Sometimes because of pride or ego or a mistaken idea, one person may not confide in another or tell them the whole truth. Have you ever been in a situation in which you didn’t want the other person to know something about you? You had something you wanted to keep secret? How did you act? Did the other person realize you were hiding something? How did your behavior change the way they acted toward you?

Yes I have hidden something from a lot of people and I still hide to this day. I act the same as I would act about anything, it's just when we talk about stuff related to it, I can get a little awkward or quiet, or I blush really deep red. I'm pretty sure they don't even notice that I act even the slightest bit different, and if they do they don't ever say anything. But when ever we talk about anything like that, I sometimes wonder if they can tell I'm hiding something, or if they will ask why I'm blushing or ask why I'm so quiet, and then I just imagine saying nothing is wrong, but they will keep asking me, and I will tell them It's nothing and they will just keep bugging me. So then they will think that I am mad at them, and they will ask why I am mad at them, and yeah.

It seems like reading Edgar Allan Poe stories around Halloween is a rite of passage for students in English classes. He wrote poems such as "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee" and stories like "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Black Cat", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Masque of the Red Death", "The Pit and the Pendulum", etc.If you have read Poe stories before, which ones have you read and what do you remember of them? Did you like them? How scary/creepy were they? Share your memories of you or teachers reading the works of Edgar Allan Poe.If you have not read Poe or don't remember, describe to me what you expect from a classic horror writer? What kinds of stories do you think we'll be reading? Have you ever read scary stories?

I have never read Edgar Alan Poe, so I dont know what to think of his stuff. I think his stuff will be kind of scary if you cana understand it. Just like Romeo and Juliet, it was really cute and romantical, but only if you could understand what it meant. I think that is what Edgar Alan Poes poems or stories, or whatever it is that we are going to be reading, I think that is how it will be.

I have read scary stories before but now when I read them again, they dont seem that scary to me. But when you are younger and dont know that the stories arent true, then thhat makes the stories scary, it also makes them seem scarier if people say they are true.

Have you ever studied a skunk's eyes? Write about some item you find beauty in that many others might not.

Uhhhhhh no I have never studied a skunks eyes, I don't think I would be able to without getting sprayed by their stinky spray stuff from their butts that you can only get out with washing your body with tomato soup stuff! I hope I am never close enough o see a skunks eyes. I bet they are a pretty color. Maybe, I don't know, they might have like a cool design in them that is a really cool color. Most people have something pretty about their eyes, or a cool design or something.

Have you ever known a secret that you thought you should tell? Did you tell? If you've never experienced this, what do you think it would be like to know a secret that you think is dangerous?

I have known a secret that I should have told someone but I didn't because that would be mean because if i told their secret when they told me not to, they wouldn't trust me! I know that I probably would have told someone, but only if I knew they would not tell anyone else, and that they would not tell the person who's secret I told them, that I told them their secret. That could mess up so many relationships and friendships if people told everyone Else's secret and nobody would trust anybody!

Write a journal from the perspective of Romeo, Juliet, Friar Laurence or Nurse. It should take place after the end of Act II when Romeo and Juliet have been secretly married. Remember, you ARE this person writing what they would be thinking and feeling at this time. 3 PARAGRAPHS!

Juliet:
This is a very interesting 24 hours! Last night I found out that the man I love is my families worst enemy. And while I was bearing my heart out to the moon, I found out that Romeo had been hiding in the bushes listening to me speak of him. I was very embarrassed, but I swore my love to him and when he tries to swear his love to me I tell him not to because, if he is just leading me on and this is only a one night deal, then I don't want to hear it! But he keeps trying to so I tell him that tomorrow at nine A.M. I will send someone to ask him if he will love me.

So this morning I send nurse to go and ask him, but she is old and gets weary fast so it took three hours and she said she would be back in half an hour. When she gets back she teases me and makes me very frustrated, because I wanted to know what Romeo would say. In the end she told me of a plan he had made with the Friar to secretly marry us today. So nurse takes me to the friar.

We talked with the Friar and decided that we had to keep this a secret, so he then married us. We have been married for half an hour, and I am so happy to be married to Romeo! We are so happy together, so that is all for today.

Do you believe in Fate? Are there certain things in life that, once set in motion, are inevitable; things that cannot be stopped once they are started? The story of Romeo and Juliet implies that the path of their love and what happens to them is part of Fate's plan. Do you think this is possible?

Yeah I guess I do, I mean there are a lot of things that are fateful, like flipping a coin. Um I think that it is possible but I don't really know what to believe because there are so many things that you could say were because of fate, but then there are things that are just the way they are because that is how life is. In Romeo and Juliet there love is kind of in the hands of fate because they never know what their choice for something will do for the next thing, it could also just be luck over so many thins that they blame on luck.

Juliet.
I am so excited for the party tonight! I have been told by mother that Paris will be there as well. He is a very handsome man, and he is a gentleman. I think that I will be one of the youngest ladies there! Well almost a lady, but I am almost of age in a fortnight. My parents think that me and Paris would be good, but I need to get to know him better. What should I ask to get to know him better? I hope the party is a good one, hopefully Rosaline was invited! I wonder who else will be coming?

Define true love. Do you believe it exists?(Hint: have you ever seen it? give an example. Why do you believe/not believe in it?)

I think that true love does exist. Because why would someone marry another without actually loving the other? Exactly they wouldn't because that would be dumb to marry someone you don't love. Unless their parents made them do it, but that is really weird and not a lot of people do arranged marriages. But even then they grow to love each other, it may take a really long time, but I bet by the time they die they some what love the other. When you truly love someone you can even love them after all of their faults they have done.
I bet my parents love each other because they always tell the other that they love each other and always kiss each other goodbye when they leave, and they had my annoying little sister together, so they must love each other quite a bit.

If you had one superpower, what would it be and why? (Hint: describe exactly what your power would be, why you would want that one, what you would use your power for, etc. Would you be good or evil? Would you use it just for fun or for a good cause?)

If I could have one super power it would be that I could read people's minds. I would use this for both good and evil. I don't know if it would be good or bad actually. It could be both because for good I would be able to tell what the bad guys are going to do next or if they are negotiating and are going to stick with it. Probably for the bad I would use it to see what guys actually think of me and who they really like, because they always lie and only tell their friends what's going, and sometimes they even lie to their friends. And in with you own friends it would help you to see if they are talking behind your back, and if they are really your friend or if they are just using you for something.

9th Grade: What comes to your mind when you hear the words, "Now we're going to read Shakespeare!" Do you cringe in fear? Do you giggle with glee? What past experiences have you had with Shakespeare to make you react the way you do?



I don't know much about Shakespeare, so i don't really know if i should be afraid of it. But when people say we're going to read Romeo and Juliet, i cringe. I don't like reading romance that is like that. In sixth grade we read a simplified version of it and it was still romantic. I have seen a short version of the play Hamlet I thought it was very good.

I am excited to read the whole play of Hamlet because I enjoyed it very much. I am not so excited to read Shakespeare because the way they talked then was very different, and it's hard to understand. But I think that other then that, I am mostly excited to read it, except for Romeo and Juliet, I'm not to thrilled to read romance like that.

My friend Cierra has told me a lot of good things about other plays that Shakespeare has done, I cant remember the names of them, but she said that they were very good. So I am some what excited to read those ones too. But I don't think I will want to re-enact them in front of the whole class.