Blog 26: Help Erin Holbrook

Well, first I have to say that I thought the class was very effective. I felt more than prepared for the AP exam, and if you, Mr. Logsdon, were to teach the class the same way the next year all of your students would be more than fine. What I found most helpful was all of the practice that we did. From practice multiple choice tests to all of the essays we wrote, every time we did one of these things I felt more confident about the AP test. I especially liked congress. I'm a big fan of constructive criticism, and I think the congresses were a good way for people to hear their strengths and weaknesses. That said, one problem I had with the congresses was inconsistency. It seemed almost like we weren't grading each essay by the same guidelines. Some essays would be berated for small grammatical errors, while others did not have ideal paragraph structure or explanations, but were considered "good enough". I don't think we always stuck to the rubric or graded as though an AP grader would. That might just be my overly-critical self talking, I was often harsher than the class in my grading. Another thing was that I didn't get much out of essay reviews done online. Most people seemed to comment just for the sake of commenting, without actually analyzing the essay. There wasn't much to learn from comments posted online on turnitin. I think that if you have time it might be a good idea to spend more time discussing essays in class near the end of the year. The only other thing I could think of would be to go over and practice multiple choice more often. Questions on the test were often vague, and it would have helped to be more experienced with just what we were looking for.

I hope that's not overly-critical. I tend to criticize more than praise even when I really like something. I hope this is helpful! Have a good summer, Mr. Logsdon.

Blog #25: Erin Holbrook

It shouldn't be a surprise that I'm going to to take this opportunity to talk about physics.

The wackiest thing about physics, I think, is that it all makes sense. Everything in the universe, all the chaos and randomness, can be boiled down to a handful of numbers. The universe isn't governed by just a few laws, it follows a very strict code. There are about 20 universal constants that keep popping up when physics meets mathematics. They're always there, in a spooky way. And not just these numbers, but others as well. Take the geometric series of 0, 3, 6, 12, 24... and then add four to each number and divide by ten. The result is 0.4, 0.7, 1.0, 1.6, 2.8.... This set of numbers just so happens to be the ratio of distances between the planets and the sun. Mercury is .387 AU from the sun. Venus is .723 AU from the sun, Earth is 1 AU, and so on. This symmetry appears to be a coincidence, yet it is an incredibly exact proportion. There's only one word for it: strange. And that's what physics is, that is why I like physics so much. It is strange.

Blog #24 The Future Erin Holbrook

Thank goodness the year is over. Though honestly, I'd be lying to say I didn't wish it was senior year that I had just finished. Even if I'm not ready for the future, I'm excited for it. As far as junior year goes, I was far from perfect. I slacked off on more than a few assignments, regrettably I did not even keep up on my blogs. Still, somehow, I survived with hopefully straight A's and a solid plan for next year. And by solid... I mean painful. College applications on top of 6 AP classes, several clubs, writing a book for my mentoring project, and working whenever I can. It's not going to be pretty. Hopefully I can survive once again and geet to the more sun side of the future: college.

College is what I'm most looking forward to. As introverted as I can be, I'm really looking forward to going far away from where I live now and experiencing new things. I'm looking forward to the dorms, the roommates, the libraries, the classes, the research, and especially the cities. I'm looking forward to studying hard enough, AKA not procrastinating, that I have time to try new things. I'm looking forward to Graduate School and Research. I'm looking forward to getting a job that's not just a job, and to traveling as far and as often as I can. To infinity and beyond! I can't wait for the future to come.

Blog 23 Perfect Playlist: Erin Holbrook

A Perfect Playlist for writing:

I spend a lot of my time writing, and always find that music can help when the creative juices just aren't flowing. A perfect playlist for writing, for me at least, consists of:

1.)"Who Are You"by The Who

2.)"Eleanor Rigby"by the Beatles

3.)Tchaikovsky's"Nutcracker"

4.)Marquez:"Conga del Fuego"

5.)"Me Voy"by Julieta Venegas

The first song on the list is a song that is just one of my personal favorites. It mainly serves as a good song to sing along to, so that one can wake up and start thinking before actually setting down to work. "Who Are You" is a catchy song that is very easy to sing along with. Eleanor Rigby is also a good song to just listen to, but it serves here the purpose of a transition between old rock music to classical instrumentals. Classical instrumentals are the best music to actually write to, because they help one to focus on writing gracefully, or at least intelligibly. Any of the Nutcracker tracks have strong music with which to write to, as does "conga del Fuego" and most other classical music. Finally, "Me Voy" is a fun, light song that is perfect for anytime. It's a good song to get around to when writer's block or any kind of frustration sets in because of it's light and airy, but still catchy, tune.

Blog #22: Fictional Characters: Erin Holbrook

If I could be any fictional character... I'm afraid I'd pick a character that is not too original. I'd be The Doctor from Doctor Who. It isn't because Doctor Who is my favorite work of fiction, or even because The Doctor is my favorite character- though he is certainly high on the list. It is because he would simply be the most fun person to be.

The Doctor, for anyone who doesn't know, is a character from a popular British television show with a cult following. He is 1200+ year old Time Lord. Though he appears human, he is an alien. He can be killed, but he can also theoretically live forever, or very close to it. On top of that, he is not just clever but has the mental capacity to know just about everything (not to say that he does).A time traveler, he also knows everything that was, could have been, cannot be, is, will be, and can be. He takes with him his time machine, which can create endless rooms within itself and is essentially a mansion, and a sonic screwdriver, which makes just about anything he wants do whatever he wants (i.e. opens doors, hacks computers, makes ATM's give him money, etc.) Finally, he is not only unemployed but basically untouchable by any rule or regulation, and lives out his days doing whatever he wants to do, travelling anywhere in time and space.

Who wouldn't want to be the Doctor?

Blog#21: Right Now, Erin Holbrook

At this very moment, somewhere in the universe, a supernova explosion is occurring. It's occurring at such a distance that we won't be able to observe it for millions of years. And so for millions of years, that star will be dead with every soul thinking it alive. Meanwhile, we watch other supernovas that occurred thousands, millions, or billions of years ago as though they are happening today. One in particular is very interesting. It is a supernova that is like any other, far away and incredibly bright. Actually, it is much brighter that usual. It is so very bright that many scientists thought of classifying it as a new type of supernova- though it wasn't. It was in fact a dying star like any other, only with a galaxy between us and it. The light of the galaxy didn't get confused with that of the supernova. Something much more interesting is happening there. The mass of the galaxy is such that it has a very strong gravitational pull, which modern science will tell us does not pull in objects but bends space. Light follows the curves in space created by gravity, even though light itself is not effected by gravity. The light emitted from the first supernova is, right now as I type, being bent around the galaxy. The galaxy thus behaves like a ginormous magnifying glass,  a very interesting phenomenon.

