26 zachary langdon

Placing Socratic seminars in the spring semester has its problems. It distracts from the skills learned for the test when they become Paramount in importance. Using them to develope skills in the fall semester prior to and for later writing might put them to better use. Communication is not always clear from amendments to rubrics and end of class announcements. More frequent and focused use of remind to summarize the day when it's details would help this, using a twitter say for sharing articles. I, as an introvert, profess I am always disheartened when any teacher announces we shall pick our own groups. For this, and in general, student choice has more effects than simply transferring responsibility, as the more social activity is allowed, academic focus nessesarily decreases proportionally in the limited capacity of a teenage brain. I am always one for instructions. A gradual progression of knowledge help interconnect a subject. I found this missing for this class. Learning definitions helps understanding in an unparllelable fashion,something that would add normalcy and cohension to Lang and comp.

Assignment 26-Thomas Kinchen

After taking the AP Language and Composition test, I believe that overall you prepared us well for the test. The flaw that I'd point out is that I didn't feel as prepared for the multiple choice portion of the test as I did the writing part. I thought that the peer grading was an effective way for student to receive constructive criticism and to be able to work on their flaws. If there is any way possible for your future students, I'd advise for you to work with student more in groups or individually so they'll be more effective in their writing changes. I'd also have more classes where we actually go over what a certain essay is supposed to look like and how to effectively write a certain essay rather than practicing a certain essay multiple times.

Assignment 25-Thomas Kinchen

These past 2 weeks have been super stressful and the most stressful time of junior year. I've taken an EOC, two AP arcana, and am on demand writing test and we're about to go into finals!! It's definitely stressful, but I try to stay relaxed in a couple of ways. One, I've tried to go to bed earlier because I have to train and run in the morning for boxing, so the more sleep I get the better. I also try to run outside or to train. It allows me to be by myself for the both activities. Running outside for me can be peaceful and allows me to empty my mind and to not think of anything that's stressing me out. Training at the boxing gym allows me to not think about what's stressing me at the moment and forces me to focus on what I'm doing right then and that's paying attention to what I'm doing in the ring.

Assignment 24-Thomas Kinchen

Well junior year is almost over, and it's honestly been a crazy ride. I've definitely learned that it's way harder than sophomore year. The successes I've had is making new friends and being able to connect with people I haven't been able to in the past. I've also been able to become more organized this year than last year. Some failures I've had is trying to wing tests or quizzes and then getting a bad grade on them, which has taught me that I need to study more diligently. For senior year I plan to get the best semester in high school as far as my grades are concerned and to pick my college on where I'm headed after I graduate high school. I plan to do this by asking for more help from teachers and working as hard as I possibly can and to stop procrastinating.

Assignment 23- Thomas Kinchen

The perfect playlist of 80s pop:
1. Don't stop believin' by Journey-This song was a huge hit in the 80s and is still an anthem today. It's an obvious choice on this list.
2. Don't you (Forget about me) by Simple Minds- This was Simple Minds one hit wonder and is most well known in its appearance in the breakfast club, which gives this playlist a nice twist.
3. Livin' on a prayer by Bob Jovi- Bon Jovi is one of the most iconic rock bands in the 80s and Livin' on a prayer is one of their most well known songs and is still relevant in the music world today.
4. Everybody wants to rule the world by Tears for Fears- This song was a hit in the 80s, and gives this playlist a slower feel than the rest of the songs so far on this playlist.
5. Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield- This song is more of a love song and gives this playlist more diversity and is a classic from this era.
6. Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley- this song is on this playlist moreso by its popularity in the 80s and the iconic rick roll that it's famous for today.
7. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper- this song is here simply for the girls. It was the girls anthem back in the 80s and is still used for that purpose today. An anthem that has an amazing beat to dance to.
8. Thriller by Michael Jackson- The king of pop. You can't have an 80s playlist without mentioning him. He's a music legend and this song was one of his biggest hits.
https://open.spotify.com/user/kinchenthomas/playlist/6fl3Ez1Bt9c6TJ3Y90JhQW

Assignment 22-Thomas Kinchen

If I could be any fictional character, I would be Superman. I mean, it's the obvious choice. First he's unique because he's an alien from a different planet, and secondly he's virtually indestructible. No mortal man can defeat him and he has multiple super powers such as superhuman strength, super hearing, can shoot lasers from his eyes, and can fly. Oh and not to mention he can survive in space. He's the original classic superhero, and everyone loves him in the comics. Sure he has to fight villains all of the time like General Zod and Doomsday, but in the end he always comes out on top. Who wouldn't want to be this character. He's the epitome of what a superhero and a leader is supposed to be.

Assignment 21-Thomas Kinchen

Right now in the universe, there are billions of stars. Each one different from the other, wether it be by the size of a star or the shape of it. There's also multiple galaxies made up of their own planets and moons and solar systems. Right now in the universe, there is a vast galaxy just waiting to be discovered by mankind. Right now we don't have the technology to travel as far into the galaxy as we might want, but right now, constant discoveries are still being made about the galaxy we live in right now.

