In humanities, we have started to write poems. This year, I’ve written 4 poems. One of the poems that I’m very proud of is a haiku. I really like writing haikus because they are short and very specific. This is my haiku:
The crisp autumn breeze.
Wind whistles through the branches.
Leaves fall to the ground.
The main challenge of writing this poem was syllables. I wanted to have other words, like instead of ground I wanted to say pavement. Since you can only have 5 syllables, then 7, then 5, I had to find away to work around extra syllables. Autumn is my favorite season, so it was fun to write about that.
The other poem that I am proud of is called Glass Ceiling. I wrote this poem with Margaret. We have submitted it to the NYPL contest. This is the poem:
They’re standing up there,
Triumphantly
I wonder,
How did this happen?
If I had been born differently, would it be different?
Would I be triumphant? Instead of sitting here,
Watching their success.
That should have been mine.
Why are they standing there?
Not even breaking a sweat,
While I’m down here, sweating hard,
Earning 79 cents to their dollar.
I would raise my voice if I thought it would make any difference.
But as I look up at them, and they work ignorantly, I realize,
They feel no remorse for me,
They only care for their own prosperity,
That could have been mine.
They say I’m not working hard enough,
Deep down, I’m wondering if it’s true,
If they really are working harder than I am,
And as I sit beneath them,
I ask myself why,
I’m looking up at a glass ceiling while they look at the sky.
I really like this poem because it sums up my feelings on the subject of sexism. That is one of the things that I love about poetry. Sometimes I feel like I can’t talk about some subjects out loud, but then when I write poetry about it, it seems like it’s easier to talk about. One challenge that I faced while writing this poem was words. For example, there were plenty of times when we wanted to use “glass ceiling,” but we also wanted to save that for the end, to make it more powerful.
I am really proud of all my poetry, and I can’t wait to write more!
This year in humanities, we have been writing creative writing pieces. This is one of my favorite pieces that I have written. I like it because I think it is a really good example of my best work. I like writing about things that could never happen to me. I used descriptive language and show don’t tell.
I woke up, rubbed my eyes and turned off my alarm clock. It was 5:00. Another morning in New York. Work. I sat up and dragged myself out of bed. I felt like a slug, but I had to go to work. I put on my light blue t-shirt and slipped into my black legging. It took what felt like 12 hours to walk the short hallway to the kitchen to get myself some breakfast. My back still ached from yesterday, when I had done 6 back handsprings in a row. My kitchen was barely big enough to move in. I absent-mindedly rubbed the calluses on my hand as I took out the frying pan. Even a simple task like cracking an egg hurt. I sat down at the table with my fried eggs and toast. I felt a soft paw brush against my foot and I sat up straight, as I always did when my cat, Mittens, said hello in the mornings. I picked her up and put her on my lap. She was all white with grey paws that made it look like she was wearing mittens.
“Hello, Mittens. How was your night?” I asked softly. She meowed in response.
Suddenly, I glanced at the time. It was 5:15. I had exactly 15 minutes to brush my hair, brush my teeth, put on my shoes, walk 6 blocks, and take the E train 9 stops to my job. At 5:30, my normal group of early tourists would come and I would perform for them. If I missed that slot, the next slot would be at 6:00 and the tourists then weren’t as friendly. I did all of the tasks in record time and made it there by 5:39. Luckily, the tourist were still there, looking around Washington Square Park. I did a few back flips and a few back handsprings, which hurt so much, like someone had twisted my back into knots. I put down my Mets cap and waited for people to fork over a few coins and help me get a decent dinner.
Suddenly, it started raining. Not just drizzling, but pouring. I grabbed my hat and sprinted to the closest awning I could find. I watched people rushing by, with the first things they could find to keep them dry. I slowly turned around, wondering where I was. The first thing I saw was a diamond necklace. It out shone all of the other jewelry by far. It looked magical, just sitting there. I looked in closer and suddenly I banged my head against the glass. As I was rubbing my forehead, I caught a glimpse of someone. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. All I saw were two piercing green eyes. They seemed to glow in the dark store window. Suddenly, an old memory came to my mind. One that I hadn’t thought of in years.
I was standing by a stream and my childhood best friend, Jane, came running up to me. I was just looking into the stream, as if something had just swam by. I just remember seeing a glint in the water. As soon as I saw it, it was gone. Jane took my hand and we walked back to the house together. She had the same green eyes as the person in the store.
I shook my head and the eyes were gone. I must have imagined it. The rain had stopped, so I tentatively took a step out from under the awning. The ground was slippery and I couldn’t work, so I decided to just go home.
In humanities we are doing a writing piece called “Who The Heck Are You?” It is really cool because we choose a person that we want to interview and we get to learn more about them. I had to come up with a bunch of questions that will let everyone no more about the person. I decided to interview Joanne Magee, the drama teacher. I decided that because she tells us really funny stories about her life, and I just want to know more about her. The theme of my questions is childhood and her job. I think I have some really creative questions that will tell the people reading my piece more about her. Here are my questions:
What’s your birthday?
Where did you grow up?
Did you like growing up there?
How many siblings do you have?
Did you get along with your siblings?
Which sibling did you get along with the best?
Did you get along with your siblings?
Did you ever break any limbs? How?
Did you stay friends with any of your childhood friends?
What did you want to be when you grew up?
When did you realize that you wanted to be a drama teacher?
Who were your role models? Why?
What is your favorite childhood memory?
Where did you go to college? Did you like it there?
What was your first job?
What is your favorite production that you ever put on?
Why was it your favorite?
If you could take credit for being the director of any show that was ever on Broadway, what would it be? Why?
If you could meet anyone, who would it be? Why?
If you could travel to any place in time, what would it be? Why?
In humanities, we are doing a project about medieval women. My group is learning about Anna Comnena. We decided to do a slide show. We are not working very well as a group because everyone is talking over each other and we aren’t really focusing, but I am working on it and I think that everyone really wants to make the project good.. I REALLY enjoy doing projects in small groups and I think that presenting and getting to hear feed back is really good and makes the project better.
This is a picture of a math pop quiz. I have not been doing amazing at these. I know how I should practice and I know how I will get better. I will work on simplifying fractions and finding common denominator. I am going to ask Margaret for help during IWP.
This is a page from the take-home test. I did not do as well as I was hoping to, but I think that I did well. This is a page that I got all right. I really like this kind of math and I think that I am good at it. I studied for it and I did as well as I thought I would on this part.
This is my progress report in Xtramath. I am practicing everyday. I think that I am doing well, but I am not very fast at typing. I know all of the answers, and with a little bit more of practice, I will do much better.
In humanities, we have been annotating Beowulf. That means that we underline important things, circle and define vocabulary words and write a chapter summery. Annotating is important because it helps you understand the text. I am proud of my circling and defining skills because I always remember to define, and not just circle. I want to improve of underlining important parts because sometimes I miss important things.
