TKAM 12/17/15

Prompt - Draw 4 objects that represent your reading. Write a sentence for each, telling what each item says about what you've been reading.

(Spoilers)
*not in order
1. Mockingbird

     A mockingbird would be the most symbolic thing in this book; it symbolizes innocence. It is said in the book by Atticus; "Remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." They are associated with innocence because they don't hurt anyone/anything, and they just chirp or 'sing'. Two characters that it represents as well, are: Boo (Arthur) Radley and Tom Robinson.
      It represents Boo because toward the end of the book, because when he kills Bob Ewell, he simply wanted to save Scout and Jem form being attacked/killed by Bob. If the story got out in who killed Bob, everyone would come and give him a bunch of attention; which he didn't want. He never did anything wrong and all he wanted was to be left alone.
     Tom would also be considered as a mockingbird because he was falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell; Bob's daughter. He got sent to jail simply because of his skin color, even though his story had no signs of being fake, I'm comparison to Bob and Mayella Ewells'. When he tried to escape jail, he got excessively shot and killed. This shows how he was just an innocent person who lost his life because of racism.

2. Camellia

     A camellia in this book would represent humanity and understanding. Mrs. Dubose was one of the Finch's neighbors that was elderly and racist. Everyday that the kids would pass, she would yell insults about them, but one day when she said something about Atticus, Jem decided to take his anger out on her prized camellias. As punishment, he had to go read to her everyday (except Sunday's) and every day they left a little later when an alarm clock went off and her daughter brought her medicine.
     Although, until after she died, Jem learned that she was a morphine addict; and every time that he read to her, she was able to delay her morphine fix for a little but every day. In the beginning, Jem was handling Mrs. Dubose's  racism in an angry way, but when he calmly read, it showed a sensible approach to her racism. When she died, Jem received a single camellia that was in perfect condition, this was Mrs. Dubose's way of showing Jem that everything was alright and she ended up getting her humanity back before she died.

3. Overalls

     The overalls symbolized an acceptance and kind gesture. Throughout the book, especially towards the beginning when Scout was young; overalls were mentioned a lot. Scout loved to wear them, but everyone seemed to not like her wearing them. Atticus let her wear them, but has was told many times that she shouldn't wear them.
     Aunt Alexandra said that they were unladylike and she shouldn't be allowed to wear them; and Mrs. Dubose tells Scout that wearing clothes like that will make her end up "waiting tables at the O.K Cafe" (which served African Americans). Then, the symbolism comes in when Scout and Jem get attacked by Bob, and Aunt Alexandra tells Scout to get out of her ham costume and to put on her overalls. She told her this, even though she hated the overalls.

4. Snowman

     The snowman that Scout and Jem built symbolizes tea
mwork. It does, because when they want to build it, there is not enough snow, so they make a mud snowman and cover it with snow.  When it's just the mud, and the snow comes over it, the kids think it looks like it had a mixed "skin color"; and Scout had never seen anyone that was biracial, but Jem knew about Mr. Dolphus Raymond's kids. Anyway though; the symbolic part was that since the dark soil and the light snow could work together, just his black and white people have to work together in society to have a successful synchronization or coexistence.

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Character Relationships

(Aunt Alexandra and Atticus)

Aunt Alexadra and Atticus are mostly different from each other, but aside their differences; there are similarities between them. One similarity is that they both have strong opinions about how the children should be raised; even though their opinions on how they should grow up were very different. They basically just want what's best for them and want to show them that growing up is and essential part of life. Also, they both care about people; although Aunt Alexandra cares about what other's think while Atticus cares about the people themselves.

     There is a lot of differences between Atticus and Alexandra though. Some of those differences are that Alexandra wants everything to go her way and be how she wants it; like she want Scout to act more like a girl. Even though Atticus lets Scout wear overalls, Alexandra considers it "unladylike". On the other hand, Atticus lets Scout be herself as a tomboy. Then, a huge difference is that Alexandra has taken in the system of society while Atticus challenges it.