Assignment 20-Thomas Kinchen

For me, boxing has been a passion of mine for just over a decade, and I'd say I'm pretty talented at it. So today I'll be walking you through step by step how to throw a jab. First you need to work on your stance. If you're right handed, you'll stand straight and put your left foot out in front of you. Then you'll bend your left knee just a little bit and stand on the tip of your toe on your right foot, making sure your right heel doesn't touch the ground. After that you'll turn to the side but keep your head to the center of your body. Now to throw the jab you punch your left hand straight out in front of you. As you do this, you'll let your right foot raise and as you punch, rotate your hand at the last second. You do this so it distorts your opponents' skin and allows cuts to form on his or her face.

Assignment 26-Tyree

I'm not going to speak much on this topic because I never really do. I rarely really have a problem with the way a teacher teaches as long as the teacher is at least a little likeable. I didn't have a problem with the way anything went this year, the writing and reading of our papers in class were long, not a big deal. But I will say I hated Socratic seminar, it wasn't anything you did wrong I just don't like participating in class discussions Id like it more if it were something we could print out but at the end of the day it isn't about me. As a whole I liked this class and the teacher was chill and it was one less class to stress about. I'm only at 130 words so thank you me logsdon for a great year and I hope you have a very good summer

Assignment 24-Tyree

Jonior year, almost over. I'm just that much closer to graduating and I'm not ready. I want to be living good under my parents forever as a kid. When graduation comes along I feel like I'm not a kid anymore and I'm on my own. I feel like I won't be able to get away with half the stuff I've don't because I'll no longer be looked at as just a kid. I want for senior year what I've told myself I'd do every year and get straight A, but next year it will actually happen. I ignored the section of successes and failures on purpose because I don't want to talk about it but as far as goals and plans this summer. I'm probably spending my last summer as a kid in Florida with my brother. I'm probably going to quit my job because it takes up all my time to do my assignments etc.(just an FYI)

Assignment 23- Tyree

If i had to create a playlist for the perfect day at school for right now, there'd be no reason to make a playlist. I would simply go to apple music and type in "Kodak Black painting pictures," (his new album) and I'd have an album to get me through the day. Kodak Black is trash, but the artists featured on his album don't, so I can get through it. I wouldn't have a specific reason to listen to Kodak Black, other than how his songs are catchy. I would constantly listen to his album until the next decent artist releases a good mixtape or album and I just cycle through them. The cycle then continues throughout school and this way I am constantly hearing new music by a large number of artists and I don't have to pay attention to anything i do not want to pay attention to.

Assignment 26 🔥R🔥O🔥A🔥S🔥T🔥E🔥D🔥 Lena Ilagan

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Mr. Logsdon,

This year really has come a long way (as detailed in my previous post), and I have a couple things to suggest to you.
For one thing, the review of the benchmarks can be rather boorish.  It would be better to read off the characteristics of them, or, in the beginning, have students analyze various scores, and tell why they are that score.  They could create a booklet of sorts, and they could refer to it throughout the year. Additionally, the no-no verb exercise was rather useless in my opinion.  To-be verbs are essential in many components of writing, especially when forming tenses other than past and present.  You ought to replace the no-no verb lesson with a no-passive-voice-or-excessive-words lesson.
Another setback I saw in the class was the lack of training in the multiple choice section of the AP Test.  I see myself as a decent writer, but I'm awful at analyzing texts.  Additionally practice and explanation on text analyzation would be beneficial to future students.
The last criticism I have about your class would be about the socratic seminars.  I understand what you were trying to do, but you picked the worst pieces to do a rhetorical analysis on.  I find interesting pieces such as "Walk on By" to be interesting, and perhaps helpful when preparing for an argument piece, but I feel like if these socratic seminars are to be an adequate and effective training for the AP test, they must reflect it.  So, you could emulate the essays.  For a rhetorical analysis, pick speeches.  For a synthesis, ask students to use several pieces you have picked out to debate a certain topic.  For arguments, have a normal group debate.
Ultimately, you can do whatever you want with my advice.  I just want you to still know that my criticism in no way means that i did not find your class useless.  In fact, it was integral to my development as a writer.

thanks for putting up with first hour

Assignment 24 Lena Ilagan

For starters, I will procrastinate less.  Junior year has been nothing but a procrastination-filled race to beat the clock.  I constantly find myself falling asleep because my stupid butt can't bring myself to work on things.  Yet, this year, I have progressed.  Though I have made many enemies, I have made countless other friends.  I discovered an event in both swimming and debate that I enjoyed, and I managed to go rather far in both.  I used to think that Congressional Debate was the debate for softies, but I realized I enjoyed the rush, and that I was good at it.  I managed to push myself to the limit many times, and in some ways, it payed off.  I put in countless hours into perfecting a lengthy (and rather overly polished) resume for GSP, and I managed to get in. I finally have my life (somewhat) on track by the end of the year, and honestly, I don't know how.  I have my friends still right beside me, helping me each step of the way.  I really do attribute all my success to them, and I don't know how I would've made it alive without them.

assignment 26 - Will blitch

One thing I really wish had been different about the class was how the class grading worked with the essays. I felt like when we discussed the essays as a class it often got off topic and turned into a rant at some points. I would really have liked to get one-on-one time with you to discuss my writing. I felt that the activities out of the text book at the beginning of the year didn’t really help me that much. I enjoyed the days that we did socratic seminars. Also the days towards the end where we watched thought provoking videos to help give us ideas for essays helped me during the test and was an over all fun time. I think those days would have been very nice at the end of every couple weeks or something like that. I also really don’t like visual literacy, but I think thats just a lack of motivation. 

assignment 24 - Will Blitch

Junior year has overall been an astounding success. I have made the best grades of my entire high school career and hope to maintain them through the second semester. I’m getting more excited for college and finally striking out on my own. Another big high point was I finally got a car and a license, this gave me a ton of freedom and allowed me to socialize a lot more. I have also become a much better climber and was able to place high in several competitions. Another important part of junior year was creating a much stronger bond with all the boys. CC. For this summer I plan to get out to the Red as much as possible and hopefully tic some harder routes. I also plan to try and get a new job making some more money. I need to replace my car which I totaled in a big crash. 

