Wirt

What do you feel your portfolio says about you as a 9th grade English student? What are we as viewers supposed to "get"/understand about you when we see your work? I feel as though my portfolio says that I have grown since I have gotten to Science Leadership Academy. You as the viewer are supposed to see how my writing has changed over the years and how my opinions may have changed, my vocabulary, and me as a person over all. I think that it is demonstrated throughout all my work. What do you consider to be your strengths in English? What are your weaknesses? What would you still want to work on? One of my biggest weaknesses is writing an essay. I always have so many thoughts going through my head but I never can end up writing them in the way that comes out into a formal essay. I am going to be working on this throughout the summer and throughout my entire career here at Science Leadership Academy. A strength however is exactly what I said before, I have so many things going through my head and when I can apply them then it can be great.

What were your experiences in making this portfolio? What issues did you encounter? How did you resolve them? I found it to be very time consuming. I enjoyed being able to make the page and make it look all nice but I did have my problems. I had to re-do a LOT of my work. For many reasons, one of them being that my laptop got stolen along with a lot of my work. So, I needed to re-do a lot of it which was an obstacle and it may have prevented me from fixing all that I wanted to fix from my other pieces of work.

What is the piece you are most proud of, and why? The piece I am most proud of is actually this project itself. I don’t even know the grade for this yet but that doesn’t matter. What matters most is the effort I put into this and I think it came out to be an awesome project. The reason why I think this triumphs over all of my other works is because this shows who I am in a whole new way. It takes everything I have done throughout a year, and shows you who exactly I am as a student and even more important, who I am as a person.

For this project we just got done reading the Odyssey written by Homer It is unknown of the time it was actually written down but it was passed down through generations since Before Christ (BC) was born. In this project we had to write a 5 paragraph essay including an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. We were given four different topics to write about and i\I chose to write about Telemachus and his journey to becoming a man

Daniel Wirt

People go through a lot in a lifetime. They deal with ups and downs all throughout their life. Telemachus has had a lot of mixed emotions in the odyssey. Telemachus has been very immature and not willing to do work until the suitors arrived due to them hearing that Odysseus is dead. Telemachus is now a man due to his showing of authority to the suitors, his learning of relying on himself, and his will to find the truth.

Telemachus’ real step into man hood was his fight against the suitors. They tried to woo his mom and take over Ithaca. They partied and made a ruckus. Telemachus had had enough and he wanted vengeance. He was tired of losing his home to these suitors. “So Telemachus dared. And they all bit their lips, amazed the prince could speak with so much daring” (page 90 line 438-439). Telemachus is showing the suitors who is boss. He is ready to do what ever he can to get these suitors out. However, Telemachus even through showing his coming of manhood, he still had his moments were he needed to rely on others to do his work.

Telemachus relies on Zeus to do his biding but he soon knows to rely on himself instead of other people. Zeus started to get a bit aggravated and so, “Zeus sent down his sign” (page 98 line 164). It was a very strong sign and Zeus was obeying Telemachus but he was becoming frustrated with the fact that Telemachus was taking advantage of his power. In turn Telemachus decides to just leave in search for information for his father. Telemachus in order to find the truth about his father he must travel and sacrifice things to accomplish his goal.

Telemachus set out on his journey to Pylos and met with King Nestor. King Nestor told Telemachus of his appearance to his father and how he looked much like his father. This sent great happiness through Telemachus and it boosted his confidence and his will to find out what happened to his father. This showed a great deal of maturing in Telemachus and it also shows that he is becoming a lot like his father. “I am on a trail of my father’s wide spread fame,” (page 110 line 91) which shows how much he truly desires the truth. It shows that he knows of his father’s fame and is confident that with determination he will succeed. When he succeeds he can show that he has become a man for once in his life.

Telemachus is a man and he shows that by his authority over the suitors and his finding it in him to rely on himself He has learned to become more mature in his decisions and he is doing things that he may not have done when he was younger. It is a scary world but the only way to get passed that is to open up and face your fears. This is showing that he is a man.

