Jillianenglishblog

Today, we explored how food connects to identity, culture, and belonging across the TED Talk,  Fish Cheeks , and the Mississippi Delta film. How does food help individuals understand who they are, especially when they feel caught between cultures or judged by others? In your response, be sure to include at least one example from at least (TED Talk,  Fish Cheeks , or the Mississippi Delta film) to support your thinking. Prompt Response:  Food helps us to remember our traditions and cultural. Without food we don't have a smell, taste, and texture to remember for ourselves of how were all different. Instead of missing your cultural you can bring it with you in a bag. Its nice to remember traditions through food, instead of having to travel or worry about forgetting your traditions. Summary: I enjoyed how we did not just read today, but that we also watched two different videos. It kept me engaged and I enjoyed listening and learning. Reflection:  I hope spring break com...

Prompt:  Why is the choice to serve leftover Chinese food significant in  “Lunch” ? How could the author have made a more culturally meaningful choice for her grandmother? Use the text to support your answer. Then reflect on a time when you realized you could have done something more meaningful for someone else. Prompt Response:  Its significant because its showing care over her traditions and how her cultural works. Sometimes I will grab water for my friends before they ask because since I wanted water I have to think about how they want water to. Its the little things of noticing and thinking before doing something. Summary: I was absent but reading this I understand what "Lunch" was about Reflection:  I am enjoying how deep were are diving into cultural and food.

Prompt: Write about a time when you realized that your perception of a particular food was based on a stereotype. Explain what the food was, what you originally believed about it, and where that belief came from. Then describe how your perspective changed after experiencing or learning more about the food. Be sure to include specific details about the moment your thinking shifted and what you learned from that experience. Prompt Response:  I had a stereotype against sushi once because I believed that it was just raw fish and gross. My friend told me about the California roll and I realized I was wrong. It was fresh and really good. My perspective changed after that bite. I realized that judging food based on stereotypes can cause me to miss out on tasty things. Now I am more open to try new things. Summary: I am always thinking about new foods to try and I usually do. Sushi was just one that was a little harder for me to try. I still hate seafood though. Reflection:  I am very...

Prompt: How does the New Orleans episode of  Street Food: USA  show that food represents more than just something people eat? Explain how at least one food from the episode reflects culture, identity, or community. Prompt Response: Yakemin represents people coming together and forming a community. It is a meal that people have made for years and represents culture. It is also a way of people showing themselves to other people. It forms bonds and friendships. Summary: I really enjoyed watching the Netflix show and it showed how many different foods there are that bring people together. I am sure there are plenty of other foods that represent culture and community as well.   R eflection:  I feel like I still do not really have a food that represents my ethnicity. I grew up eating different cultures food and I love that I did. I think American cultured food is not as good as others. I definitely love hamburgers and french fries though. 

Prompt:  Food is often tied to memory and emotion. Describe a meaningful memory connected to a meal or dish. Analyze how that experience shaped your understanding of family, culture, or belonging. Prompt Response:  My family does not really stay in the lines of culture. My dad honestly likes other cultures food more than our own. It was kinda hard to make my cultural food traditions poster because of this. I personally love all foods and I will try a lot of different things. Summary: I can not believe there are only 7 school days till Spring break. I am super excited for that and for prom. Reflection:  I enjoyed diving deeper into food and the traditions that I have.

Prompt: How did the writing process (brainstorming, drafting, revising, proofreading, and finalizing) shape the strength of the final essay, and what was learned about your personal strengths and areas for growth as a writer? Prompt Response: It made it much easier to organize my thoughts and when I read over what I already wrote on the paper I could adjust things that I thought needed fixing and make a better judgement over what I wrote. I figured out that I am actually good at essays and my brain flows pretty well with them.  Summary: I am glad the essay is over and I think I did well. Reflection:  I hope that I get a 100 :)

Prompt: Why is drafting an essential step in the writing process rather than going straight to a final version? Use your own experience from this essay to explain how drafting improved (or revealed weaknesses in) your thinking. Prompt Response:  At first before drafting I felt nervous as to where to start. But now I feel very content and not stressed about my essay. I feel like writing it down made me realize that I am a good writer and that I have almost half of my essay done. I think I will do much better now. I also think that being able to organize my thoughts reassures me to make changes if needed. Summary: I am enjoying how we are given time to really think about our essays and how to make sure they are perfect. Reflection: I think I forgot to talk about the stranger things play I went to last weekend on my last post. I really enjoyed the show and it was much better than I thought it would be. I am super glad I went but I am glad I will be home this weekend.