Assignment 26- Sheridan Wagner

            I have seriously appreciated your thoroughness when it comes to preparing your students for the AP tests. Going to that testing room I felt confident and walking out was ready to receive my 5 (or at least a 4). I can’t stress enough how effective it was to do so many practice AP test and essays. One thing at the beginning of the year I found to be superfluous was the No-No words within our first couple of essays. I understand the importance of avoiding repeated, weak wording in your writing, but it seemed unnecessary at points. To an extent I was fine with it. I couldn’t tell if it left a major impact on my writing, but maybe you could.

            The Socratic seminars were my favorite part of your class. Please keep doing those, I think they’re essential to creating depth of thought verbally and in our writing and preparing us for college (plus I think they’re fun). Overall I feel as though my writing has significantly improved because of your class and your approach towards the AP test was especially effective throughout the year, so thank you.

assignment 23 - Will Blitch

I have decided to create the perfect playlist for climbing. This playlist will need up beat songs that get you hyped up but aren’t so intense that it distracts you. The first song is “when I get low” by thefaded. This song starts with an old school flapper and then mixes in a heavier repetitive house beat that is perfect for getting your blood moving. The next song is “Spaceships” by Whethan. It has cheerful lyrics over an upbeat and high pitched track, a little bit lighter than the previous track but fast enough to keep you hype. The third song is “adventure” by Mindsight and LIOHN. This song returns to the heavier beat that was in the first track and will be perfect to keep you psyched through the pump. The fourth and fifth will be “1993” and “light” both by San Holo. This tracks are happier and will help cheer up as you’re surely pumping off your project at this point. 

nick falk assignment 26

This class was overall very effective. My scores on essays drastically improved. I also could see that my writing in general improved while I was writing. I learn the best by constant repetition. This is what we did all year constantly writing essays and taking multiple choice tests. There are, however, things that I personally liked more than others. I was not very active with the full class essay evaluations. There were too much people involved with this and I had a hard time keeping focus and paying attention with a large group to hide behind. The one essay we evaluated in groups of fours was very beneficial. I was much more active in the conversation and really learned most what I knew about essay grading. I did not liked the whole class grading my essay because even when I wrote good essays I would only get negative feedback and sometimes inaccurate feedback about the information in the essay that has nothing pertaining to my ability to writing the essay.

Assignment 25- Sheridan Wagner

            Stress? These are the weeks I thrive! I’m a naturally good test taker and I learned early on that my stress is far different from others. While finals and AP test are chaotic and I have gone more than a few days sleep deprived, I don’t stress about academics. Well, that’s a lie. I do, it’s just on a lesser scale than many other things I stress about so the effect seems miniscule.

            Sure, I’m tired. Sure, some days I go home and collapse in my bed and wish that I could just stay there for a month. Sure, I want the best score I could possibly get on my tests. But all this pales in comparison to the pure, unbridled terror I’ve felt when thrown into a social situation where I must find a way to normally interact with people my own age.

            So, this last week, when I have locked myself into my room and am void of all human interaction, will probably be one of the least stressful weeks of school for me.

Assignment 24- Sheridan Wagner

            Junior year was…, I don’t know. Academically it was uneventful. While at times I dug myself into a multitude of holes, it went and is ending exactly how I expected it to. I have maintained my educational standards and am fine with how things are concluding. Now outside of the Henry Clay sphere a completely different set of events unfolded. This year I have accepted many different aspects of my personality and I would consider that a success. My failure would be how hesitant I was. Going into this year I had goals. Approachable and simplistic, there was no reason why I shouldn’t have been able to achieve them. But I didn’t. I’m not going to go in detail about the specifics of these goals because they’re rather personal to me, but they revolved around me developing a better approach to things.

            I fell off the wagon early on. Spent too much trying to reorganize myself, be logical, and jump back on. It took me the entire year to figure out what I was doing wrong and it nearly tore me apart.

            This isn’t about school. I don’t get stressed about school. It’s temporary and I have a natural affinity towards it. In five years, none of this is going to matter. The goals I set centered long term personality revisions that would help me better interact with non-educational events happening around me. I took a very logical approach to these goals and the end of the year nearly drove myself insane trying to figure out why nothing was working.

            I figured it out.

