My Poem

       Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost, is a very complex poem with more than one meaning to it.  For example, "he" admires the snow more than anything, and is willing to even die in it, or at least thats what i inferred from it.  I also noticed that he could be even a runaway, maybe from his hometown, noticing his neighbor's farmland and sneaking through it.  His little horse shows that he has been traveling for quite some time and is not even close to his destination.

        To me, this poem was at first, was something easy to memorize, but as I read the poem over and over and over, I started catching things I didn't quite catch before, understanding things I didn't quite understand before, and I never would have learned that much about poems if it weren't for Poetry Out Loud.

Urgent Extra Credit Blog

       This time around, my five part paragraph was improved in many different ways.  For example, my rambling on I tend to do that I pointed out in the five part paragraph critique blog is gone and I got rid of most of the unnecessary things I tend to say and made my paragraph not only more understandable, but much better too.  My punctuation greatly improved too this time.  I eliminated a lot of the red lines underneath words so the finished product was more legible.  My quote embedding felt better for me too.  I almost forgot to embed the quotes tonight but this blog reminded me and saved me from getting a bad grade.

       I think my paragraph is a lot better than its predecessor and I know people will enjoy it more than my first because it has been improved to the brink of perfection.(JK)
Sean

Poetry Out Loud

 Part One:                                                
1. Snowflake
2. Not Waving But Drowning
3. Dog
4. Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening & Nude Descending A Staircase
Part Two:
I enjoyed Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening because its a catchy poem and an easy one to memorize.  I didn't like Nude Descending A Staircase because I thought it was creepy and disturbing that an old man wrote it and it was just weird.  I would like to continue studying Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening because I think it may have more meaning to it than it appears.  I connected with this poem because I've been lost in the woods before when It's snowy and I remember being very cold.
Part Three:
I think I will do well on accuracy and voice and articulation because I can talk loud enough and my memory is good enough where I'll be able to pronounce the words correctly.  I don't think I'll do so well on physical presence and dramatic appropriateness because I'm not very good at physically showing that I know the poem and I'm not very dramatic at saying things because I'm not a very dramatic person.
Part Four:
I watched Stanley Andrew Jackson for my first video and he did an excellent job of dramatically portraying his knowledge of the poem.  For my second video I chose Shawntay A. Henry did a great job of articulating and physically showing her knowledge of the poem.
Part Five:
I think Poetry Out Loud is a great idea for kids to memorize poems for an educational/competition like purpose.  I think the competition will be a little scary at first, but once you get up there, you'll do better than you thought.  I think I'll do okay.  I'm going to memorize Dog, by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, because it'll be a challenge to memorize and I need a challenge.  I thought the website was very neat.
Thanks for reading,
Sean :)




      
     

Most Important Skill

       By far, the most important thing I've learned so far in class this year is TWIST.  It's a really simple concept, but it takes more than just memorization to figure it out.  I found myself struggling at first on understanding it, but it eventually just finds its way into your head until you just know it.  It really helped me in recreational and educational ways.  Recreationally, when I'm reading a book for fun, I can use TWIST to uncover the story in ways I would never have done before and learn new things.  Educationally, I can use TWIST in reports to make them more in-depth and understandable, and more importantly, show that I knew how to interpret how the book was meant to be interpreted.
       I definitely enjoyed learning TWIST and I'm excited to see what the rest of the year has in store for me. :)

5 Part Paragraphs

       I personally thought the five part paragraphs were pretty hard at first, but they got easier to do the more you wrote.  I think the same goes for mistakes, one can lead to another and then another.  To write a "good" paragraph I think plot summary should be appropriate so its not too much or too little.  Also, I've seen tons of punctuation errors on the papers and that could be fixed by a couple extra read throughs of the paper.  Also, I noticed embedding the quotes was a little tricky for some classmates because they would put the commentary before the quote and rearrange everything.  I found plot summary to be tricky, because I didn't know whether or not to add more or less, it confused me.
       For my next paragraph, I hope to improve on many different aspects of writing.  For example, sometimes I feel like I ramble on when I write, and I can't do that because keeping focused is important.  My punctuation isn't pitch perfect either, and quotation marks and embedding quotes confuse me so I don't know where to put the periods and everything else.  I hope my next paragraph will be better and I will use this blog post as a reference for the future.  Yeah, that's about it...

Formal Vs. Informal Diction

       This weekend I went to the Bellarmine Bears game with some friends that I know.  I reckon they were having fun and the game was really darned close, we kept scorin and they kept tyin it up.  It was so close and errybody was on edge the whole danged time.  I got some really darn good popcorn, really buttery and delish, and I went back to the stands.  Turns out, I missed the touchdown the Bears scored, we were makin a comeback!  But those Lions were a good fight and they scored a darn tootin loads of touchdowns too.  When the game was really darn close, we started cheerin our Bears on and we has so much spirit,  When we fin'ly scored that last touchdown, the crowd roared and errybody was screamin and I was like whoopee! and yes! and the people started leavin and I finally left and it was so fun but that was just the first part of that night.
       After the game, we went to my house to watch a darned scary movie, Paranormal Activity or somethin like that.  Now I ain't scared easily, but this movie was somethin.  These two people had a ghost problem or somethin and they tried to get rid o it but turns out the girl is possesed.  I was like well ill be.  She kills the man and I was freakin out and it ends with her lookin at the camera in a creepy way and attacking it and the camera went dead.  It was a scary movie and there were a lot of creepy popouts and stuff like that.  It was a pretty fun night and I know my grammer is gettin better cuz im smart.

