4Th Quarter Benchmark Portfolio.

​This blog is mainly about my growth as a 9th grade student over the year. I feel like this portfolio shows how much I have matured. This will show my fellow readers that I have struggled , but i have tried to do my work. 

My stregnths in english are that when i put my mind to do the work and i try , that i succed , but my weaknesses are that i do not try and i do not push myself like i should, which ruined my grades most of the time. I want to work on trying harder and working more and not doing everything late.

My expirences while make this portfolio where okay. I did not try a lot nor did i act like i cared about doing work , which i would consider an issue of mine. I barely tried to resolve them, but from what i could do , i tried. I wasn't as proud of going back on my work because i can honestly say i did not try this year. Years before i came to high school i was always an A student, but just recently i didnt seem to care. 

The piece of work that i am proud of the most has to be my Me Mag. I have to say this because that potrayed who i was at that moment in time and it helps me see how i have changed. I loved doing that project the most.

VIGNETTE

                                                                                     Zaria Fortson-Linton

 

Wake Me Up When September Comes Again

 

I hate the feeling were you’re losing someone who once use to be so close to you. It’s as if you feel so alone and tend to blame yourself for what happened. You ponder on the fact that you might have been the reason why, like you changed, when all in all it’s not just your fault.

My previous best friend and I met in September. It’s funny how we became friends actually. I had food and he asked for some and we shared it together. Our love for good food brought us together I guess. We connected on a similar level. Realizing that we can understand each either made us befriend each other even more. We later found out that we had all the same classes and advisory. We were soon to be inseparable, which I was very excited about.

One point in time, a lot of our friends thought we were in a relationship. Such rumors like this I think made our friendship go bad. Honestly, these rumors and thoughts made me think of him in that manner. The true feelings I had for him soon came to the light, but for him it was a whole different story. His smile was something that once meaned nothing to me, actually brightened my day. His eyes, which I never noticed soon, became something I loved to gaze into. I was smitten by his charm, his looks, his everything. I felt like I was in love.

When I told him how I felt about that topic, he didn’t respond to it. It was as if he didn’t want to here it. I felt ignored, and soon that became the case.  I began to notice that he became closer with other people. He would never answer my text or IM messages. We stopped talking as best friends for about two months. We would only talk to each other when we were placed next to each other. The conversations changed from being non-stop all day everyday, to innocent hellos and goodbyes. Then I was told that he and my other friend (who is also in our advisory) had a “thing” going on, which not only angered me because of how I felt about him, but also because no matter what he would always come to me with important information like this. I was hurt and crushed. Words could not describe how upset and forgotten I felt.  I didn’t want anything else to do with him.

Ever since this has happened, my attempts to try and gain our friendship back have died down. Yes, I miss how close we once were but I was tired of being the only one trying to rebuild our friendship when he didn’t want to help.

Also, this made me wish that I held back the feelings I had about him. The trust I had for him.  The love that I had for him. I wish we could have had a new start. Like September would come back, to bring back that one memory we will always cherish, remember and miss.

 

ODYESS COMPARE AND CONTRAST

 

Thesis Benchmark

 

Macbeth and the Odyssey are both remarkable stories.  In these stories they both revolve around peoples actions and changes. The main female characters go by the names of Lady Macbeth and Penelope. These women are both sent on emotional rollercoaster and eventually change from the beginning to end of these books. Even though Lady Macbeth and Penelope both change in the story, they both change opposite from each other.

 

In Macbeth and The Odyssey both the leading ladies, Lady Macbeth and Penelope, are married to strong men. Odysseus whom was married to Penelope was king of Ithaca, thus making him powerful. Lady Macbeth’s powerful mate was Macbeth who was a thane of Cawdor.  The ladies also change attitude wise and during that change, they were both strong at some point. In the beginning of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was tricky and confident. She knew what she wanted and she wasn’t going to let anyone stand in her way, including the King.  Towards the end however, she became so crazy and paranoid due to her and Macbeth killing the king. Lady Macbeth felt remorse and guilt, but as for Penelope, she started out as being weak and timid. She became this way due to the suitors taking over her house. She didn’t act as brave as she should have when she was in the process of trying to get them to leave. Towards the end of the story, she became more powerful. She proved this when Odysseus disguised himself as a beggar and claimed to have known Odysseus. When Penelope found that out, she persistently asked him how did he know him, what does he look like, etc.