            My goal for Senior year is overall acceptance. I am already quick to accept the limitations of the world around me, whether it be school or the government, but next year I hope to be able to comprehend and get over my own personal limitations.

nick falk assignment 24

The successes I have had this year are small ones, but are meaningful none the less.  This year I made my very first large purchase with buying my first car myself with no help. Some other successes would include some individual scores on the ACT that impressed me. My time spent studying also increased significantly as well. My failures were much larger. My first failure was that I did not qualify for nhs. The other failure was this was the first time I did not receive an A in math and that was devastating. The lesson I learned was a large one. This stage in my life and going forward is that I can’t not try on anything anymore and get away with it. I need to put everything I have into what I do. The risk I took this year was attempting to take AP Physics instead of advanced. This decision punished me dearly. The lesson I learned was I am will never take a AP science course ever again. In the summer I will start it out by just training for the next cross country season. I will also just try and gain strength in my right arm with my cast off. I will also have to try to gain mobility back in my thumb. After that, I will get my old job back and start working again. My goals for senior year are to give it my all and get the best grades of my high school career. I can achieve this by using all the things I learned from my Junior year and attempt to not repeat my failures of junior year. 

Nick Falk Assignment 23

The best playlist that anyone can make will be a melting pot of different song that no matter what mood you are in you will sing loudly and proudly to. I cannot just pick them I went a little over because there is just so much music available in the world to pick just ten songs, but I tried to narrow it down as much as I could. These songs have a high fluctuation in the tone of voices in the song or to sing along to. This requires me to focus more on the song than what is bothering me. While hearing these songs, my mood improves without me knowing, and I just feel better. The playlist includes:

1.       “Rainbow in the Dark” by Dio

2.       “Only Time Will Tell” by Jimmy Buffett

3.       “No One Like You” by Scorpions

4.       “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” by The Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff

5.       “Turn the Page” by Metallica

6.       “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stones

7.       “Dr. Feelgood” by Motley Crue

8.        “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics

9.        “Hey You” by Pink Floyd

10.    “Movin’ Out” (Anthony’s Song) by Billy Joel

11.   “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” by KISS

12.   “Another Part of Me” by Michael Jackson

13.    “Layla” by Eric Clapton

14.   “Renegade” by Styx

15.    “That’s All” by Genesis

Rainbow in the Dark is a must when it comes to this playlist because of the pitches that Ronnie James Dio hits when he sings this song. This song must appear first because of the energy and excitement it has to get the listener to want more. The piano also compliments all of the other sounds in the song nicely and helping to provide the songs individuality. This follows the purpose of the playlist to have different pitches to entice the listener to sing without a care in their mind.

Only Time Will Tell will follow because of the tempo is quick, but it slows it down from the previous song. This sing adds a bit of pacific sounding music to the playlist, while not losing its fast tempo and its pitch fluctuation that is present with the controlling majority of the songs. The harmonica also is a pleasant part this song experience.

No One Like You follows that one to bring a stark contrast to Jimmy Buffett with the Scorpions hit song. The strong presence of guitar and drums help give it a hard rock/ soft metal listen. There is a very evident pitch differentiation throughout the song, and keeps a slightly faster tempo than the previous song. This song adds to the playlist with its energetic chorus and the guitar in the background.

The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air again follows the alternating styles of music with the switch between the hard rock and the calmer music that doesn’t utilize the drums and electric guitars as much. This song, however, is the fastest song and the only hip hop/ rap song on the playlist. This song helps diversify the playlist, while still keeping the fast tempo.

Turn the Page follows with the purpose of continuing the contrasting trend. This song contrasts the previous one with its metal style of song, while still continuing the fast tempo. It is during this part of the playlist the different pitches are not present in a few songs. This song contributes to the playlist with its strong guitar influence in the background of the song.

You Can’t Always get What You Want again follows the trend still. This song has the slowest tempo in the playlist which helps diversify it. There are pitch differences with Mick Jagger singing and the chorus at the beginning.

Dr. Feelgood continues the contrasting trend. They succeed the Stones with a very different style of. This song has a very strong guitar presence. This song helps bring energy to the listener that was missing in the previous song.

Sweet Dreams keep the contrasts while keeping the fast tempo. The distinct beat in the background also creates a sound that many other artists attempted to recreate, but have ultimately failed. This song helps add onto what The Stones helped create earlier in the playlist.

Hey You at surface level would seem to break the trend that has been evident throughout the playlist, but this song has a very strong guitar in the background and the flawless guitar solo helps keep the trend. The guitar solo is one of the best guitar solos produced and that mainly is what it contributes to the playlist.

Movin’ out and the song before it are both very slow songs that seem out of the ordinary for this playlist, but since this is Billy Joel there is large piano presence, but there also is a lot of guitar in this song as well. This is a well written song that anyone can enjoy and that is what it contributes to the playlist.

I Was Made For Lovin’ You is the first real rock song in a while and it also brings back the pitch diversity. There is also a very strong beat in the background. This song contributes to the playlist with its superior hook. It is the best part of the song.

Another Part of Me is my favorite Michael Jackson song. The background sound is superior to all of his other songs. Chris Tucker can be seen dancing to this in the beginning of Rush Hour which is an excellent movie. No one can ever go wrong with this song in any situation which is why it was a must on my playlist. The tempo is fast and perfect and it fits well in to the playlist because it also has a large pitch like the song preceding it and succeeding it.

Layla by Eric Clapton fits into this playlist like a glove. It has what most songs in this playlist have which is a fast tempo and a fluctuating pitch. It is also a song that I just can’t help myself and sing to in any situation I hear it in. I love listening to this song in the car on the way to school.

Renegade is one of those songs where it has a very slow tempo, but in other parts of it the tempo is just as fast as the other parts of the song. The varying in the pitch help this fit well into the playlist. Renegade is easily Styx’s best song and is full of energy to help begin the closing of this spectacular playlist.