#25-Rachel Hart

I, like many other teenage girls, am looking forward to watching The Fault in Our Stars.  I loved reading the book shortly after it released and have reread it more than ten times in the last year. John Green is one of my favorite authors and I enjoy reading most of his works(except Abundance of Katherines, I could not get through it). Though I am excited for the movie I’m nervous about the director’s choices in the film. When I read a book, I often get attached to the characters and create my own mental image of how they should look and act. I have been upset with many films made from books in the past and hope that Josh Boone has taken the extra measures he claims to have taken in making the film close to the book. I’m sure that no matter what choices Boone makes the movie will still be great as the story John Green has given us. 

#26-Help!-Rachel Hart

I'll begin first with the positives. Like most English classes, in your class we wrote a multitude  of essays. While I complained before we began to write any of the essays, I have to say that they actually helped to improve my writing and the scores I received. I also think that becoming familiar with the style of questions both essay and multiple choice was effective in my preparation for the AP test. The smae is true for our ACT prep. I hated the thought of answering multiple choice questions each day, but breaking them down into 15 or so question chunks helped in making the task less tedious. However, I did not like using turnitin to grade essays.  I found that those responding to my essays never gave quality feedback like I received in congress style discussion. Everyone, including myself, were rushing to have enough comments on each essay then moving along to give more bad feedback to the next essay we needed to grade.

26- Lucy Wan

I probably could have walked into this class and gotten a 5 on the AP test from the very first day. (Did that sentence get your attention? I used it for the shock value.) Of course I didn't realize I could have passed the test until I knew what it was about, and that is what your class is. 

Now normally, I have a pet peeve against teachers who teach to the test. I find myself bored and ill-prepared to use those skills beyond that specific test. However, you managed to make the material seem interesting. I think congress was the best thing we did all year. Being able to have my own work critiqued and looking at my classmates work made me a better writer. That being said, I HATED turnitin. Writing comments on others papers without having any of my classmates back me up or even year me down was confusing. I didn't know what to say, or whether I was being too harsh. I would have also liked to do an equal amount of every essay and review each essay type before the test. We did much less argumentative essays than analysis. Also, by the time of the test, I had not written an analysis essay in a few months. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous for that one. 

There's going to be a divided opinion about your class because some people don't feel like they're learning anything. Sometimes the class can be very stagnant; we seem to do nothing. I understand that your job is to teach to the test, but learning about parts of English other than just writing strengthens the student as a whole. Yes, we did AP practice tests, but it would have been easier to analyze passages had we analyzed a text. 

I had a lot of fun this year. You've made me a better writer, even though it takes me forever. Thanks for everything.

Help! Jania Stevenson

Now that I've taken the AP test for this class I can see how writing all those essays actually kind of helped. I mean, I never improved at writing, I got the same grades on my essays every time but at least we knew which essays were going to be on the test and how to write them. Grading the essays however, wasn't that helpful. Most people, including myself, just wanted their points so we said whatever it took to get them. I'm pretty sure someone telling I used quotes well in my essay wasn't going to help me with anything. The reviews on turnitin were even less helpful. For the multiple choice section, I think we should have gone over the answers more. We always got back the sheets that told us how many we got wrong, but we almost never got back the test packet, so we didn't even know what questions we got wrong and what the answers were. The ACT practice was helpful though. We went over the answers people got wrong and you actually explained why certain answers were wrong. Over all your class could have been better but it was still pretty good

Blog 25 Jania Stevenson

About three weekends ago I went and saw the movie "Godzilla". There are only two words that can describe that movie, and those words are: life changing. That movie was so awesome, I talked about it for the rest of the weekend. I'm still thinking about how good it was at this very moment! The animation and sound effects were amazing and as a bonus, the main character was super attractive. They give you more of a back story on Godzilla so you actually know where he came from and what his purpose is, unlike in other Godzilla movies where he just comes out of the water, destroys stuff, and leaves. There's so much action and explosions, which I love, plus a little bit of romance, which I also love. It's just all around an amazing movie and I would recommend that everyone go and see it. Trust me, your mind will be blown.

The Future Jania Stevenson

My Junior year was actually pretty successful. The past two years I have struggled a little bit in school, but this year I did pretty well. My grades were good, I actually learned stuff, and for probably the first time I did all my work by myself. The only class I had some trouble with was English because I'm not the best writer, but I got through it and I think I did pretty well on my AP test. I did slack off a bit towards the end of this year, but academically it was still a good year for me. And not only did I do better at school, I surprisingly made new friends. It's weird how you can go to school with someone for three years and not know that they exist and then you can randomly become friends. But as much as I loved my Junior year, I'm really looking forward to being a Senior. All my classes are pretty easy and graduation is super close now. The only things I'm nervous about are college applications and my mentoring project. I'm not sure how my project is really going to work out so I guess we'll see if I can make it work. Hopefully Senior year will be just as good as this was.

20- Lucy Wan

How to write a slam poem

I don't know much (as shown by my grades this year, oops), but if like to think I kind of know about slam poetry. After all, I might watch way too much of it for my own good. Here's my 5 steps to writing a slam poem.

1. Pick a topic.

Your topic should make you feel something. Whether it's anger or sadness of happiness, the stronger the emotion, the easier it is to write a poem. 

2. Start of with a mundane and seemingly unrelated intro.

I once started off a poem talking about how my nail polish was chipping off and ended it on body issues. The more out-of-left-field your issue seems to come from, the more impactful it will be.

3. Describe things in new and fresh ways. 

Everyone has heard of eyes that are as blue as the ocean, but has anyone heard of eyes like outer space, as bright as the stars? Feel free to create similes and metaphors that are totally unique to you. The more personalized the poem is, the better it reflects you.

4. Think of how it will sound.

The most important and distinguishing factor of slam poetry is that it's meant to be performed. Thus, as you're writing the poem, think of how it will sound when read aloud. Are there any words you can stumble over? Do your line breaks sound awkward? Edit your poem so that it's easy to read.

