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Table of Contents
First Day Letter to My Future Self………………………………………………………………. 2

Diagnostic Essay…………………………………………………………………………………… 3

100 Word Memoir…………………………………………………………………………………. 5

Favorite Mistake…………………………………………………………………………………… 6

Literary Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………… 10

Information Writing Best Draft……………………………………………………………………. 13

Argument Writing…………………………………………………………………………………… 15

My Journey Paper…………………………………………………………………………………… 21

Term Reflection Example……………………………………………………………………………. 25

Favorite Quick Write………………………………………………………………………………… 27

Grow My Thinking Example……………………………………………………………………….. 28

AoW Response………………………………………………………………………………………… 29

Book Club Notes………………………………………………………………………………………. 30

End Of Year Reflection………………………………………………………………………………… 31

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First Day Letter To My Future Self

Dear future Sopha,

I hope this year was better than the last, I hope you didn’t go home everyday dreading

doing your homework and you had so much to do you couldnt even eat dinner. I hope that you

gave it your all for soccer season this year, I hope you put yourself out there are made an

appearance and impact on varsity this year. By this time you will already be getting ready for

junior year and a new and scary year of soccer, possibly getting cut from the JV team. I hope you
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don’t give up and don’t let anyone discourage you to get to you goals. I also hope you find cool

new ways to explore your interests and new ways to make money… QUIT YOUR JOB! I really

hope you finally quit your job at the zoo and instead got one at steiners lifeguarding with Jenna,

Sofi, Mikinsley, and Chloe. I hope you find your passion and figure out what you want to go to

college for. Criminal psychology has always been something you’re interested in… are you still

into that? Does part of you still want to be a surgeon or nurse? Have you found a new passion

besides soccer and music? I really hope you have. I really hope you have done more than I would

have ever expected. Also get your nose pierced, just do it. Love, Soph

Diagnostic Essay

Social media is a constantly growing source for other people’s information. It was always

intended that through social media, people would be able to connect with friends and family

where ever they are or whatever they are doing. For example, Facebook has taken advantage of

many users by using their personal information that has been collected through social media

activity and posts and eventually selling that information to organizations that use that

information to sway election votes, customized ads based on what they post and like on their

accounts, and all in all save a database of personal information about you. This has overall

affected and lowered many people’s privacy standards and influenced the way the world decides

what information is and isn’t ok to be spread through big corporations.

Facebook has already been in many scandals over the years regarding the use of their users

personal information, however their user numbers have only gone up. For example in 2016, 87

million people with Facebook accounts wound up with their information being used by a

voter-profiling company called Cambridge Analytica. This same firm was linked to the Russian
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hacker claims linked to the victory of Donald Trump in this past election. Unfortunately many of

the Facebook users that were taken advantage of didn’t even know it until the CEO of Facebook,

Mark Zuckerberg, finally spoke out against all of the criticism saying, “’We’ve made a lot of

mistakes in running the company,’ Zuckerberg, 33, told senators. ‘I think it’s pretty much

impossible, I believe, to start a company in your dorm room and then grow it to be at the scale

that we’re at now without making some mistakes’”(Smith, 9). This only proves that the CEO

himself understands that there is an issue with the way it is running at the moment, however

something to note is that not once throughout his response did he say anything about fixing the

issues going on or stopping the transfer and selling of users information. Again, this just shows

that he himself does not find it an issue enough to stop it, therefore influencing others to adopt

the opinion that the personal information that’s being used by these companies is not an issue.

Facebook has continuously used different information about their users for many different

things, but most harmless of the extensive list, is to personalize ads that pop up on their

Facebook feed while they are scrolling through posts. However harmless this may be, it is still

using people’s personal information to sell to ad companies without the users knowledge. Many

companies actually get away with this legally because these policies are often hidden in the fine

print of the Terms and Conditions. “Facebook’s 2.2 billion users have no idea how much data it

and other companies collect about them and how these companies use or share that data. Media

watchdog groups say the information is typically buries in the terms and conditions, which

people often accept without reading” (Bubar ,80).

