Last Post- Macbeth's Ambition

I think one of the big ideas Macbeth is mostly about is ambition. I chose ambition because it was ambition that Macbeth kill Duncan, Banquo and Macduff's family. It was ambition that led to his paranoia and guilt over these killings afterwards. And it was his ambition that driver him to do the darkest things just to becomes king. Ambition is defined as a strong desire to do or achieve something usually requiring determination and hard work. Macbeth's strong desire to be king led him to kill and betray some of his most respected people. Also I believe it was Lady Macbeth's ambition that led to these betrayals and multiple killings. Lady Macbeth's desire just to be in power led her to help plan and persuade her husband to kill many.

I believe ambition is definitely apart of an overall theme or message that Macbeth is trying to convey. I think this message of ambition is just saying don't let your personal desires get in the way of important relationships. For example how Macbeth let his ambition come between his most favorable king (Duncan) and his best friend (Banquo). Also Macbeth is trying to say don't let your ambition drive you to do the wrong things that you will then later regret.  This mostly describes Lady Macbeth and how you she was the start of the killings, if you thin about it. She persuaded her husband to kill someone he loved and the killings just trailed after that. But then she later regretted it and committed suicide because the guilt and regret was just too heavy to bear. Macbeth is also saying don't let your ambition get in the way of your success. Macbeth's greed and rush to be king probably led to him not being king longer.

Work Times:
Tuesday- 5/6- Portfolio Cover Letter- 20 minutes
Wednesday- 5/7- Portfolio Remix- 40 minutes
Thursday- 5/8- AP Reading- 1 hour
Friday- 5/9- AP Reading- 1 hour

Macbeth

Banquo- Page 23, Act 1 Scene 3
"That, trusted home,
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange.
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles , to betray's
In deepest consequence."

In this quote Banquo is basically telling Macbeth just to watch out. Because the three witched have given them both great news and one of Macbeth's has already come true.The witches have told them the future which he feels is really strange. He tells Macbeth not to be so anxious to be in power and just to wait for it to happen on its own. Banquo also says that evil things (the witches) sometimes tells us part of the truth to lead us to destruction. They earn our trust by telling us the truth but then hurt us by betraying us when it'll be at our deepest consequence. Banquo warns Macbeth to not do anything worth regretting and nothing bad just to become king.

This quote matters because it introduces Macbeth's want and greed to become king which then leads to him killing Duncan. Also this quote displays Banquo's care toward Macbeth and how he wants to watch after Macbeth and warn him even though he is very happy for him. Banquo's quote also  displays Banquo's personality and how he likes to reason and think about the consequences before doing.  This quote is also important because foreshadows the many regretful and evil things Macbeth will do throughout the book which will soon backfire on him.

Work Times:
Friday- 5/2- Portfolio letter- 45 minutes
Saturday- 5/3- Rereading & annotating of Macbeth- 65 minutes
Sunday- 5/4- Portfolio remix- 50 minutes

For April 29th- Free Post

This week is Spring Break and I'm so glad that I don't have school but yet I still have tons of school work to complete. Oh! the agony. But this week I plan on resting a lot, training for regionals, hanging out with some friends and family and then the obvious of finishing all of my schoolwork. I'm looking forward to probably my regionals gymnastics meet this weekend because this will be the last meet of my season until next year. And the best part of the end of the season is that I get to work level 9 and 10 skills for upcoming seasons. Also the end of the season means I get to relax and not have to make myself so nervous from the pressure of competing.

Even I though I'll miss some school friends a lot and some classes at school, I can't wait until summer. My entire family and I are planning a vacation to either Canada, New York ,Miami or Minnesota. I can't wait because I haven't been to any of those places before. Also because there won't be any school just some summer reading which isn't hard. So I'll hopefully have some motivation and try to get that over with in the beginning of the Summer. Also I'm really looking forward for Summer because it'll basically be gymnastics 24/7 (almost) which I think is really fun getting to practice in the gym for so many hours because I mean I don't have anything else to do in the Summer. Also I'll be working towards my future in gymnastics and I know if I get all of my level 9 skills it'll be ten times easier to be in level ten my junior and senior year.

Working Times:
4/21- Things Fall Apart- 30 minutes
4/22- English Portfolio- 55 minutes
4/23- English Portfolio- 45 minutes
4/24- Things Fall Apart- 30 minutes

Back At it.

