Jimenez

=Hello There!=

My name is Jesús Jímenez and I'm a freshman at Science Leadership Academy. I came into SLA as a bad writer. I still consider myself a bad writer, but not so much as a failure. More like a work in progress! My 9th grade English Portfolio basically shows my skill development throughout my Freshman year. From Quarter 1, which was just me relying on my knowledge from 8th grade writing. To the fourth Quarter, where I felt as if I conquered this book inside and out! My writing in general isn't that good from my personal experience, and that's a weakness itself. Like a natural born thing. My strengths in English are probably more creative pieces. In creative pieces I feel I can show more of my true potential and not be limited by words or a book. My experiences in making this portfolio really brought back memories. The good times and the bad times. There were a lot of grammatical things I wanted to fix, and my writing then made it really had to figure out what I was trying to say. The piece I'm most proud of, and will forever be most proud of will be my Macbeth Creative Piece. I did something that I knew I could end the year with and be satisfied.

Well, that's the whole reflection of my 9th grade year in English class, I'd like to thank my English teacher Mrs. Dunn for helping me thought the year and for making English a fantastic year for me!

Yours truly, Jesús Jímenez

= = =Quarter 1 - Odyssey Essay=

During this quarter we were reading "The Odyssey" and were given an assignment at the end of reading the book. I was asked to write about Telemachus's struggles towards becoming a man. media type="custom" key="6332749"

= Quarter 2 - Memoir Vignette = After reading "Funny in Farsi", a memoir by Firoozeh Dumas, we studied the composition of a memoir and were given the challenge of making one of our own. After that we had to make a sort of Podcast of each student's memoir vignette.

DON'T IGNORE THE LITTLE MUSIC PLAYER!!
media type="file" key="Jimenez_EngBM3Digital.m4a" width="300" height="50" =Quarter 3 - Kindred Essay= "Kindred" was a story that had a lot of details and changes in character. We were given the challenge of following a character's change thought the book and providing quotes and examples of the character's changes. media type="custom" key="6332733"

=Quarter 4 - Macbeth Creative Project= We read Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" and I loved it. At first we had to find 5 quotes from the play and kind of apply them to the character and also tr to see their changes throughout the play. Then the last part of the project was a creative peace. I love and enjoyed doing it. I consider this project, the best one of my Freshman year at Science Leadership Academy. media type="custom" key="6332801" =Journals=

Sometime in November 2009 __Free Write__ Many don’t know it, but I love to draw. I haven’t been doing much lately though. See, if I put my mind ser on something I can exceed at it. That means __EVERYTHING.__ I know I’m not a good artist, but I’m deeply considering buying myself a graphic tablet to start making some digital art. They teach that in college too, so either way if I don’t start now, I could start later. But I’d rather start now it gets easier to do something if you have gotten a lot of practice. School has been really tough, I used be this hard working student. Now I just feel lazy. I remember my algebra teacher, Mr. Kane telling m about not getting lazy last year. Which made me feel awesome because he knew I got Cs in his class but worked extra, extra, hard!

12/1/09 __Writing and How it helps you express yourself__ Sometimes I figure that if I can use paper and a pen/pencil, I feel more creative. Writing sometimes is difficult to me because the way I write thing is way different than what other people do. At times I find myself writing more and more! I can’t stop, but when I do stop and read it, it doesn’t make any sense. Typing on the computer, isn’t that fun. I see it as more work. I imagine myself typing and it seems a bit boring. On the computer, you can’t make little doodles or make drawings on the margins to help you think.

12/8/09 __Ever had a time you wanted to drop your racial, cultural, or gender identity?__

I’ve never experienced a time when I wanted to drop my racial, cultural, or gender identity. My mom always told me to be proud of whom I am. Your race and culture is what makes me myself, and no one could ever take my identity away from me.

A time would be proud of my identity would be everyday. I figure if you can’t take pride in your own culture or beliefs and don’t label yourself as someone, someone else will label you with stereotypes. And you will live in a society where people will already know what to expect from you and make a general assumption of who you are.

1/20/10 __Free Write__

Heh. The date says 20/10. Reminds me of 1/2/03. I was at the second grade at that time.

Well anyway, today I am sick. Yep, I’m a little under the weather. I always feel kind of depressed when I’m sick, I’m not my usual self and tend to mope all day. Now, time to write about current events! My cousin’s little birthday was this week, he’s four now. He has one cat and she just had some kittens. My aunt offered me one, but my mom doesn’t like cats very much… except for Top Cat. She likes that show.

I’ve had no progress in my artistic skill. I got that tablet for Christmas; I just don’t know where to start. Maybe the banana drawing I made was a bit of a progress. We all start from somewhere.