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100 Word Memoir

The Resting-Bitch-Face. The RBF. “You’re so intimidating!” “I thought you hated me!” But in

reality that’s not me at all. My eyes pace through the halls making brief eye contact with most

everyone. I make my way through the hallways while deep in song thought. People wave their

hands back and forth to direct my attention towards them. My eyes dart to their face. My lips

turn upwards. I’m trying. Trying to be friendly. MY people wave, my lips don’t have enough

time to upturn before my teeth become exposed. I don’t try to be scary. I just am :)

Favorite Mistake

Sophie Agutter

Mr.Bigelow
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English 10

26 November 2018

No Empty Threats

“Do you think the blood will come out?”. 5 years ago, the only thing that mattered that night was

if I could get the blood out of the matching outfit I had gotten with my best friend Josie. It was

my favorite. “Soph move, i’m gonna hit you” I should have listened.

Time was warped. I couldn’t tell if I was moving a million miles per minute or moving in

slow motion. My brain stopped thinking. I had tunnel vision. No tears. No words. Just… silence.

It almost seemed as if the voices I heard were being filtered through a thick cloud of fog. Have

you ever heard voices through a glass box? Muted but you can hear them perfectly? My glass

box was filling with blood. My head stayed down. I knew my nose hurt but I couldn’t feel the

pain. A warm sensation in my head. Blood. On. My. Shirt. I think that’s when the tears started

rolling. Tears came as fast as when someone asks you if you’re okay and you aren’t. I could tell

now. I was moving in slow motion.

Tunnel vision. I walked up the stairs to find myself surrounded with police officers and

firefighters. Of course I broke my nose at my uncles retirement party…. He was a firefighter. I

felt a million different hands on my arms and back. Then the voices. Still foggy, it felt like I was

being interrogated, “Oh my god you’re bleeding! Are you ok? Look up, let me see.” No. Of

course I couldn’t rude so I looked up. All I saw was the daunting figures of 10 or so huge, grown

ass firemen surrounding me. All I want is my mom. But of course I can’t be rude so I don’t say

anything. Next thing I know, i’m inside with my mom, dad, brother, and aunt. “It’s definitely
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broken” Shit. I was so scared. My brother started crying. He felt so bad. He still won’t admit he

felt horrible. The little blue ice pack filled with orbeez made contact with my nose. I still

couldn’t feel anything. “No you can just keep it” My aunt and parents were worried about how

they would return the ice pack to them. Are you kidding me? This is really what we’re worried

about? I had no more tears left to cry so I just sat there.

The car started moving. It seemed like I had forgotten about my nose for a second. Until I

looked in the mirror. I was messed up to say the least. Since I couldn’t feel the pain, all I could

cry about was how I was gonna look. We got to the emergency room. “Yeah my son hit my

daughter in the face with a croquet mallet.” They reacted immediately. I’ve always heard that

emergency rooms are slow… Guess not. I got the diagnosis of a broken nose, “If the mallet had

gotten any closer to your face, it could’ve hit your cheek bone and in that case, we quite possibly

would have had to do complete reconstructive surgery” Luckily, that didn’t happen. “However,

you did break three different parts of your nose. The Nasal bone on both sides is shattered and

your upper lateral cartilage is also bent.” Eventually they scheduled me for a surgery the next

day. Oh god.

I didn’t know this at the time but I was about to make one of the biggest mistakes of my

life. The morning after my nose was destroyed, I looked like an avatar character. I couldn’t move

my face because of how swollen and bruised it was. I wasn’t allowed to eat anything for 24

hours before the surgery but of course I begged for just one bite. They wouldn’t let me. It was

time. We drove to the hospital and went into this little room filled with a bunch of other kids.

They greeted me with a tray. It was full of mini bottles of scents. Before I even got checked in,

they made sure I was able to smell every single scent that I could add to the anesthesia. There
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were a million different ones. After smelling one, I would consult a family member, they would

confirm or deny my liking to the flavor. Finally I discovered the one I wanted. Spearmint. Little

did I know, this is not the one I would end up with. After the lady had walked away to report my

decision, I suspected nothing of it. Next thing I know, she was back and breaking the news to

me that they were out of spearmint. I was bummed but I moved on. Unfortunately she didn’t

return with the tray of flavors so I was forced to make a blind decision. I chose cinnamon. They

were out of that too. Then finally I landed on orange. My family disagreed but I was sure of my

decision.