That’s all is the final song of this playlist. It is the perfect ending to the playlist because as the playlist started with a large piano influences, it also ends with one also. It keeps the fast tempo and the pitches. The hook is also tops. The calming dip in the tone of the song is an art masterpiece in its purest form. This is the perfect ending because it wraps everything up perfectly.

For anyone who wants this…

 https://open.spotify.com/user/nick41516/playlist/6rHuy6VCjpci3yjrUtZdZz

Assignment 23- Sheridan Wagner

            Every couple of weeks or so I tend to drift off into my own mind and I will just spend a day listening to music for hours. I have a specific list of songs I listen to when I get into moods like this. I don’t know what I would call this playlist, maybe songs I listen to in order to drag myself out of the abyss that is my thought process. It just helps focus on the present and the direct future instead of large, all-encompassing life mysteries.

Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons

Golden Slumbers by The Beatles

Drops of Jupiter by Train

Formidable by Stromae

Quand C’est by Stromae

The Lightning Strike by Snow Patrol

The Sound of Silence by Disturbed

Dust in the Wind by Kansas

Breath of Life by Florence and the Machine

            I don’t know why I’m drawn to these songs when I’m in a sort of profound mood, but I just enjoy them. Do with that what you will. 

Assignment 26 - TD

Immediately after the AP test the first thought that came to mind was, "We should have learned more about footnotes." The AP test contained multiple questions about footnotes that caught me off guard. Also, I wish that somehow we could have made the essay peer reviewing more efficient. I believe it was useful in aiding me prepare for the essay portion of the AP test but a lot of time was wasted during them. I will be honest and say that I completely zoned out sometimes, not because the peer reviewing was a useless activity, but because we kept getting side tracked and it wasn't worth the effort to constantly pay attention just for the few helpful moments. Other than that, I felt as if writing multiple scripts for multiple chapters of the writing book in the beginning of the year wasn't very productive. I think that everyone should read through it, yes, but after that only have to write one script for a section and have each groups' energies focused on that specific part.

Assignment 26- Amanda Byerman

I have wildly conflicting feelings about much of this class. I appreciate the care taken in ensuring that we are prepared for the AP test, particularly with the essays, and the environment of honest discussion promoted within the classroom, as shown in the Socratic Seminars. I think this class would benefit with more long term assignments requiring class discussion and critical reading (boosted by reading like perhaps The Crucible, Of Mice and Men, or I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings). I became quickly frustrated, however, with the inconsistency in our daily schedule. I understand the goal of making sure that our interest is kept by varying our activities, but in many cases this made what we were learning seem futile, with no larger goal or aspiration. This is perhaps no more true than with the intermittent videos we have been assigned to produce (although this is perhaps a complaint fueled with the present panicky buzzing of my phone as my friends and I try to understand how to function iMovie). More concerning than those trivial frustrations, which are understandable and certainly no reason to dismiss an assignment altogether, is the general concern that we don't understand the function of these in fulfilling the goals of an English class. Perhaps in the future it would be more effective to offer a variances of ways we can express our concerns about the world's problems rather than having us produce a PSA or movie which will be, more often than not, rushed; the product of more frustration than education. In essence, while I appreciate the effort taken to make this class interesting and different, I don't think that this effort was executed or communicated effectively this year.

Assignment 26 Shalom Saldana

The only big thing that could use some change in my opinion would be the Socratic seminar. I feel that students should be able to suggest the test to read along with approval from the teacher so that students are more motivated to read critically. Other than that I feel that the rest of the class of pretty well designed. The way the desks are arrranged makes the class feel more inclusive. The speech I felt was very useful as well as the benchmark readings we did. I also felt that the video projects were useful with giving me experience with cameras and video equipment. I very much enjoyed our Ap Lang class. I feel like group projects are more useful than individual projects because they allow for more creativity. I think our practice with multiple choice test and writing prompts prepared the junior class for the Ap exam well enough. A little more practice would be useful but individual practice would be lost useful to encah student if they studied what they felt the worse about.

Assignment 24 Shalom Saldana

Junior year is practically over and I managed to successfully pass my classes with no C's, made it through Ap test, and planned out my mentoring project. I failed to fix my procrastination problem failed to pass junior year with a 4.0. My worst mistake was not taking a second leisure classs but I did end up enjoying taking anatomy more than I had expected. The only risks taken were the classes I scheduled myself for next year. I hope my classes won't be too hard but I do enjoy a challenge. Over the summer I plan to have as much fun as possible and to do as little works as possible. I hope my se too year is somewhat easy and I hope to decide what college I will go to. I plan to reach theses goals by maintaining focus on school.

Assignment 23 Shalom Saldana

Perfect playlist for the rainy days.

1. Mardy Bum by the Arctic Monkeys
This upbeat jam gives the listener a tune to start the day of well with. The major scale played by the guitar along with drums combine with the moderate vocals to create that upbeat mood. Although upbeat it goes with the rain.
2. Riot Van by the Arctic Monkeys
This song is more of a story. This is an emotional tale of a couple teenagers who find themselves in trouble with authorities one night out. The dialogue and soft lyrics gives the song touchy feeling and amplifies with the sight of rainy skies.
3. 505 by the Arctic Monkeys
This song has a sort of empty sound the is oddly appealing along with soft lyrics and wavy background noise. Midway through the song picks up the beat and adds in more instruments slowly building the character of the song.
4. Do I Wanna Know? By the Arctic Monkeys
This groovy Jam is appropriate for the mood with its quiet vocals and progressive guitar. The best is audible through the entire song and really brings it together with the clap.
5. Crying Lightning by the Arctic Monkeys
This song also tells us a story. The song speaks of the interactions between a man and a woman. The upbeat rhythm combine with the outspoken vocals are a good way to drown out the rain.

