A Start to a New Year
How to Survive English 9
A new beginning
Top 5 questions asked about English 9.
- Is there a lot of work involved? In pretty much any class that you take there will be work involved. The good thing about the work in English is that it is not that hard to do and pretty easy to understand.
- How do you stay organized? To stay organized all you need is a large three ringed binder. You need to make sure that all of the papers you receive you put into your binder to keep them with you and neat.
- Do you have to give a speech or do public speaking? No, there will not be any public speaking in front of the class for English 9. The only way to do public speaking is if you want other people from other classes to watch your spoken word poem video.
- I heard there is a ton of projects. In English 9 there are a few projects that you do have to do. But, on the bright side you do not have to do nearly as many projects as the Honors English 9 class so there is less stress on that level.
- Is there a lot of reading to do? It is kind of in the middle and it depends on your perspective on a lot of reading. There are however multiple short stories to read, Romeo and Juliet, The Odyssey, The Hunger Games, and your independent reading. Overall, the reading does go by quick so you barely even know how much reading you are actually doing.
What projects and activities will you be doing through English 9?
- The Hunger Games
- Poetry
- The Odyssey
- Multiple Short Stories
Most of you have probably all ready read the Hunger Games, but that doesn't matter because Mrs. Allen has put a different take on the book. When you are reading the book you get put in a group of about four and are put in one of the districts (district one). Throughout the reading each "district" competes in multiple short games that Mrs. Allen has planned. The Hunger Games was a great experience for all ready read the book; being able to have a different take on it in a funner level.
At the near end of the school year, you may all have a chance to learn about poetry. In past years Mrs. Allen has done multiple poems , but this year she decided to focus on one poem and that was a spoken word poem. For spoken word poems you are able to express your emotions and how you feel about anything. After you create your poem you will have someone record you acting out your poem. This was a great experience for everyone to try something new that is easy and can be fun for everyone.
The Odyssey for being a good part of history and/or knowing the time period it was from may give you the feeling that this will be a boring epic to read. However, The Odyssey is not as boring as you would think. You are able to learn about many of the Greek gods and get to see a different kind of adventure with Odysseus. You will have to put in some work to understand who is who and how the Odyssey came about.
Over the course of the beginning of the year you will be reading multiple short stories. The short stories that you will read are nice and quick. Withing these short stories requires many study guides to fill out and vocabulary words to know. You will have a quiz after short story so you do need to study for them.
Reading on your own and even have to do an actual written book report!!!!
Personal favorites from English 9 that you will probably enjoy as well.
- The spoken word poem. I enjoyed this part of English because you got to be free and speak your mind through your own emotions.
- Group projects. I personally aren't in favor of group projects, but many of the group projects that we did were fun and creative. We got to create a podcast and just have fun with our friends during the Hunger Games competition games.
- Book talks. The book talks were actually very enjoyable. First of all, you didn't have to write out a full book report for your book. Also, this book talk counted as public speaking; Mrs. Allen doesn't like making people feel uncomfortable for public speaking so in replace of that you will only have to talk about your book to Mrs. Allen.
There is always something that you will not enjoy in life.
- Fake Interviews. In ninth grade you will start to create a fake interview in English. I personally did not enjoy these because you had to talk about yourself and why you wanted a job to an adult, and I thought it was really awkward.
- Romeo and Juliet. I also did not personally enjoy this section in English. I was not a fan of the language because it is hard to understand and it lasted a long time. I felt like the story dragged on when you already knew what was going to happen.
- Many paper to fill out. In this class there will be a ton of paper for you to fill out and keep track of. I didn't mind the papers because they did help you, but it was all of the writing that you had to do and you might not even to of had to use those papers.
Personal Advice for You
Study
Don't Procrastinate
Closing Inspiration
~Booker T. Washington~