Scarlet's Essay

TS:What if one morning you, yawning and stretching, woke up and realized that so many things you have done in your past have affected your future? SD:Now you regret those silly things you did a long time ago because your life would have been better if you had or hadn't done them. SD:Regrets haunt everyone. SD:It doesn't matter if you are 20 or 103, you will always have regrets. SD:But is it right for a fourteen-year-old girl to worry about the fact that she didn't study for a upcoming test and then failed it? CS:Is it fair for the poor teenager to nag herself about it and put herself down because of it?

TS:Why do people have regrets? SD:Maybe it is because you did something and it hurt someone you love. CM:If only you had thought before you had said because now you have lost the person forever. CM:That can really hurt because you know that one thing you have done of said made you lose that relationship. SD:Perhaps you should have said something that you didn't and you know that you would have had more fun because of it. CM:For instance, say you didn't ask your special someone to dance. CM:You now regret it because you know that you would have had a great time together. CS:Regrets affect so many people and sometimes the regrets are silly little things or something that cost you a important relationship.

TS: I have many regrets that I try not to dwell on to often. SD:Firstly, I wish that when I was younger I enjoyed the small amounts of homework each night and the fact that all I had to worry about was whether I would be the line leader the next day. CM:Now I look back and it all seems so easy compared to the essay's we write each week and worrying about which high schools I am going to get into. CM:I wish that I had cherished the carefree moments of my childhood. SD:Another regret I have is not getting to know as many kids while out on Martha's Vineyard for the summer. CM:I had many opportunities to make knew friends but, I choose to stay inside watching TV. CM: Although I made one really good friend, I wish I had made others. SD:Finally, one of my biggest regrets is the mistake I made in seventh grade. CM:I had a friend and at the time we were becoming best friends. CM:I thought that I could tell her anything and that we would be there for one another through whatever. CM:Then one week she had been annoying to me and I thought it was a good idea to tell another friend that I didn't really like this girl anymore. CM:It was one of the most ludicrous mistakes I've ever made. CM:In short my friend and I are not as close as we were and it makes me sad because I know that if I had just kept my mouth shut we could still be great friends. CS:Some of my regrets are simple slip-ups that could have easily been avoided while others are ones I will always carry with me for a long time but no matter what, they are regrets and they all bother me sometimes.

TS: Regrets affect millions of people everyday. SD: We all have frivolous regrets like forgetting to where our red shirt instead our blue shirt. SD: Then there are the regrets that annoy us daily and the ones where we know our lives would have been better if we had acted differently. CS: No matter where you are or however old, regrets can hurt and bother but it is just a way of life.

----------------------------------------------------------

Date: 12/15/08 Assignment: Regrets Essay

1. I am trying to work on my grammar, such as spelling and punctuation. Also making sure that everything is under one large "umbrella".

2. I enjoy my fast words and I believe they are apt. Also I think this is a somewhat organized essay.

3. I am not entirely sure that my chiasmus is completely correct. My second body paragraph is also not in perfect 11-sentence form because I needed more sentences

4. My Grade: C

Kimo's Essay #12

Kimo Gray
12.15.08
Mr. Salsich
English

Regrets: Live, Learn, Move on

“The successful person frets over the past and worries over the future, while the happy person lives in the moment, not a care of what has happened or what will.” This quote, of which I have quoted numerous times as my friends will tell, speaks of everyone, and the decisions they make that bind them to their fate. If this unknown philosopher is correct, then there is also no way to be both happy and successful; how then, do we make this impossible choice? I believe in letting go of regrets, and making amends to the amendable, and forgetting the unforgettable.


Why do we hold regrets when we know that the past does not contribute to the future? It is sensible to not hold regrets, to always move on like clockwork. But we are not a sensible people. We are a people of emotion of sentimental sensations, and therefore it would be impossible to abolish regret. One example of regret in my life would be the insignificant opportunities I have with my family that I waste. Whether it is putting my brother to bed, or just playing a time consuming board game with my sisters, I never seem to make time, always preoccupied with everything at once. I love my family, and I know that all that I do for them makes up for these minor regrets. Another regret I have is with procrastination. Procrastination is a deadly disease; one that is founds in the bright colors of television and distractions and is not fought with antibiotics but rather with will-power. I have often struggled with procrastination, and I always feel empty when the day has arrived with no paper to give, no presentation to share, nothing to give but a hollow “sorry.” But I learn to move on, to see the world anew every day and to make sure the old mistakes aren’t repeated, relearned, or rejected. Whether I am a ‘procrastination-aholic,’ or there isn’t enough time in the day, regrets are something to be worked past, and though they may never be gone, that doesn’t mean we can’t rise above them.


