Year 9 English Evaluation

1. What did you enjoy about year 9 english?
2. What did you dislike?
3. What were you good at?
4. What was a challenge for you?

1. The thing I enjoyed most in English was probably the protest poetry unit and also the unit on Tomorrow when the World Began. I like the poetry because it was really interesting to look at different poems and songs and to get to read
3. When writing a short story I am good at:

• Knowledge and understaning
• Appreciating texts
• Interpreting texts (B)
• Constructing texts (B)
• Reflecting (B)

I had a few problems with punctuation

When writing an analytical essay I am good at:

• Organising points and subject matter
• Knowledge and understanding (B)
• Constructing texts (B)

I had some problems with spelling.

When preparing and presenting an oral presentation I am good at:

• Speaking clearly and confidently with good pace
• Selecting appropriate and effective texts

Most of my ticks are in the B B- column and there is one in the C column. I did not do very well in:

• Consistentky organising subject matter logically and effectively
• developing argument
• cohesive ties
• vocabulary
• grammar
• NON VERBAL FEATURES

When doing a persuasive oral I am not very good. I mostly got ticks in the B, B-, C+ & C columns. This was for:

• Knowledge and understanding
• Constructing texts
• reflecting

When writing a feature article I am good at:

• Constructing texts
• Cohesive Ties
• Vocabulary
• Appropriate Grammar
• Punctuation
• Spelling

Much Ado About Nothing – Blog Activities

1. Which character do you relate to the most in the play? In your response, you must refer to the

 following:

a. Name and describe the character you have chosen

b. Choose a minimum of 4 quotes from the play that demonstrate

 their personality, qualities or characteristics.

c. Name which character they interact with the most in the play and explain their relationship.

d. Explain and justify why you relate to this character the most in the play

e. Include at least one photo of your character.

(200-300words)

a. The character in the play ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ that relates to me the most is Hero. Hero is gentle, kind and a bit shy. She is the daughter of Leonato and she falls in love with Claudio. She is a beautiful and caring young woman who is well respected.

b. CLAUDIO: “In mine eye she is the sweetest lady I ever looked on.” (1.1.179-180)

PEDRO: “Amen, if you love her, for the lady is very well worthy.” (1.1.210-211)

c. The character Hero interacts with most in the play is Claudio. Their relationship started when they first saw each other and immediately fell in love with each other. Both of them are shy so Don Pedro had to talk to Hero on Claudio’s behalf. Once they admit their love to each other they plan to get married. There relationship is a very happy and loving one until Don John spoils everything by making Claudio think that Hero was unfaithful. Don John’s lies broke up their relationship. In the end they realised the truth and they loved each other again.

d. I relate to this character most in the play mainly because she is shy and I can be shy. I also do not relate to any of the other characters much at all. Hero is quite lots of the time but she likes to have fun with her friends and at parties. This is also very similar to me.

e. This is a photo of Hero:

2. Dramatic monologue:

I cannot believe this is happening. Claudio has just walked out on Hero on their wedding day accusing her of something that is not possible. There is absolutely no way Hero would have been unfaithful. She loved Claudio. There is no way she would do anything to hurt him. Before she fell in love with Claudio, she had never considered being with a man before she was married. She has always been a loyal person. Whenever I got into arguments when we were younger she always stood up for me and has never let me down.

When Claudio accused Hero of being disloyal in front of all our family and friends, most of our friends left. Our father was furious at Hero. He disowned her and said that she was better off dead than to bring this disgrace upon our family. He didn’t believe Hero even when she pleaded that she never did what Claudio was accusing her of. My uncle’s loyalties lay with Claudio for some reason, even though he has only known him for a short time and he has known Hero for her whole life. My uncle, Hero’s father, was only concerned for himself. He did not stop to think about how Hero felt or that she was actually innocent and either Claudio was mistaken or was lying for one reason or another. I am angry at my uncle because he could have handled this much better and he could have tried to put himself in Hero’s shoes and find out what she had to say about the situation. I think that everyone should calm down and talk about what has happened so we can figure everything out. I am disappointed in the way the situation was handled by my family, by Claudio and Don Pedro. I plan to talk to everyone about what they know and figure out the truth. Right now, I believe that Hero is innocent and I won’t stop until I prove her innocence.

Wide Reading

4. What is a wide reading novel you have read lately? Give a review of the novel and your rating for future readers.

The most recent novel I have read was "High Five" by Janet Evanovich. 'High Five' is the 5th book in a series of many books. I haven't read the other books but they aren't really related so it didn't matter that I read the 5th first.

The book is a novel about a woman called Stephanie who is a bounty hunter. She is struggling with bills and rent and she isn't making much money from her job. All of a sudden her Uncle disapears and she finds herself in the middle of a scandel. Throughout the book many interesting things happen to her including bombs, murders, love, friendship and mystery.

This book is really good and I would recommend that everyone read it. It is easy to understand and it is funny and the mystery of everything that is happening keeps you hooked. It really is a great book and I am planning to read the rest of the series.

