals of all time, Toussaint L'Overture. We should care about this because it violated human rights, and is the only successful slave revolt.

My research to-do list contains things such as visiting new sites and looking at other images on the internet. I do contain great websites and article in my bibliography already; however, more good sites will allow me to better understand my topic.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Saturday 1/11/14

20 Pages - 30 minutes

22 Pages - 30 minutes

Sunday1/12/14

21 Pages - 30 minutes

22 Pages - 30 minutes

Re-written scene

In The Outsiders, Ponyboy and Johnny have just got finished with a double date at a drive-in movie. They are part of a gang called the Greasers, and have a rival gang called the Socs, that constantly give them trouble.
"Hey Johnny it's getting kind of late. Do you want to go home? We might get jumped by the Socs," said Ponyboy.
"My parents don't want me home, plus one in the morning. What Soc is looking for two Greasers at one in the morning?" stated Johnny.
Just as Johnny finished his statement a four door car came speeding around one of the corners of the park. Johnny was relaxed with a knife behind his back, but Ponyboy was very scared and was ready to leave. As they got closer three Socs pulled out knives, and were angry because Pony and Johnny went on dates with their girlfriends. Just as Pony and Johnny were gonna get jumped, Dallas was right behind them with a gun at their heads.
"Don't move." said Dallas