If you are in a position of power, you are happy.
I kind of disagree with this statement considering that even if you are in a position of power such as king or queen or maybe even president you aren't always happy. Most of the time some people are too stressed or overwhelmed and they can't enjoy themselves or they just don't know what they have at hand and forget to fulfill their opportunity to the best of their abilities. Also some people are usually not grateful for what they have and they just don't appreciate the good or the power that they have at hand. 
In Macbeth: Macbeth knew he was going to be powerful and knew he was going to be king because of the witches previous fortunes coming rue he still went out and killed people or rulers ahead of him to make his power come quicker?

Women are more compassionate and less violent than men.
I definitely have to strongly disagree with this statement considering the comparison with Macbeth but I honestly think it kind of has to depend on the person and like how they were raised and where they grew up to measure how compassionate they are. Because people with more compassionate parents and friends are more likely to be more compassionate towards situations themselves in comparison to people with less tolerable friends and strict parents. They are probably going to be less compassionate and tolerable of small things. 
In Macbeth: Obviously this statement is false in Macbeth considering that Lady Macbeth was the one that persuaded her husband to kill people and rulers so his position as king could come quicker. She even thought that Macbeth was too kind and soft which is hard to believe considering that Macbeth was just praised for killing the most people in battle. 

Work Times
Title Interpretation- 1 hour
Playlist- 35 minutes
Things Fall Apart- 55 minutes

Work.Read.Study.

Monday- 2/17- Allegiant Reading- 15 minutes
Thursday, 2/20- Allegiant Reading-15 minutes
Friday, 2/21- Editing & Revision of Research Paper- 45 minutes
Saturday, 2/22- Poetry Terms (Studying)- 30 minutes
Sunday, 2/23- Meter Practice- 30 minutes

She can.

She can jump and leap so high

And maybe even touch the sky

She can twist and tumble

As her mind jumbles

She can twist and turn

As she starts to learn 

She can point and flex

As the skills get so complex

She can  dance and twirl

As she joins a new swirl

She can clamp and cheer

So they don't land on their rear

She can rip and fall

But never gets off the ball

She can quit and leave

But gymnastics will remain in her sleeves

1. Anaphora

2. End rhyme

3. Sibilance 

4. Assonance

"Let it Go"

The song I chose to analyze was "Let it Go" by Demi Lovato. In this song end rhyme is found in the lines "Not a footprint to be seen A kingdom of isolation And it looks like I’m the Queen." In those lines queen and seen rhyme. End rhyme helps add a meter and a rhyme scheme to this poem/ song. Internal rhyme is also found in "Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know." Internal rhyme helps add a catchy, melody to the song. This song also uses sibilance to add emphasizes to certain words and lines and also sibilance is used to add to the smoothness and flow of the song. Sibilance is found in the line: "Makes everything seem small." I also recognized the use of the letters d, t and g. These letters make this poem a cacophony is some areas which adds harshness and force to the song. I think cacophony is being used in this poem to help express the major drive and push to let things go.

I think the use of these many poetic/literary devices help contribute to the overall theme and message of this song. For example cacophony is found in this poem to help express the urgent and importance of letting things go and not letting things to you. I also think that the poetic devices such as sibilance, end rhyme and internal rhyme are just some of the many devices that help add to the melody and flow of this song. Also the balance between cacophony and euphony in this song helps add to purpose and tone of the song. I believe the purpose of this song is to remind people to never give up and to never let people or things get to you. Also to remind people that of things get to hard/ stressful its sometimes could to let to go.

Tuesday- 2/11- Class Reading~ 10 minutes
Wednesday- 2/12- Class Reading~ 10 minutes
Friday- 2/14- Reading~ 30 minutes
Saturday- 2/15- Reading~ 75 minutes

Allegiant- 125 minutes

Work Times

Tuesday- 02/04, Post Comments(2) & Book Post - 35 minutes
Thursday- 02/06, Class Reading - 10 minutes
Friday- 02/07, Class Reading- 10 minutes
Sunday- 02/09, Allegiant- Pages 101 to 168- 80 minutes

Sneaux Week

Well this week really wasn't "normal" considering we were out of school for three unexpected days because of some "snow" Baton Rouge decided to have. So during this snow week I mostly just did homework, read and anything you could do inside because you couldn't really go anywhere because all the roads were closed from being frozen. So I only had like one practice out of an entire week and I had a meet this weekend so the snow wasn't really my best friend. Also during this amazing snow week I slept a lot.. I was pretty much like a hibernating bear, so getting rest for a change was fun.