STEPHANIE PLUM SERIES

One for the Money

Two for the Dough

Three to Get Deadly

Four to Score

High Five

Hot Six

Seven Up

Hard Eight

Visions of Sugar Plms

To the Nines

Ten Big Ones

Eleven on Top

Twelve Sharp

Plum lovin'

Lean Mean Thirteen

Plum Lucky

Fearless Fourteen

Plum Spooky

Finger Lickin' Fifteen

Speech

Protest Poetry – Racism Speech by Brydee Maroney-Vita

Today, protest poetry is an excellent way for social protest to be heard. One issue that has been discussed widely in protest poetry is racism. Racism is a very big problem in the world today and the song Black or White by Michael Jackson and the poem End Racism by Robert M. Hensel help by challenging racism and persuading people to feel the way both the composer and the poet feel about racism.

The poem End Racism and the song Black or White are both forms of protest poetry. These two pieces are written from very different angles. The main argument in End Racism is about religion. It says “Christ made all man in the likes of Him.” This argument is effective, as many people believe in God and religion. If they are told that people are supposed to be the way they are because of religion they will make sure they aren’t racist because they want to do the right thing by their religion or beliefs. Black or White is written about people being hurt by racism and being discriminated against based on the colour of their skin. It says “It don’t matter if you’re Black or white.” This is very powerful as it is simply stating Michael Jackson’s opinion of the way things should be. Although they are written about different issues within racism, both of them are about the human race uniting together without worrying about the colour of people’s skin.
Protest poetry is written for a two main reasons, to get people to hear their protest and to persuade people to think the way they do. The poem End Racism and the song Black or White are no exception to this. The purpose of the two pieces is to make people aware of racism and to persuade people to stop being racist. They are also written to promote racial unity and equality. This is shown in End Racism when it says “The colors of the world, all join as one,” and in Black or White when it says “I aint second to none and I told about equality.”

Both pieces of work show different emotions, which help the audience feel that the writer and poet actually care about the issue of racism. The emotions shown in the poem End Racism are sadness and longing. The poet is sad that there is racism in the world and he is longing to get his message across and for a world with no racism. This is shown when the author has written, “We all must bring our Racism to end, a message to all, I long to send.” The emotions shown in the song Black or White are hope and also the composer being tired of racism. This is shown in the song when it says, “I am tired of this devil, I am tired of this stuff, I am tired of this business.”

The craftsmanship of the poem and the song are used to help make the form of protest poetry more effective. In the poem End Racism the words are not harsh, they are longing and sad. This makes the poem more effective as it shows that the poet is hurt by racism and it also benefits him as it shows he is not using violence and anger to stop racism. It uses imagery and metaphors, one where it says, “the colours of the world, all join as one” and another saying “the lord is our Sheppard, and we as his son”. The first is making people see a great image of all people being united. The metaphor is used to make the bond between the reader and God important making the evidence used to persuade the reader more effective, therefore making the poem more effective.

The words in the song Black or White are hopeful for most of the song and they describe how good the world would be without racism. This paints a picture for the listener and it helps persuade them to see that racism is not good for the world. They then change to more harsh words. They say how he is sick of racism and he points out the bad things about it. This helps show the reader why racism is bad and it backs up the reason for writing the song. When his words are hopeful the rhythm is much lighter and when he gets angry it becomes more intense. One of the poetic techniques the composer has used is repetition. He has repeated the words “it doesn’t matter if your black or white.” This helps get the message across as it is repeated so many times throughout the song it will stay in the listeners head.

The song Black or White by Michael Jackson and the poem End Racism by Robert M. Hensel are excellent vehicles for protest. Both the poem and the song convey the message to stop racism and to join together peacefully as equals without worrying about the colour of people’s skin. Both pieces successfully begin to persuade the reader or listener to feel the way the poet and the composer feel about racism. Thank you.

Goals

2. Goals for next term: Identify what areas you have improved on over the last semester and areas you still feel are a challenge for you. How are you going to go about improving this for term 4?

My goals for this term are to improve my marks in all assessments. To do this I will spend more time checking my work and making sure I don't have mistakes in it. When I do orals, I will try to use more expression and gestures. I will definitely hand in drafts for any assessments. I pay lots of attention in class so I will keep paying attention .

Evaluation

1. Write an evaluation of the Proest Poetry unit that we completed this term. What did you learn from studying the unit in terms of poetic techniques and how poets express the point of view through their compositions. What poem did you enjoy analysing and why? How would you rate the unit in terms of learned experiences and texts you enjoyed? Create a rating schem you can put at the bottom of your evaluation.

The topic we have been studying this term was protest poetry. Protest poetry is when a poet or a writer expresses their protest through songs and poems. From studying protest poetry I have learnt the proper terms for different poetic techniques. I learnt when to use different techniques and also how to tell different techniques apart. I learnt that poetry is written to appeal to the five senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, hear) of the reader. Another thing i learnt was the 7 types of images:

• visual imagery
• auditory
• olfactory
• gustatory
• tactile
• organic
• kinesthetic

I also learnt how to analyse the effectiveness of songs and poems as a vehicle for protest. By knowing how to do this, I was able to complete my speach.

The poem I enjoyed analysing was 'Outback'. This was because it had a very important message and it was written really well. 

I found this unit really interesting, especially when we looked at different poems and songs. My favourite part was trying to figure out the reason for the poems and figuring out what they meant. I would rate this unit 8/10 for being interesting :).