Faith's English Blog

Today was our last day to work on our career research projects. We were told that we had to make an additional career research task for a second career and choose one of our careers to make a college profile. I'm guessing that the reason why we had to do that was to emphasize that you need a backup plan if the first route doesn't go so well or doesn't work out for you. The two careers I selected were Fashion Designer and Astronomer, so I used the Astronomer career to make the college profile. Then, we were told to turn in those papers and use the information we have to make a presentation and turn it in by the end of the period.

Today we had no class due to the fact thst testing extended the time frame of first period. In my class we had an amnesty day so I worked on assignments from other classes and took some naps. However my classmates got very frustrated we were in the class for so long, so our teacher took us outside for a few minutes. The weather was nice, the sun was out and there was a little breeze now and then. When we went back inside, we went to 3rd period a few minutes later.

Today we did an assignment about career research. We were instructed to research a career and answer questions about it on another sheet of paper and then turn it in. The career I chose to research was fashion designer. Then, we were to complete an assesment about our chosen career and turn it in. But since we didn't get to finish the first part within the class period we were assigned to finish it for homework.

Today second and first period switched schedules, which meant that 2nd period came first and 1st period came 2nd. This was to accomodate the schedule of people who were testing today. Then after that we went to 3rd period and the schedule went on as normal. Today we had a free period so we didn't do anything in class, but I hear that there's somethings we may be doing next week. When I got to 1st period I ask my teacher if there was anything I missed on while I was absent from her class because I was testing. I was quite relieved to hear that I didn't have to worry about it.

Today we completed Sections 2 and 3 of the Americna Literature Exam. I finished Section 2 10 seconds before time was up, and Section 3 20 minutes before time was up. Our schedule was altered due to the fact that other classes were having network issues, so we had lunch late and left 3rd late. Both sections were both pretty tricky, but they weren't extremely hard. I was only able to get 2 paragraphs in for the narrative, but I hope that I got enough questions right on all 3 sections that will make me get a passing grade.

 Today we completed Section 1 of the American Literature Exam. It took me 80 minutes of the alloted time limit of 90 minutes complete it. It was not hard, but it was not too easy either. If you read the text, take the time to understand it, and pick a side you know you will be able to argue efficiently regardless of your original opinion, you will be able to complete the argumentative essay. The teacher said it was okay if we did 4 paragraphs in when we reviewed what was going to be on the test on Monday. But my grade is a B in this class and I want to try my best to get a high score on this exam so my average will be the same or better than the way it is and I can pass American Lit & Comp, because this is not a class I want to retake next year. Tommorrow we will be completing Sections 2-3, and I hope that I will get them done as easily as I did in Section 1. 

Today we read a passage about Susan B. Anthony's speech she gave after she was fined $100 for trying to vote because she was a woman. We learnt that she never paid that fine. After that, we went to answer 5 questions in Illuminate about the passage and I believe I got 3/4 of the ones we answered correct. We did not answer the 5th question because the teacher wanted to use the rest of the class time to give us feedback on practice essays we did last week. I didn't get to finish mine because I could not expand on either argument beyond my 1 sentence claims, so I don't expect good feedback. But on the test tomorrow and Thursday I'm positive that whatever topic they give us to argue about, I will be able to expand on it and get in at least 2 paragraphs.

Today we took notes on what the exam is going to be about. We learned that there wil be 3 sections— the 1st one will be on Wednesday and the 2nd and 3rd will be on Thursday. We will be given 90 minutes to complete Section 1, and 160 mins to complete Sections 2 and 3(each section is 80 mins). Then we were given a passage and 6 questions to answer concerning it at the end of the period. The passage was very confusing to me and I could not answer some of the questions accurately due to that.

 Today we practiced more essay writing using the articles we read yesterday. They were both about museums and had different takes on the whether or not artifacts should be kept in them. The first article was for museums keeping artifacts in them, and the second article was against keeping artifacts in them if the country of origin requested it to be returned to them. We created a intro and body paragraph based on which side we chose after completing the cluster. The side I chose was for museums giving artifacts back to the country of origin upon request. 

Today we learned about how to use the process of elimination during the the American Literature final exam. We also learned some tips on how to pass it. One of them being that we have to try our best to answer the constructed responses, and to read the articles with understanding. And then during the second read of the article, you highlight or underline evidence relevant to the question you want to answer. This way you can always quickly find evidence you want to put in your essay as well.