Blogging hasn't been as bad as I expected. I surprisingly liked writing some of the blogs. My favorite blog was probably the letter to Ms. Wolff because it was the easiest to write and I want to help her to be "in the know." My least favorite blog was most definitely the one where we made our own ending for Edgar Allan Poe's story. I am left-brained and cannot create a story to save my life! Some blogs I put effort into when I enjoyed the topic, but many I just did the minimum. I think blogging was a learning experience because it expanded my knowledge on specific topics. I learned that I cannot write a story, different people's perspectives on controversial subjects, and that writing helps me feel better when dealing with stress. My top three stories were The Black Veil, The Yellow Wallpaper, and The Scarlet Letter.

Dear Mrs. Wolff:
 Welcome to Rockford Lutheran! I absolutely love going to school here and I am sure you will love teaching here as well! Some things that you should know about juniors are that 1) we are more immature than you think (especially the boys) 2) we don't just like to sit at our desks and discuss poetry, stories, etc. and 3) when talking about time, for example, don't say "You have until 12:35 to finish this assignment," instead use "Lutheran Time" and tell us "You have until the seven to finish this assignment." Therefore there will be no confusion on what you are trying to tell us. :) Now for some helpful advice when it comes to English class: When we read "Civil Disobedience" and other stories about civil rights, we watched part of the movie The Help.  I thought this movie was not only interesting but also very educational and helped me get a feel for what was going on during that era. However, we did not get to finish the movie in class, which is always a bummer. So if you do choose to let your students watch The Help, you should let them watch the whole thing instead of just a little bit of it. Another fun thing Ms. Williams does is the frog hopping contest. One of her students made a bunch of orgami frogs one year so when we read The Notorious Jumping Frog we had a contest and the winner got extra credit points. My favorite activity we have done this year was definitely The Great Gatsby day. Ms. Williams decorated the room so it was like a speakeasy and served fruit, juice, and cookies. Then we had two students teach us how to swing dance which was so much fun! If you choose to read The Great Gatsby  with your students, you NEED to have The Great Gatsby Day! :) I hope my suggestions helped! Good luck next year and I'm excited to see you in the hallways.

Alexa Piske