Assignment 26: Help! I need somebody. Help!- Jake Tucker

Honestly, the most pointless things we have done all year are these blog posts and the visual literacy projects. I do not see any benefit from either. This is because every single time with the blog posts, I have waited till the last second and scrambled to do all of them on one Sunday night, as I am currently doing. As for the visual literacy, it was just plain annoying. I saw no point in making multiple advertisements for a pencil and lacked the intuition or awareness to the reason why we had to do them. It in no way prepared me for any test, AP or others, and really just added on to an already massive workload from the rest of my teachers. Those are really the only bad things we did. The many essays we wrote, while annoying, were effective in preparation for the AP test, and the Socratic seminars were helpful even though I didn't personally enjoy them. I just wish we would have moved along in grading the essays a little quicker.

Assignment 25 - STRESS!!- Jake Tucker

Honestly, the last two weeks have been the least stressful since the first week of school for me. This is because I knew exactly what was going to happen on both my AP tests. I knew I would be fine on the AP US History test and the AP language test, so I didn't stress about them. Doing good enough in both classes all year made me confident in my ability to pass these tests. The lack of stress stems not only from this, but also my decision to not take the AP physics test. I have had very little clue of what was going on in physics all year, and because of this I got to alleviate any stress from ever plaguing my mind. The last two weeks, devoid of homework or class work or any sort of activity, have been almost relaxing. I really wish the rest of my year was like this because I would probably be a better person.

Assignment 26 - Caitlin Southworth

I would have liked a little more preparation for ACT, I think we did like two practice tests, but I know doing many in Ms. Dewees’ class really helped to improve my score. The practice multiple choice AP tests were helpful somewhat, but would be more effective if we went over the answers each time we did them, maybe not all questions, but the ones a lot of people missed. I don’t think the socratic seminars were helpful at all. First of all, the articles we read didn’t seem like good ones to talk about rhetoric strategies and such with, if it was also meant to help with developing communication in group settings, I don’t think it was that helpful because the same people talk and it’s hard for the quieter people to speak up. Also the outer circle needs to be incorporated more or something, it seemed very disconnected.

Assignment 24: The Future- Jake Tucker

Junior year was stressful yet brought a little fun along with it, and that is all I really care to share about this past year. I would prefer to focus on the future as it seems brighter as always. This summer I hope to get a job, and said job would be my first. This prospect seems daunting, but anything that will place a little extra money in my pocket before I head to college is something I am more than willing to do. On top of a potential job, I plan to work on my mentoring project. This is the one thing I want to have to do my senior year as evidenced by my relatively easy schedule for next year. I really hope to cease the constant of stress from defining my life as it has for the past few years, and especially before I head off to, hopefully, a different state for college. This past year has brought stress and made me grow as a person, and I hope the next year will let me wallow I my own successes as I gradually march my way toward major changes in life.

Assignment 24 - Caitlin Southworth

Junior year was alright, it wasn’t really that hard, and not stressful (for me at least). I guess successes would be getting all A’s, I don’t know it was kind of an average school year. It was pretty boring, but having Ms. Dewees was an amazing experience and definitely one I will miss next year. I don’t think I had any failures, at least not major life-worsening ones. In the summer I hope to be at a zoo somewhere doing something with elephants for my mentoring project (or any animal if elephants don’t work out). I also hope to be volunteering at a rehabilitation place or something similar, and shadow an occupational therapist. I will also be chillin at home wishing I could go on the Madagascar research trip my sister is doing. My goals for senior year are to preferably get into Wash. U. (or Notre Dame if not Wash. U.)  and successfully complete my mentoring project. To achieve this I just gotta finish my work and applications and keep doing what I am doing now.

Assignment 23: The Perfect Playlist- Jake Tucker

The perfect playlist to ignore somebody while you have your headphones on:
1. "Wild Out"- The Lox
This song consists of many different noises, and each and every single one of them add on top of each other to drown out any noise from people trying to converse with you. "Wild Out"provides the listener with an ability for people to clearly hear the song and avoid any attempt at communication in a verbal manner.
2. "Poison"- Alice Cooperp
This song allows for the listener to ignore the entirety of the world because of heavy use of guitar solos and the beating of a drum in a manner to wake the dead in China.
3. "Stranglehold"- Ted Nugent
Same as the last song.
4. "Trap Trap Trap"- Rick Ross
"Trap Trap Trap" has the loudest bass I have ever heard. This will not only deafen you to a point of no return, but it will deafen anybody getting near you to talk. While listening to "Trap Trap Trap" people will treat you like a leper in the Bible.
5. "Remember When"- Mista Cain
Mista Cain is not our teacher, he is an Atlanta area rapper. Back on the point, this song will make your ears literally bleed. It is that bad.
6. "White Noise"- Rainsounds
It is just rain that sounds like white noise, but when played very loudly it will drown out a freight train as it passes over you because you couldn't hear it coming.

assignement 23 nick walters

Honestly, the perfect playlist already exists and it is titled "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", an album by Kanye West. Choosing an already existing album as the perfect playlist may be going against the prompt a little, but in my opinion, there isnt a playlist that is ordered better or has a better variation of music than MBDTF. This album, released in 2010, is the perfect mix of hype songs, sad songs, chill songs, an absolute jams, making it perfect for any occasion. i find myself playing this album pre-game, at a party, by myself doing homework (im listening to it right now actually), or if im ever feeling sad about something.