5. Write whatever you want.

Whatever I say, the poem is is your own. The words you write can be whatever you want; in the end, slam poetry is read to an audience, but written by you. 

Zach Wolfe 21

At this very moment, somewhere in the universe, a tree feel and didn't make a noise because no one was around to hear it. I've never understood that saying. Obviously the tree still makes a noise. It has to. There was a vibration when it hit the ground, and vibration causes sound. Even if no one heard it, this still occurred. That's like saying animals don't go to the bathroom because no one saw them. Obviously all animals have to relieve themselves. It's a process of life. Just like the vibration caused by the tree is a process of sound. I wonder how many trees just naturally fall each year, or even each day. I've seen trees collapse after being covered in ice or being struck by lightning but I've never seen a tree just fall for seemingly no reason. I wonder how many people I know have seen a tree naturally fall. 

19- Lucy Wan

When I was in 4th grade, I started playing chess. As a child, I was rather impatient. I absolutely could not stand how long and boring a chess game was. It could take hours? I can't talk? Needless to say, 4th grade me was not thrilled with being on chess team. But, my parents thought chess was a refined sport. They believed the game would teach me discipline and patience.

Clearly I didn't learn anything about those two skills. However, what my chess coach told me one day has stuck with me. "Think three moves ahead." In chess, this meant that I would have to keep track of both my opponents and my pieces; I'd always have to predict their next steps. While I wasn't great at applying the concept to chess- I blame my 5th grade attention span- I think the advice can be applied to life. Obviously we live in the present, but remembering that the future can change anytime is comforting. I've made a lot of mistakes, but there's so many moves to make. The world is a wide open possibility just waiting for me to take a chance.

Zach Wolfe 26

This year's English class was very enjoyable. We were prepared for the AP test by doing those multiple choice practice tests and the times writings. The AP test was exactly like all of those. I also liked the activities we did during the time we weren't doing those exercises. The video was a fun final project even though editing took longer than I would have liked. Grading each other's times writings was a good exercise even though our class was pretty harsh towards each other. Reading what other people wrote gave me ideas and changed my writing a little bit. I expanded my word choice and further developed arguments that I made. The socratic seminars were good because they engaged the entire class but I didn't like doing the on-demand ones. We didn't get as much time to develop ideas and generate talking points like we did with the ones we took home. Sometimes it was harder to generate talking points because we would have a piece that was meant for a literary analysis essay. Also, because it was harder to generate talking points, people were more reluctant to speak and we sat in silence more often. All in all, it was a good year. 

Zach Wolfe 25

I think I'm going to talk about what I'll be doing this summer. Since I play soccer, the World Cup is a really big deal. Unfortunately I think I'll need to find another team to root for because the US might not win a game. We got put in a group with Ghana (the team that's knocked us out of the last two World Cups), Germany (ranked #2 in the world), and Portugal (ranked #3 in the world and has the reigning world player of the year). We have no chance. I think I might root for Germany just because of my grandfathers German roots and the fact that they have some entertaining players, as well as being ranked #2. They have a legitamate chance of winning the tournament. There are also some other interesting matchup sand team to look forward to. The Netherlands and Spain are in the same group. This match will be a rematch of the final in 2010. Also, everyone will be watching the French team because of how they internally imploded last time. They rebelled against their coach and he even sent one player home. This could be a really entertaining tournament. 

Zach Wolfe 24

During my junior year I found out that it's always important to do your work on time. In this class for example, I almost never did my blogs on time. At first it wouldn't affect my grade but once Mr. Logsdon would put in grades, I would suddenly have an F. This would result in being chewed out by my parents which is never fun. The same thing happened to me in seminar. I ended up turning all my work in towards the end of both semesters and so I would be showing a really bad grade for a majority of each semester. One thing I did manage to do is not get any Cs. This is the first school year of my high school career without a single C. I was proud of myself. It helped that junior year was a lot easier than everyone said it was supposed to be. My hardest class was calculus and math is my best subject so it didn't bother me. This summer I plan on getting as many hours logged as I possibly can for my mentoring project. If I can get a majority of that out of the way, then I won't have to worry about it during senior year. 

Sydney Smith Blog #26

Overall, I think you did a great job with this class this year. AP English Language and Composition is a pretty hard course, and the test is long with a lot of reading, essays, and multiple choice questions. We did a lot of preparing for the test specifically this year, so that helped a lot. We did a ton of practice tests and those helped us prepare for the test, definitely. We took probably 5-6 complete practice AP tests, which helped us get ready for the real test at the end of the year. We got used to the passages, and the kinds of questions they ask on the test. We also got used to sitting through a really long test and be able to finish successfully.

Congress and reading through people's essays was VERY helpful throughout the year. We got to read each other's essays, see the strategies other people used, and got to receive comments from our fellow students. However, I don't think the peer review on the computers was very helpful. People didn't leave very good comments, and not a lot of people read them anyway.

Sydney Smith Blog #25

One really good book that I read recently is "Thirteen Reasons Why." It's one of my favorite books now. I read it over spring break, and I read it in one day. One night, really. I stayed up until like 4:00 in the morning reading it, and had to recharge my Kindle twice. That's how you know a book is good. You literally can't put it down! And that's what happened with this book. It was really just that good.

The book is told through both narration and through cassette tapes (that the narrator is listening to at the same time as the audience). The tapes are made by a friend of the narrator who committed suicide earlier in the year, and they explain her motives for killing herself. They are to be passed along from person to person, seemingly to people who are to blame for her suicide. The book is so intense and leaves a lot of the important things to the end, keeping the ultimate reason she killed herself secret. And then, at the end, you finally find out what the narrator's connection to the whole story is. It's really a great book, and I would definitely reccommend it.

Sydney Smith Blog #24

Wow. A review of my junior year. A look ahead to my senior year. It's hard to believe that any of this is real. It feels like my junior year couldn't possibly be over, and there's NO WAY I could be almost a senior!!

My junior year was crazy, as junior years always seem to be. There was so much work and so many things going on all year long. Lots of activities. Getting ready for college. Making sure you have plenty of activities and good enough grades to get into a good school next year. Being social. Keeping up with sports and such. Junior year is just crazy.

This summer, I'll be spending 5 weeks at GSP, at Murray State University. I'm so excited for it, and I know it'll be the best part of my summer!! Also, I'll be enjoying the great weather and spending time with my friends and family, enjoying not being at school.

