9 Things I’ve Learned

9 Things I’ve Learned This Year

 

     As we all know, 8th grade is a very educational year (I think). It’s the year right before we transition into high school. So below, I’ve collected a number of things I’ve learned this year. They’re not all specifically educational, but I’ve learned them this year in 8th grade. 

 

 

  • About Anchor. In our Communications class, we had a podcast unit. We used this website called Anchor. Anchor is a website that easily lets you record and share your podcast to many major listening sites.
  • Lists. Although I’ve made many Kahoots, I never knew you could make a question into a list. In Civics class, we had a Kahoot where every single question was a list/put the answers in order. It was weird, especially since I’ve never seen a Kahoot list before. 
  • Lists, continued. Another thing I’ve learned about lists is how many things attract viewers. Apparently, odd numbers gain more views. I always thought multiples of five or two would be the best way since they’re numbers that everybody knows and they’re an easy way to gage how many things are on the list. Guess not though. 
  • Hexagon inside a circle. Yeah, I know. This one is a bit wack. I learned how to draw a perfect hexagon inside of a circle! As you can probably guess, I learned this little ‘trick’ in Geometry. This isn’t that important; I just thought of it.
  • Colors. I’ve realized that a lot of people think I like the color combination of yellow and black. Sure, my blog is bee themed, but that’s just because my spam account on Instagram is bee themed. If I was more creative and had come up with a better username, my account would definitely be light pink. Most likely, I’d find some sort of way to incorporate yellow in there too. Fun fact about Beelia, I hate bees (bumblebees and honey bees are on a fine line).
  • Pathos, ethos, logos. Wow, something that’s actually educational. In Communications, I learned about the advertisement techniques that every advertisement has to use. Pathos, which appeals to the emotional side. Ethos, when advertisements appeal to credibility and show that their product is legit. Logos, advertisers use facts and logic to prompt you to buy their product.
  • Biteable. Back at the beginning of the year, we all created a how-to product on what makes a quality comment. You can view the video right here !
  • One-handed 45. As some of you might know, I participated in fall guard/marching band during the fall season. What a lot of people don’t know is that color guard actually has their own individual, inside winter guard season. Our show this year is Hamilton themed. The ending flag toss is definitely the hardest toss I’ve ever learned. We have to use one hand to throw a six-foot metal pole in the air at a perfect 45 degree angle. We have been learning the toss for around three months already and we still haven’t been allowed to move on to using one hand to actually toss.
  • Thesis statements. I’ve decided to close off my list with another thing that’s actually educational. Before this year, I didn’t actually know how to form a proper thesis statement. I had no clue about the [topic]+[position]+[two broad reasons] before 8th grade English. I may be a good writer for essays and things, but somehow I’ve never been taught this before. 

 

 

     These things are just a small portion of all the things I’ve learned this year. I’ve learned so much, and the year isn’t even over. I hope to learn and experience so much more before this year ends.

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marching band experience !!

Y’all remember my post about marching band, right? I mean, I posted it a few days ago. I’d hope your memory isn’t so bad that you’ve already forgotten it. Or maybe you didn’t see it. If not, then you should totally go check it out after you read this one.

Anyways, that post was just a short post about states, but this one is about everything !

 

     We started in the summer with highly encouraged but still optional guard practices, just so that we’re not murdering band kids when band camp starts. Let me tell you; that was a good idea. Band camp was as expected: hot, miserable for the first day, and absolutely worth it. At the time, you may want to quit just because of band camp. You have to wake up early only to march for the length of a school day. Now that it’s been long over and the season is pretty much over, I can’t help but long for the next band camp.

     I decided I wanted to do color guard at a very young age. Going to parades and things and seeing the people twirling flags, wow. I knew I wanted to do that. I didn’t know what it was called until last year. My older sister joined guard in as a freshman; two of her close friends had done it in 8th grade so we knew I could join. I don’t know why my sister thought I should join, since it’s her activity. She recruited me, and now she must deal with me. I’m not planning on quitting anytime soon. 

     Our first few football games were obviously a disaster. Not only were some band kids and the guard not entirely caught up in memorizing everything, but we had to do everything while marching properly to our drill spot.

     Our first competition, however, was amazing. I think we either got second or third; I don’t actually remember (we could’ve even gotten first). It was pretty hot, but not too bad considering our guard uniforms are pretty much just unitards with some sheer fabric draped over it. Our uniforms are a deep maroon, still more on the pinkish side. Since we’re a high school band, we have to wear shorts under is of the same color as our skirts, and they go down mid thigh. Around the chest is sheer fabric just loosely hanging off to give an elegant effect. The skirt goes down to our ankles and is made of the same material and color as the sheer fabric.

     Our overnight competition was so fun. We traveled down to Virginia Beach and went to Busch Gardens the day after the competition. I roomed with the three other youngest in our marching band. We’re not technically supposed to be in marching band (since we’re in 8th grade), but since our guard used to be so small, we got permission. Since we went during October, Busch Gardens was currently doing their Halloween activities. We stayed for most of the day, and dinner took place at 4:30. We had to do announcements before we could leave back for the buses to get back home, so our dinner ended at 5:45; which just so happens to be when the scary things start. Now, here’s a fun fact about me that you might not have expected. I’m a complete wimp. I noticed the workers in their Halloween costumes, and I knew I was screwed. I vividly remember watching them walk up to me, fully expecting a scare. Maybe a nice giggle or just threateningly trailing me, but no. You want to know what they did? They literally just screamed at me. That may not sound scary, but I’m a literal coward. I started crying. I don’t know why I included this, considering I don’t want to talk about it. Oh well.

    Our marching band show was titled “Night At The Ballet,” so our show consisted of four songs from popular/well-known ballets. For song one, also called part one, we had a song by Tchaikovsky. It was a mix of a Sleeping Beauty song and a song from Swan Lake. I don’t know song names so you won’t be getting any specifics. Part two was from Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov. Part three was the very well known story of Romeo and Juliet, written by Prokofiev. Our closure song was from Firebird by Stravinsky.

(It says “me!” but the exclamation point looks like an l)

Sorry if this was a bit confusing or boring, but I still hope you enjoyed! You know, I just told you all about my first season of color guard, why don’t you tell me about your first experience with something? Whether it’s a sport or an arts program, I’d love to hear.

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Free Choice – States !!

Sooo, fourth week of the SBC !! Yes, I know I’m a bit late, let’s ignore that though.

Anyways, let’s get right into what this post is.

 

This weekend, my marching band went to state assessments. It was surprisingly a good temperature. Like, our uniforms are pretty revealing, but I only needed my stadium jacket. The other marching bands we watched were pretty good, but apparently we were the “best” in the time block we were performing at.

Now, of course we all enjoy hearing about a little experience. But the score is the more important part of states. Our band got a superior !!
Obviously some of you guys probably might not know what that means, so I’ll tell you. A superior is the highest score you can get at assessments. Other bands there got excellents, but I think three other bands got a superior in the time block we were.

 

This is kind of rushed, so I’m sorry for that.

 

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