 

Although they both change, Lady Macbeth’s change was opposite to Penelope’s. In the Odyssey, Penelope goes from being quiet to fearless. She was quiet and scared from when the suitors took over her house. She didn’t act as brave as she should have when kicking them out. Penelope near the end of the story became brave when asking Odysseus (who was then in disguise) how he knew her mate. As for Lady Macbeth, she goes from being strong in the beginning to becoming crazy towards the end. She was strong in start when she knew she wanted to kill the King. She knew what she wanted and even pushed the then un sure Macbeth to go through it. But towards the end, she became swarmed with guilt and it soon sent her insane.

 These women have changed due to the paths in which they choose to fight for what they wanted. Their husbands careers is also the main cause for why the changed. Ultimately, all that matters is that they have changed from the start and ending of each book and that they were both dramatic.

ME MAG

 

 This is my me mag. This magazine showcased many things about myself that my peers did not know. We made these in September which help us get to know one another.

Independent Reading Project

My Book Report

Zaria Fortson-Linton

 

Introduction:

The name of this book is called “I Like Him, He Likes Her” by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. I found out that this book is part of a series titled “Alice Alone; Simply Alice; Patiently Alice. It follows the love life of a young girl named Alice who is struggling with school , love, and life in general.

 

This story is based on the life of a girl named Alice McKinley, who is a freshman, but so far her first year in high school isn’t going well. Her boyfriend of a year named Patrick breaks up with her for the new girl Penny, her father is getting married to her old middle school teacher and high school work is so much pressure on her. The main conflict in the story is her verses her feelings. Mainly because she’s learning how to deal with her personal feelings. Her learning how to grow up makes her my favorite character in this story. I think that readers will learn not only being single can be a bad thing turned into a good thing, but also life can be hard for young teenagers. What I mean by this is that most people make being single & not having a bond with someone may be bad at first , but then there are times in which being single can be a good thing. I also think that life is hard for young teenagers because us just starting high school isn’t easy. We have to adjust to new changes , getting older, meeting people , new school work and becoming a young adult. It’s very stressful.

 

I can relate to the main character Alice. I say this because I have been in this same predicament where the “love of my life” has left me for “something better” and I’m just left there alone. . . sad, not knowing what to do.

 

This book is a first person narrative which I love. The strengths of this book are it’s very easy to relate to and very understandable from Alice’s point of view. It is also very entertaining. The weaknesses of this book is that it seems to take to long to get to the point. Like it may take 2 chapters to understand what is going on. In order to understand where the main conflict will come from you’ll have to read into the story through the first 3 chapters.

 

I honestly would recommend this to young readers. I say this because it is very relatable and it is very entertaining.

JOURNAL ENTRIES

The first time i was judge was when i went to the mall with my mom. We went to a high priced store and the lady told us that this wasn't "our type" of clothing. That they do not sell Baby Phat clothing which is mostly worn by african americans. We felt angry because it was really rude.

If i were to have a fresh start on my past i would change the way my first year of high school started. I am not liked because of the choices i made in the beginning of the year. A bunch of 11th graders were calling me names, so i made a video and called them all out and they hated me ever since.

It really isn't that much important for me to fit it , only because i like standing out, i like being my own person and i like being different. Im proud to say i do not fit in and i always try to encourage others to do the same.

I think people write to express themselves. To have a place to be free. ALso to show others who they are. To have a way to reveal to the world who they are. It is an expressive and safe way to be themselves.

I feel as though an adult is someone who will take responsibility on what they are right or wrong about. Someone who will help others be mature and are mature themselves.  

My mother expects me to do good in school and to make sure im always on task. She knows that school is important and she feels as though school must be my number one priority.