Friday I rode out to Houston for my gymnastics meet. Its called Houston National Invitational but HNI for short. I competed Saturday morning at eight (I really hate morning meets). I did pretty good on everything and long story short I finished third place in all around, first on vault, fourth on beam, ninth in bars and sixth on floor out of like twenty-something kids. Then after the meet my mom, my sister and I went shopping at the Dallas outlet mall and then the Houston outlet mall on our way back home on Sunday. And that was fun because there was a lot of sales so we got a lot of stuff. And I got some early birthday gifts since my birthday is coming up in two weeks.

Wednesday- Draft videos & Introduction and Conclusion work ~ 75 minutes
Thursday- Rough Draft work ~ 60 minutes
Thursday- Reading~ Pages 155- 230 (Finished) ~ 35 minutes

Research Paper Draft

I really enjoyed writing this paper a lot more than any of the other papers or analysis that we have written in the past. I guess I liked this one more because it was more of just stating and explaining the research you found in a certain format. When writing I didn't really have as much difficulty writing and completing this draft especially since the outline was basically the paper itself. I feel most confident probably with the introduction and analysis of quotations from my sources because I feel like I explained each one and followed the examples that were previously given in class. I also feel pretty confident about my transitions from one paragraph or topic to another. I probably feel least confident about my introduction just because there were so many do nots that were suggested and it was pretty difficult to try and avoid them. And the introduction isn't suppose to start of as like "in ancient times" which was hard to avoid because that's kind of when the events and research in my paper took place.

I would like the most help with connecting my introduction and conclusion to each other for example like the drafting video suggested that it would be nice to introduce a question in your introduction and then answer it in your conclusion about your topic. Also I would love to have help with the beginning of my introduction and the amount of information that I should include in it because I kind of feel that I may have included too much. I would suggest when you read my draft you should focus the feedback mainly on the introduction and conclusion and just the thoroughness of them both. Also on how that connect back to each other like a research paper should.

WORK TIMES

Tuesday-Thursday-  Reading (class time) 30 minutes
Thursday- Detailed Thesis & Outline 30 minutes
Friday- Revised detail thesis & outline 10 minutes
Saturday- reading 60 minutes

Research: Informal vs. Formal

Hey Tess! What's up? I was wondering if I could talk to you about this research project for school. See the assignment started in my AP world history class and I had to research the rights and responsibilities of a topic of my choice. Then we had to make notecards and bib cards for at least ten sources on information about the topic you chose. After I did all of that stuff we were told that we had to complete a project like an exhibit, a video or something of that source on our topic that could be entered in this contest for National History Day. Aside from that we have to write a four to six paged paper on the research we found. And we had to redo our bib cards to make sure our sources were reliable which took forever. Sounds like a lot right. I know. Well at least I learned some things about my topic so this project didn't seem like a total waste, ya know. Well I learned that Spartan women were able to dress freely, train their body, own/ inherit land, be involved with politics but "behind he scenes and were able to educate themselves. And i even learned that all of their "freedom" may have come from Sparta's isolation from any other civilization or the fact that men couldn't handle all of the land and its responsibilities on their own when Sparta expanded so they included women and gave them more "freedom" to help themselves out. And there's plenty of more information on Spartan women that I learned as well. I figured that since you are so interested in women's rights that you would want to learn about the rights that some women had a long time ago.

