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Poerty

April 29th, 2007 by alexh

This quarter, we studied both the academic side of poetry and also the more personal views. We both read and wrote poetry of our own, which we then consolidated into a book and displayed them at our own poetry night. Where we also read out loud a poem of choice. During this we were also working with people around the world towards a common goal. Our objective was to educate people about the pressing matters of the world using poetry, images, and facts. We then put these all together to create an end product.

While completing the teen life project, I believe that I was an Effective Communicator because I Incorporated/ Utilized technology as a tool for communication, demonstrated the skills of effective collaboration, collaborated with others in appropriate learning situations to achieve group goals, and understood and conveyed written, oral and visual information using appropriate media. I also think that I was an Academic Achiever because I demonstrated the ability to work both independently and collaboratively. In my own words this means that I was able to work with people I already knew and people I still have never met to complete a project where we used technology. These skills remind me of groups who travel around the world educating students about drugs and alcohol. I applied these ESLRs by writing and producing my own poem and picture and then shared them with the other members of my group via email, msn, and our personal wikispace. I could have improved in this area by gathering more information about my subject and then writing my poetry, so then I could have more fully understood the background and made my poem all the more better. In this area I would give myself a nine out of ten because I did collaborate with others for a common goal.

For the teen life project I was not a Critical Thinker, an Involved Citizen, or a Self-Directed Learner. I could have used these ESLRs by gathering, analyzing, and processing information from a variety of sources, this would have helped me to write more knowingly about my subject and also help to develop my own point of view concerning teenage drug use. I also could have demonstrated responsibility in active decision-making; this would have enabled me to help the more organized people of our group rather than just completing my own work and then doing nothing else. In addition I could have accepted responsibility for my own learning and demonstrated competency in goal setting, time management, and organizational skills. In doing these I would have be able to better stay focused on the end goal instead of wasting time and almost not finishing on time.

To write all my poems and comply them into a book I think I was a Self-Directed Learner because I monitored, adjusted, and documented work in progress. I also this I was an Academic Achiever because I continually assessed, evaluated, and adjusted work to maintain high standards and I demonstrated technological literacy and the use of technology as a tool for the efficient and creative completion of a project. I also think that I was an Effective Communicator because I demonstrated my creative talents to convey ideas. To me this means that I had a classmate or a teacher read over my work to give me suggestions on how to make it better. It also means that I used technology to make my project more efficient. This reminds me of revising and editing and how for almost everything in your life must fix the small problems or just start over, and I feel that this is an important life lesson that every person needs to learn. I would look at Mr. R’s suggestions on my poems and decided which I would use and which ones I would not; this help to make my poetry flow more but also retain my own voice. I also use my own pictures to make my points come across visually and I typed all the poems that were put into my book to make them easier to read. I could have improved by also revising my poems at home, so that they were constantly improving. In this area I would give myself a seven out of ten because there are still many thing I could have done to improve.

In this section of the quarter I was not Critical Thinker or an Involved Citizen. If I had built meaning and understanding using life knowledge and figurative language, which I could have incorporated into my poems by using ideas that I already had with new tools that I had learned in class, or demonstrated care and concern for my environment, by writing to educate others, than I would have been on whole a better student.

I believe that I demonstrated the qualities of, an Involved Citizen during the poetry night because I interacted with people of diverse cultures and demonstrated awareness and respect for the rights of others. An Effective Communicator because I listened respectfully and asked questions to facilitate understanding and achieve insight, collaborated with others in appropriate learning situations to achieve group goals and finally understood and conveyed written, oral, and visual information using appropriate media. In my words, this means that I worked with people of different races towards an overall group goal and used media to achieve it. These reminded me of the UN because they are people from all over the world working together to make the world a clean and happier place, and they do this by educating people of global problems using technology. I used these ESLRs by teaching different people how to write a sensory poem and by working with my whole class to bring the night together and to make an introductory movie of our school. To improve I could have help with setup or cleanup of the night, this would have let somebody who had already done a lot of work for the event. In this section, I give myself an eight out of ten because I did my part but could have volunteered for more.

For the poetry night, I was not a Critical Thinker, an Academic Achiever, or Self-Directed Learner. To become any of these I should have solved problems using a variety of strategies, instead of choosing the easiest but not always best way, or take creative risks in developing new ideas, this would have enabled me to make the poem I read much more interesting and special.

In the end, I demonstrated the qualities of an Academic Achiever, an Involved Citizen, an Effective Communicator, and a Self-Directed Learner. The only ESLR that I did not show was a Critical Thinker, so next time I will have to improve on that area. Next quarter we will be reading The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Although most of his works are plays, his lines are written in Iambic pentameter. I look forward to reading this because I really enjoy poetry, which it practically is, and I also enjoy reading stories of magic.