It starts out with the song Dark fantasy, which is one of kanye's most underrated songs. it has a great intro, catchy beat, and is a perfect intro to the album. It would fall into the category of "absolute jams" as it is a song that makes you nod your head to the piano beat. following Dark fantasy, Gorgeous comes up. It is a nice, medium paced song with an eletric beat and a catchy chorus by raekwon. this song has the famous lines "face it, jerome gets more time than brandon" and "whats a black beatle anyway, a f****ng roach?" and is an overall chill song that adresses the racism that still exists today. next in line is the most famous song off of the album, POWER. It is an extremely famous song that will hype you up for anything. All of the lights, another fast paced song that will get you hype is next, but it has an interlude into it. it is a slowed version of the fast beat in all of the lights, played in piano and violin, and it is truly beautiful, it leads into all of the lights perfectly and still gives me goosebumps when i listen to it. all of the lights is a fantastic song. it is catchy and fast paced, perfect for a party or pre-game music. following this is Monster, which is one of my personal favorites on the album. It has a weird-but-hype type of beat behind it along with a killer verse by niki minaj, and the opening verse by kanye is perfection.

After monster, we see a change in the mood of the album into a more somber feeling. This second half of the album is overlooked by many, but personally I like it better than the first half. So appalled kicks off this second half by talking about how ridiculous "this s**t" is, and it is a chill song with an ominous but catchy beat behind it. Devil in a new dress is next, which has a pretty beat behind it and has kanye singing about some woman and all the sins he wants to commit with her, and it has a nice verse by rick ross. the next song is Runaway, which happens to be my favorite song ever, it starts out with the continuation of one single note that sets the mood for the song. the song itself is about how bad kanye is with realtionships and is a guarantee to get you "in your feels." i could write paragraphs about this song, but i have a feeling youre getting bored so ill move on. Hell of a life is next, and it ahs a very catchy eletric beat to it and tells about kanye falling in love with a pornstar. Blame game is next, and it is one of the saddest songs in existance. It tells about kanye and his ex arguing and blaming each other. Lost in the world is a beautiful song that buildsup to a fast paced but emotional song. who will survive in america closes out the album, and tells of the problems of the treatment of blacks in america.

MBDTF is a masterpiece and is the perfect playlist for any situation.

blog 26 safal dumre

Having taken the multiple choice on this year’s AP exam I would have liked to focus more on footnotes as I didn’t know how to interpret any of those and was sure to get the 3 or 4 footnote questions wrong. Other than that, there isn’t much you can teach a student to do better on the reading comprehension. The varied multiple choice practices throughout the year was effective in preparing us for that section. The rest of the year was very involved with the writing and I can for sure say that it helped my writing because I went from a 5 to 7s and 8s. one thing about the writing process was that I wish you would tell us your scoring on the essay so the class knows when they are being far too critical or far too lenient. It would better allow us to have a deeper understanding of what those benchmarks and scores relate to. The class was very chill which I appreciated in the mornings, although the grading was the hardest of any of my classes. It is also very stressful waiting for half of the grades to be entered in for the class in which you have the lowest grade. Although it was a very different type of learning environment from anything I had experienced before, looking back I am glad to have gone through it.

Assignment 24- Amanda Byerman

I was terrified walking into this year- I was intimidated by the prospect of making new friends, learning new things, and making some ultimately life-changing decisions about my future and that would impact my future. More scary than the academic aspects, I was worried about the social factors of moving- happily, I was able to find a reliable group of friends who I love. I wish I had learned earlier in the year how to ask for held and had taken more steps to stop some of my bad habits (ie PROCRASTINATION). In Senior year, I want to learn how to balance having fun with staying on top of things and conquer some of my fears of the adult world. I'm excited to learn more specifics about my future and what I can do to prepare for that in particular. I hope that I don't overstretch myself and work myself to death- I just need to manage my time properly and I should be fine.

Assignment 26- Ellie Phillips

Although I appreciate a preparedness for an AP test, which can be valuable for college credit. I wish class wasn’t wholly centered around that test. Sure AP testing can be valuable but I think there’s also value beyond the test. The most influential part of class in my opinion was the socratic seminars. They did not pertain fully to the AP test; however, the discussion which they generated I found valuable. The seminar required us to critically read and evaluate interesting texts. I also appreciated having that intellectual conversation. I felt like it stimulated thought that was well beyond an AP test. With that in mind, I thought the most effective way of evaluating writings was through the smaller groups. They required you to be active and focused, and it also took less time to grade. So it was most effective in the sense of time and content. A problem with reading the AP designated scores was that they were quickly forgotten. I don’t have a resolution to that problem, except for maybe when going over them we take small notes that we can later quickly review rather than reread the entire passage.