     Atticus is Scout's dad and Alexandra is her Aunt. The thing that Scout and Atticus have in their relationship is understanding. Atticus understand how Scout feels or acts and he lets her continue them because he is fair. They also do some compromising; one time in the beginning of the book Atticus told Scout that they can continue reading at home (without telling Miss Caroline) and that Scout would keep going to school. Also, they have a good routine with discipline. Most of the time, Scout listens to Atticus when he gives her a punishment for something that she did wrong, such as making fun of the Radley's. This form of punishment is that he doesn't have to hit her, but she still listens. Atticus also teaches her like an adult sometimes and talks to her and explains about things that she doesn't know about.
     Aunt Alexandra and Scout (in the book so far) don't really have much in common and they don't really talk to each other much. So far, Scout has only mentioned one thing that she liked about her; her cooking. Other than that, they can't get along because Akexandra doesn't like how Scout is "unladylike", wears overalls instead of dresses, and gets into fights. She does not approve at all at how Atticus raised Scout and doesn't like her very much.

     Atticus' effect on Scout is that he influences her life everday by teaching her lessons and explaining new things to her. He tries to guide her through her life and childhood as she grows up. One lesson that he gives both Scout and Jem is a lesson that influences them to have respect for life and that lesson is to never kill a mockingbird. One other big thing that he teaches them is to treat everyone with respect and not to judge them. This came up with several different characters such as: Walter Cunningham, Boo Radley, Mrs. Dubose, Mr. Avery, etc.
     Aunt Alexandra's effect on Scout is a negative one starting on Christmas. Scout didn't even want to visit her because she disliked Alexandra for constantly saying she wasn't raised properly with how she acted and what she wore. So far, in the book she didn't like the effect that she had in her, especially when she came for a long visit to her house.

TKAM Setting Picture 11/24/15

     The photograph that I chose to represent my idea of the town Maycomb in Alabama from the book "To Kill A Mockingbird" was a scene of a sidewalk in Selma, Alabama. The picture that I chose was of a street with lots of advertisements on the walls and a few people there. The people in the picture are not dressed up nicely and they seem kind of old and worn out as well as casual. The physical setting is a street and the walls of the building behind the people sitting down are advertisements that stick out a lot. The one word that is sticking out a lot is an ad for coca cola (there are two of them).

     This photo was probably taken to show how life was like in that area and in that time period. There is not much movement in this photo; excluding one man that seems to be going out of a door; but other then that, people are just sitting down or hanging around the block. The audience for this picture is probably just anyone who wants to see how it (life) was like in that time period. This photo was most likely taken with a camera because it really doesn't look like a drawing. From viewing this photo, you can learn how people used to dressed and how the streets looked.

     The difference between today and back then, is that the photo would most likely be in color and in better quality. The same thing that would be in this photo is a lot of advertisements, because today there is still a lot of ads; especially still coca cola which is still popular. Some questions I would have are; Was there a reason that this was taken?, Who is in this picture?, and Where exactly is this? Some things that Indo know though, is that this photo was taken in December 1935 and the photographer is named Walker Evans.

 Evans, Walker. Sidewalk Scene in Selma, Alabama. 1935. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives LOT 1604, United States.

Theme Development 11/13/15

Prompt - Allegiant Theme

     The book "Allegiant" has a lot of different themes in it; like many other books. Some of those themes included: friends and family, sacrifice, guilt, lies, identity, and many more. The theme of identity was one of the most important themes or key themes in Allegiant.

     This theme of identity was all throughout the whole Divergent series. It started when Tris had no idea which faction she actually belonged in and which faction to choose when she turned sixteen. This was because she got Divergent as a result on her Aptitude test which made her unique in a good and bad way at the same time. After she had left the actual city and went across the fence/boundary; she has been through a lot of loss during her journey of finding who she really was. This would be the theme of loss and maybe even guilt when she didn't help save some of her friends.

     The theme of friends and family was when she was finding out who her actual family and friends were and if they were not just pretending to be her friend. As for her parents; she was also finding out who they really were and they pasts'. The theme of sacrifice was when she actually did go back for friends in danger or volunteering herself for dangerous activities even if it wasn't the smartest thing to do. Another theme which is lies is when Tris lied a lot if it was for the bad or the good. An example was when she lies to help her friends in danger or something similar. There's a lot more themes in this book/book series, but I would say that the main theme is identity.
 