My name echoed throughout the room, bouncing off the linoleum floors back to my ears.

“Sophie Agutter” This meant I was supposed to get changed. They directed me to a dressing

room, a dainty, manicured hand slipped me my gown. The gown screamed sadness. It reminded

me of death for some reason. I slipped into the bleak, white gown spotted with little blue and

green squares. I walked out and they already had the bed ready for me. I said goodbye to my

family. I was scared but I wouldn’t admit that. The wheel creaked and wiggled the entire time we

were on the way to the OR. We entered the Operating Room, I was greeted by about 5 people

waiting there. A heating blanket and a pillow later, it was time to be put under. They confirmed

my flavor choice and placed the mask over my nose and mouth. It felt like a plastic cloud

pressed against my face. The flavor didn’t show up at all, then it hit me like a train. I tried not to

focus on the putrid flavor blasting in my nasals and lungs. It was way too disgusting not to pay

attention to it. It was then that I realized my mistake. The anesthesiologist started explaining the

effects of the gas. ”This won’t take very long to ki…”. I was out.
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The foggy voices returned. They were surrounding me this time. It seemed like

commotion. I cracked my eyes open after a bit of struggle. I couldn’t see very well. They put

vaseline in my eyes so that they wouldn’t dry up. The nurse noticed I was awake and started

talking to me but I paid no attention and went back to sleep. I was out for the next 3 hours

according to my mom. They provided me with an awful brown and purple colored blanket but I

loved it anyway. I was wheeled into the car and went home.

My mistake was not deciding to play croquet with my brother in the first place, it wasn’t

deciding to not move when he told me to. But my mistake was really choosing the orange flavor

anesthesia. This seemingly small decision affected me immensely. I wasn’t able to eat oranges

for the next month without gagging. It’s the little things that count people. They’re everything.

Literary Analysis

Sophie Agutter

Mr. Bigelow

English 10

15 October 2018

The Art of “not knowing”

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The secret that every little girl won’t admit. The secret of wanting to be grown up, to

have a boyfriend, to have your first kiss, to have a car. Reality is growing up, forgetting

childhood and forgiving the past. Maybe to some girls growing up seems like a fun elevator ride

up to adulthood, but until the elevator breaks down and they end up at the bottom of the

treacherous flight of stairs called puberty, none of them really know what kind of hell it’s like to

grow up. However, for some girls like Esperanza Cordero in Sandra Cisneros ​The House on

Mango Street, ​growing up never even really crossed her mind, let alone seemed fun and exciting.

Throughout her childhood, she never had time to want to be a grown up; She was thrown into

adulthood against her will. The desire to be older never once was a want or dream of hers, the

desire to forget and go back was undoubtedly the biggest indicator that at no point throughout the

book, Esperanza craved being an adult.

Esperanza never had the desires that most other girls have. Fear, and doubt overran her

mind, fogging her thoughts, taking up every little extra brain space she had and clogging them up

with worries instead of letting the empty parts dream and wish for age. The constant focus of

getting through childhood, which was more or less represented by her house on mango street,

perpetually devastated her childhood, drove her focuses away from the acts and responsibilities

of adulthood. Not knowing what wanting to be old was like, Esperanza experienced confusion

and hurt when other girls wanted to be grown. Sally willingly offering her lips to those boys only
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made Esperanza unsettled and the only feeling she felt was confusion and violation for her

friend: “I don’t know why, but something inside me wanted to throw a stick. Something wanted

to say no when I watched Sally going into the garden with Tito’s buddies all grinning. It was just

a kiss, that’s all” (Cisneros 96). An uncontrollable urge inside all of us, told Esperanza to say no

but the shy, lonely and scared side of her put it’s hand over her mouth and suffocated her words.

Again, this circles back to the question of, did Esperanza ever really want to be grown up? The

simple answer is no.