Next school year will be EVEN CRAZIER than this one. Especially first semester. So much college stuff, we'll probably all go crazy! But I can't wait!

Blog 26- Chelsea Southworth

I think this was a very solid class; I definitely feel like I got a 4 or a 5 on the AP test (unless I really screwed something up). The best thing we did this year was practice. By doing so many multiple choice and essay questions, I knew what was coming on the real test. The multiple choice, specifically, helped bolster my confidence in my potential score. And with essays, really all you can do for practice is write them. It sometimes felt tedious, but was ultimately beneficial. The only problem I saw with the essays was grading. While I know it's difficult when you have so many students, I would've appreciated more teacher feedback on the essays. I also would've liked to see some accountability with the peer commentary; I felt like I was detailed and helpful with what I gave, but much of what I received was useless or, occasionally, nonexistent. There wasn't much motivation for me to continue commenting legitimately when only a handful of other students were doing so (that's not to say people weren't trying, but "good analysis" and "change this wording" aren't too constructive).

The Future- Alexander Reese

The year is almost up, but it sure doesn't feel like it. Junior year has flown by, and despite all my shortcomings, I have to say it was a pretty good year. The most important lesson I learned this year was that you need to be yourself (you do you). It sure makes life a lot easier. My biggest mistake is probably my latest ex-girlfriend, but that's an issue for another day. My summer seems like it's pretty much going to be completely controlled by my mentoring project with a former UK entomologist. I can't say I'm particularly looking forward to waking up early every single morning to go out on a pest control truck, but you gotta do what you gotta do I suppose. I'm really hoping I can get most of my applications for colleges done before school even starts and just have an easygoing year. Junior year has been fun, but I'm excited to be a senior.

Assignment 25 Hannah Pauley

I've read many good books over the last year, but one that I found particularly interesting was JD Salinger's Franny and Zooey. Two of Salinger's novels, Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey, deal with the problems of intelligent but immature adolescents and young adults growing up in an environment that their personalities and mentalities cause them to reject. In Franny and Zooey, Franny struggles to relate to others because of the lifestyles those around her choose, and the way others choose to present themselves socially. As a result, she develops an overall disdain for her peers, her teachers, her college, and even her achievements in acting as she begins her crusade on vanity and ego. She remains unsatisfied as she burrows herself further and further into religion to find enlightenment and escape the life that she finds dull and unpromising. She has a series of tumultuous discussions with her brother, until finally he reveals a lesson he learned from their late older brother. The advice gives Franny a new appreciation for people and for the world around her. Franny realizes that her crisis is nothing more than a side effect of a spiteful attitude. Her outlook causes her to pass unfair judgement on those around her and prevents her from relating to others and living to the full extent of her potential. The story teaches a good lesson, that holding grudges and shutting people out only holds individuals back, and you should treat everyone with the same consideration and even servitude. Hate leads to self-involved thinking, and self-involved thinking leads to a life of unhappiness and turmoil. 

Assignment 19 Hannah Pauley

My parents are full of those cliché pieces of advice that you grow up accustomed to rolling your eyes at. But once in a while, some decent advice cracks itself open to me-- in the form of fortune cookie messages. The last one I received, I kept because it told me that to have a friend is to be a friend, and I've never read anything more true. Since that day I've thought more about my actions and attitudes towards my friends than I had before, and I find myself more and more satisfied with my relationships. I have even more fun at my crazy weekend ragers when I think about others as much as I think about myself, because protecting the interests of others is acting for the happiness of those close to you, which in turn makes the company of those people more enjoyable. Not only this, but doing things for people brings you closer to them, and them closer to you. Consideration and thoughtfulness are what ultimately make a strong and worthwhile relationship, and I learned all of that from a cookie. 

Assignment 26- Cassie Adams

Overall, I felt pretty prepared for the AP test this year. I think you were right in your assumption that most of us already possessed the necessary skills of writing, reading comprehension, and analysis, and all we really needed was a lot of practice. For example, I would assume that we all knew how to read a text and identify it's literary devices, but we needed a little practice discussing this in writing in the format that the AP test required. Because of this, I thought that the timed writings we did in class and our  discussions regarding them were extremely helpful. Personally, I liked the online commentary because, as a person who doesn't usually like to speak up in class, it was easier for me to give honest and constructive criticism in this way. But, I can see how some students would dislike this, as they didn't always give thoughtful comments or go back and read what their classmates had said about their writing. I think that although we didn't discuss much if the multiple choice section in class, most of it was stuff we already knew how to do, only maybe on a more difficult level. However, I think that you should have made it more clear at the beginning of the year that we would not be focusing as much on this section as a class, and if we had questions then we needed to take it upon ourselves to ask them. Because I doubt that many students actually checked to see what they got wrong and why they missed each question when we got our scores back from the practice tests.

Assignment 25- Cassie Adams

One thing I absolutely hate in life is not having direction. Clearly, that makes writing this blog post a little difficult. Writing usually isn't something I have any trouble with, but I need a starting point. With an open ended "write whatever you want" assignment, you could go any number of ways. Deciding on one topic and writing without starting to ramble is difficult. I had similar problem deciding on my mentoring project. In a way, it's exciting and even fun to be able to choose and design a project that interests you. But there were so many options, I had trouble narrowing down my list. Same goes for colleges. I have been relentlessly questioned by my mother about where I want to go to college. And the simple fact of the matter is that I have no idea. I currently don't know exactly what I want in a college or what I want to do career-wise in the future. And I feel like in a group of academy students, many of whom seem to have had their exact futures planned for years now, it's already getting very overwhelming. And as college applications get closer and closer, I presume it's only going to get worse. I tried not to start rambling on this post, but I think it kind of turned into that. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm an extremely indecisive person and I really need to get my life together. 

Assignment #26

Overall I thought you did a good job of teaching the class and teaching to the AP test. There were some things that I found helpful and some that I found somewhat ineffective. One of the most effective activities that we did was the congress in class at the beginning of the year. Hearing what other people had to say about your essay and receiving live feedback was very helpful and definitely gave me good tips to improve my writing in the future. I also think that doing a large number of practice essays really helped, because it gave us a feel for what kind of questions we could get and what the time constraints were like. While some activities were effective there were also some ineffective assignments. One assignment that I felt didn't help at all was the online peer reviews. It was good to see what other people had written but I don't think anyone actually went back and read all the comments on their essay so these peer reviews online never really benefited everyone. I would've much preferred to continue doing the in class congress. I hope you take my advice and use it to improve your class in the future. But I thought as a whole the class did a good job of preparing us for the test.