First Quater Reflection 10/28/15

     Now that it is near the end of the first quarter of eighth grade, there some things that I learned, and that I have learned from. Starting with my 40 book challenge, so far I am on my third book of the Divergent series. I have t had a huge amount of time to read, because of the rest of my homework; but I'm planning on reading more books and new series.

     I also haven't done many blogs this school year, but I think that I'm starting to remember the formatting from last year as this year goes on. The blogs that I've done so far, I would say that they are neutrally ok, but I have been learning a lot more about things like making my paragraphs in the corrrect format and being longer.

     The strategies that have benefited me for this year is my organization and the order that I do my homework in. One of the organization strategies that I'm using is to have all of my colors, pencils, highlighters, etc. in one big pencil case, and on,y one pencil and pen in a smaller pencil bag that I take to every class. One way that this helps me is for example when we are taking vocabulary tests. Then, I can just find a pencil right away. The order that I'm doing my homework in setting a time limit for each assignment which really helps me finish me a little bit better.

     I've learned some things of the world from a lot of the things that we did in class, especially the article of the weeks' that we do. Those have a lot of information of what is going on in the world right now, in the past, or in the future. I learned some things from another activity that we did in class which was a short story by Edgar Allen Poe. I learned things about the work by annotating the story and looking up the words I didn't know. This made me learn about the real world and some of the things or places that were or are in the setting of the story.

     My research skills have gotten a little bit better after some time. I have so far learned how to get better with my organization skills and finding good evidence. One of the assignments that I need research for is for AOW's. This is still a place I need to improve a little on.

Allegiant 10/14/15

Prompt - List three questions you have about what you read

     One question that I have about this book is about the structure of it. My question is: Why are all of the chapters alternating between the two main characters; Tris and Four? I ask this because I find it confusing how sometimes I'm reading about one event that's happening, then suddenly it moves to another event in the book. I mean, it is a good idea instead of making two separate books with the both perspectives in addition to the rest of the trilogy. The only thing that I didn't like was that it confused me a little bit.

     A piece from the book that made me have a question about what I was reading, was that on page 286, when Tris figured out that Nita was standing among the invaders and was with them, and if she knew that Nita was a traitor, why did she go along with Tobias' (Four) plan if she knew that Nita couldn't be trusted to steal the death serum? I actually couldn't believe that Tris went through with Tobias' plan of she knew he was wrong. I didn't expect her to go through with it because she is usually stubborn and independent.

     The last question I would have about what I read would be that: Is Tris going to stay mad at Tobias for what he did? I'm not sure if she's going to forgive him or break up with him for believing and going along with Nita's plan. I'm unsure if they will even talk, because in the book, it said that they haven't spoken in a long time. Those are all of my questions that I would have from what I read.

Life Lines Poem

"A different perspective of the world"

Living in a desperate time, among a desperate people, among wars, among famine, among epidemics, he found that he often held the keys to life.

He would travel any distance.

This is a country where you can just be one penny short at the grocery store and they still won't forgive you.

If you don't have money, they won't give you the real treatment.

You see how this treacherous world works?

I saw that most people used a different calculator. Beauty was external, money mattered, and so did skin color.

It didn't matter who the person was or how much they had. The poorest, most recently arrived refugee received the same welcome as the richest American.

No matter how much the strangers resembled beetles, my father always maintained that they can be angels.

His generosity knew no bounds...

Or that he might still be a hero, tragic and flawed though he might be.

OBAA and AOW Similarities 9/24/15

.    In the book Of Beetles & Angels and the article "Europe struggles to cope with migrants' march of misery" have a lot of similarities. One of the things that they have in common is that they both are about refugees/migrants. In Of Beetles & Angels; Mawi (Selamawi) and his family were refugees that migrated to the U.S. The article is about thousands of refugees, but only one in specific; her name is Tirana Hassan. She tweeted that she was exhausted (of being a refugee) and she didn't want it to be for nothing.

     Another set of things that the book and article have in common are the events that happen in them. For example, a bad thing that happened in the book was that Mawi's older brother Tewolde and his dad Haileab died; and in the article some refugees died from drowning on their journeys. These deaths had nothing in common in how they happened but they were both deaths that happened on refugees or migrants. Those were both bad events that happened; another bad event in the article was empty shelters being burned. Another thing that both had in common was that even though their was some bad things, there were good thing s that happened in both. In the article, the border between Hungary and Serbia reopened. In the book, Mawi got accepted into one of the best colleges; Harvard; then later on in the book, he graduated from there.

