Blog for Ms. Martel's English Class

About Class:
(Students would blog about their thoughts, work, and discussions from the class period.)
Today class was fun, we got to watch a video from some movie with Robin Williams in it! Then we talked about what learning means in the video and how an author or a director of a movie can create a message to "teach" the reader or viewer something. We worked in groups today, working on a worksheet about writing styles. We had to create examples of different writing styles and then share them with other groups, we all had the same "topics" but the stories were all so different. It was neat to learn about them in a different way. We also got to use our computer, not like in Mr. Greg's class where we can't even open them, we got to research and find examples and resources about writing styles. I think that working with groups and researching what we want and finding whatever examples we want made me look to find something interesting and not just post to the wiki whatever it is, because I actually had to read what I found to make sure it was one specific writing style.


The Book:
(After they have read a portion of the book for homework- this is what the students would ideally create as a journal entry.)
The Great Gatsby is interesting, so far. It starts off really with this guy named Nick Callaway and he is in Long Island, New York in a place called West Egg for the summer, living across the water from his cousin Daisy. He goes to visit his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom Buchanan, who are entertaining with Jordan. He stays for a brief period of time and talks with them about mundane things. When Tom gets up to answer the phone, Jordan reveals that it is his lover in New York. I can't believe so early in the book and there is already drama! Nick goes to his cabin and as he sees Jay Gatsby, his neighbor. The way it sounds, makes Mr. Gatsby seem mysterious and weird. He could be really interesting- maybe he knows something we don't know!