christina's english blog

 One time, I paused to appreciate the beauty of nature was during a quiet evening after it had rained. I was walking my dogs around the neighborhood, and everything felt calm. The streets were shiny from the rain, and the air smelled fresh. The sky had a nice pink glow because the sun was about to set. In that moment, I just breathed in the fresh air and admired the beauty of the earth that I'm blessed to live in. It reminded me that even when life feels busy or stressful, there's still beauty around, and I  just have to take the time to stop and notice it. Today in class, we began working on our Robert Frost one-pager. 

 One time, I had to set a boundary with a friend who kept copying my homework. I didn't want to seem mean, but I told them I couldn't let them anymore because we both need to learn on our own. At first, things were a little awkward between us, but later they understood and stopped asking. It actually helped our friendship in the end because it made things more honest and respectful. Today in class, we completed a common lit assignment on the poem, "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost.

 A time when something changed in my life more quickly than I expected was when I moved schools. I thought things would be the same, but they were not. My friends, class, and routine all changed fast. It reminded me that good moments don't always last forever, just like in the Robert Frost poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay." The poem shows that beautiful things, like leaves or moments, fade with time. My experience connects to that idea because it taught me to appreciate the good times while they last and understand that change is a natural part of life.

 My favorite word right now is "serenity." It's my favorite word because it means calmness and peace. I like how it sounds soft but also powerful at the same time. I do not use it that often, but I think about it a lot whenever I talk about relaxing or finding peace. 

 Imagination helps me cope with challenges, boredom, and stress by inspiring me to be better. Whenever I imagine my future, I imagine myself living a successful life, which motivates me to work hard right now. Also, sometimes when life gets sad or lonely, I imagine an alternate life if certain things didn't happen or if things were overall different, and it gives me a sense of comfort. Today in class, we read and analyzed a poem by Robert Frost called "Birches," and then we began a project where we "climb back to our childhood."

A time when I faced a high-pressure situation that demanded my complete focus was driving for the first time. I didn't know what I was doing, and the roads were pretty busy. Luckily, my mom was in the car with me, guiding me on where to go next. I had really bad anxiety driving that by the time I got to where I was going, it felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest, but I was literally just driving to a McDonald's that wasn't even a mile down the street. Despite that, I had to focus on the road and pay attention to where I was going and what I was doing. Today, in class, we read a poem called "Out Out" by Robert Frost. We analyzed the poem, then answered some questions about it afterward.

 Over fall break, I decided to take some time to get some rest, but I also tried to be productive. I picked up a few extra shifts at work, and I also did some SAT prep since I'm taking the SAT test in November. Today in class, we created a comic strip using our vocabulary words from the week.