Essay 3

Pug:

An Essay on the Similarities between My Dog and I
An Essay by Alexander Hawley
8th Grade English
Pine Point School
October 4, 2010

    There are some things that are just like you, and when you see them you just think, wow, that is so much the same as me. For me there are many things that I see like that; some remind me of other people, and some remind me of myself. My dog is one of them because he relates to me in many ways.
        (TS) When I see my dog Sidney, I think about how much he acts like me. (SD) First of all, Sidney is always in with the big dogs. (CM) We, Sidney and I, both go right in with the big people and dogs whether it is in lacrosse, hockey, school, or dog school. (CM) Some of our best friends are even really big, but we don't care. (SD) Also, Sidney always makes friends no matter what the other person or dog is like. (CM) He even makes friends with any cats he meets. (CM) I totally resemble that because I want to be friends with everyone I meet, no matter what they are like. (SD) On a less positive note, Sidney, like me, is always in a controlled environment or on a leash. (CM) He is always in my house, in his crate, outside on a leash, or at dog school, a place where he goes to play. (CM) I am related to that because, being 13, I have everything decided, controlled, and said for me. (CS) Sidney and his personality are obviously, in many ways, very similar to my personality and I.
    Both Sidney and I are small but act big, always try to make friends with someone we meet, and someone else always controls us. You can tell that we are just like each other in very many ways.

Self Assessment

1. I am working on good punctuation.
2. One strong point is the use of the leash metaphor
3. One weak point is the second CM of the second SD
4. I would give myself an A- because the essay is good but may have some weirdly worded sentences

Essay 2

Alexander Hawley Essay #2

English Class

September 22, 2010

Un Poco Loco:

(A Little Bit Crazy)

An Essay on My “Crazy” Sister

 

"Strange", is a word that can be used in many different ways. It can be good or bad, too crazy or too normal, or even just plain weird, but no matter how strange you or someone else is, my sister, in a very good way, is the strangest for sure.

            (TS) Some people are just normal people. (TS2) They do the same activities as everyone else, they act the same as everyone else, and they even look the same everyone, but not my sister Natalie. (SD) First of all, she has a very different personality; she is very crazy, or as some say, “Spazzy.” (CM1) My friend John always comes up and says, "Your sister is such a spazz."(CM2) However, she doesn’t care what other people think of her, which makes her different all by itself. (SD) Also, she always sleeps on the floor in her room. (CM1) This is especially weird because she has a really nice bunk bed about two feet from her head. (CM2) She says she sleeps on the floor because, “I have more room.” (SD) Lastly, she has really long, complicated, and weird dreams. (CM1) Her dreams involve crazy things like singing frogs, talking animals, and walking lollipops. (CM2) Another odd part of her dreams is that she memorizes the whole thing, and then she just sits there and recites it for 15 minutes. (CS) You can tell that the spazzy, dream telling, and floor sleeping Natalie is far from the normal people in the world.                             

            Obviously, by the fact that she does odd things like not listening to what anyone tells her, sleeping on the floor, and remembering her dreams, she is odd.  However, Natalie might be quirky, wacky, and spazzy, but she is the best sister ever.

Thank you, Natalie, for permission to write this essay.

Free Write 2

Chameleon

I wish I could be like a Chameleon

I could climb sideways, up, and down

I wouldn’t have to worry about things like school and hockey

If I wanted to, I could just change colors a disappear

I would never get bored because I would always be doing something

My eyes could see all around, and no one could hide behind me

I would be so colorful and cool looking, and I would have really long tongue

That’s not including how awesome it would be to have scales

I wish I could be like a Chameleon

Essay 1

Alexander Hawley Essay #1

English Class

September 15, 2010

Bulletproof:

An Essay on the Song by La Roux

         When you hear a song on the, radio, the Internet, or on your iPod, does it sometimes remind you of your feelings about something? For me, the song “Bulletproof” has lots of the same ideas that I had when summer was ending.
     (TS) When the summer was coming to an end, and school was about to start, I had lots of mixed feelings, most of which are expressed in the song “Bulletproof.” (SD) After the opening music, when the first verse starts, the main singer sings, “I'm having fun don't put me down I'll never let you sweep me off my feet.” (CM1) The beginning of the verse is just like how I was having fun in the summer and I didn’t want it to end. (CM2) The second part of the verse represents how, even though I was sad for summer to end, I didn’t let it change my personality. (SD)  After the chorus and some more singing, she sings, “Tick tick tick tick on the watch and life's too short for me to stop Oh baby, your time is running out.”(CM1) This reflects my feelings near the end of summer because I knew my time was running out. (CM2) However, again, I realized that “life’s too short for me to stop,” and that I needed to get over the fact that summer was ending and I had to go back to school. (SD) Last, the most obvious part of the song, the chorus, was like summer with the words, “This time baby I'll be bulletproof. This time baby…” (CM1) One of my goals for the year was to not let anyone get to me. (CM2) This also talks about the fact that, if someone does get to you, don’t let them get in the way of more important things you do. (CS) As you can see, the song has a lot to do with my summer ending and school beginning.
     The song “Bulletproof” obviously expresses lots of my feelings all in one. It expresses the fun you have during the summer, the time crunch in the end of summer, and even some of my goals for going back to school. Lots of songs have amazing things in them, so next time you hear a song on the radio, internet, or on your iPod, see if you can find things that relate to you, your life and your feelings.



Self Assessment


1.    I am still trying to make sure I get my punctuation right, so hopefully I did well on that in my essay

2.    I think a strong point is probably how I kept quoting the song, and using the quotes to help support my point.

3.    I think a weak point of my essay is the CM2 of my 3rd SD because, even though it is true, it doesn’t reflect the quote that well.

4.    I would probably give myself an A- because it was overall pretty good except a few small errors.

Free Write 1

I'm in study hall and Ben is talking to me. Sorry, I took a break for a second because Ben took my computer to check his email.  Now I am listening to Edward and Chris talk about their math. I had fun in math today. We learned about real numbers since it’s only the 3rd day of school. As I look around, I can see that lots of people are doing math homework.  I just talked to my old math teacher, but she is gone now, so again, I am typing.  If you listen closely, the library sounds very cool, you can hear the little whispers, the keyboards clicking and people walking by. It is mostly quiet though because it is a “Quiet Study Time.” People around me are talking now.  Someone just needed help with email. The other class has different homework than us. I wonder if they are better or worse. I just have to free write and they have to write an 11-sentence paragraph. Maybe we will do that later and they will just do this later. For now, I will just finish up my free write which I have just passed the time for, maybe I should keep writing, yeah, I will tell you that after this I have to do my own math and send an email to my Spanish teacher. My other friend who was doing his free writing just left and one of the new kids sat in his place. He is from a different country and his blog instructions are in a different language. I am going to go now because I need to finish my other homework. Bye.