Assignment 20 How to Make Friendship Bracelets

Tired of being lonely? Looking for a friendly gesture to bring you closer to an anacquaintance or a present to keep someone from forgetting about you? Friendship bracelets are the perfect casual (and beautiful) gift. You will need is scissors, four 56'' strings, some tape, a big heart, and a person to give the finished product to. One of my favorite friendship bracelets is the broken ladder bracelet, which consists of stylish chevrons and quirky "ladders" of knots. First, take your four strings of different colors and crease them into two halves and tie a knot about a half inch from the top of the fold, making a loop at the top of your string structure. Then, separate the strings, making two sides of mirroring colors (for example, if your colors are fucia, baby food green, commie red, and fungus yellow, and you have folded your strings to make eight 28 inch strings, you should now have a pattern of fucia, baby food green, commie red, fungus yellow, fungus yellow, commie red, baby food green and fucia). Then take the leftmost  string (fucia), making 2 left to right loops on each of the next 3 strings (baby food green, commie red, and fungus yellow). Then take the rightmost string (the other fucia) and make 2 right to left loops on each of the next three strings. The two fucia strings should now be in the middle of your fetus bracelet structure. Take the fucia string on the right and make two right to left loops onto the other fucia string to consummate the first chevron (or "v" shape). Repeat this for the next three colors, but without tying the finishing knot on the last chevron.Gather the three inner strings on the left side (left baby food green, commie red, and fungus yellow) and loop the leftmost string (now fucia again) around all three strings ten times. Do the same in the righthand side. You should have two mirroring elegant spirals of fucia on your infant bracelet. repeat the above steps over and over and over and over again until you have a garment that is approximately the circumference of the wrist of your muse. You now have a full grown bracelet child. All that's left to do is give it away, make a friend, and make  somebody pregnant with joy. 

The Perfect Playlist - Jasa Harris

Everyone is going to get a job eventually, but the most nerve-racking part of getting a job is getting through the interview. It’s important to stay confident and positive during this stressful time so this is the perfect playlist before a job interview.

Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J: This song will give you the confidence you need heading into your interview because “over the competition, you’ll be towerin”. You’ll feel ready and not nervous when you enter because you know you got it.  

I Believe I Can Fly by R. Kelly:  This song will also give you some confidence before a big interview. It tells you that you can reach new heights if you believe in yourself and this will motivate you to do well in your interview.

Remember You by Wiz Khalifa: This song prepares you too because for highly competitive jobs you’ll need to stand out, and often times the interviewer is “only here for one night”, so you’ll need to have a lasting impression on them in order to get the job.

Do it Like You by Diggy: This song will remind you that everyone trying to get the job is probably just as qualified as you, but this song also reminds you they aren’t nearly as good as you, so this song also adds some confidence.

Better in Time by Leona Lewis: Unfortunately you can’t win everything all the time, so this song humbles you and teaches that things will get better with time so you can be ready and positive for the next interview that comes. 

Hans Stromberg- Class review

AP English Language and Composition has been an interesting class all year, I’m not going to lie to Mr. Logsdon’s face; English is my least favorite subject. Personally I am a Math and Science type of guy and English finds itself at the bottom of the totem pole. With this being said, English this year has been completely bearable. I actually feel that my writing skills have improved dramatically just because of the amount of practice essays we wrote. If I were to change one aspect, it would be to continue the congress throughout the year because when we do it on turn it in, no one checks their peer reviews and then we don't get much out of the writing exersice. Also, you could take the multiple choice questions that were missed the most and have a short 5 minute lesson over that style of problem to help us with our multiple choice scores.

Blog 25- Chelsea Southworth

You know what? I'm going to do it. I'm just going to ramble about Shrek. Oh my gosh it was utter perfection; thank the Lord Jesus that Olivia wanted to audition and convinced me to go along for the ride as well. Auditions, yeesh. That monotone man completely unconfident singing voice, though. But outside the orchestra room, with all of us budding little thespians together, I felt it. I felt that instant connection that lets you know "hey, these are some really cool people that you're going to have so much fun with." Oh, Mr. Logsdon/anyone who wasn't back stage; if only you saw us. My favorite dance memories have to be pole dancing with the ladder and grinding on the wall during Jared's "Big Bright Beautiful World" solo (how else we were supposed to loosen up for the show?) and interpretively, storytellingly (it's a word, shh) dancing along to "The Ballad of Farquaad" (Jade was usually the mom, but sometimes we switched. Everyone was involved in the BBBW dancing). AND the two lines in Ballad would make faces and dance at once another before we went out; composing ourselves was always the struggle.

Blog 24- Chelsea Southworth

This year was simultaneously the best and the worst. It was the worst for obvious reasons: AP classes and just plain work. Ugh. But I did a lot more this year than I have in the past; TIP over the summer, ComicCon in April, Shrek for what seems like the entire semester, and I came away from everything with new friends. After the traditional last-night iHOP breakfast at TIP, I couldn't stop crying (crying that eventually turned into blubbering noises one might associate with a whale or a dying cow). It was the last time I would get to go to camp and I had made so many amazing friends in that short time span that I might never see again; I was sure that nothing could compare to that soul-deep sadness I felt. Then Shrek ended.
As I told this to Grace on our way back to the dressing room, my words still punctuated with whale moans, she told me something surprisingly profound: yes I was sad now like I never thought I'd be again, but all that meant was that I'd keep making really close friends throughout my life. I might have to leave them, but there would always be amazing people in my future.

