Declan's Fourth Blog

 Agenda:

- take a minute

- blog corrections

- reader's/writer's workshop

- Week 6: QQSL

- literature circles

HW: Read or iReady or IXL for 20 -30 minutes. 

We walked into third period class, and Marcus started to read his blog (it was very long). The one part that spoke to me was when he mentioned the 49ers at the Super Bowl (they should have won). Marcus finished up reading the blog, and it was time for who was going to get picked. Adrian and Ronan said to pick Isaac, and Marcus almost did. Then, Marcus' eyes went to Kingsley, and he was about to say 'Kingsley', but I stopped him. I said to pick Milan, and Milan said to pick me. And Marcus out of the blue, picked me.

We were handed three papers, all about us graduating and moving on to high school. We talked about the culmination, the dance with the 8th grade VIP section, and the trip to MB2 Raceway, and our Field Day Trip to UCLA. I am just excited for summer at this point. Ms. Nakada then told us to show the papers to our parents, and put our name on them.

We then moved on to the QQSL. The song of the week is, "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys, and I think she was good at the Super Bowl (better than Usher...). All of the QQSL of the week are about love, because it is the week of Valentines Day. I looked over and saw Milan singing to the song very enthusiastically. We then talked about what the song was about, which was how most people in life want money and fame, but the good people want true love. We then talked about the Super Bowl a bit more.

Next, we went to literature circles. Ms. Nakada went over the four roles the people in our group had to be. Time Keeper, Summarizer, Clarifier, and the Meaning Maker. We all went over who was in whose group. The bell rang, and we all headed to 4th period. Goodnight.

Marcus' Fourth Blog

 Agenda

Take a Minute

Blog Corrections

Reader's/Writer's Workshop

Week 6 Q Q S L

Literature Circles

HW: RJ 6.1 Read or iReady or IXL for 20 - 30 minutes. 

I walked into Ms. Nakada's third period English class pretty happy, and even more happy as I found out I would be sitting next to my very good friend Charles Renard. Mr. Renard, in fact, was especially happy, more than I, as a very strong man, who goes by the name of Ronan, would have to read the blog. This, of course, would be on top of his mourning of losing to the Kansas City Chiefs once again in the Super Bowl. For now, the thirty year drought will continue on as Brockarious Purdy failed to be the savior for the 49ers, just like his predecessor Garappolo. And I must admit, although I did anticipate for the Chiefs to win, I was also disappointed by the very close, brutal outcome that came down to the final seconds. I am not a 49ers fan, but the Chiefs, the Taylor-Swift Chiefs, I despise. I am not at all pleased for the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year because they are starting to turn into the Tom Brady Patriots whom I deeply loathe. But that all changed as I was finishing up the agenda for today in my Binder Reminder, and as Ronan Schugren finished up reading his blog. I completely forgot that there was I chance that I would be chosen for the blog next. I tried to make it seem like I wanted to do the blog, since Charles was making it obvious that I didn't want to be picked, hoping that it would change Ronan's mind. But no, it sadly didn't work. Ronan's eyes filled with sorrow, hatred, and football darted towards my direction. So yeah, that's how I ended up being picked. And that's how I will do everything in my power, to rub it in Ronan's face that the Chiefs messed up the 49ers Super Bowl Agenda. It was the final play Mr. Schugren, your eyes were intently focused on the screen, and the Chiefs ran down the clock on a first and goal, refusing to call a timeout. His heart raced and then suddenly stopped as while the 49ers chased after Mahomes to prevent the pass attempt, they left a wide open, Mecole Hardman. HAHAHAHAAHA!! Feel the pain RONAN SCHUGREN. Relive the moment of your loss over and over. Anyways, Ms. Nakada corrected his blog and we moved on to the reader's workshop. 