In the instance that Esperanza had wanted to be grown up, that still does not excuse the

amount of trauma that she has endured throughout her lifetime. The events that have damaged

her throughout her life have always connected or looped back around to being an adult. This is

not a coincidence in the slightest. The fact that her childhood revolved around traumatic events

that were associated with growing up, influenced her decision of not desiring to be grown. The

simple explanation is that Esperanza associated being grown up with trauma, suffering, and

agony. Esperanza suffered internal suffering and agony but at no point did she understand the

velocity and seriousness of the events she endured. Esperanza was unknowingly tortured. How

she got through it you ask? She never knew she was being tortured in the first place.

Throughout the entirety of her traumatic childhood, she never had time to desire to be

old. This was never a thought in her head, the voice in her head never counted down the days
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until her next birthday, it never dreamed of her first car, getting a job. Esperanza never wanted to

be grown. In fact she wanted to be quite the opposite, she wanted to be the person she was before

she had to make the decision of staying friends with Sally or going with her gut, before that old

man pressed his soggy old lips against hers, before the red clowns laughed. She wanted to be

young again. To forget pain. To not know.

Argument Writing
Sophie Agutter

Mr. Bigelow

English 10

19 March 2019

A Hypocrite With Good Intentions

One last time. This is the one that ends it for good. In a desperate attempt to end every

routine ever created, those are the words of the one that tries to break the vicious rhythm of a

never-ending cycle. In society, there are a million different cycles one can create, however the

most impossible one to break is the cycle of toxic violence. Throughout Shakespeare’s play

Macbeth,​ there are countless examples of violence that lead the many characters of the play into

a barbarous cycle of violence. More specifically, the Thane of Glamis, Macbeth would soon

enter a dark, never-ending routine of killing that ultimately, leads to his own demise.
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This cycle that Macbeth falls into is initiated by his own ignorance and ambition. After he

gets three prophecies that grant him the titles of Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis, and king of

Scotland from a group of mischievous witches, his confidence skyrockets, making him reckless

in an attempt to achieve these titles faster than fate would have it naturally. He starts this loop of

murder by killing the king, King Duncan. He experiences major guilt and depression after this

deed was done; however, these feelings soon washed away as he continued to be validated by

those around him for his barbaric actions, and bulldoze his way to the top of power.

Unknowingly to Macbeth, this cycle soon breaks apart his family, and friends, leaving him with

a false sense of confidence and support, which leads to his violent actions. As the play progresses

more and more people try to interfere with his killing spree, however they are all unsuccessful

and all ultimately get murdered by Macbeth. This is when it becomes apparent that the cycle is

too far gone to stop with non-violent actions.

There are many instances throughout the play where Macbeth chooses violence over

multiple other choices of action. There is no dancing around the fact that Macbeth is a violent

person with evil intentions. During the play, he is praised by other men and women around him

for his unnecessary violent actions, which then boosts his confidence, makes him feel good and

powerful, which therefore drives him to commit another heinous act, and continues being praised

and validated for his actions. This can be otherwise classified as a never-ending cycle. As this
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cycle repeats itself during the course of the play, we reach the end where Macbeth is met face to

face with his ultimate fate. Death by Macduff. There is indisputably a difference between

Macbeth and Macduff’s morals, way of life, and sense of self. However, despite these

differences, both Macbeth and Macduff get validated for their murderous acts in the exact same

way. “Great happiness” (1.2.59). After Macbeth murders many innocent people at war, this is

the response of King Duncan. Death comes as a relief to King Duncan. This is no way to

consider dozens of murders. To compare this validation that Macbeth received to that of

Macduff, after he murders Macbeth in cold blood, and take his title of king of Scotland, he

receives an unsettling response from the bystanders. “Here comes newer comfort” (5.8.53). After

Macbeth is murdered, and Macduff walks up to bystanders with Macbeth’s head hanging from

the end of a sword, this is the response of Siward as he sees this horrific showcasing of

Macbeth’s brutal murder. This is an awful response to a murder. Although Macbeth was very

much hated after he murdered so many, this is still no way to validate the murder of someone. It

is clear that Macduff had very good intentions by killing Macbeth however, this still constitutes

as murder no matter the intentions behind it. As it would seem, this was another act of violence

that indeed checks all the boxes of the cycle of violence that Macbeth created, and was hated for.