25- Lucy Wan

Presenting a really long, currently untitled poem:

We are not the branches which fall from trees
We are the roots from which trees grow
And why can't you see that
Love is the water that runs through our root systems
Interconnects us together
Together.
Somehow you don't seem to understand the word so I'll
Drag out a thesaurus
Scream out every synonym on the page
Pound these fading memories into your head
like math problems you'll do over and over again
and I'm not so good at math but I know
Anything divided by one is itself so stop trying to divide yourself
subtract the broken parts of yourself
You are no derivative taken from what you used to be
You are abstract art, trying to figure out what you want to be
A spoken word poem
that hasn't been edited, these words so raw
like a heart bleed in the snow
you know.
you know where I'm coming from
because you've been there already
We are not strangers to heartbreak and pain
We greet them with open arms,
like old friends,
because we've seen them over and over again
But we also know time,
and time heals all wounds
no matter how deep, how long,
how much hurt
And yes, these wounds will leave scars
but we will wear them as medals from battles with ourselves
We are not who you think we are
We are not strangers
So greet me with open arms
because I am an old friend
You can't stop yourself from seeing me over and over again
We are the seven-year-olds of years long past
Driving bumper cars made of glass
scared to move, afraid to
Crash.
But I'll make the first move
play the white side, slide a pawn
space by space
Learn how to drive.
You're a Queen hiding in a castle
but the world is yours once you let the walls fall
So push every piece off the board;
topple your king, it doesn't matter anymore
That's not a surrender, that's the start of the real fight
But take off your armor
You are no black knight
You once told me that people are like rain
And if I am a drizzle, you are a hurricane
But it's okay that you are summer storm,
because I am winter rain
And this all shall pass.

#21 Right Now Haley Longworth

Right now somewhere in the universe... someone is trying something new. Whether it be trying a new food or dish from another country, skydiving for the first time, or learning how to fly a plane, new ideas and activites are being learned ever second. A quote that reminds me of this, by someone whom I dont remember, says that every person you meet knows something that you dont. Gaining new knowledge is a valuable thing, and is best done when you try something new. Even learning how to a simple task can open you up to a world of possibilities. Doing new things helps you find your passion, it shows you things you may not like to do, and it teaches you things about yourself. It builds character. So, someone in the world is trying something new that they may love or hate, but no matter what, they are learning.

kicking the bucket- daniel horne

Before I finish high school it would be really cool if I could get to challenger in league of legends because I have a lot of fun playing the game and it would be really cool to be one of the best at something world wide.
Before I finish college I just want to get through college get a degree and such my whole goal for college is to have good grades and plenty of sleep. So I guess if it can get all A's one semester that would be great.
Before I die I would like to be the first to do something. I don't much care what it is but I think it would be cool because that can never be taken away from you. so if was something as big as being the first to prove the big bang really did happen or the first to eat 5 large pizzas in one sitting.

plastics- Daniel Horne

One of the greatest pieces of advice I have ever been given was as follows "pleasing everyone is impossible but pissing everyone off is funny and easy as hell" at first glance it doesn't really seem like advice but I can attest that it is. you see back in the days of my miss guided youth I tried to be liked by everyone I hung out with al the cool kids that climbed on top of the monkey bars in 2nd grade and had nothing to show for it. then in sixth grade I realized that this was a bad strategy so I thought back to this old peace of advice and started to piss everyone off and it was funny as hell sure a lot of people didn't like me but frankly those were shity people anyway and once I found that I didn't care what the thought I could find people who were actually human sitting off in the fringes.  

How to- Daniel Horne

I will be writing about how to shoot a bow. it may seem like a simple process but in fact it is a complex art form. first you will need a bow and some arrows we will be using the Matthews geneses which is considered by most the ideal beginners bow. First you will have to set the draw weight which is what it would feel like lifting when you pull the bow back for example if it is set to 15 pounds it will feel like picking up a15 pound rock. once this is done it is time to knock an arrow this is just clipping it to the string at the knock point with the knock, you will want to make sure the odd colored feather is facing to you. now use your index middle and ring finger to grasp the string right under the arrow. pull back keeping your elbow up and touch the corner of your mouth with your index finger. then look down the shaft of the arrow and point the tip at the target and release the string.   

Hans Stromberg- #25

Well, I guess I will talk about what I have been watching on TV for the last couple days because that’s what is on my mind. The NBA playoffs have been going on for at least four weeks and every chance I get I watch whoever is playing that night. My team, the Mavericks, was bounced out in the first round in 7 games by the San Antonio Spurs, so now my main goal in life is to root for whoever is playing against the Spurs. Right now, that is the OKC thunder who are making an incredible Serge (Ha) now that Ibaka is back in the lineup. In the east I am rooting for the Indian Pacers because they were my dad’s hometown team. Unfortunately, they find themselves down 3-1 to the heat, so I am hoping they pull of a miracle. The last couple days the NCAA division 1 championships have been on the Golf Channel and that has preoccupied the other half of my TV watching time. Since I am hoping to play golf in college, the ultimate goal once I am in college will be the National Championships. Oklahoma State and Alabama survived the quarter- and semi- final matchups to meet in the finals tonight. The last couple of matches have been nail bitters so I am excited for the finals tonight.

Assignment #25

One of my pet peeves for writing assignments is when the teacher gives you the assignment to write about whatever you want. I can never think about what I should write about. My mind just goes completely blank and eventually I’ll just sit there and start day dreaming because I won’t know what to write about. I might have some ideas floating around in my head but I never have enough to say about that topic to fill the word requirement. So, instead of actually writing about something interesting that my teacher might enjoy reading I end up rambling on and on and on and on about some pointless subject that is really uninteresting. Just like this blog. I couldn’t think of anything interesting to write about so I wrote about how I couldn’t think about anything to write about and how I hate these kinds of assignments. So I hope you enjoyed (probably not) my pointless rambling on this topic.

Will Atkins-26-Class Review

Umm. Congress early on in the year. Helpful. Late in the year on the computers, ehh. Considering were all high school students, I feel like about 1 in 15 students went back and looked at the revisions people made upon. Unfortunately, while it is the students fault, talking to many of the students who enjoyed hearing corrections to their essays, those same students failed to go to turnitin.com and look at their revised essays. This is one part of the class that should be reviewed in some way. I would space out the teaching of the 3 types of essays on the AP English exam more. We did one type of essay, analysis, for all but a month and a half of the year. I understand the other two types of essays, synthesis and argument, are not the most difficult of tasks to accomplish, but you never know, they might be hard for some students.  

Besides those two minuscule things. Nah, this was a cool but still educational class with an appropriate amount of freedoms. Ehh scratch that. Less use of phones, and I say that as someone who uses their phone often. It’s bad for education man.

Zach Wolfe 23

Have you ever felt extremely stupid? Well don't feel bad. Here's the perfect playlist for how to make yourself feel more intelligent. 

A Milli - Lil Wayne

This is an uptempo song with unintelligent phrases littered throughout. Things such as "I'm okay, but my watch sick" you can't help but feel better about yourself. That phrase absolutely no sense and you know that you can't be nearly as dumb as this man. 

