Mahadi's English Blog

 Prompt Response: I believe that one thing that makes me different is my personality. I think that a lot of people are usually more energetic and expressive than me. I also try my best to be understanding towards others and try my best to be empathetic. Summary: We finished up the presentations and began to read and analyze work from Emily Dickinson. Reflection: Reading the poem made me think about a lot of different things in society, such as how people are pressured to be "somebody". I think that being yourself/being true to yourself is important to your mental health.

Prompt Response: An adventure that I would like to go on is through Europe. I would like to visit more countries and to try new foods. I also want to see more traditions that people have throughout the world. I like to travel with my family and I believe that traveling with your loved ones is also a great way to form memories. Summary: We presented our Origin Myth posters and explained our story to the class. Reflection: Presenting our posters was a nice way to share my work and explain my origin myth to the class.

Prompt Response: The most creative thing that I have created was a project in real life where I created a working birdhouse. I designed it myself and I believe that it was my best work because it attracted a lot of birds, and I think that nature is beautiful. I enjoyed creating it and the purpose of it, which is why I believe it was my best work. Summary: We worked on our posters more and began to come closer to completing it. Reflection: Working on my project helped me think more creatively about what types of visual aspects/themes in a poster would connect and be presentable.

Prompt Response: Two of my biggest questions about life are what happens after death and why failure is such a common fear. I have always wondered if there is something after we die, and I believe in heaven and hell but I have never been able to form a thought about what they are really like. I also wonder why people are so afraid of failing to the point where it's almost innate. Summary: We worked on our posters for our origin myth and began preparing for the presentation. Reflection: Creating the poster about origin myths allowed me to understand how to add images and find a sort of visual theme for stories.

Prompt Response: Over the past week, I have adapted to the demands of this course by learning and seeing the type of assignments that we will be doing across the semester. One strength that I have is that I was able to understand the new topics that we learned about when I focused on my work. One challenge I anticipate I will have is procrastination as I usually wait until later to start assignments.  Summary: This past week, we created an origin myth and reflected on the meanings of origin myths, and also learned more about how stories can explain certain things for certain cultures. Reflection: The demands of this course for the past week included writing tasks which required us to allocate our time wisely so that we wouldn't fall behind.

 Prompt Response: Creating my own origin myths helped me better understand why cultures used stories to explain the origin of people, places, and traditions by allowing me to view from different perspectives. For example, when creating the origin myth, I was able to choose the perspectives and values of all of my different characters. I chose to create 3 gods with different personalities who created a world together, and I decided to add natural elements as a result of the conflict between all 3 gods. The lesson that I wanted my story to communicate was that everyone deserves respect, whether they are as "important" or as powerful as you or not. Summary: Today, we wrote our own origin myths on Writably and we were able to view a reference as inspiration and as a guide for our writing. Reflection: I learned more about the way origin myths are written and was able to write about them firsthand.

Prompt Response: A meaningful place in my life that carries a story is my old home before moving because it held many memories for me. In that home, I learned so many things and I lived there for about 7 years. It held memories of birthdays, movie nights, coming back after road trips, and much more. For me, it represents my childhood and the majority of my life after moving to Georgia. Summary: Today, we learned about an origin myth and answered discussion questions about it. Reflection: I learned about the Navajo Creation story and how the first beings in their story came to the Earth.

Prompt Response: A time that I felt connected to nature was when I went on a hike with my cousins. While I was looking at my surroundings, I particularly noticed the trees and plants. I felt a surge of calmness and peace over me while I was looking around. It was like I was deeply connected to nature every time I stopped to look around, and the world felt incredible. That whole experience made me feel like I never appreciated the beauty of the world around me, and I feel like ever since that day I haven't felt the same. Summary: Today, we had a lesson about Native American Literature and origin myths. Reflection: I learned about the characteristics of things like origin myths and the prevalent themes in Native American Literature.

 This year, I would like to be more focused on my grades and more things related to academics. First, I would like to increase my GPA by getting all A's and that also includes getting good scores on my AP exams. I also want to work on my time management, as I procrastinate very often and end up turning things in at the last minute. I would prefer turning work in early so I won't have to worry about it later. I would also like to set aside enough time to study as well as sleep on time. Lastly, I would like to join more clubs in order to help with college applications for my future.