The Wonderful Word of Blogging

Before this project, I knew a lot about blogging because I read one just about every day. It was definitely something I found interesting, but I never thought I would be able to manage a blog all by myself. Not only did it seem like a big responsibility, but I knew I would never be able to come up with an interesting post every week. However, after doing this English blog for nine weeks now, I feel like I could really get the hang of this and one day I would actually enjoy  having my own blog with real followers. By starting at the bottom, I can actually see myself moving forward with this hobby and creating a really involved and complicated blog. This is the first reason I really enjoyed this blogging project, it really helped me learn about blogging, something I was always interested in before but probably never would have actually done.

Every week, whether it was in English class or any other time, any time something interested came up, I immediately thought of a way I could incorporated whatever it was into my blog. I also really enjoyed the blogs because I thought about English in a much different way than I did before. I tried to find creative approaches to write interesting things that always related to our English reading, discussion, or work. This gave English class so much more variety, while also making English more of a part of my life. Instead of dreading long in-class essays or Data Sheets, I actually enjoyed sitting in front of my computer and typing my blog, and everything was even more enjoyable when I made it on Bobbie's Blog Banter the next day. Not only did I enjoy writing my blog, but I LOVED reading other people's blogs. Some people are very quiet in class, and usually things stay very on-topic. So, it was a lot of fun reading the different opinions and stories of everyone.

Without the blogs, we would've never have experienced Bobbie's Blog Banter. And now, with the addition of music, the beginning of English class is guaranteed to be entertaining. The intense competition of discussions got toned down a little, because the competition to be featured on the show is definitely a much healthier one. The blogging allowed us to take a more light-hearted approach to English, now that as students we see that it is perfectly fine not to analyze every single thing that is put before us. Now we all have grown not only as English students, but as normal human beings.

All in all, I had a great experience with the blogs and I really hope we continue with them next semester. Even with the reemergence of poetry papers, I think I would really like having this blog as an outlet to all the craziness from English. Plus I really think it let all of us get closer, because everyone's reading things from their classmates that they probably wouldn't have ever before. And what better time to get close to your fellow AP English-ers than the 2nd semester of our senior year?

I've Grown!

For as long as I can remember, I've been putting homework off until the night before it's due. Whether its a project, studying, or a simple worksheet, I never seem to find the motivation to start it early. Every week, I've almost consistently done one blog on Thursday and another on Sunday. I even dedicated a whole post to my procrastination. However, I'm proud to say, I think I've finally outgrown this. At least when it comes to Data Sheets (which I think is probably the bet thing not to procrastinate). Here's how I know I've finally grown:

Our first dip in the Data Sheet pool, Othello. With this Data Sheet, we were given a good amount of time in class to work. I did not take advantage of this time like I should have. Sure, I got some work done, but as others cranked out pages and pages, I just kept flipping the pages in my book trying to find memorable quotes. The Data Sheet was due on a Friday. I had maybe one page done for Thursday. So, I came straight home from school, parked myself in my room with my computer, and worked on my Data Sheet. However, knowing it was my last night still wasn't even enough to make me stay 100% on task. With that data sheet, I was up until 4:45 a.m. working. It was a while ago, but if I remember correctly, I also had a little more work to do the next morning. I got about 1 hour of sleep. Not good. Data Sheet experience #1? Major fail.

Moving on, The Namesake. I took more advantage of our in-class time, and I remember for the Thursday I had about 8 pages done. This made the work a little easier, but I still believe I was up working until about 2 a.m. Data Sheet experience #2? Sub-par.

Now, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I am proud of this one. Sure, I had a plan to spend one day over break and just get the whole thing done. That didn't happen. But, as I returned to school last Monday I knew I had to change my ways and get the data sheet done early. I actually worked on it Monday and Tuesday night, and Wednesday afternoon and night. And even though we didn't get class time to work, I actually spent my commons AND lunch periods working on it! Working on my homework during school when it's not due that day is a very new thing for me. And I enjoyed being productive during my commons period, I actually may start doing that more often. Anyway, working every day before, I was able to enjoy my Thursday and not spend the whole night ripping out my hair due to my alarming stress level. I got a normal amount of sleep, and had no work to do the next morning. Data Sheet experience #3? Awesome.

It's really a good feeling being able to see how much I've progressed over the past semester. I'm so glad that I've finally overcome my procrastination. My next Data Sheet will be done before we even receive the rubric sheet. I really hope this moves on into the other aspects of my life.          

Music and Confusion

Before I go to a concert, I always get a little nervous. It’s not the moshing or the loud noise that scares me, it’s the idea that I have to dance. Should I dance? That’s what you do at a concert. Even though that’s what everyone else does, I don’t think I should be dancing. I’m not a good dancer.

So then when music is playing, what should you do?

This is now the dilemma I face everyday when Ms. Serensky plays music before Bobbie’s Blog Banter. What do you do when music plays? If you know the song is it appropriate to sing along? What if you have a terrible voice? I have a terrible voice, but I love belting out a good tune. However, I don’t think my English class is quite ready for that torture. So if singing is off the table, that leaves…humming? I have a feeling that would bother other listeners. I suppose you can tap your hands or move your head or foot. That’s really awkward when you don’t know the song. Then it may just look like I have a tick or something. Its definitely weird just staring at the other people around you. Or watching Ms. Serensky to see what she is doing. I’m sure that would make her feel very uncomfortable. There are so many options, but none of them seem right. I guess I can just observe what everyone else does and mimic that so I won’t seem weird. I guess that’s what I’ll be doing when the music’s playing: spy on everyone else.

Unless anyone has any better suggestions, prepare for my eyes. Staring straight at you.

p.s. Ms. Seresky- I love the music at the seeing the way it ties in to your banter, I just now have this confusion at the beginning of class every day. 

Dread

All day today (and unfortunately for the past couple days), the only thing on my mind was the approaching days of school. Every once in a while I would tell myself "Wow. I can't even believe I will be in school in [insert number here] days. Break went by too fast." Then, tonight, as I once again dwelled on the fact that at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow I will not be sleeping as I have been for the past 2 weeks, but I will be dragging myself out of bed and getting myself ready for school, I remembered the homework I have due tomorrow. Calc. Bio. English. Wait.. I thought it was called a break? Guess not. So, I logged in to Blogger, ready to make a comment and find another topic to blog about. After reading Henry Gilbert's blog (shout out!), I felt comforted by the fact that I wasn't the only person suffering week after week to think of an interesting, English-related blog topic. At the end of his blog, he wrote about indirectly characterizing himself. This got me thinking. Sure, I can indirectly characterize myself, but I would not be nearly as critical as us AP English 12-ers are when we do this to characters from our books. From my actions, I would indirectly characterize myself as a pessimist. Since Wednesday, I have have the dreaded feelings that come with the return to school after break. Why would I let this ruin my break? I still had FIVE days. It is completely ridiculous that I couldn't put the negative aside and enjoy sleeping in, no school work, and lazy days. Even though that may seem harsh, I don't think it's 1/10 as bad as the nasty things we harsh out to poor Gogol, Ashima, or almost any character in The Namesake. So, I'd like to open the floor to my fellow mean, cruel, loathsome, classmates. How would you indirectly characterize my behavior? Please, do your worst.