This quarter, we studied both the academic side of poetry and also the more personal views. We both read and wrote poetry of our own, which we then consolidated into a book and displayed them at our own poetry night. Where we also read out loud a poem of choice. During this we were also working with people around the world towards a common goal. Our objective was to educate people about the pressing matters of the world using poetry, images, and facts. We then put these all together to create an end product.

While completing the teen life project, I believe that I was an Effective Communicator because I Incorporated/ Utilized technology as a tool for communication, demonstrated the skills of effective collaboration, collaborated with others in appropriate learning situations to achieve group goals, and understood and conveyed written, oral and visual information using appropriate media. I also think that I was an Academic Achiever because I demonstrated the ability to work both independently and collaboratively. In my own words this means that I was able to work with people I already knew and people I still have never met to complete a project where we used technology. These skills remind me of groups who travel around the world educating students about drugs and alcohol. I applied these ESLRs by writing and producing my own poem and picture and then shared them with the other members of my group via email, msn, and our personal wikispace. I could have improved in this area by gathering more information about my subject and then writing my poetry, so then I could have more fully understood the background and made my poem all the more better. In this area I would give myself a nine out of ten because I did collaborate with others for a common goal.

For the teen life project I was not a Critical Thinker, an Involved Citizen, or a Self-Directed Learner. I could have used these ESLRs by gathering, analyzing, and processing information from a variety of sources, this would have helped me to write more knowingly about my subject and also help to develop my own point of view concerning teenage drug use. I also could have demonstrated responsibility in active decision-making; this would have enabled me to help the more organized people of our group rather than just completing my own work and then doing nothing else. In addition I could have accepted responsibility for my own learning and demonstrated competency in goal setting, time management, and organizational skills. In doing these I would have be able to better stay focused on the end goal instead of wasting time and almost not finishing on time.

To write all my poems and comply them into a book I think I was a Self-Directed Learner because I monitored, adjusted, and documented work in progress. I also this I was an Academic Achiever because I continually assessed, evaluated, and adjusted work to maintain high standards and I demonstrated technological literacy and the use of technology as a tool for the efficient and creative completion of a project. I also think that I was an Effective Communicator because I demonstrated my creative talents to convey ideas. To me this means that I had a classmate or a teacher read over my work to give me suggestions on how to make it better. It also means that I used technology to make my project more efficient. This reminds me of revising and editing and how for almost everything in your life must fix the small problems or just start over, and I feel that this is an important life lesson that every person needs to learn. I would look at Mr. R’s suggestions on my poems and decided which I would use and which ones I would not; this help to make my poetry flow more but also retain my own voice. I also use my own pictures to make my points come across visually and I typed all the poems that were put into my book to make them easier to read. I could have improved by also revising my poems at home, so that they were constantly improving. In this area I would give myself a seven out of ten because there are still many thing I could have done to improve.

In this section of the quarter I was not Critical Thinker or an Involved Citizen. If I had built meaning and understanding using life knowledge and figurative language, which I could have incorporated into my poems by using ideas that I already had with new tools that I had learned in class, or demonstrated care and concern for my environment, by writing to educate others, than I would have been on whole a better student.

I believe that I demonstrated the qualities of, an Involved Citizen during the poetry night because I interacted with people of diverse cultures and demonstrated awareness and respect for the rights of others. An Effective Communicator because I listened respectfully and asked questions to facilitate understanding and achieve insight, collaborated with others in appropriate learning situations to achieve group goals and finally understood and conveyed written, oral, and visual information using appropriate media. In my words, this means that I worked with people of different races towards an overall group goal and used media to achieve it. These reminded me of the UN because they are people from all over the world working together to make the world a clean and happier place, and they do this by educating people of global problems using technology. I used these ESLRs by teaching different people how to write a sensory poem and by working with my whole class to bring the night together and to make an introductory movie of our school. To improve I could have help with setup or cleanup of the night, this would have let somebody who had already done a lot of work for the event. In this section, I give myself an eight out of ten because I did my part but could have volunteered for more.

For the poetry night, I was not a Critical Thinker, an Academic Achiever, or Self-Directed Learner. To become any of these I should have solved problems using a variety of strategies, instead of choosing the easiest but not always best way, or take creative risks in developing new ideas, this would have enabled me to make the poem I read much more interesting and special.

In the end, I demonstrated the qualities of an Academic Achiever, an Involved Citizen, an Effective Communicator, and a Self-Directed Learner. The only ESLR that I did not show was a Critical Thinker, so next time I will have to improve on that area. Next quarter we will be reading The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Although most of his works are plays, his lines are written in Iambic pentameter. I look forward to reading this because I really enjoy poetry, which it practically is, and I also enjoy reading stories of magic.

