When I first arrived in August, I expected the year to fly by as quick and as easy as sixth grade. I soon realized sixth grade was more of a warm up to seventh and eighth grade. By October my world was turned upside and covered in homework. I had projects, worksheets, essays and books to be read. Sometimes projects were due the next day that they were assigned! Not only did I have a lot of homework but a slight obsession with social media and Netflix, so much so that it was hard to finish my assignments.
Eventually I realized that you have to keep up your grades to succeed. It’s not all fun and games, especially when you fail. In seventh grade I realized that studying is really important and it can help you so much (especially during a pop-quiz). I also learned that you can’t just “forget” to do your homework because most classes rely heavily on daily grades like that and it can bring you down. “Forgetting” the study or to do your homework can also be caused by social media, it can get pretty addicting, that’s why I learned not to get distracted by it and get your work done first.
As this year comes to a close, I can see some people are scrambling to drag their grades up in the next three weeks we have. What they forgot to do was plan. Planning ahead and not waiting to the last minute to to your work can be a fatal mistake. Which brings me to my advice for future seventh graders: Study. Do your work. Don’t get distracted. And lastly Plan ahead.
Leadership
In outside of school activities like team sports, using leadership skills can be helpful and useful. Leaders are the ones who take charge, always do the right thing, go the extra mile and speak their minds.
During team sports, you have to help others understand what to do and encourage them when they succeed or not.
Some very important qualities that a leader must have are to be kind, generous, caring, thoughtful, responsible, speak what they feel, get along with others, think ahead adaptable incase situations change, respectful, a good communicator, have confidence, enthusiasm, be open-minded, resourceful, open to change, interested in feedback, organized and have initiative.
Just being an all around good person can make a leader in a way. Next time try to be a leader in your life.
Favorite Poem
Once on a yellow peice of paper with green lines
he wrote a poem
and he called it “chops”
because that was the name of his dog
and thats what it was all about
his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
and his mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to his aunts.
that was the year Father Tracy
took all the kids to the zoo
and he let them sing on the bus
and his little sister was born
with tiny nails and no hair
and his mother and father kissed alot
and the girl around the corner sent him a
Valentine signed with a row of X’s
and he had to ask his father what the X’s meant
and his father always tucked him in bed at night
and was always there to do it
once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem
he called it “Autumn”
because that was the name of the season
and that’s what it was all about
and his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write more clearly
and his mother never hung it on the kithcen door
beause of the new paint
and the kids told him
that Father Tracy smoked cigars
and left butts on the pews
and sometime they would burn holes
that was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
and the girl around the corner laughed
when he asked her to go see santa claus
and the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed alot
and his father never tucked him in bed at night
and his father got mad
when he cried for him to do it
once on a paper torn from his notebook
he wrote a poem
and he called it “Innocence: A Question”
because that was the question about his girl
and thats what it was all about
and his professor gave him an A
and a strange steady look
and his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because he never showed her
that was the year Father Tracy died
and he forgot how the end
of the Apostles’s Creed went
and he caught his sister
making out on the back porch
and his mother and father never kissed
or even talked
and the girl around the corner
wore too much make up
that made him cough when he kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
becuase it was the thing to do
and at 3 am he tucked himself into bed
his father snoring soundly
that’s why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem
and he called it “Absolutely Nothing”
because that’s what it was really all about
and he gave himself an A
and a slash on each damned wrist
and he hung it on the bathroom door
because this time he didnt think
he could reach the kitchen
-Stephen Chbosky from The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Favorite Movie
When I was little I just couldn’t go on without watching my favorite movie, Monsters Inc. every week. My favorite character was “Kitty” or James Sullivan, the big, blue and purple friendly monster. There is another funny little character named Mike Wazowski, he is a short, round, green monster with one giant eye. The final main character is called “Boo”, she is a little girl who wanders into the monster world and comes across “Kitty” and Mike who try to get her back home. I loved that movie when I was little because “Boo” was about my age and the movie just made me laugh. Without this movie, there wouldn’t have been a sequel!