In Macduff’s pathetic attempt to stop this cycle of violence, in actuality, he continued Macbeth’s

legacy and sucked himself into a never-ending cycle of violence.

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Many will argue that the cycle of violence was indeed broken by Macduff. That because

Macduff had no ill intentions behind the murder of Macbeth, and since he has no plans to

continue murdering people, that this act does not count as adding or continuing the cycle.

Although this would be reassuring to readers, this is completely false. When a criminal is being

arrested for murder, do the police care about the good reason behind the murder? No. To give

context, a woman was recently arrested for killing her father after she found pornographic

pictures of herself as a child. According to the Atlanta News Now, “A 63-year old British

woman was sentenced to nine years in prison Wednesday for killing her father and burying him

in her Manchester garden after she found his collection of child pornography that included

images of herself”. As this is a very serious circumstance, that one can easily argue that she does

not deserve to serve her sentenced nine years in prison. However, no matter the reasoning behind

a violent act like this, it still constitutes as a murder. This can be directly related back to

Macduff’s situation. There is no justification for murder. Macduff, and others supporting him,

justified the murder of Macbeth by classifying it as avenging all of the people that Macbeth had

killed. Did the murder of Macbeth succeed in stopping him from killing more? Yes. However it

cannot and did not stop the cycle of violence.

As these facts of the play fall into place, we begin to see a pattern form. As someone gets

killed, in good intention or not, there comes validation along with the murder, causing the stigma
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that forms around violence to become something to brag about, it is a meaningless act and isn’t

given a second thought. Someone has bigger fish to fry when someone gets killed. Tears are not

to be shed when someone is killed. Murder is emotionless. “He’s worth no more” (5.8.52). This

is Siward’s reaction to his son’s death. Emotionless, carefree, preoccupied. To put it simply,

every single person at this time was desensitized to murder. It was deemed as a solution to

conflict. Therefore, as much good intention and benevolence that allowed Macduff to justify the

murder of Macbeth there was, this is still an irreversible, appalling act of violence that ultimately

just contributed to the cycle that Macbeth had started.

The process in which one finds the end of a cycle is like finding the end of a perfectly

fused rubber-band. You simply cannot. To start eating healthy, do you continue to have ‘one last

burger’ every time you see a Burger King? No. That literally is the exact same thing you were

doing before, you’re just calling it something different. So what if that one last burger you

always crave was actually murder. Every problematic person that you come across, you tell

yourself that this is the one that ends it. This one is the last one. The first image of Macbeth that

we see in the play, is him holding the head of one of his victims, boasting, asserting his

dominance. We see the play end the exact same way with a gruesome image of Macduff carrying

Macbeth’s head upon his sword. When the beginning and end of the rubber-band look the exact

same, there is no way to determine where you should cut the band. This rubber-band is the cycle
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of violence. When the beginning of this cycle, and the so called end of it look the exact same,

how does one know where and how to end it. The simple answer to this question is that there is

no knowing. However there is one thing that is indefinite, one cannot end a cycle the exact same

way it was started. Macduff did not end the cycle by murdering Macbeth, he simply gave himself

an impossible responsibility.
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My Journey Paper
Sophie Agutter

Mr. Bigelow

English 10

13 May 2019

My Journey Through Music

Bon Iver Essentials. A playlist made by Kristina Shiffman. A girl who unknowingly has

gotten me through uncountable journeys this year. The most painful heartbreaks, me attempting

to drain out the deafening noise of my dad snoring, crying in a cave in the middle of the

Jordanian desert, long walks and talks and thinks and regrets. Memories of these experiences are

drowned with the sound of the soft instrumental that introduces Re: Stacks. A song by Bon Iver.

A song that takes me on a journey every time I listen to it. A song that cries for me so I don’t

have to. When I am asked the question of what journey I have gone on this year, I don’t think

anybody besides my music library could answer that for me. I’m going to be honest, I fucked up.