I am only 14 years old, but as of late I have taken a good long look at my life and assessed how to prepare for another future. In our 9th grade forum, many students spoke of contrary beliefs of mine; many suggested that the only way to go throughout life was with regrets. The quantity of people alluding to this statement shocked me- perhaps my way of thinking ad been wrong. If so, I would have to believe that I would regret believing in not having regrets. Regrets certainly are a large part of life, whether you chose to dwell on them or move past, there will always be regrets. One amend I discovered in my life was to become more organized in my school life, in my home life, and in everything I do. It has brought me happiness overcoming this regret, as I now don’t have to drag myself through my room or dig for a paper in my plan book. Now that I don’t have to worry about the past in the present there is no need to worry about the future. My father, a man who maybe not the most impressive man I know but is definitely one of the greatest, always imposed his beliefs on me as a child. Whether this was wrong on his part, I know not to say but he did teach me important things in life, the difference between right and wrong, how to always win at tic-tac-toe, how to treat others, and how to treat yourself. Living with regrets is always a hard thing; contrary to my advice I have lived my life with many large regrets that only till recently had been contained like a little red sandstorm in the back of my head. But letting go of your regrets is the key to happiness, and it can come to anyone, even a 9th grader.


I like to think of myself as a happy person, but then I am not one to dismiss the past or to abolish the future. Regrets can come in all shapes and sizes, and it is our each personal struggle to deal with them. Whether it’s something small like forgetting to brush your teeth, or something bigger, life goes on. Be happy when you can, because though a life without regrets may be a life without care, a life without care is not a life at all.


1. I am trying to work on organization in my writing. I’m also trying to understand the tools better.
2. I enjoyed my chiasmus, as I think it contributes to the passage well. I also like my S-V split
3. I think that my concluding paragraph wasn’t very exciting, and that I may have gotten a bit sidetracked in my first body paragraph.
4. C




Bold-Chiasmus

Italics-S-V split

Kates Essay

TS: The definition of regret is to feel sorry, disappointed, or distressed. 2: Should a 14 year old really be feeling that? 3: I don’t think that is good feeling for a kid to be experiencing. 4: Of course I have been disappointed in my life but it is not something that I dwell on all the time.



TS: One of the things that I was disappointed with in my life was when I got my assessment grade back. SD: After working hard, and long I was very disillusioned when I received my grade. CM: At first I didn’t really understand why I got the grade, and I thought it was because I was honest and said that I did not have a good experience at the Elms. CM: That made me start to think that if I lied and said I had a great time at the Elms I would have gotten a better grade. SD: I don’t believe that that is why I got my grade any more though. CM: Sometimes, when someone brings up assessment I still wonder if I did it differently, would I have gotten a better grade. CS: But then I quickly think to something else because there is no reason for a 14 year old to be disappointed in herself.



TS: Some things that I can change in my future is to be ready for disappointment. SD: There is always the possibility that I will get a bad grade in there future and I should not be to upset by it the next time I receive one. CM: I should accept the grade. CM: Once I can accept it, I can then learn from it. SD: In the back of my head after a test or a quiz I make sure that I know it may not get an A. CM: I’m not being pessimistic, I'm being prepared. CS: I don’t want to feel so let down like I was with my assessment grade.


TS: When I got my assessment grade back it was not a good feeling and I don’t ever want to be that disappointed in my self like that again. So far I have not and I would like to keep it that way.

Kates Inclass Essay

Kate Scott
December 4, 2008
English 9
Feeling Guilty:
In Class Essay about the book “Christmas Carol” By Charles Dickens

TS: Is there some thing you have done that you wish you could change? Do you still wonder what would have happened if you changed your self just a little and maybe every thing would have turned out better? Jacob Marley from the “Christmas Carol” wishes he were a happier and nicer man when he was alive.



