1st Quarter Poetry Journal Reflection

To A Sister Leaving Home

     When you took me

to school in eighth

grade. Everyday

you drove me in. 

Passing the high 

school where you

went. Just to drop

me off at the 

middle school. I always

waited for tap, tap, tap, of 

you running down the stairs 

so we would not be

late. But now 

you are off 

to college. And 

you no longer

drive with me, 

but away from 

me. I wish you

could stay. Help

me with high school.

I know that you

must leave though. 

I wave goodbye.

And you wave 

back through the

window I used 

to look out 

every morning.

Analysis of Soccer

It's about 

the ball,

 the feet, 

and the goal.

Feet strike ball, 

and hits the

back of the

net. Not always. 

Some go wide,

go over, get

saved. Others

get blocked. Off 

the body of 

the defender.

Ball sits and

waits for feet

to kick, and for

net to be

struck. Feet

pound the

ball (thump)

and the ball

crashed the

net (crack).

Other times,

goalie saves 

ball (pow), 

and ball goes

wide (woosh). 

With fans in

the stands

the ball shoots

into the net.

It's a goal.

It's done on

grass and for

fun. There is 

a lot of 

run, run, run.

I chose these poems because I have never formatted poems like these. With very short lines and sentences. I did this to try and copy the format of the poems that we had studied those days. I liked in my second poem the way that I used parentheses to show the sounds of a ball in a game. I felt that it helped to make my poem much more creative and fun to read. 

1st Quarter Independent Reading Reflection

     In the first quarter of my ninth grade year I finished 3 books and almost finished a fourth as well. The four that I read were books one-four in the Harry Potter series. I have never read four books in a nine week period so I feel proud of this accomplishment. These books were not very challenging for me even though they are long. The vocabulary used in these books is not very advanced. I knew they would not be challenging but still read them because I really enjoy the movies and I have never had the chance to read them before now. Since I do have the chance to read them I took that opportunity. I believe that the best book I have read this semester was Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. This was my favorite book because I like the plot of it better than that of the others. All of these books are written with great detail which I love but I thought that the story of this book was the most intriguing. 

     The goals I will set for my second quarter reading would be to move on from the low level Harry Potter series and to read some books that will challenge me. I would really like to extend my vocabulary so that I can write better. Reading books of a high level will help with this tremendously. My second goal would be to read books of different genres. In the first nine weeks I have only read fantasy, and some of a memoir. In the second nine weeks I want to challenge myself to read books that have different genres so that I can get a better feel for what my favorite genre is. 

     I would not call my first quarter reading spiritual. This is because I could not connect well to the books I was reading. Although they do have a theme, I have trouble connecting it back to my life due to the books being fantasy. I think to go deeper I must read more books that are realistic. I believe reading more nonfiction and realistic fiction will help me comprehend and apply the theme of the book into my own life.