We then moved to our Q Q S L this week, and our quote is from the novel The Sun is Also a Star. The author also wrote Everything, Everything, a novel that me and Mr. Murphy adore. Noa gives us some background information about the book and Ms. Nakada dives into her own personal love story and her previous perspective on the concept of love. Meanwhile, Ronan is still quite distracted, drowned inside his five stages of grief, which catches Ms. Nakada's attention. Still can't accept the fact Schugren, but it's okay. I would give you a pat on the back if I could. People like Otem, Noa, and Rami share their thoughts about the quote. Otem lined up the quote with the 49ers experience, searching for that Super Bowl trophy that just isn't there. They trusted their journey, but in the end, was brought to a stop. Personally, I think what the YA author, Nicola Yoon, means is that it is a challenge to make yourself vulnerable when you form a deep connection with someone, and the hesitation to open yourself up like this. We got into a discussion about emotional manipulation, Rami talked about a movie about a stalker who was acting creepy towards this girl that ended up liking him, and then we talked about an actor on Black-ish (who shares the same name as me), who is still together with the girl he was with at Emerson. (W getting rizzy). So I think that this weeks Q Q S L theme is love. Sounds like it is. Like how Ronan LOVES the 49ers and his king, Brockarious Purdy. Couldn't get you a chip though. Ms. Nakada then told us how we would be making groups to read the same books together. We went through our book options, one of them being the Book Thief (the author shares the same name as me also), which is a beautiful and heartbreaking story set in WW2 narrated in the point of view of death. There was a non-fiction book as well as the coming of age story, Diary of a Young Girl, which was Anne Frank's diary, a novel on the Vietnam War, and another  non-fiction novel about the inequities in the judicial system Just Mercy, and To Kill a Mockingbird, about a young girl's father representing a black man accused of raping a white woman.

Ronan's Fourth Blog

 Agenda:

-Take a minute

-Blog corrections

-Reader's workshop

-Q.Q.S.L

-I.O. and B.A. essays

HW: RJ 5.3 Read or IXL, iReady for 20-30 minutes and record. 

Today is a brisk, cold day. The entirety of nutrition, I was freezing. As I talked with some of my friends, Charles yelled my name. I turned around to see him smiling, evidently very happy. I was confused for a moment before he reminded me of what was today, the blog. Charles has a very strange obsession with making me do the blog, so since he was going to be able to pick the next blog writer, it was obviously going to be me. 

The bell rang and we all made our way to third period English. The entire walk there, Charles was reminding me of what was going to happen. It was truly odd how happy he was. Ms. Nakada opened the door and we piled inside, Charles sitting in his seat smiling at me. Soon after that, Ms. Nakada called Charles up to read the blog, which he happily did. The blog consisted of him talking about his poor mood due to losing in Happy Ball. He kept on bringing me up and talking about me, apparently he'd been watching me so carefully he'd been keeping track of my smile, which is a little weird.  He'd gone over everything else that'd happened that day and proceeded to not once, not twice, but three times say he was going to pick me before the blog was even over. The blog wrapped up, and he was finally able to choose the next blog writer. I'd been hoping he'd have a change of heart, just maybe he'd choose Isaac, but nope, he chose ME.

For a moment I just sat there, the outside world made no noise. Then, Juan reminded me that I had to go and write the blog. I slowly brought my bag up to the table, putting everything back inside before marching off to the table where I'd write the blog. We first had readers workshop, which caused the entire room to go silent. Ms. Nakada made her way around the room, checking everyone's English notebooks to make sure we were on track for the week. Once that wrapped up, we read a poem, "I, Too" by Langston Hughes. The poem is about standing up for yourself, which we can see with the lines, "But I laugh, /And eat well, /And grow strong." and "Tomorrow, I'll be at the table/ when company comes. /Nobody'll dare say to me, /eat in the kitchen." We can see how at a point he agrees and goes to eat in the kitchen, but then tomorrow, he'll be at the table with everyone else. 

Once we finished the poem, we moved onto the Inside Out and Back Again essays. Ms. Nakada said that if you already submitted without a bibliography, you could resubmit with one. The room was quiet for a long time, everyone doing their best to finish the essay and add the bibliography. Ms. Nakada asked how many people still needed time, and most of the class did. Once more the clicking and clacking of computers filled the room. The bell was going the ring soon, so Ms. Nakada allowed us to gather our things and pack up. Soon the bell rang, and we were off to fourth period. 

Charles's Blog About the Schug

                

                Agenda

• Take a Minute 
• Blog Corrections
• Reader's Workshop
• Week 5: Q Q S L
• I. O. & B. A. Essays

HW: RJ 5.2 Read or IXL or iReady for 20 - 30 minutes. 

    Today the weather was very droopy and sad in my opinion. It was rainy and cold, but we all still had to come to school. When I got to my A.T class, I noticed everyone was out of energy, and seemed like they didn't want to be here. "It must of been the weather," I thought. I walked to my seat right next to where my good friend Ronan sits. When he arrived we talked for a bit and before we knew it, the class had already ended. The rest of the classes were very uneventful, with the only things that were different from any other day were, we played Happy Ball, I did not enjoy it, and I finished my math i-Ready. 

