Freshman Year
Max Reamer
Hi I'm Maxwell Reamer. I personally congratulate you on making it to 9th grade. Be ready to go and don't slack off. Other than that it enjoy yourselves and it might be a rocky road!
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is what you start the year out with. It is a pretty good book overall. But more than that, it shows you what the year is going to hold. The theme in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a reoccurring theme throughout the year.
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Divergent
Divergent was by far the best book we have read all year in class. The best part about it was we got into actually split up into actual factions. Divergent was actually an entertaining book that I wanted to read plus you could watch the movie. You will love Divergent because you will see your grade keep going up because it's easy to do your assignments.
Romeo and Juliet
Other than Divergent, Romeo and Juliet will be the best book you will read all year. At first, you might be a little scared and think that you won't understand what they're saying because of the language they use. Don't be scared. Romeo and Juliet is surprisingly the best I did all year and it is really easy to stay on task and do good on your assignments.
Poetry
Poetry is the best way to end the year. We got to do a spoken word, which is way better than writing so many different poems, hopefully you will get to write one too. Poetry is the best way to express yourself in writing and it really makes you think about what kind of a person you are. I wish that we did poetry for more of the year honestly,
Independent Reading
Harry Potter was the best independent reading book by far. I really like when we can pick whatever genre we want so that I will enjoy the book more. We all know that when you're reading the book you want, you will actually read and understand it. Not that the other independent reading books weren't good, there is just something about being able to pick your own book that is so much better.
My Fave
My favorite part about ninth grade english was Romeo and Juliet. Before ninth grade you don't have any experience with Shakespeare, and I loved it. My other favorite things are what you get out of the class. Even though you might not get the grades you are used to getting, which I know I didn't, you get so much more than just a grade. There is really no way to describe it, and I'm sure it's different for everyone but maybe you will feel the same way I do at the end of your freshman year. The other great thing about this class is it gives you great life skills, the main one would be time management, which I struggled with the years prior and still this year but it shows you that procrastination doesn't work forever.
My Not so Fave
My not so favorite thing was some of the books we have to read. At the beginning of the year we read some books in class that are just plain out boring. That doesn't mean they're bad books but it is really hard to stay on task on something you aren't really interested in. The other bad thing is the projects. The projects can be overwhelming at times, when I say overwhelming I mean overwhelming. They are just hard to stay on top of, but if you can do that you'll be fine.
My Advice
My biggest piece of advice is don't be lazy!!!! I was and I regret it big time. If you're lazy for just one week, you're grade will drop so quick and thats what happened to me. When you think about it, being lazy for one week, equals a whole weeks worth of projects and that can really drop your grade. So just try your best all year and don't get lazy like I did and watch your grade fall. My other piece of advice is don't procrastinate. It might sound easy, but its not when it really comes time. Your life will be so much easier if you learn to not procrastinate.
Top 5 ways to stop panicking over Mrs. Allen's projects
1. Don't waste to the very last minute to do your work.
Make sure you do a little bit of it every night so you won't have to jam it in all in one night.
2.Take advantage of work days.
If you actually do a lot of work on the work days, you will have so much less to actually do.
3. Take advantage of working with partners.
Working with partners is the best thing ever, as long as you split up the work evenly.
4. Don't forget to ask questions
If you don't know what you're being graded on for the project, ask don't just lose projects.
5. If it is a book project, actually read the book.
It will be so much easier, and save you so much time if you actually read the book.
Inspirational Quote
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." ~ Albert Einstein.