You Ain't Got Nuthin' - Lil Wayne

Just by reason the title, you know that you're smarter than this millionaire. When this song was published, "ain't" was not officially a word in the English language. However, now that it is, the title still doesn't make sense. Written correctly, the sentence should say "You don't have anything." As if the word choice wasn't bad enough, he even spelled "Nothing" incorrectly, and he repeats this phrase throughout the song. 

God Bless Amerika - Lil Wayne

Again, the title says it all. In an attempt to look patriotic and inspiring, his stupidity triumphs again. What is so hard about spelling our country's name correctly? What is the point of putting a "k" instead of a "c".

Blunt Blowin - Lil Wayne

This song is full of grammatical errors and dumb phrases but I can't list all of them due to their explicit nature. However, one example is "death is a decision". Well I don't think you need me to tell you that this is completely false. People don't choose to die from terminal illness. There's nothing they can do. Gangsters don't choose to get shot in the head, it just happens. A human's natural instinct is to survive. Most people would choose to continue their life. 

I'm Me - Lil Wayne

Another song you can tell is unintelligent just by the title. "I'm me" doesn't make grammatical sense. Also, the chorus consists of him saying "I'm me, I'm me, I'm me, I'm me, I'm me, so who you?" Please tell me you're more intelligent than this guy. Not only did he say "I'm me" five times, but he ended it with a question that's just as if not more stupid than his first statement. 

Assignment #24

I’m so happy my junior year is finally over. This was without a doubt the most challenging year of my life in school. With my schedule full of AP classes and one advanced class it was very tough to get through this year. One of my successes this year was getting an A in AP Chemistry first semester. AP Chemistry was definitely the hardest class I’ve taken so far and I was very pleased to get an A first semester. But one of my failures was blowing off the summer work for AP Spanish which caused me to get a B first semester. Another mistake I made was the huge amount of procrastination that happened this year. This caused me to pick up some zeroes and it caused me a huge amount of stress when assignments were all due on the same day. I definitely learned that I need to study for tests in classes like Chemistry and US History. My lack of studying definitely showed in my below par test scores in those classes. MY lack of studying this year was a risk that didn’t pay off at all. This summer I will be going on college visits going to Cancun and spending half my summer playing soccer. Next year my goal is to get accepted into my dream college and do the minimal amount of work to still get good grades.

#26 Rhoman James

I think the way you went about things this year prepared us very well for our testing this year. Personally, english is not my strong suit. I actually scored a 20 on it on my ACT :( BUT! Being a black athlete I really don't have to do that well on the ACT! I tell the coaches that I got a 25 on my ACT and their mouth starts to water! My English score used to be a 17..even though my math was a 28! But since I got it up and can continue to get it up hopefully I can get a 28 and get recruited my some ivy league schools!

Will Atkins--25

A blank sheet. A canvas in which to put my masterpiece in 151 words. I already did a review of my junior year so I don’t even know what to talk about this post. Oh I know. I shall talk about my bull crap recruiting process that nobody cares about except me. Well actually my parents have asked about it but only because they want me to get it over with so they know where I’m going to college. They want me to make a top 5 so I know where I’m taking my 5 official visits that a high school athlete is allowed. I don’t know my top 5 yet. I wish I could visit more schools up north first. Also my list right now is sort of irrelevant because if I improve a lot over the summer in cross country then I’m going to have a completely new set of schools recruiting me. Bro you don’t know. I’m dumber than most of the academy but I might be the one going to Harvard or Yale (like my sister). Watch me. With that said, and I hope none of the schools recruiting me see this, my (unofficial) top 5 is Centre, Tufts, College of Charleston, NYU, and Yale. That is in no particular order.

Hans Stromberg- The Future

To think that I am pretty much ¾’s of the way through high school is an interesting thought. I am on the way down the high school hill and getting ready to go to college. Before I get ahead of myself, my junior year was full of different successes and failures. My biggest failure at the moment is my grade in AP chemistry, a class in which I pulled an A out just because the teacher is nice. This semester I have a solid B, which will only be my second in my illustrious high school career. If a miracle occurs and I get a 4 on my AP Chemistry test I will escape with an A but that is not something to get my hopes up about. Considering that is my biggest failure, other than losing in a playoff in regionals in golf, it has been a pretty easy going year. Not that my classes have been easy, I just have had great teachers to get me through. In the summer I will be working at Lakeside golf course and playing a lot of golf tournaments in order to try and achieve my biggest goal: getting a college golf scholarship. Next year will be fairly chill because my hardest classes will be in the subject that I am best at: Math. I will not have a sixth hour so I will be able to leave school early. The one thing I am most looking forward to is getting a parking pass so I can arrive at school at 8:20 every day and get almost an hour more of sleep every day.

Assignment #20

How to get healthy and stay healthy:
Many americans today are facing the problem or being overweight or obese. I you think you could be headed down that road then follow these simple steps and you could be healthy and in shape in no time. The first aspect of your lifestyle that you need to focus on to become healthy is your diet. You won't be healthy if you're stopping by McDonalds every other day. I would reccomend to eat home cooked meals as much as possible. Make sure you eat enough vegetables like asparagus, broccolli, beans, etc. Once you have started to eat at home more and focused on what you're eating the next step to living a more healthylifestyle is to exercise more. You may not enjoy running or liftintg weights but exercise can be as simple as riding your bike somewhere or going on a family hike one weekend. Instead of sitting on the couch and watching TV you could go play basketball with your freinds. Also if you plan on exercising to stay healthy you need to find an activity that you enjoy so that you will continue to do it and not stop after a couple of weeks. Just follow these simple steps and you could be on your way to being healthier in no time.

#25 Haley Longworth

SPOILER ALERT (THE FAULT IN OUR STARS) This past week, I was finally able to finish The Fault in Our Stars. It took me two tries because of being busy all the time, but it was definitely worth my time. Although I don't think it was as good as everyone made it out to be, it was a very good book. My favorite part was when Gus and Hazel were in Amsterdam. The details about the scenery made the Netherlands sound so beautiful, and I loved when they were at the fancy restaraunt and also when they went to the Anne Frank Museum. It created a lot of happiness before Augustus told Hazel his horrible news; that his cancer had come back and he wasn't going to survive. After they get home from Amsterdam, everything goes downhill and Gus never acts the same, which is very heart-wrenching since his character was so charismatic. The ending to the book was a surprise because it was more expected that Hazel would be the one to pass away after dealing with an awful cancer, but instead it is Gus, who had an 85% survival rate for his disease.