“Yo dawg you is gay,” was all I heard from the kids at my middle school. Everyday was a challenge for me. Having to deal with bullies and temptations. It was as if I was a merry go round because I am always on the move but I always end up going to the same places. I never actually get to experience new things because I cant be who I want to be. This prevented me from doing things that I liked to do like playing soccer, drawing pictures, and just being myself. I would always be one that would forgive and forget, which always screwed me over. People would always ask me for the answers of questions. Ask me what this means and what that means.

media type="file" key="podcast english.m4a" I would have to worry about being beaten up. It was always a competition for the guys. “Oh I would fuck you up yo” they would say. All I could do is walk away because I choose not to go down to their level. It makes me out to be the bad person, the immature one, and the one who gets in trouble. I would walk home with bruises on my body feeling like a banana that has been thrown a bunch of times. “Why am I the one that has to be punished for working hard,” I would always ask myself.

Peer pressure another thing I have to worry about. Being the outcast isn’t always easy and when people say, “Ay yo Dan come an smoke dis and you will be cool.” I never even had to think about the question I just said, “no.” It wasn’t even a question worth thinking about. I don’t need to be high on the popularity scale to be high in society. I just need to keep my head on straight.

Living life with a bunch of jerks is a hard life to live. Whenever I got something special for doing work in class my classmates would start to call me the teacher’s pet which for some reason I let get to me. I always let things get to me. Heck, I still do. Words just have a way of working there way through me and it strikes me with great force. It is painful and I usually end up hurting for a long time.

Getting called names, people pulling pranks on you, and people forcing you to do things you don’t want to do isn’t fun at all. When I am forced to do something I don’t want to do I feel stripped of my dignity. I feel as though I can’t have any respect for myself anymore and this happened on more then one occasion.

There were many nights where tears would flow like a waterfall out my eyes. I was blind from the tears and would want to give up. I didn’t give up though. My mom supported me and what little friends I had also supported me. My mom supported me all the way to graduation where I gave a speech in front of the entire crowd. I was so proud of myself. I had stood in front of a crowd reading MY SPEECH that I WROTE during MY GRADUATION. It was an honor.

Now I live a different life, I live a changed life, I live a new life and now I can be myself without having to worry about what this person is going to say or that person. Now I have a lot of friends and now I can be proud of whom I am.

In the Kindred essay we had to write another 5 paragraph essay. Following the format just like the Odyssey essay having an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Again we were given our own choices of topics and i decided to kind of go off onto my own topic. I talked about Dana's struggle through not only being a human of color but also a woman.

Kindred Essay Daniel Wirt Orange stream

People come over obstacles everyday. They have fears that tend to hold them back. In the book __Kindred__ written by Octavia E. Butler, a women by the name of Dana travels back in time to the Antebellum south. The Antebellum south is a time were blacks were treated like animals and not human beings. Dana is challenged when she is forced back to the antebellum south and she must change her ways to survive.

Dana was forced back to the antebellum south on June 9th 1976, where she is invited to an environment that is unrecognizable to her. She was in complete shock because she had no clue what was going on. When she returned she was petrified. “I had been afraid that the dizziness would come back while she was in the shower.” (page 18) She is allowing this thing that has happened to her to affect what she does. She does not want to take a shower because she is afraid to become dizzy and fall. She can’t live //her// life anymore because she can be transported back in time at any point. Dana was so confused as to what exactly had happened to her. “I do not have a name for the thing that happened to me but I do not feel safe anymore.” (page 17) This was new, different, and inconceivable. She did not know how to live like a normal human anymore. She only knows that she was transported back to a place that is not welcome for her.

Dana being in this strange new world hears people talking in a different way than she is used to. People talking with a southern accent, and even people saying the word “nigger.” Dana asks Rufus after being stunned at hearing Rufus say that his mother uses it, “Your mom always call black people niggers, Rufe?” (page 25) Dana stares at Rufus for using that word so easily. She is both shocked and stunned at how easy it just fell out of his mouth. She lives in in the late 20th century where people don’t use this word. She now had to accept this nasty term being used towards her. She hated it even more when she got called a nigger, “I always said you were just another crazy nigger.” (page 25) This was said by Tom Weylin. She feels as though she was stripped of her identity and forced into a group of blacks. She feels as though this takes from her individuality, her right to opinion, and in a way, her freedom.