     War affects individuals by making them struggle a lot from many things. One thing that war can do to people is either kill them, or their family members. Another thing that it can do to them is make them have to move out of their hometown and lose their home, belongings, school, friends, and maybe even their families. War affects societies by maybe increasing unemployment. It increases unemployment because after war; there is no money left because it was spent on the economy.

Insurgent 8/16/15

Prompt - Tell me about the main character. What kind of person is he/she?

     The main character; Tris/Beatrice is a very unique kind of person. She has many different qualities in her personality. That's probably why she got the result of Divergent. She stood out from everyone else because she got three faction results: Abnegation, Divergent, and Erudite. These three factions made her Divergent.

The result of being Divergent made her have many different qualities. One of the qualities that she had was being brave. She was brave most of the time when she was on missions to save people from the mind controlled Dauntless soldiers or the Dauntless Traitors. One time that she was brave was when she went first to climb on a ladder that was only being held from one side to one window from another; across two buildings that was very high up. In the book, it said, ""I'll go," I say, before Marcus can answer, "I'm part Stiff too, right?""

     Although, when she wasn't being brave, she was being really careless and a little bit crazy. The reason I said this is because she was constantly putting herself in danger. One of the biggest dangers she put herself in was going to the Erudite quarters, straight to Jeanine! *spoilers* The reason that she did this was to save the people from being mind controlled to jump off the roof; there would be three people that were forced to do this until one Divergent would turn themselves in. Even though she was doing this to save people, it kind of was a suicide mission. The only reason she survived was because her enemy that owed her a favor faked her death by injecting her with something different than what Jeanine thought. If that never happened she would've been dead; but that's only one of her qualities.

Insurgent 8/13/15

Prompt - What have you found boring about what you've been reading? What made it boring? If you were the author, what would you do to make it more interesting?

     One thing that I've found boring in the book Insurgent is how it is way too long. I feel like there are certain parts/scenes that drag way too much. For example, one scene that was really long was when Tris was deciding on which door to go through of the Erudite building. The whole time it was describing that she didn't know what to expect in each door and she kept changing her mind.

     The main reason that makes this book boring is because it's too long and descriptive. One part that was way too descriptive was in chapter 41: ""Insurgent," he says. "Noun. A person who acts in opposition to the established authority, who is not necessarily  regarded as a belligerent."" This example shows how it goes into detail by even giving the definition of a word that was used in the book.

     If I was the author of this story; I would try to make it a little bit shorter and not as detailed so it wouldn't be boring. But, I would still make sure to make it not too short and rushed so it wouldn't be straight to the point either. I just think that a good amount of details is enough. Other than being too long, Insurget was actually a good book.

Divergent 2 7/7/15

Prompt - Draw 4 objects that represent your reading. Write a sentence for each, telling what each item says about what you've been reading.

*SPOILERS*

1. Penny

I think that a penny represents bravery. Bravery was a very common thing in Divergent because Tris was brave when both of her parents died. She was also brave from jumping off a moving train, being the first one to jump of a building, and more. The penny represents being brave because pennies travel all around the world and it could show all of the places (in this case; things that Tris has been through) that it's been through, or how far it's gone through.

2. Color in a colorless group

This represents uniqueness. In Divergent, Tris was considered very unique because she didn't fit into just one of the factions. She had many other qualities to her than just one specific one. That's why she was Divergent. The one color in a colorless group represents Tris sticking out and being original and different.

3. Strong Brain

Like I mentioned in number one; this picture could also represent all that Tris has been through. Although the penny and brain have two different meanings. A penny or money in general travel through a lot and get worn out because of it; that could represent bravery. On the other hand, the brain shows more of her mental strength and all that it's gone through. For example, losing her parents and some of her friends and acquaintances.

4. Glasses on books

The glasses on the books represent intelligence. As well and being brave, Tris was also smart and had strategies that kept her alive through that bravery. Her intelligence helped her stay alive when she was in danger. One of the times that being smart helped her was when she figured out how to stop the brain-washed Dauntless soldiers into causing even more harm in Abnegation.