#25 Rhoman James

High school is fun but it is so silly. It is fun though. It is fun being in the academy and also having friends in other groups of the school. Some weekends I'll be with a couple of my friends from the football team and go see some fellow academy students. I think it's really important for people to hang out with new people in high school because you never know how that connection can benefit you. I've meet many people throughout high school that I randomly see and they come in handy in necessary situations! People like to stay secluded to the same groups of people and not branch out, but in the end that will come to bite them in their ashes (ha ha)

Will Atkins-The Future-24

Huh. The future. God is it finally here? I don’t even know what to think about it all. It’s hard to even fathom what is going to happen next. To review my junior year, I don’t know bro. To say there was a lot of internal growth would be to both underestimate and be super cheesy. I learned more about responsibility within my home with my siblings being off at college. I became much more independent from my parents. I learned about more than I could have ever hoped. Both in and out of school. Success: internal growth. Failures: I don’t know.

This summer? Work hard. Both with the jobs I will have (probably 2 or 3) along with the hard work that I will have to put into my running. All progress that I hope to make on my cross country times (to get offers from better schools than I already have) shall be accomplished through hard work this summer and fall.

Senior Year? Survive. Go to a good college. Leave .

Blog 26 Enjoy JDH

Mr. Logsdon

I have no past experience with your profession. At times, you may have found difficulty in directing our spastic attention to your lessons and/or, at other times you may have found relative ease at molding our minds to attack any necessary test. I have no realistic way of grading you due to my lack of experience in what being Mr. Logsdon: The English Teacher, entails. That being said I do have some critiques and compliments to dole out.

First off is what you did well. English writing is a very hard class to teach because it isn’t so much English as logic. I could spell every word A to Z, or quote from Shakespeare and give the modern translation of ancient pros, or even write a 100-page research paper with relative ease. This is because these are basic things that we do every day; we spell out our words as we write them, we draw upon previously read texts, and we manufacture print like machines. Ask me how or why questions and the degree of difficulty is raised significantly. Answering what, who, and when questions can be answered in a sentence at most: The plane, Me, and 5 o’clock last Sunday are basic examples. Answering why anybody does anything, or how anybody does anything are near impossible to answer definitively. Too often though, it is the how and why questions that English writing students face. We require logic to digest and regurgitate texts and sources on to the AP Exam. If we lack the critical thinking required to “get the job done” there is very little you can do to aid us. Over the past school year though, I feel that you have aided us in many ways. Although the trek of an AP English student is a solitary one, you provided us with a base camp of knowledge (Writing with Style) and gifted us the experience needed to bridge any perilous gaps in our logical facilities. I can only empathize with your struggles as an English teacher and thank you for what help you provided me over the last year.

Now comes the tongue-lashing of sorts. Well not so much a lashing as some advice from a pupil. First and foremost, keep your focus. You act as an author, while we, your students, act as the audience, the readers. Your primary focus must be on the end goal of the class just as an author’s focus is to inform and entertain the audience. Your lessons must be entertaining to keep us, you should think of us as easily distractible monkeys in this case, engaged. At the slightest provocation we will descend into anarchy and ignorance. You already know this basic fact though, which is why I am only reminding you of it. (In my opinion, videos on broneys, robots, and cannibalism, no matter how entertaining and philosophically stimulating, should be retooled into more focused lessons.) Secondly, and I should follow this advise as well, assess yourself constantly. The ordinary are content with their current condition, the extraordinary strive to be better in everything they do. If you wish to be an extraordinary teacher, father, or person in general, never be happy for longer than an instant and never stop striving. Evaluate the effect of every word you say and every action you do. It may be a Herculean task, but too often today people are stagnantly all right with the way things are. As was once said (Maybe by Gandhi I don’t really know) “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Finally, don’t let us highschoolers get you down. We may think we all deserve A’s and know everything, but we don’t. Some day every bratty, slightly gifted kid will have to face the piper. We will all be off to senior year and then to college soon enough where the professors won’t yield to the rabid helicopter mom or the rogue psychotic father. Sadly you will still be left in the excessively caddy and annoying halls of high school, having to duke it out with a bunch of ignorant snot nosed idiots with identity crisises. I guess what I’m trying to convey, in essence, is the message stated in first paragraph; I have no possible way of accurately gauging your job other than from my seat in your class every 9:30-10:30 most Mondays through Fridays. I wish you the best of luck either as a continuing English teacher or as the new Academy Councilor/Coordinator (I fail to recall the correct title). I hope my final blog post has helped give you feed back on how you can improve future classes, and how I view you.

Jack H.

#26 Help- Haley Longworth

1. Timed writings and practice tests. As much as I hated doing them, the wide variety of questions and prompts that we answered during class helped me a lot with my writing. Also, going over the example essays to see how I was scoring on average, and pointing out ways to improve my writing, helped immensely in the quality of my essays.
2. Essay grading. I think when we discussed the essays in class and in person, it was much more effective than grading them online. When we had to type our comments, all I wanted to do was get the assignment done, rather than putting a lot of time and effort into them. Also, we never actually went over the essays that we put on turnitin, so it was not helpful to do it this way. Going over them in class is much more constructive.
3. Socratic Seminars. I feel like these were helpful with discussing texts and improving analytical skills, but I think the assignment of 150 words per question was a little too much. Although it is important to be prepared for the class discussion, I would make the responses to the questions a little shorter.

Zach Wolfe 22

Of all the fictional characters I've seen and read about throughout my life, I would choose to be Superman. For obvious reasons, it would be great to be Superman. Nothing can hurt or kill him. The only thing that makes him weak is a rock that's fairly rare. However, even though I would want to be Superman, I probably wouldn't fight crime. This is because I could just love an easy life without having to worry about being killed in a freak accident or something like that; and no one would try to weaken me with kryptonite because I wouldn't have any enemies. One thing I have always wondered about Superman is whether or not he can die by drowning. If so then I would just make sure to stay away from the coast that way I couldn't be killed in a hurricane. I wouldn't have to worry about tornadoes because even if they picked me up or covered me in rubble, it wouldn't hurt me to hit the ground and I could push all the rubble off me. And then earthquakes wouldn't be a problem either because I would be able to fly and stay away from the ground.