Assignment 25- Ellie Phillips

I don’t know how to manage my stress well. From what I’ve gathered but not necessarily experienced working out and taking deep breaths are beneficial. Something about exercising helps take my mind off of whatever is bothering me and its better than watching TV because it is productive. The AP tests didn’t stress me out, but I don’t exactly know why. I know at my old school I was extremely stressed, and a teacher gave me advice in the 7th grade and its just stuck with me since then. Fortunately after my stressful middle school years the stress doesn’t bother me as much as before. Since I’m not necessarily stressed, I haven't figured out ways to cope with it. I know this will catch up to me in college because high stress is destined to return, and I maybe just cry or run perhaps. Everyone has stress though, so I’m sure I like everyone else can find a way to deal with it.

Assignment 24- Ellie Phillips

This junior year wasn’t as bad as I expected. From previous juniors I heard that the work was overbearing. Luckily, I could handle the daily homework from Mrs. Dewees. On the other hand, I failed to pace myself with unit assignments. Our final unit I actually procrastinated the most, which proves I never learned my lesson. Once again, I stayed up late and woke up early frantically finishing key terms and chapter questions. I was successful in that I always turned the assignments in on time, but I failed to learn or appreciate the material. So through those mistakes of procrastination, I learned a lesson.

Senior year I want it to be interesting more so than relaxed. Most try to take classes that require no work and are easy, and although that is sometimes nice, that would make the days boring. Hopefully, senior year will be entertaining.

In the summer I plan to travel to Honduras for a medical mission trip and to Ireland for an exchange program. Both trips will be very different no doubt, but I’m excited to learn and live in a different place with a different culture.

Assignment 23- Ellie Phillips

Shower Songs

For some reason singing in the shower, no matter how bad you are, is fun. And most people do it even though most would deny it. The kind of songs I picked are sing-along songs and also upbeat (but not necessarily the best songs they just fit the necessary profile) . Because starting off your morning happy tends to make the day a bit better.

“Walking on Sunshine”

The ultimate start to the morning because the sun is rising and well you’re walking on it. Katrina and the Waves through an upbeat tempo and a memorable chorus make “Walking on Sunshine” a solid shower song.

“Party In the USA”

Miley Cyrus’ prime. Learning the words to this song isn’t difficult which makes it enjoyable. A catchy tune is necessary to make a sing along type song. The added patriotism is a bonus too.

“Chicken Fried”

Chicken Fried isn’t just a lovely tune but also has a nice message.

“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell make this song. The sing-ability and the beat just put me in a good mood.

“Feeling Good”

Nina Simone or Michael Buble take your pick, both do this song justice. This song is cool because it feels like it comes straight out of a James Bond movie. Not as upbeat as the rest, but the song really does make you feel good.

This is a strange combination of songs, but they fit the upbeat rhythm and memorable chorus to have a solid start to the day.

Assignment 26- Joonyoung Park

English class this year was a pretty enjoyable and an effective class. The timed writings we did in class definitely helped me become a better writer and prepared me for the AP test. The class grading we did gave me lots of feedback from my peers and led me to become a better writer. However, I think we could have done more multiple choice practices during class to work on better time management and passage analyzing would have been nice. On the AP test, there were a few questions about the sources and some harder vocab. It would be nicer if we had known how to analyze the sources and had done some more vocab practice.

blog 24-safal dumre

Everyone says junior year is the hardest year. That makes me excited because it means it only gets easier from this point on. Junior year was also not as hard as I expected. Standardized tests were a pain to get out of the way.  Failure was waiting till last minute to start studying for AP tests. I kept my grades up which is an accomplishment. In the summer, I am going to GSP. I will also probably volunteer somewhere and work whatever free time I have left. For my senior year, I would like that the school I decide to apply to early action says yes and gives me lots of money to go there. That way the rest of senior year can be sort of stress free. I’m just excited to get that letter from whichever school accepts me. 

assignment 26 Daryn Smith

Something I found to be helpful this year was our practice and analysis of essays for the AP test. By comparing them to the benchmarks, I gained a much clearer idea of what I needed to write on the AP test to get a certain score. Additionally, giving other essays feedback and receiving feedback on my essays helped me to grow as a writer and highlighted the strengths and weaknesses in my writing. I learned that the biggest thing I need to work on is transitions, and that I am relatively strong when it comes to supporting my ideas. The practicing of these essays also gave us a good idea of what to expect on the AP test and how to tackle whatever prompt we might get. It caused the reading of the questions on the test to be much less stressful, as I had already practiced very similar essays.
It was also nice to have the practice multiple choice. However, I would have felt better prepared had we gone over how to interpret the source information, as I didn't know what to do with those questions. It also would have been helpful to go over some vocabulary throughout the year as I didn't know some of the words on the test which hindered my ability to answer the questions accurately.

Assignment 26- Nicole Loy

I thought that the practice of writing timed writings and giving class feedback, while annoying and miserable, was very effective. I believe it helped us to see what we need to work on and how we could improve our writing. I wish that when we had taken practice multiple choice tests for the AP Lang test, it was more strictly timed and done when you were there (not just when we had a sub). I also would have appreciated more time preparing for the Reading and Grammar portion of the ACT and SAT (not everyone takes the ACT). I also felt that the film projects took away time from preparing for the AP test, and were difficult as many of us know little about filming and we rarely went over filming techniques in class. I also believed that the Socratic seminars were effective in teaching us to fully grasp the meaning behind a text, but putting so many back-to-back decreased the effectiveness, as it only served to annoy us.