Her freedom was another issue. Now that she was stuck in the Antebellum south she was stuck with a country that was segregated. Blacks weren’t equal and in this time in history people would beat, abuse, sell, and force labor upon black people. “The man’s body convulsed, but the only sound he made was a gasp.” (page 36) Dana was about to vomit when she saw this. She only sees these things on TV and even at that point she only saw the scars. She had never seen this kind of brutality and she had to learn to accept this even as much as she despised what they were doing. Dana eventually experienced the pain that the man had experienced when she was beaten. “Fowler lashed me hard across the back.” (page 211) She took the pain and now she is forced to care for her wounds. She compared Fowler to an animal. The animal that he was. She overcame her pain and fear.

Dana overcame both fears and obstacles that changed her way of living. She needed to survive. She went through a pain that was new for her in a extremely segregated country and time period. She became a stronger woman, emotionally and physically. In the end, anybody should be able to overcome there fears and dislikes and adjust to any living environment as long as they put there mind to it.



With this project we had to find quotes in the book Macbeth that show the changing of either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth. I chose Macbeth so I found quotes that showed how he changed over the course of the book. Then after that we had to make some sort of creative way of showing the changing of the character that we chose. I chose to do a picture of animals that stand for different things that represent Macbeth.

1. The horse represents his overall bravery. 2. The griffin represents his good and bad intentions. 3. The bat represents death and learning to transpose one's former self. 4. The bull represents valor, bravery, and generosity however, I made the bull stick his tounge out to kind of mock those traits because he lost them when becoming evil.

Said by captain page 4- “But all’s weak: For brave Macbeth- Well he deserves that name-“ A captain is bragging of Macbeth’s bravery and valor. Macbeth just finished a battle and his braveness and strength was put to the test in this battle and he proved his greatness to many.

Said by Lady Macbeth page 22- “Was the hope drunk Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?” Lady Macbeth is confronting Macbeth because he is not willing to go through with killing king Duncan. He has fought in battle but in battle he had a reason, and that reason was to survive. Only now it is murder.

Said by Macbeth page 50- “Thou art the best o’ th’ cutthroats” Macbeth is consulting with the murderer that HE HIRED to kill Banquo. He is killing off his friend for his own benefit. He has become careless and power hungry.

Said by Macbeth page 66- “That will never be. Who can impress the forest, bid the tree Unfix his earthbound root?” Macbeth was just confronted by the apparitions and they tell him to fear Mac Duff and none of woman born shall harm Macbeth (Mac Duff is not woman born) and that he shall remain king until great dirnam wood to high Dunsiane hill shall come against him. He thinks to himself, “HAHAHA that shall never happen so I have nothing to worry about.” Kind of cocky here and letting his guard down he has let the evil blind him.

Said by Macbeth page 96-97- “I will yield not To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet And to be baited with the rabble’s curse. Through Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane And thou opposed, being of no woman born, Ter I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Mac Duff, And damned be him that first cries “hold enough”” Macbeth, I feel as though has gone through a complete 360. Through everything he has become the strong brave warrior that doesn’t give up. Macbeth shows his true colors yet again and rest in peace as Mac Duff kills him. He is happy with the way he dies instead of living his life as a king with many secrets.

These are my journals: throughout my freshman year Ms. Dunn has given us writting prompts and we had to write about them and so in the following you will read some of my favorite journals.

Why do we write?
Well we write for different reasons. Some people choose to write so that they can get out there emotions through the paper and pen. It allows them to throw emotion at the paper and bring the paper to life. It is art in the form of words. People are able to express themselves through writing.

Other people write for there jobs. They write for news papers and tell people what is going on in the world. It allows people that are reading to see what exactly is going on in the world. I see a lot of people when I take my daily commute reading the news paper so that they can read up on their current events.

Other people right to tell stories. They right books so that people can read them and enter an entire new world through the words. Words on a piece of paper can be a powerful thing as long as you have a pen or pencil a piece of paper and some imagination.

