Finley Stevens

Fitz 8th grade English

Hard Times paragraph

November 30, 2018

Dealing with disappointment

“It is how you handle your disappointments in life that define you as a person. If you get up after you fall or just lay there in defeat.”

-Anonymous

     You’ll always run into problems but you’ll always find a way out. We all have to go through hard times but we always have to find a way around them. Not making a team or not being able to do something you really wanted to do is disappointing. Dealing with disappointment is really tough, but everyone will have to deal with it at some point in their life. A time where I had to deal with disappointment was when I was trying out for the 2005 Olympic Development Program soccer team. This team is a Massachusetts state team and it’s really hard to make, you play against other states and it’s really tough competition. The first year I tried out for this team I didn’t really know what to expect because I had never played with any of the kids. The competition was much tougher then it was with my club team earlier that season, that year I didn’t make the team. The next year I tried out again, I was hoping to make it that year because I had been playing on the JV soccer team at my school as a 7th grader and playing against kids who were in grades above me, much bigger then me and much stronger then me. Again I didn’t make it, but this year I played on Varsity so I was really hoping to make it. But this this time I got to the tryouts and the very first scrimmage we do I get put on defense which is tough considering my main position is striker, I haven’t yet heard from the coaches but even if I don’t make the team this year I’m still gonna tryout next year. We all will have to deal with disappointment at some point in our life, the most difficult part of that is figuring out how to deal with the disappointment.

Finley Stevens

Fitz 8th grade English

Thankfulness paragraph

Everyone is thankful for something in the world

Be thankful for the struggles you go through. They make you stronger, wiser and humble. Don’t let them break you, let them make you.

-Anonymous

I am thankful for my loving family

I am thankful for having such a wonderful and friendly dog

I am thankful for the delicious food that is put on my plate at all three meals

I am thankful for the amazing school that I go to and the education that I get every day

I am thankful for the people that I meet and play with everyday 

I am thankful for the amazing teachers that teach me new things everyday

I am thankful for having a warm and safe house that I can go to everyday 

I am thankful for the weekends away from the relentless work of school

I am thankful for having access to as much water as I need everyday

I am thankful for my grandparents that I get to see every holiday

Everyone has different things that there thankful for, some people have things that there thankful for that they are able to do everyday others have things that there thankful for but are only able to do only every once in a while. There is one thing that everyone should be thankful for though, family. Family is the most important part of everyone, every person has so many things that their thankful for that their family provided for them. One of the other biggest examples of thankfulness is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a time to come together with all your family and talk about everything that’s happened in the past. Its also a time to talk about what your thankful for and what you really believe is important to you. Everyone is thankful for something very important in their life, whether it’s your family or something else.

Finley Stevens

Fitz 8th grade English

weekend blog post

November 19, 2018

Thanksgiving traditions in my family

"At the heart of every family tradition is a meaningful experience."

-Anonymous

    Thanksgiving is a time for family’s to reflect. Family’s all have there traditions on thanksgiving, they may be small or they may be big. One of my family’s biggest traditions is ever since 2011 me, my brother, my dad and

Finley Stevens

Fitz 8th grade English

Team literary analysis

November 16, 2018

 Curiosity, friends and family throughout Tom Sawyer

 “Mrs. Harper gave a sobbing goodnight and turned to go. Then with a mutual impulse the two bereaved women flung themselves into each other's arms and had a good, consoling cry, and then parted.”
-Mark Twain

    In this quote Tom Sawyer’s and Joe Harper’s mom we’re talking in Aunt Polly’s house weeping over the loss of their two sons. They had just recently received news that the boys were not found while searching for them, all that was found was the raft that the boys used to move down the river. In the book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain Tom shows lots of curiosity during his adventures and journeys throughout the book. His curiosity leads him to get into many different situations, some good some bad. No matter the circumstances although it may not seem like it his friends and family are always behind his back.

Finley Stevens 

8th grade English

November 1, 2018 

A literary reflection on Tom Sawyer

"Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it."

    A classic but at the same time an adventurous read. While reading the book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain although it was written in 1875 there were still many similarities between the book and what many kids do nowadays. Essentially what Mark Twain is trying to do when he wrote this novel he was trying to show the perspective of an eleven year old boy growing up in a poor town in Missouri. He really wanted to show what kids at that time went through and most likely used thing s that he did in his childhood and brought that into the book.