A lot. I can’t say if this has made me a better person or worse person but I do know that I don’t

think i’m ready to be done messing up. I think the journey that I went on this year is still going.

It’s the journey of figuring out when i’m ready to be done messing up. Figuring out how to be

myself again. I choose to represent my journey through describing songs that I relate and connect

to those times in my life because I believe that the music one relates to can say far more about
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their mental state than they could say about themselves. Here’s sophomore year’s highs, lows,

mistakes, and everything in between, in songs.

Oldie. A song by Odd Future. A group of 10 different solo rappers. This song took me

through the beginning of the year. Calm, consistent, happy. My emotions and experiences

represented in a song. This was the beginning of my mistakes. When my mistakes didn’t come

with consequences yet.

Flume. A song by Bon Iver. Again. Sad, lonely, abandoned. That’s November and

December for you. Although my amazing trip to the middle east was in the middle of all of this,

my outlook on life plummeted. It kinda just… Sucked.

Remember Me. A song by UMI. Happier. I think? My life was peaking. I was so so so

happy. Having the time of my life every single weekend. It seemed suspicious. How happy I

was. How perfect everything was.

Re: Stacks. A song by Bon Iver. Can you sense a pattern? The weekend I got caught for

the biggest series of mistakes i’ve ever made in my life. Grounded for a month. Song on repeat

for a month. Loneliness for a month. Sopha disappeared for a month.

Spacecraft. A song by Ahbi The Nomad. Things were looking up. Although I fell into a

habit that was both illegal and stupid, I felt better. I knew I wasn’t better but at least I felt like it.
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I know that this all was just to fill the void I had been left with after getting caught and grounded

for a month the first time.

Blkswn. A song by Smino. I had gotten caught yet again. However heartbreaking it was

to see my parents dissapointment, I didn’t feel sad. I felt almost relieved to be ripped out of my

habit. To be forcefully placed back into reality and common sense.

TEST DRIVE. A song by Joji. A transition back into my happiness. It took me one week

to forget about everything. Become the person I was before every shitty thing I had done. It felt

so damn good to be back.

Thotiana. A song by Blueface. Although this song is the biggest joke ever, it symbolizes

one of the best times of my life. A soccer tournament with all my favorite people. I felt revived.

Everything was right and for once nothing went horribly wrong afterwards.

FML. A song by Kanye West. This song was the complete opposite of my mood. It

wasn’t the lyrics that I related to, it was the energy of the song. Sounds cliche but seriously, the

song is happy but also regretful at the same time. Me I guess.

I Want To Break Free. A song by Queen. An old gem. One you dance to in your room at

1 am. One you scream along to in the car while all the windows are down and you’re driving fast

at night with all of your best friends. School sucked but life was the best.
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The End. That’s it. My journey to… happiness and acceptance ends there I guess. I am

back where I started, probably restarting the same cycle as before. Hopefully not but probably.

Music says so much more than words. It has a million more meanings than words, a million

more interpretations, it has an outside perspective. The emotions that go unnoticed are revealed

in songs. Unnoticed by the world, by yourself, by your best friends, your parents. They have a

way of showing themselves not through words but more by how we choose to express ourselves.

Whether that is fashion, makeup, decorations, music, or movies, they all have significance that

words simply cannot retain. This list of songs are up to your interpretation, your judgement of

me and my emotions. It’s all out there.

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Term Reflection

Sophie Agutter

Mr. Bigelow

English 10

25 October 2018

Concepts You Can’t See

Throughout this year, my thinking was changed and my view of the world has shifted. As

I was reading the book Room, I started to understand that becoming who you are now does not

require school. In school, you learn new things in a closed room with no reference to the outside

world, that’s what you’re supposed to do when you get home. What if there was no world for

you to compare what you learned to? What if when you learn something new, you never have

any reference to the outside world? What if there was no outside world to you? This is all

thinking and realizations I had while reading this book.