Austin is the Place to be
I was born in Dallas but four years ago I moved to Austin, Texas and fell in love with this area. I love austin because of how unique and creative it is. Austin is big on music too; Austin has both ACL (Austin City Limits) and South by Southwest. We also have very famous places where people go to take pictures and such.
This first spot is one I went to quite recently : Austin’s Graffiti Park. This is a place where local graffiti artists come to paint the walls. Every time you go there it looks very different because of how many people participate in this.
Another place is Home Slice, a famous pizza place in New York also found its way to Austin.
The ‘I love you so much’ wall on the side of Jo’s Coffee has become a very popular picture taking place in Austin. People actually wait in a line to take their picture at the wall.
Austin City Limits:
Graffiti Park:
Home slice:
The ‘I love you so much’ wall:
Expository Writing #2
“Did you know she was held back a grade?” Gossiping may be fun, but it can be harmful.
Something as simple as talking to a friend about someone else could end up around the whole school. For instance, in the movie Mean Girls, they made a ‘Burn Book’, a book filled with hurtful gossip about everyone in the school. One day someone got the book and made copies of all the pages and filled the school with them. The girls who made the book were then hated by everyone. This shows how fast something can spread.
Also gossiping can turn into bad rumors. For example, I heard someone I thought was my friend spreading a false rumor about me. I felt like I had no true friends, I just wanted to fall in a hole and die. Just because you think someone can’t hear it, doesn’t mean you should say it, especially when you don’t know if it’s true.
It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. If you don’t something being said about you, don’t say it about someone else. Therefore just don’t gossip, it can turn into a big rumor, and/or hurt someone.
Expository Writing (Group Assignment)
“Did you hear that she was held back a year?” Have you ever heard people talking about others behind their backs? That’s called gossiping and it can really hurt someone.
When you gossip, the secrets can spread to anyone, turn into rumors and they can change the story to sound even worse than the real thing. For example, if someone said that ‘George broke his arm.’ , it could end up being ‘George fought off a pack of angry trolls and survived with only a broken nail.’. Now that I would pay to see.
Gossiping can just hurt sometimes. For instance, say you told your best friend a secret you don’t want anyone else to know and then she tells everyone. That would definitely cause some seriousness heartache because she was someone close to you.
Treat others like you would like to be treated, and don’t talk about others behind their backs. Gossiping just hurts so therefore, just don’t do it.
Explode A Moment: 5 Seconds
The crowd was a blur. Their cheers were droning on in the distance. My heart was beating in time with many feet. My legs were numb but I had to continue. Ten yards……eight yards……six yards…… I’m out of breath. Three yards……one more yard…… The crowd roared with excitement back in my ears. And suddenly the finish line was at my feet.
Traditions
My friends mean a lot to me because they will alway take me through tough times by even making me smile or simply giving me a hug. My friends are always there for me so it is fun to do something cool whenever we are together.
My friends and I have a lot of ‘traditions’ that we do whenever we see each other.
With my friend Melynn, we get a bunch of ice cube molds and put soda in them. We take them out of the freezer as soon as they get to slushie perfection!
With my friend Olivia, we always get marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate to make s’mores. While we are in the tough process of making the perfect golden brown marshmallows, we watch funny TV shows on Netflix.
With my friend Kennedy, we make brownies from the mix but I can assure you they’re DELICIOUS! While we are waiting for the brownies to bake we watch movies.
Family Tradition: Find the Pickle!
My family has this one peculiar family tradition that we do on every Christmas. It’s called ‘Find the Pickle’. A couple years ago we received a foam pickle wearing a Santa hat and started playing with it and making up games until we made up this one. In this game, one of the adults hides the pickle in our Christmas tree while the kids are in another room. The pickle blends into the tree so it’s hard to find. When the adult says so, the kids come out and scavenge around the tree, looking for the pickle. The first kid who finds it, gets to unwrap the first present on Christmas morning.
I can’t wait!