Divergent 6/5/15

Prompt - Describe something you have read that is similar to this

     One book that I think was similar to Divergent is The Hunger Games. The reason that I think this is because first of all, they are both set in futuristic or even imaginary settings where people live fearful lives. Also, both of the books have a main character that is a brave female going against leaders/government. They (Tris and Katniss) also both make a huge impact on their nation's future. Lastly, I noticed that both books have the people isolated or separated from each other. In Divergent, there are five different factions. In The Hunger Games; there are twelve different districts.

Prompt - What are the two most important ideas in what you've been reading?

     There are many, many important ideas/themes in Divergent; such as: identity, fear, family, friends, society, class, power, competition, choices, secrets, etc. Although, I think the main two key ideas were Choices and Power. The idea of choices was shown in the beginning of the book when Tris (the main character) had to choose what faction she wanted to be in when she turned sixteen. Her choice would impact her life and the lives of her family and people around her.

     The theme of power was shown all throughout the book. For example, in one of Tris's fear simulations; she didn't have to have power as in physical strength, but she had to be mentally powerful to come back to reality. Also, she had the power to do things such as the power to save people from Abnegation (her original faction) from the mind controlled Dauntless soldiers which was caused by Erudite. Finally, I think that those two themes were the most important in this book.

Paradoxes and Dreams 5/21/15

                "We truly believe ourselves to be natural-born mechanics and do-it-yourself-ers."

     I picked this quote from "Paradox and Dream" by John Steinbeck and it stood out to me because I find this to be true. It means that people think that they can fix anything or do anything they want; when they actually can't. An example that was in the text was where it said, "We spend our lives in motor cars, yet most of us- a great many of us at least - do not know enough about a car to look in the gas tank she the motor fails." I found this as a really good example because now that everything is more futuristic and we have more technology, people don't know as much as they used to on how to fix things when they are broken, or other things like that. Most people in the present would just look it up on Google. 

     I have seen this quote many times in real life and there are a lot of examples you can see. I've seen it when I use Google when I type in a question, and other ones pop up about different people's problems. I had this experience myself when I go on a question/answer website. People are now relying on other people from the internet for their own problems, now even their health issues! I've actually seen some people asking this questions about their health instead of actually going to the doctor.  One example is if a person would accidentally do something to their phone; they would look it up on google how to fix it. All this happens when a lot of people are bragging about knowing how to do many things. This just proves how much this quote is true. 

"We shout that we are a nation of laws, not men - and then proceed to break every law we can if we can get away with it."

     This is another quote that stood out to me and I found it to be very interesting. It basically is saying that we believe in the laws and enforce them, but if we find a chance to break one, we do it anyways. There has been way too many times that I've seen some examples of this. I find this quote to be very powerful because it is really true.

     A lot of times that I've seen these examples are on T.V; especially on reality T.V. One day I was watching this show called Beyond Scared Straight where kids go to jail for a day to see how it is. Everyone in the show says why they are there and a lot of the girls said that they always steal things from the store. One of them said; she only does it because she has gotten away with it many times and her room is filled with stolen jewelry and dresses. This is just one of the examples as stealing, but a lot of people break the law when they can get away with it.

Final Reflection 5/18/15

     The three most important things that I learned this year was to have more patience, time management, and responsibility. I learned to have more patience with people in my class when they didn't understand something or when they were being really loud. This class taught me time management because I usually save everything until last minute so I end up doing all my work on Thursday which leaves me no time to study for vocabulary. That's why now I try to do everything on different days. I learned the responsibility of turning in my things on time like article of the weeks, blogs, etc. The one thing that we did this year that I will remember for the rest of my life is two things: vocabulary and works cited. The vocabulary tests that we did helped me learn new words and expand my vocabulary. The works cited I will remember because they are very useful and I never knew how to do them until this language arts class.

     One of the nicest things that someone from this class ever did for me was to help me understand what we were doing in class when I was absent or not there. They really helped me know what was going on in class when I missed it or was late. This year, I'm not actually sure I taught my classmates or teacher anything, but if I could I would teach them that if you really try, you can get things done. For example, I am always reading in that class so that probably taught people to be determined to finish what you've started and accomplish your goal.