    Yesterday, Kingsley had been chosen to write the blog. When he finished his amazing blog, he told me and Isaac, I think it should be spelled Issac with two s's, and me to rock paper scissors to do the blog. There was someone in my mind that I wanted to pick, so I told Isaac play paper. When, "Shoot!" was called, Isaac played paper, and I played rock.

    While writing the blog in my chair of choice, not despair this time, I notice the smile that usually on Ronan's face dissipate. I thought about why he was so sad, and the first idea that came to mind was that he wanted to get picked for the blog but he sadly wasn't. So that's why I am gonna I am gonna pick him for the blog. 

    As the day continued, we went to reader's workshop. After a little bit, Ms. Nakada had to leave the room to deal with another problem in a different room. Soon after she left the class burst out in conversation, there was so much laughing that I saw Ronan was finally able to smile again. I can't wait to see that smile again when I pick him. 

    Soon, Ms. Nakada came back and wasted no time starting the song. But before starting the song Ms. Nakada told us that is might be a little to dark for us. Everyone agreed that we were fine, so Ms. Nakada soon played the song, which was, "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday. I wasn't able to listen to the song because I was so locked in while writing the blog, but what I hear from what Ms. Nakada, it is a song about black families in the south being abused, lynched, and terrorized and being forced to flee their home. Ms. Nakada then told us a story about how Billie Holiday got arrested because she performed the song, and some people didn't like how it showed the truth.

    Thanks to Ms. Nakada having to deal with the problem in the other room, we didn't have enough time to do much else. Soon the class ended after everyone trying to fit as much writing as the could in such a small time.

No matter what happens, Ronan will be the next blog writer.

Kingsley's Lowkey Exquisite Blog v. 4

 Agenda

Take a Minute

Blog Corrections

Reader's Workshop

Week 5 Q-Q-S-L

I.O. & B.A. essays

HW: RJ 5.1 read of IXL or IReady for 20-30 minutes

The day started off as any other third period would. We walked in, got ourselves situated, and started to write down the agenda while Ms. Nakada played a guided meditation. After about a minute of meditation Alejandro came up to read his blog. In his blog he explained how he was going to pick Declan for the next one, but then I realized that Declan wasn't here which sparked my curiosity as to who he was going to pick. When I realized Declan wasn't here, I thought for a second that he might pick me but I brushed it off and hoped he didn't. Meanwhile  I had been thinking about all of this, Alejandro finished reading his blog and then said the sentence that I was praying he didn't....."I choose Kingsley for the next blog." I gave him a slight glance of disappointment and made the walk of shame to the computer to write the blog. We then corrected Alejandro's blog and went into Reader's Workshop. 

After about 10 minutes, Ms. Nakada asked us to bring out our reading journal to work on Q-Q-S-L while the class was debating how many weeks there are left of school. The quote of the week we wrote down was, "Because being American is more than a pride we inherit- It's the past we step into, and now we repair it."-Amanda Gorman. We then talked about the meaning of the quote which I think it means that we need to learn from our ancestors and learn from them so we don't make the same mistakes again. Many people shared what they interpreted the quote as and then Ms. Nakada asked the Question of the week: Whose shoulders do you stand on? What do you stand for? While I was writing down the question of the week, Riley asked the questions, "Will we have a final exam Ms. Nakada?" Otem then has the "Bright Idea" to keep talking about it and fanning the flame.  I don't like the idea of a final exam. I think the last week of school we just don't do any work and like watch movies. 

We then talked about how Luke Combs and Tracy Chapman performed "Fast Car" together and how Tracy Chapman hasn't performed "Fast Car" in 16 years. We then transitioned into writing our essays while some people wrote their bibliographies of they are done writing their novel. After about 20 minutes, the bell rang, and we headed to fourth period. 

Alejandro's Fourth Blog...

 Agenda:

Take A Minute

Blog Corrections

Reader's Workshop

I.O. & B.A. Essays

Week 4 Quiz

HW: It's Ground Hog Day!

