Between the line

what is the theme of the story?
I think the theme of the story is that looks can be deceiving. In the story Lennie is judged because of the way he looked. Carly begins to mess with Lennie by hitting him. Carly didn't like Lennie and picks a fight with him because he's big. But instead Lennie begins to beat up Carly, crushing his hand making it bleed. I believe Carly didn't think that Lennie was smart enough to fight for himself and that George always takes up for him?

Beyond the Line Question

How does Lennie's behavior represents the mentally re tarted kids?
Three reason I would compare Lennie to mentally re tarted kids, one he has the mind of a child, two he doesn't always understand, and three he always destroy things which causes George to keep him in line.

Lennie is often compared to a child because of his child like mind. Lennie always wants George to tell him stories and always wants to pet things that are soft. Lennie also doesn't understand how to be an adult and take care of himself. In the story Lennie loves to find mice and pick them up so he can pet them, then George takes it from him and throws it. After that he yells at Lennie by telling him how he was wrong for doing it. This example tells how Lennie is unfit to carry himself and George has to take care of him.

I believe Lennie doesn't really understand. By him acted like a child he's not learning how to be an adult. Lennie doesn't have understanding because of his childish ways. In the story George speaks for Lennie. Lennie doesn't talk and he just nods his head to whatever George says and listens so he won't have to mess things up.

My final reason about Lennie is that he destroys everything. Lennie almost caused him and George their job, just because he was being asked a question and he almost messed it up from talking when he wasn't supposed to be. Lennie is not responsible. He can not be trusted for anything.


In Conclusion, Lennie's behavior is compared to mentally child kids Lennie has no understanding, he couldn't be on his own and he's an adult, he destroys and causes lots of disturbance and kaos.

Between the Line Question: Why does the author always talk about the rabbits?

The author talks about the rabbits because Lennie liked to pet the soft things and just rub them because they felt nice. Later at the end of the book Lennie reveled to Carly's wife that he liked to pet soft things which was why he would always ask George for rabbits. I thought the rabbits symbolizes Lennie being so childish and had a mind of a child

Promises, Promises, Promises

By Shani A

First day of the freshman year for graduating class 2011, Labriah Morgan and Chyann Howard come to school excited about what they were going to do after school. Labriah said, “I’m going to join the dance team.” Chyann said, “ Yeah, that’ll be great, I’m going to join choir”! As the day came to an end, Labriah and Chyann went to Mrs. Thompson and ask her where to meet. Mrs. Thompson grinned weirdly “ What are you talking about?” They reminded her of the brochure. It said we would have these clubs. Thompson said, “ We don’t have them yet, we were planning those, but we need your help to get them started” Then the girls exclaimed, “What! Are you serious! “I don’t even want to join anything now. I’m just so mad right now!” Chyann agree and follows Labriah out. Mrs. Thompson just grinned and walked away.
Many students agree that at Constitution High School promises that were made and never kept. Many of them also agree that we need more clubs/ after school activities. Not just for fun but clubs that will help us in the future. Chyann Howard, a tenth grade student here at CHS said, “Different ideas and more activities can bring us together.” Labriah Morgan, another 10th grader suggested that we create clubs that have us prepare for college or even create something that everyone will be interested in such as singing, dancing, theatre, fashion etc. I suggested that the school let the students create the clubs in order to get more students involved. If we did, we will have more clubs for the school and lots of students will be interested.

When I asked Ms. Sedgwick, the school counselor, if she agrees with letting the students create the clubs, she said, “Yes, I agree that students should create clubs.” She also told me the kinds of clubs that she had when she was in high school that can be good for our school. Ideas that can get more students involved is to start planning events, hold different fundraisers, create surveys for students and get teachers involved as well.

However changes still need to be made. The school brochures list all clubs that we did not have. Some of them are still not at our school. But as a school we can work to get clubs that students prefer. As we all know Dr. Davidson our school principal, created the school brochures along with Mrs. Thompson he also hires all the teachers. In an interview with our principal he said, ”The selection of sports teams were made by a group of students who met with athletic administrators from the district.” He also said that he would like to see yearbook and a multicultural club get started. But one problem he stated was that we have a small school, which is impossible to have everything. I asked him did he agree about having the kids create the clubs that their interested in and he agreed but said it’s his job to see if it is possible and how we can get it done. Hopefully Constitution High School can work together as a school and get more clubs done.

When a promise is broken you feel angry and upset because they promised to keep their word but instead they broke it. As for a solution to this school, I think we should get more students to create more clubs that they are interested in, but what do you think our solution should be? Email our principal Dr. Davidson at trdavidson@philasd.org and tell him what you think we can do.

English Paper

Shani Amos 2/11/09
English 2



Do you remember the last time an old woman might have whipped you? Well this poem “The Whipping” is for you. Besides trying to entertain you this poem gives strong feelings, images and it is funny. Maybe hearing this poem can bring back some memories of you getting in trouble and getting the consequences along with it.

One of the things I liked in Hayden’s poem was all of the strong feelings. His poem has many of the feeling that seems so realistic. It also shows effects of emotion, energy and it gives descriptions. A quote Robert wrote that showed realistic feeling was “She strikes and strikes the shrilly circling boy till the stick breaks.” Not only does the quote show strong feeling but also it gives a detailed image of the boy getting whipped, until the stick finally breaks.

Besides all the feeling of the poem, I also liked the images that were based on detail. Some images that I found were sticks breaking, elephant ears crashing, which is described as a plant, a boy pleading in dusty zinnias etc. Each line of the poem has a rhythm that gives you a clear image in your head.

Lastly, I loved how his poem was funny. In the beginning it told how the old lady was screaming out his wrongs and her rights. Right away I formed an image in my head about the whole neighborhood hearing this embarrassing incident, which goes back to being realistic so I found this one pretty funny. Another part I took out that was funny was how the boy was pleading, I felt that it meant he was crying begging her to stop. Which most people would find funny. For example, If a friend or someone you didn’t know fell, you would probably laugh before you see if the person is okay. This is how I felt when I read Hayden’s poem.

In conclusion, I loved Robert Hayden’s poem “The Whipping.” It gave emotion, images but also laughter. I enjoyed reading it and sharing my personal opinions with you. Hopefully you will come across his poem on day and read it to.

NHD Reflection

Doing NHD was boring. My group and i did a project on Oliver O. Howard but then changed it to Kimora Lee Simmons:Life in the Fab Lane. We felt that with the first topic we could not find a lot of information on him. With our new topic we learned that Kimora accomplished a lot with her life so far starting from her childhood.


Problems that my group and I faced was trying to assign different things to work on for the three of us. We also had trouble choosing colors to fit the topic for our board. The board overall was successful. Everything was done on time even though we started over. I would not do anything differently to the project.

NHD was easier this year because already, I knew what to do. Last year since we was new, we had to learn everything from citing sources to how to write a process paper. We also started later than what we did and there wasn't enough supplies or computers. NHD made us stress last year but this year was different cause me and my group did an exhibit.

10th Annotation

"Oliver Otis Howard." Spartacus Educational. 9 Dec 2008 .


This website tells what Oliver O. Howard did in the war as a comissioner and talks about how he was a oppeonent of slavery