     I think that something I'm really proud of/improved in was my blogs. Sometimes, I used to make them kind of short and they weren't that good. I learned over the quarters how to improve my writing and actually even write more with better quality. Something that I accomplished this year that I was proud of was when I got A's every quarter for this class. I am proud of this because it's kind of hard to always get the good grade of an A. Although, the most hard part of the year for me was doing the argumentative writing because it was a lot of work and it took pretty long to do. The only thing that was easier was putting the letter together to the governor.

     The best piece of writing that I did this year was doing my Breaking Dawn blog. I think that this was one of my good blogs because I feel that it was thorough. I, for the first time, wrote a lot in my blog so I was proud of it. Even though I wrote a lot of longer lengthy blogs, this one was my favorite.

     Of all of the books that I've read this year, my favorite was Four by Veronica Roth. I liked this book a lot because I have read Divergent and this book was in Tobias's (Four) perspective. I think that it really helped me learn about his character more. I really enjoyed this book because it was the same exact story, but they put him as the main character instead, so you could see his perspective when the main character (Tris) was somewhere else.

     Some advice that I would give to the students for next year would be to have good time management and to save nothing until last minute. I am saying this from my experience because when I turned in work late, I got falcon fouls. I would also say to always do your work so you can be prepared for class. Also, I probably think that you should study your vocabulary for tests on Friday because I alway study the morning of, and I barely get a good grade. Lastly, I would just say good luck to them.

Symbolism 5/15/15

     I picked a die to represent me because I feel that I am like it. I think this because it has many different sides. I'm like this because I have many different sides to me. Also, when you roll a die, you never know what you're going to get. That's why I think I am like this because I am unpredictable just like a die.







                                      I commented on Jared, Evie, Lillian, Siari, and Rebecca.

Of Mice and Men - The Movie 5/11/15

Prompt - (Section III and IV) What does the flashback show? How does the flashback leave the audience feeling at the end of the movie? Does that feeling match the feeling at the end of the book? Why do you think the director chose to use a different ending rather than just showing exactly what's in the book? What is the line of dialogue that ends the book? What does that line tell us about the speaker? What feeling does that leave the reader with? How does it make you feel when he says that? What are your general thoughts, feelings, reactions of Of Mice and Men? What had the most profound impact on you or your understanding of the novella? Who would you recommend this book to and why?

     The flashback at the end of the movie shows George and Lennie walking (away) together in the field. It kind of shows that they are free from work and they are going to live their dream. The flashback leaves the audience feeling probably sad and disappointed because they never got their happy ending now that George killed Lennie and George was on his own. The feeling of the movie doesn't really match the feeling at the end of the book because in the book, the feeling was sort of incomplete because the author mentioned that George left with Slim but they never showed the reactions of the rest of the people. I think that the author chose to end the movie differently than the book because he probably wanted the movie to end in a flashback to make the feeling/tone stay with the movie instead of just bringing in the rest of the characters while leaving it on a cliffhanger and ruining the mood.

     The line of dialogue that ends the book is when Carlson says to Curley, "Now what the hell do you suppose is eatin' them two guys?" This line tells us that the speaker (Carlson) didn't understand why George and Slim were sad about Lennie because it's showing that back then, ranchers didn't really care about each other or if they died. Also, it shows that Carlson didn't even know how it felt to have a dream or ambition with someone and then have it ruined. It basically symbolized that him and Curley couldn't imagine the pain that George (especially) and Slim were going through. The last line leaves the reader feeling bad because the ending was really sad and it ended up in a cliffhanger. It made me feel bad for all the characters because I didn't know what was going to go on in their futures.

     I actually liked the book Of Mice and Men and I didn't expect to enjoy it because I thought it would be difficult but it actually wasn't. It was interesting to me and I think that it had a good ending even though I wanted to know more about what would happen after. The part that had the most profound impact on me was when Carson shot Candy's dog just because it was old. This impacted me because I really like animals and this showed me how back then, dogs, or animals in general weren't treated as good as they are now; or at all! I would recommend this book to anyone or everyone (of course who is old enough to understand it) because it's a good book, and I, myself liked it.