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Today started out as any normal day would, or so I thought. I walked into class, very satisfied after math class, after getting a good score on our i-Ready math test. I took a seat next to Marcus, and class began. Akira went up to read her blog, talking about being a guy? I don't know anymore, it's confusing. After Akira finished reading, she looked around class wondering who to pick, knowing I had a good chance to sway Akira to not picking someone like Sammy, I yelled out, "Pick Eli!" I shouted it a few more times and eventually started copying Akira, and as she looked around she said in a louder more booming voice than Ms. Nakada, "I pick Alejandro." I jumped, surprised and a tad bit annoying that I was picked, after all, today I needed to finish up my I.O & B.A essay. As I walked up to this table of doom, i started writing as I very clearly heard a very booming voice, no, not Akira this time, start reading out the blog, looking vigorously at the blog, trying to deem any small little error as a mistake. As Ms. Nakada finished up with reading out the blog, not one, not two, but three people came up to me in the span of three minutes to taunt me about doing the blog, I won't say names but I'll call them, Noodle Arms, Google, and Wafer Lover, each one coming up individually and telling me, "Haha, you have to do the blog." Well, not in this exact wording, but similarly.

     After writing out this portion of the blog, I head Ms. Nakada say, "Time to work on your essays students." And as everyone went to work on their essays, some more than others, the class became near silent with feet shuffli- WAIT! yet another person has come to interrupt me, we shall name him, Bus Boy, not very good names but they shall have to do for now. As everyone went into writing mode, I kept on typing, trying to finish this part of the blog up so I would have a little bit of time to revise my essay.

Break

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And I'm back, after working a little on my essay, and bit on another very important project, Ms. Nakada interrupted everyone's writing and editing, asking us how much time we needed for the quiz, many people said five, a few said one, and I said zero, having just finished the essay and being very proud of it. Ms. Nakada then warned us that four minutes is all the time that we would get, being that we still need to take the week four quiz. In the mean time, I decided to take a thought on who to choose or the blog, I could choose google or Noodle Arms, but they're good people and wouldn't choose who I have in mind. I want to choose someone that will indirectly choose who I would want to be picked, but I don't want to pick myself. For that, the best options would probably be Wafer lover, or Deequan. (My nickname for Declan) I'll probably choose one of them. Immediately after finishing this thought bubble, Ms. Nakada announced that we would be working on the second part of our essays: the bibliography. Everyone put away their Chromebooks and took out their English notebooks as instructed, and we carried on with today's lesson. We first started discussing the difference of .com's or .org's, and transitioned to what we should cite in your bibliography. As Ms. Nakada went through how to write a bibliography, we rushed through trying to manage to get to do the week four quiz. As the bell rung, we finished up the quiz people slowly leaving as I rushed to finish up the blog. After finishing, we all walked to fourth period.

The Amazing Akira's Fourth Blog

Agenda 

-Take a minute

-Blog corrections

-Reader's workshop

-IO&BA essays

Homework

-RJ 4.4, Read for 20-30 minutes

or

IXL/ iReady, Record minutes/summary

    On the rainy day that was Thursday, students trudged into our third period: English. Yesterday in class, Rami and Eli did their blog together since they were the last to write their third blog. I had a feeling Eli would pick me to be the writer today since yesterday I pointed at him, begging for him to be chosen. Rami and Eli were called up to read their journal of yesterday's class and since Eli didn't want to go up, Rami read it by themselves. As Rami neared the end of their blog, I began to fear Eli would immediately call on me next. NEVER, however, would I have expected Rami, one of my favorite friends, to pick me! It was all Eli's doing, I swear by it! Maybe it was because I made myself look like a guy during nutrition and disturbed him. Eli must've used his twisted dark magic to infiltrate Rami's mind into choosing me. I tried to play dumb, pointing and facing towards Giana. My act was put to an end when Rami made it clear that they chose me. I gathered my belongings and headed towards the front. 

    Soon after, we went into reader's workshop. Students fell silent as they began reading books of their choice. All that could be heard was the crisp turning of pages and my keyboard as I typed the first paragraph.

    Reader's workshop passed at a speed that felt quicker than usual as Ms. Nakada told us to bring out our chromebooks. She shared her screen up front, reading an excerpt of her sample essay. She announced that the articles were in the front if we needed them for our essays. The class fell quiet once again as the students went into a deep state of writing. Our writing came to a quick pause since Ms. Nakada tells us to read our introduction and first body paragraph out loud to a partner. The sessions end quickly, with Ms. Nakada asking what we see that our partners do well. Some students such as Noa and Emily shared how their partner ties their sources together along with connecting it to their own thoughts. 

    Ms. Nakada then starts speaking about our conclusion paragraphs. She shares her example essay and explains how we can share our own opinions in our writing. We fall back into writing for the rest of the class period until Ms. Nakada says we can start packing up.

    (Eli is just jealous I'm a better looking guy.)