Posted in Teen Life, Reflective Journal, Poetry | | | 0 Comments

Emily Dickinson

March 7th, 2007 by alexh

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830. She went to Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley. She only attended this school for one year, when she returned home. She remained here for the rest of her life and rarely left. She also had very few visitors. When she did have guests they greatly impacted her poetry. On a trip to Philadelphia, she met a Reverend Charles. He visited her home and then left her for the West Coast. Many critics believe that this is what caused her increase in her heartsick poetry. Though he was an important person in her life, some doubt that he was really her love. Other possibilities for her love in her poems are Otis P. Lord, a Massachusetts Supreme Court Judge, and Samuel Bowles, the editor of the Springfield Republican. She lived in isolation from the world outside. She spent a lot of time with her family. Her father, Edward Dickinson, her brother Austin, and her younger sister Lavinia. She admired both Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and John Keats. She died in Amherst in 1886. After she died her family found forty hand bound volumes, containing more than eight hundred of her poems. All in all, her works were not acknowledged while she was still alive.

I measure every Grief I meet
With narrow, probing, Eyes –
I wonder if It weighs like Mine –
Or has an Easier size.

I wonder if They bore it long –
Or did it just begin –
I could not tell the Date of Mine –
It feels so old a pain –

I wonder if it hurts to live –
And if They have to try –
And whether – could They choose between –
It would not be – to die –

I note that Some – gone patient long –
At length, renew their smile –
An imitation of a Light
That has so little Oil –

I wonder if when Years have piled –
Some Thousands – on the Harm –
That hurt them early – such a lapse
Could give them any Balm –

Or would they go on aching still
Through Centuries of Nerve –
Enlightened to a larger Pain –
In Contrast with the Love –

The Grieved – are many – I am told –
There is the various Cause –
Death – is but one – and comes but once –
And only nails the eyes –

There’s Grief of Want – and grief of Cold –
A sort they call “Despair” –
There’s Banishment from native Eyes –
In Sight of Native Air –

And though I may not guess the kind –
Correctly – yet to me
A piercing Comfort it affords
In passing Calvary –

To note the fashions – of the Cross –
And how they’re mostly worn –
Still fascinated to presume
That Some – are like My Own –

The Reason that chose this poem is because I feel that when people are in pain or are very sad, they tend to forget that other people are going through the same things. They also try to compare someone else’s pain against their own. They say that nobody knows what it feels like and that nobody can help. I know that I can get like this at times and I am trying to break that habit, because if you only think about your own pain, you aren’t there when your friends or family really need you. In this poem she uses personification when she talks about her grief. She also has a rhythm and repetition but she does not use any similes or metaphors.

Posted in Poetry | | | 0 Comments

Why?

January 31st, 2007 by alexh

Why can’t you see me?

This tortured being behind the mask

Where lights fades to black

You find me pouring crimson betrayal

Why don’t they understand?

These pitiful pretenders

Underestimating the power

Disbelief leading to my end

Why won’t they listen?

Arrogance blinding

Opinions lashing

Never fully understanding

Why should they stop?

Suffocating me in their lies

Cutting me into pieces

I cry for them all

Why wont somebody tell me I’m fine?

I open my eyes to find emptiness

Repulsed by my blood

They dissolve into the shadows of my mind

Why should I care?

They watch as I lay dying

Saving the last breath for final word

A whisper of a song once forgotten

Why?

Posted in Poetry | | | 2 Comments

This Is For You

December 10th, 2006 by alexh

For me they say

Are all your longings

These internal desires

Unable to be quieted

Those passionate words

Burning into my heart

Leaving holes

Causing me to crumble

The blood running down my wrists

Your pain

The pain which is now mine

I will free you

It is what I must do

With every last breath

You will feel loves soft caress

In my embrace

Find the peace you need

My life in chaos

But you showed up

With your loving words

And helped me through

Now seek me

For there you will find what you want

The beauty

The bladed heart

Posted in Poetry | | | 2 Comments

Forbidden Self

November 15th, 2006 by alexh

You look at me. What do you see? A girl? Or do you see the soul beneath the surface? 

The soul that screams for freedom. Fighting to be heard. Clawing at the wall. The forbidden me. 

You say you know. You think you do.You are not the only one. People who are so blind.  

Watching and waiting. Things that I cannot bear. I cannot replace these feelings inside. If only they knew. 

If only they could see. Could see the forbidden me. 

Will it forever be this way? My true self hidden deep inside. For fear of what they will think. Those who love me.                

Should they accept me?

Would they learn to understand the hidden me?

Could they love my forbidden self?

Posted in Poetry | | | 5 Comments

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