The level of comprehension one must have to understand what the two main characters

were going through is astounding. I have never thought to imagine that if you had to stay in the

same classroom your whole life, only seeing the same things every single day, how are you

supposed to learn new things? In the book, Ma (Joy), says that Jack (her son) was the best thing

that ever happened to her while in captivity but I wonder if it really was the best thing to happen

to her. The fact that Joy had to teach Jack how to function in the world without having the world

to tell him how to function in seems impossible. How to you teach a kid a concept without
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showing them? They won’t believe you. There is no way that she never thought about the fact

that it would be easier without Jack. In a way, it seems as if Jack might be her escape system, her

way of not hoping to be free again.

I think this has made me realize that I have so much to live for. A whole house, friends,

the whole world to explore and discover. I am one of the fortunate ones. There are some like

Jack and Joy. Trapped in one room. Living the same nightmare every single day. Not knowing

when to stop hoping for release. Not knowing how to stop wondering if the world knows you’re

gone. When I ​feel​ like I’m trapped and alone, now, I just think about that I have the whole world

to go and find new people and places to live, This book has made me a better person, made me a

more grateful person, and a more conscious person.

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Favorite Quick Write

Sometimes the love I don’t understand feels like hate. It feels bad instead of good. It feels

like they’re being greedy when they say, it’s for the best. In that moment I want to scream, tell

them that they are wrong. That they don’t understand. But maybe it’s me, looking in the mirror

seeing nothing wrong with myself that destroys my sense of truth. It’s different than what the

millions of other people in the world see when they look at me. People think that they look better

in the mirror than they do in person. So maybe the love that feels wrong is actually the most right

thing that has ever happened to me and I am just too ignorant to see it. Maybe they see the things

you hide from yourself because they hurt too much to look at. Maybe they make the love

uncomfortable and wrong on purpose, to open your eyes. To make you realize how right it

actually is.
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AoW Response

Throughout the book, Esperanza notices and is influenced by color. I think she strongly

associates things with color which again ties the red house on mango street, and how she

associated the color red with happiness until she moved into the house on mango street, then she

started to say that red signifies restriction and sadness. Like when she used the analogy of the red

balloon and anchor. Everywhere she goes she notices the financial status of whatever she’s

looking at, and she notices the color of the object. This is clearly shown that throughout the

book, she strongly associates color with financial status and simply just associates her feelings

and emotions with that color. For example, if she were to have a good experience with something

green, she would then see everything green as good and happy. If she had a bad experience with

orange, she would then associate everything orange regarding sadness to that one bad

experience. Colors matter to Esperanza, so color affects her mood.

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AoW Expand My Thinking

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Book Club Notes

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End of Year Reflection

Dear Soph,

This year WAS better than the last. I discovered who and what I want to be. I learned

how to have fun in the worst situations, I learned many valuable lessons about commitment,

honesty, and friendships. I exceeded my expectations by so so much this year. I grew so much as

a person, a student, a soccer player. I tried new things, took risks, and was super brave this year.

I’m proud of myself. I did it!! I survived sophomore year by the skin of my teeth. I quit my job

finally, it sucks not making money but I am so much happier. There are many things that I failed

at this year but I learned how to fix my mistakes as well. I hope that I will look back on this year

and think about how much I am going to miss it. All of my successes and failures have made me

a better person. My goals for the summer are to have fun, relax, and keep working hard to

maintain the persona that I discovered this year. I want to go into junior year ready to work my

ass off. I didn’t work as hard on school as I should’ve this year. I fell off my grind. I was

focusing on myself more than school and that showed in my grades. I have learned some

valuable lessons about study habits and motivation and time management which I will hopefully

take my terrible grades this year and turn them around and take that and make it into motivation

for next year. I am shooting for all A’s and A-’s I think I can do it. I just need to put in the work.

I asked myself many questions at the beginning of this year. I think I was hopeful,

ambitious, motivated, and excited. I lost that motivation and ambition throughout this school

year but I am getting it back… Just a bit too late I guess. I am GOING to go into junior year with

the same energy but this time, I am going to keep that energy all throughout the year and I am
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going to find new ways to find that motivation and energy that I started with. If future Sopha is

reading this, I hope you did that. I hope you learned from your mistakes this year, and I hope you

turned all of your inevitable mistakes into successes. You got this. Love you!