TS: Guilt is some thing that we all carry around with us, and some times it stays with us for the rest of our life. SD: Jacob Marley, a character from the “Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, is a good example of carrying around guilt. CM: When he was a live he wasn’t a happy man. CM: He was grouchy and it started to ware off on to scrooge. SD: Now that Marley died he has to wear these chains that I think represents his guilt for not having a fulfilling life. CM: That is the reason that Marley came back, to tell Scrooge all of this was to make sure scrooge did not have to go through that when he dies. CM: Marley can’t stand the thought of putting his business partner, and friend though that. CS: Scrooge will hopefully not have an afterlife filled with guilt.




TS: There is no need to have to be guilty through out your whole life. Every one should try and fallow Marley’s advice for living life. Everyone should travel, should give advice, and should be happy. If you do, you should not have to be like Jacob Marley.


BLUE- Purposeful Repetition

Kimo's In Class Essay

Kimo Gray
12/04/08
English 9
Hamilton Salsich

Do you believe in ghosts? Or rather, do you believe in the eternal punishment that enfolds and tortures those whose lives had brought not but cruelty? Jacob Marley, a former, now deceased, bank teller in Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol,” gave his get exponentially cruel partner Ebenezer Scrooge a glimpse of life after death. Marley, a truly evil man who cared nothing but for the money and suffering of all who owed him presented to Scrooge his spirit, of which carried a grand change of deeds, chain boxes, and symbolic trinkets now solidified in iron that gave Scrooge a glimpse of what awaits him after death.
It is said that the good man, be as he is, will always fall behind those who cheat, those who care more about the end than the getting there. This can be said of Ebenezer Scrooge, a rather wealthy man whose only concern was collecting the day’s profit. At first it seems he is above life itself, he feels no need to fall into the silly “humbug” they call Christmas. In fact, he lives in a mansion, lives in wealth, and lives only with himself and his cold heart. “Now Marley was dead,” Dickens makes sure to make that very clear. But even in their eternal rest, there is eternal restlessness for those, such as Marley, who have shown no kindness to humankind, has not “[Gone] forth in life” and given all he had taken. He appears to Scrooge with that chain, that chain of greed, of guilt, of remorse, and of eternal pain. Now seven years ago to the night Marley died, and he promises that Scrooge’s was as long and laborious as his chain seven years ago. Marley travels the Earth, seeing for himself what it was like to have been happy, to have seen the kindness that he could never share, could never feel. Nobody condemned Marley to this fate; rather Marley had condemned himself, and swears that Scrooge’s chain is waiting for him. Though “Cheaters never win, and winners never cheat” (anonymous) doesn’t mean that those cheaters shouldn’t get a second chance, and Marley offers to Scrooge a way to change all that, and to experience kindness before it is to late.
Jacob Marley was a man, just like any of us, who just didn’t lead the life that would lead to salvation. It makes people wonder what is on the chain they bear, a vial of tears, a purse of greed, or perhaps, no chain at all. Jacob Marley was a man, but in death, he was eternal despair. But poor Jacob, be it as he is, still took the time to go to Scrooge and offer his only friend the life that he never lead, and in doing so, brought a little more kindness into the world.


Purposful Repetition: Italics

Chiasmus: Bold

In Class Essay

Parker Verhoeff

Mr. Salsich

9th Grade English

December 4 2008

In, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Marley's ghost returns from the dead and explains to Scrooge how to live his life. Marley's ghost also tells him what will happen to him if he keeps leading a life of bitterness and coldness. Marley tries to tell Scrooge this, before he too is left to wander between heaven and hell.

TS: Marley explains, "It is required of every man [...] that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen [...] if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death." he is left to wander for eternity searching for what he didn't accomplish while he was alive. SD: Since Marley didn't "walk among his fellowmen", he wears chains that represent his troubles during life, and his troubles during life represents his chains. CM: Marley states "I wear the chain I forged in life [...] I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it." because he he must drag his burdens along with him. CM: But he made it clear that it was all his fault, it was on his "own free will". SD: He tells Scrooge that he must acknowledge everyone and stop his misanthropic ways; stop hating people for no reason. CM: If Scrooge doesn't want to end up like him, he should change his whole outlook on life. CS: Marley tries very well to make Scrooge see what could happen to him, but I still don't think Scrooge understands it yet.

Marley's ghost is very informative, and is a good example of what Scrooge could end up as. He explains how he needs to change, and what will happen to him if he doesn't. Marley tries to get his point across before it's too late.