Aow Impressions Blog 5/5/15

     This week, I viewed a lot of different interesting articles. Some had the same topics that were common, and some were unique that I hadn't heard of. One of the articles that I saw more than once was about the Nepal earthquake. Another article that I saw a few times was about Baltimore riots. Even though I have seen some articles quite a few times, there were some that stood out to me. One of the articles that I found that was really interesting was one about a free wifi project on a phone that google and other companies were working on.

     Going back to the Nepal earthquake article; I noticed that all of the many ones that I viewed all had different information, but were about the same topics. This happened because news is constantly changing. One of the articles specifically said that 3,000 people were killed, and another one said 8,000 (people were killed)! That was a big difference, so all the articles were actually exactly identical even though they had the same topic. Some things that I learned from these articles was that it was the worst earthquake in 80 years and also it had a 7.5 magnitude. It occurred 7 miles below ground and it cause an avalanche in Mt. Everest. The government is helping to pay the families that lost people in the earthquake.

     In conclusion, I learned more about what's going on in the world in recent time. I found out more on the Nepal earthquake, Baltimore riots, free wifi, child abuse, Iranian forces, and more. I think that this week I have taken in a lot of new information and I definitely know more now.

Dreams Poem 5/3/15

Prompt - Using "To A Mouse" by Robert Burns as inspiration, write a short poem expressing what happens when you have a dream and it doesn't come true.


When Dreams Don't Come True - Short Poem


                            Dreams.
               Dreams are like seasons;
           they come and go eventually.
      You always have dreams and goals
               during your whole life.
You work hard towards your aspirations in life,
                flying right towards them,
       until you go in the wrong direction 
                    and sometimes;
   You just end up right where you started. 

Of Mice And Men 4/27/15

Prompt - From your brainstorming session, choose at least two conflicts to explore more in depth in this blog. Be sure to include textual evidence and support and also identify the effect that the conflict has had on the plot so far. 

*Spoilers*

Conflict #1 - Lennie gets into too much trouble: man vs self

Conflict #2 - Lennie and Curley: man vs man

     The first conflict that I think was that Lennie always gets into trouble. The problem is that hue doesn't know what he is capable of. There are so many times that he had gotten in trouble from not letting go of things. He likes to touch soft things (mice, rabbits, puppies, silk, etc.), so that's how he always is getting in trouble. One of the things that he did was touch a girl's dress and not let go of it. Then, he always killed mice because they were too small. Also, in the ranch, he had killed a puppy because it was very small. Lastly, one major thing that he did that was very bad was snapping Curley's wife's neck and killing her on accident; and it could start as simple as touching her hair, then he doesn't know what he is doing.

     One of the conflicts that I also thought had a big effect on the novela was Lennie and Curley's relationship with each other. Curley obviously doesn't like Lennie, and Lennie had done bad things to Curley. Curley was always rude to Lennie from the fist day that they met; and he also started a fight with him. On the other hand, Lennie crushed Curley's hand during their fight, and he killed his wife! Even though Lennie killed his wife on accident, it's still the same thing. Finally, that's why I think that these two events are big conflicts in this book and have effects on the plot.

I commented on Justin, Jared, and Rebecca's blog.

Of Mice And Men 4/20/15

Prompts - 


Describe the atmosphere of the ranch and bunkhouse. Be sure to include characteristics of different characters that were formally or informally introduced to us in this chapter. Support your choice with textual evidence and interpretation.

Why doesn't Curley's wife have a name? What message, if anything, is John Steinbeck  trying to send by not giving her a first name?  Support your choice with textual evidence and interpretation.

     The atmosphere of the ranch and bunkhouse are kind of mixed. What I mean about mixed is that some people give off a positive vibe, and the others, a negative one. Some of the positive or neutral characters were Candy, the boss, and Slim. The characters that didn't make the atmosphere feel as favorable were Curley and Carlson. The reason that Candy gave the bunkhouse and ranch a positive feeling was just because he was just nice to George and Lennie, the boss was also nice to them. In the text, it said,  (about the boss) "Well he's a pretty nice fella. Gets pretty mad sometimes, but he's pretty nice." Lastly, for Slim, in the book it is said a lot that he is calm and easy to talk to. The reason that Carlson gave a negative vibe was because he was constantly talking about the bad things about Candy's dog. Curley; was certainly giving a negative atmosphere vibe because he would get mad easily and be very mean and rude; especially toward Lennie. 