In AP world history ,a couple of months ago, my class and I were assigned to participate in National History Day. For National History Day our teacher, Ms. Harper, informed us that we would have to research a topic that occurred in the past or during ancient times that pertained to rights and responsibilities, which was the theme for National History this year. My topic is on the rights and responsibilities of Spartan women. We had to research our topic and create at least ten bib cards on the sources we used to find information. Our bib cards had to include an annotation as well that included an evaluation. summary and reflection on that source. Our teacher then checked our annotations and bib cards and gave us feedback on them before we had to start working on our English portion of this project. Also for the world history portion of this National History project our class had to make some sort of visual display that explained our topic and all of the information we learned through an exhibit, a ten to twelve page paper, a documentary, a performance or a web site. This visual display is due around March and if its good our teacher will enter in the National History Day contest against other students all over the nation. And for English we had to transfer the information we learned and researched into a four to six page research paper. Also before writing the research paper we had to edit and revise our bi cards and make sure they were reliable and credible. From all the research on my topic I learned a copies amount of facts and information. I learned that Spartan women weren't really respected by other ancient civilization women because of their many rights and freedoms and they looked at them in a different way. Spartan women were allowed to train their body, educate themselves, participate in behind the scenes politics and participate in contest against men that enhanced and reflected their physical training. Spartan women were supplied with these many rights most likely due to Sparta's isolation and their fast and quick expansion. Spartan women were even able to dress freely, participate in other jobs and activities besides watching after children and cooking and were able to educate themselves in literature and other subjects. All of these rights were frowned upon by other ancient civilizations especially Athens.

Work Times

Wednesday- Reading
Thursday- Reading
Friday- Reading
Pages 67-153  75 minutes

Tuesday- Bib Cards
Wednesday- Bib Cards
Thursday- Notecards
Friday-Notecards
55 minutes

Work Times

Friday~ January 10th~ Allegiant~ 30 minutes
Saturday~January 11th~The Absolutely True Life a Part-Time Indian~ 35 minutes~ 1-48 pages
Sunday~January 12th~ Research Annotations~ 30 minutes
Monday~ January 13th~ The Absolutely True Life a Part-Time Indian~ 48-67 pages ~ 15 minutes
Monday~ January 13th~ Research Work~ 25 minutes

What is a book that has made you think or changed your mind?

To Kill A Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies have definitely made me picture and think of life and people in a different way. To Kill A Mockingbird taught think before doing. It made me start picturing people in different ways. By not judging a book by its cover more rather then just stating it. To Kill A Mockingbird also made me wonder what life is like for other people. I guess people can seem happy on the outside but can also be feeling the complete opposite on the inside. To Kill A Mockingbird helped me to be less judgmental and more sympathetic to others even if I may not know them that well or at all. This book also helped me to learn more about the different people in life and the difference between them. For example there's people like Tom Robinson and Calpurnia that don't have the best life or they aren't the most fortunate but yet they still remain true to their morals and values and whats right.  And then there's people like Mayella Ewell that may seem all nice and fun but are really just out to hurt you and reputation. And then there's people like Atticus that are just the peacemakers and they don't care who's the most popular or the prettiest they just want what's right to be done. They want to resolve all issues with the best outcome possible. They also want to help and teach others about what's right from learning from their mistakes.

Lord of the Flies helped me to see the world and people in a different way. Lord of the Flies taught me that the world isn't as pretty as it may seem and that there's darkness in everyone and everything. For example the island. When the boys first arrived it was filled with pretty flowers and clear water. But soon as their inner savages were brought out the island became the complete opposite. The island was filled with fire, dead bodies and blood soon after they arrived. Also Lord of the Flies helped me to understand ids and superegos.

Research. Research. Research.

My topic for this research project is on the rights and responsibilities of Spartan women. I plan to write my research paper on their different rights and responsibilities throughout their community. Also my research paper will explain their rights and responsibilities in comparison to women of other civilizations, specifically Athens because of their major differences and in comparison to modern day women. My main focus of my research paper will be based around the Spartan women's major freedom particularly on how they could own land, compete in the Olympics, and train their bodies (most things that other women couldn't do during this time period).


You should care about this topic because it informs you on history and how it was for women in the past. It also informs you on how advancements in technology and rules can help bring equality between men and women. The rights and responsibilities of Spartan women can also inform you on how women activist in the past and over years have made such a huge impact to the equality of women. My topic can even teach you to value the freedoms of women today even though women in Sparta had way more freedom then women in their time period Spartan women still didn't have as much freedom as modern day women.

This week I plan to continue and further research my topic. I also plan to check and revise my sources and their annotations. As I revise my annotations and check my sources I plan to search for comparisons between sources and search for information and facts that stand out above others. When I complete that I plan to start organizing my information into particular categories for my research paper paragraphs.