My Twentieth Week as a Senior

This week was a 4-day week with a long weekend waiting for us. I had a lot of fun this week.

On Monday, I had a spare first period and I knew we’d only be doing a review in Calculus, so I went to school only for the 3rd and 4th-period classes. I got to school just before lunch ended. In English, we did the analysis of an essay that was criticizing the cultural appropriation in Beyoncé and Coldplay’s Hymn for the Weekend. We had to find the thesis and support it with other literary devices. In Writer’s Craft, we did timed writing, with the prompt “But, seriously”. Then we got our homework, which was to write a paragraph using 8 of the 20 vocab words we learnt this week. I finished that in class. Aside from that, we talked about the importance of symbols in a story. We discussed the connotations different colours can have in literature and in real life.

Tuesday was a fun day. In Calculus, we took up the review questions and I left 5 minutes before the bell for the welcome assembly. In my spare, I attended the Grade 11-12 welcome assembly, where the SAC’s plans for this semester were presented. After the assembly, I finished some of my work in the library. In Writer’s Craft, we read a short story, called “The Giraffe”. I had read it once before, in Grade 11, so I wasn’t keen on re-reading it. We answered questions about the symbolism of the giraffe, the effectiveness of the narrative of view, and looked for the main idea. In English, we did an analysis of Oprah’s speech, from the 2018 Golden Globes, about the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. I found it hard to find literary devices like alliterations and similes in such a sophisticated essay. Grade 12 English hasn’t been fun.

Wednesday was another late start. I came to school at 10:15 AM. In Calculus, we did a review of the first chapter for the test. At lunch, we had a SAC meeting. In English, we read and analyzed an essay about Lori Loughlin and the college cheating scandal. The essay suggested that American colleges should start a lottery system for their admissions instead of using their current methods. It was quite informational but there wasn’t much to analyze in terms of literary devices. In Writer’s Craft, we had a supply. I finished all the assigned work in half an hour and sat, doing nothing, for an hour. I even asked the supply if I could leave 10 minutes before the bell; apparently, that’s a big no-no.

Thursday. The last day of the week. The long weekend is here. In Calculus, we had a test on Chapter 1. In my spare, I had nothing to do, so I was very bored. In Writer’s Craft, we did timed writing with the prompt ‘’heart”, because Valentine’s Day. I wrote something quite unlike what I usually write about; I wrote about my feelings. It felt relieving. Then we took up the answers for “The Giraffe.” It was a fun class.

In English, we speed dated…books. We talked about our ISU books for 30 minutes. We were seated at two long tables (just all the desks joined together) in a way that there was an outside group—the people sitting closer to the sidewalls—and the inside group—the people sitting closer to the middle of the class. The inside group moved one seat to their right every two minutes. We were given 15 questions to answer, 1 with each book we “met”. So, we were given two minutes for every question, one minute for each book, and we had to answer it in a way that would make the other person want to read the book. After everyone had had a chance to talk about their book with everyone else, we listened to a podcast about Science vs. “Heartbreak-Why does it hurt so much.” It was about the effects heartbreaks have on the brain and heart. I found it quite ironic to listen to the podcast a day before Valentine’s Day. We got sheets to colour, as a way to relax. And, our teacher gave us a bunch of heart-shaped chocolate.

This week was short but next week is even shorter XD. I can’t wait. I hope you had a wonderful week. - Aarushi