Sinncrly,
Sean Jones
Thanks fer readin!
      

The Catcher In The Rye

       The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger is a good book with a great sense of humor and it delivers a more unique atmosphere than I'm used to.  For instance, I'm halfway through the book and not even a day has passed, Holden is still experiencing his night-time New York City adventures.  My opinion of the book is definitely a positive one because J.D. makes teenagers feel right at home with the relatable, and slightly vulgar, things that happen to Holden (not all of these things i related to).  One book that relates a lot to The Catcher In The Rye is Tom Sawyer because both stories have a troublemaker boy in them and they're always getting into quirky and even laughable situations.  When Holden leaves the academy and Tom runs away to the island, they both haven't quite accepted something that they need to learn to accept.  Growing up.  This is a very important theme in both novels because neither boy has never really understood what is going to happen later in their lives, they don't care, they just want to live their lives as ambitiously and recklessly as they possibly can before it all comes crashing down on them.

       For a creative project, our group is thinking about doing a rap about the characters, story, plot, theme, everything into a sick beat.  Overall, The Catcher In The Rye has been a crazy book so far, partly because Holden's so irresponsible.  I think the novel is like when you close your eyes on a roller coaster because you know something crazy's going to happen, you just don't know when.

Extending The Theme

       When I first opened up To Kill A Mockingbird, I thought that my summer was going to be really boring, but as I read more and more, I discovered that the book was teaching me some things that I had known and learned a lot about but never really fully comprehended the impact of what it had on society.  For example, racism is so important in this story, and Scout's unique and unforgettable aspect of how Negros were talked about and treated back then gave me an insight that I will always remember.  When Tom was found guilty, I was furious because I could relate to Tom, I would do exactly as him.  He just innocently helped a neighbor with chores.  He was innocent and he should have never been put through all of that misery.  Racism overcame the common good and even common sense because Atticus's case was so good.
       I think the novel was kind of speaking to me in a way my parents do because there were so many important lessons that Harper Lee conveyed through her expertly crafted mini subplots that eventually started to symbolize different things.  For example, the rabid dog symbolized Tom Robinson and what the town thought of him (and what eventually happened to him, getting shot down).  I thought the book was like a puzzle, because there were so many different things going on at once, but they were all related in some way even if it took until the end of the book to realize (like me).  Once the subplots, or puzzle pieces, started getting put together, the book became more understandable for me, and it was remarkable how much more enjoyable the book became for me.
      Last of all, I think To Kill A Mockingbird means that somewhere, deep down, you know you've experienced something, anything, like Scout did in her adventures in Maycomb.  It doesn't have to be exact, but Scout's experiences relate to everyday life.  For me, I remember the kid in third grade who couldn't afford his lunch and didn't have a peaceful family to go home to.  I related this to Scout's experience with Walter Cunningham, without the beating up, of course.  The experience probably isn't a racial court case, or a rabid dog walking through the streets, but Scout experienced a million things in that book some may call a genius.  Anyone can relate to at least one of Scout's experiences.  Anyone.
      

My Boo

       My Boo Radley was when I was 5, and I was terrified of this fisherman statue by the Farmer's Market.  I was literally terrified of it and whenever we walked towards this statue I would run away and hide in the opposite direction.  My mom told me that it was no big deal and and one day, she forced me to go to the demonic looking fisherman.  I was screaming my lungs out and when we arrived,  I stared at that bearded face of pure evil and realized something.  It wasn't that scary at all.  I remember my mom telling me to walk on up to the fisherman and give it a big hug.  I did just that and she took a picture.
       My mom tells me this story all the time and when I got this Boo Radley assignment, I knew exactly what it would be.  I still walk by the fisherman statue to this day and laugh to myself.  I'm twice as tall as it and I know I shouldn't be scared of it but I have to admit, it is just a downright creepy looking fisherman statue.

Blog Introduction

       First things first, my name is Sean, I love to read and write, and so far, I have really enjoyed this class.  I'm also the kind of English student that prefers to write EVERYTHING because I'm full of new and fresh ideas each day.  Someone who follows my blog will expect to see a dull and blank page with writing on it because I seem like a boring kid.  That's not true.  I love sharing my ideas online with other people because it's different, and a pretty fun way to make the class more interesting.
       I will enlighten the on-line world with my reaction to literature studied in class by coming straight home from school and write my reaction while it's still fresh in my mind.  Also, I think excelling in English helps you become a successful person because you use it everyday.  Every day, you're reading, writing, etc.  English is there to make you even better at those things so you can become more proficient at everyday life.  English is there to make your life easier.
       I'm really excited to learn new things in this class, and I only have three words to say so I can get every assignment done and try my best.  Bring it on!