Prompt: Reflect on your writing process for essays. Which part of writing an essay do you struggle with the most (for example: developing a thesis, organizing ideas, finding strong evidence, writing introductions, or explaining your analysis)? Which parts of essay writing do you feel most confident about? Explain why you feel strong in those areas and what specifically makes the challenging part difficult for you. Include at least one goal for how you plan to improve your essay writing skills.  Prompt Response:  I really enjoy creating body paragraphs because I am really good at on the spot writing. Last year I did super good on my essays so I hope I will do well on this one. I think that I just have a hard time putting all my thoughts together.  Summary: I am excited for this weekend, I was in New York last weekend, but I want to go home. Reflection:  I am nervous for my essay but think I will do good.

Prompt: During brainstorming, one idea usually stands out. What is the most interesting or strongest idea you came up with for your essay, and what made you choose it over the others Prompt Response:  I thought that my idea about her isolation not being a bad thing is what made mine really good. I think people will write about how it was not good thing. But I honestly think in order to find yourself again, you have to be alone and realize that all you have at the end of the day is yourself. When people rely on others to be happy, then you can never truly be happy. Because things will happen and people will sometimes leave. Summary:I enjoyed today's class and I think the clusters really help me to separate my thoughts and get really put together. Reflection:  I just checked and theres only 18 school days till spring break, so I am very happy.   

Prompt: After completing the assignments on making college affordable and finding the best college fit, what is one thing you learned that you did not know before? Why do you think this information is important for seniors to understand? Prompt Response:  I believe that both of those articles had a ton of information. I have already applied to colleges and decided where I am going, so I knew a good bit of it. I really did not know about the trade schools, and how helpful it was for a lot of students. It helps them to get jobs quicker and even has a 99 percent employment rate, which I think is amazing and people should definitely pursue it. Summary: I enjoyed class today, the sub was super nice. Reflection:  I am going to New York this weekend, but I am leaving Thursday.

Prompt: Writing is a process, and the first draft is rarely perfect. Strong writers improve their work through revision. After reviewing and revising your literary argument paragraph, what changes did you make to strengthen your writing? Prompt Response:  I realized I completely forgot to add quotes and evidence into my writing. I am not sure how I forgot to put it into my writing but I did. I made sure to add quotes into both of my evidence sections. I also fixed some small spelling and grammar errors. I also decided to make my conclusion sound stronger and more to the point of my argument.  Summary: I was not at school because I had a raging headache, but I still got my work done. Reflection:  I am feeling a little better about my essay but still a little scared.   

Today we discussed why academic writing must reflect your own thinking and understanding rather than relying on artificial intelligence to generate your ideas. After learning about the expectations for authentic writing, reflect on why it is important for students to write essays in their own words. Prompt Response:  I think it is important, not only because of dishonesty and cheating. But because of the teacher wanting to know what I learned throughout the course of reading the book "Wild". If someone does not care about the cheating factor, then they should at least care about learning, so that they can move forward and not backwards. If everyone on earth was to just use AI and never learn anything, then humans would definitely start to loose brain power. Summary: I enjoyed today's class, I though it was relaxing and not overwhelming. Reflection:  I am a little nervous to write an entire essay in one class, but I think I will be fine. 

Prompt: Today we focused on constructing a strong literary argument paragraph about  Wild  and whether discomfort is necessary for meaningful personal growth. After working through the claim-evidence-analysis structure, explain which part of the paragraph was most challenging for you and why. Do you find it more difficult to create an arguable claim or to move beyond summary in your analysis? Prompt Response:  I had a hard time making sure I had each section and that it was in the right order. It was actually pretty easy for me to find everything I needed to include into the paragraph. I think the directions were clear and easy to follow. I think it is easier to create arguable claim just because there are so many different possibilities for arguments. Summary:I enjoyed what we did and think it was a great assignment. Reflection:  I am weirded out by this schedule but overall I'm adjusting to it fine.

Prompt:  Reflect on your experiences with essay writing. What aspects of writing essays do you find most engaging or challenging? Discuss your personal strengths as a writer as well as specific areas where you experience difficulty or would like to improve. Support your reflection with clear examples from your own writing experiences. Prompt Response:  I find separating each section of an essay to be challenging in some ways. I feel like I like to get things done quickly so I have to slow down and realize that an essay takes time and can not be rushed. I think over the years I have done better with slowing down and doing better with it, but I also need to improve. I think I am really good at finding evidence and how the certain criteria that is needed. Summary: I enjoyed todays class and I think reading over chapter 16 before answering questions helped. Reflection:  I can not believe that there is only 2 months till I am fully done with highschool.