What does it mean to be self-reliant?
That’s a good question…. To be self-reliant means to be able to rely on yourself to accomplish a goal. For instance Ryan is very self reliant because he doesn’t have to worry about others not doing any work because he is always right on top of all of his work. It is a very big state of maturity to become self-reliant. If someone isn’t self-reliant then they shouldn’t be living by themselves. Being self reliant is something that I wish I could truly gain soon because I always seem to rely on other people to come through with pulling there weight but they don’t so then I am the one that is screwed over.

Being self reliant is again a true sign of being a mature adult because to be self reliant isn’t something you can learn over night. It isn’t all that easy. You have to learn how to be self reliant over time and eventually you will get it.

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What would you change about yourself?
Well this certainly is a big question. There is so many things that I want to change about myself. I find that I am very reliant on people and then they end up screwing me over. It just hurts me and I still continue to do it so I really wish I could stop. I also end up letting people barrow my things and then I never get them back… I need to stop being nice in that sense.

People also tend to come to me about relationship problems or advice and sure I help them. Although usually they end up only using me for that, I would really just like to stop helping people with relationship problems. It really has nothing to do with me and if you are nervous then talk to your partner about it, not me, I am not the one in the relationship. It annoys me that people just use me like an old handkerchief.

I would change my laugh too I really hate my laugh. I would also like to change my height. I have lived my entire life being short and I just wish that I could be tall for once in my life. I hate having to always look up to people. Another thing I would change would be my constant need to laugh because I always end up laughing at the wrong moment. Then it seems like I am laughing at something that I am not laughing and then people get mad at me.

Oh and another thing I would change would be my constant worry about whether I am making a fool of myself and how I look. I always need to look perfect and it annoys me if my hair doesn’t look good in pictures. I want to live a carefree life. Then at that point I wouldn’t have to worry about whether I should dance in front of people or if I should sing out loud. It just seems so much easier to do that.

And lastly I wouldn’t change anything about myself. Yep nothing. Why you might ask after I just wrote all of those things I would like to change…? Well its because if I were that person I want to be then I would be perfect in my eyes. I don’t want to be perfect otherwise I wouldn’t be able to live life without mistakes. I learn off of my mistakes and besides if I changed then I wouldn’t be me anymore. _

How does your environment shape you?
The people around you shape you. The people around you shape you because you act on what you see. For instance as a child if you learn that punching people or shooting people is okay then you will grow up to think it is okay. If you grow up and see your dad or mother who you look up to on the street selling drugs you will grow up to believe that it is okay. Now this isn’t always the case as you grow up you sometimes grow a sense of being able to make your own decisions.

When I was younger I was taught that littering was wrong, I was taught that disrespecting a women is wrong so I grew up to obey what I was taught. Now your parents cant always teach you everything. Sometimes it is just a growing experience you live and you learn. I find that for my learning from my mistakes is the best way for me to learn. So the things in my environment shape me by allowing me to form my opinion on things.

Now, you may not notice but you are learning something every second of the day. You notice things that people are doing and you take in knowledge. You just need to apply that knowledge to your world and surroundings.

Something I believe in strongly? How I enforce it?
Something that I believe in strongly is making cigarettes illegal. I find that they just hurt people and ruin their lives. ONE, they cost a ton of money and there goes money that could be spent towards an education. TWO, they kill people and they hurt loved ones. THREE, they cause so many diseases that will cause so much pain and suffering. Why go through all of this?

I have lost a loved one, my grandmother, from lung cancer that was caused mainly with smoking. The people that loved this person are left behind to suffer in agony at them leaving. My mom still greaves over the loss of my grandmother. Now I know that they will never become illegal because the government makes far to much money off of them that it will hurt the economy, but, I still strongly believe in it and want it to happen.

I show that I strongly believe in it by telling my loved ones that do smoke to stop. For instance my mom used to smoke and so every time I saw her smoke I would be right on top of her telling her not to smoke and I remind her of what is doing to her. She has now been three years without a single cigarette.