      I think that their can be many reasons that Curley's wife doesn't have a name. One of the reasons is probably that John Steinbeck was probably trying to show that women weren't important at the time set in the book. Although, it could also have meant that she wasn't really an important character. Lastly, it could have simply meant that he couldn't think of a name for her, and he wanted to show that her being referred to as "Curley's Wife" to represent that she isn't that important. 

A Series of Unfortunate Events 6 (book 11) 4/16/15

Prompt -  List at least three problems the characters faced? Which was the most life
changing? Explain

     One problem that the characters face in book 11; The Grim Grotto, was when they lost touch with their new friend Quigley Quagmire. They finally figured out where he was when they reached a cave by the Stricken Stream, while on their way to find their sister Sunny. It was believed that he died in his house fire, but he managed to survive. He is one of the Quagmire triplets, two of the triplets had known the Baudelaires for some time and the were friends. So, they lost touch with him after they rescued their sister and were trying to escape from Count Olaf, when all of a sudden a waterfall carried Quigley away and the Baudelaires from each other while heading down the slippery slope.

    A second problem that the Baudelaires faced in this book was that Sunny nearly died from a deadly fungus. This happened after the children found a submarine that helped them and let them in. After being in there for a day with other V.F.D members, they were searching for the secret sugar bowl (that hasn't been revealed why it's important) when the submarine was too big to fit in the cave that held the sugar bowl. So, the Baudelaires had to get out so they can search for it in diving helmets, and when they got to the cave, they realized there was deadly mushrooms growing. They managed to escape, but a mushroom somehow got into Sunny's helmet making her become trapped in the helmet. If the helmet was opened, the poison would spread, and she had an hour to live. Violet and Klaus had to do a lot of research before finally curing their sister.

 
The third and final major problem that they faced was when Count Olaf and his troupe found them, on their much bigger submarine. They captured them, but, a good thing was that, like always, they managed to escape by convincing one of Count Olaf's associates. He turned out to be the brother of Fiona (the daughter of the captain of the submarine). The children convinced the associate to let them escape while he was watching them for Count Olaf, and they said they would take him with them.  He agreed, but, Count Olaf caught them, but of course, the Baudelaires escaped without Fiona or her brother; and were off on their own again.




                                         I commented on Rebecca, Saul, and Sebastian's blog.

Poetry Reflection 3/26/15

     Poetry has an importance in my life because there are some poems that I can relate to. It also relates to my life because I have been learning how to write different poems for a long time. I have always wrote different kinds of poems in the past, for school. Now that I'm in 7th grade, poetry is more important because I can understand it better, and I have more knowledge on different kinds of poems.

     In my personal opinion, I do think that poetry belongs to everyone. Anyone can relate to a poem because there are many. It is almost certain that someone can relate to at least one poem; despite the fact that only some people enjoy it. Although, I still think that poetry can belong to everyone because they have at least read one once, or wrote one. I know this because poetry can be relatable.

     The life and experiences of a poet has a huge impact on the poem that they create. One of the things that can affect the poem is their emotions/feeling. Poets can put their real experiences in poems as well. Then, they can also put both their feelings and experiences together, but change it a bit. In conclusion, I think that poetry is important to me and everyone else, and poetry belongs everyone.

My Poems -

Extended Metaphor Poem
Bio-Poem of a Literary Character
Where I'm From Poem
Two-Voice Poem
Spine Poem
Found Poem
Nonsense Poem
Choices Poem
Picture Poem

Nonsense Poem - "Springtime Clumsiness" 3/26/15

*zoom in to see words*

Found Poem 3/23/15

"I'm afraid. I was never that confident. I wouldn't want to be lonely. I'm here on one side, off by itself. I've got to be honest."

My Found Poem is about someone being honest how about they are afraid to be lonely in life and how they are always on the side. I drew circles which represent a string of colored beads. All of them are green, and one of them is blue. This shows how this person is different from everyone else. Additionally, I drew stripes on the top and bottom. These represent how 'caged in' they feel because of how they are lonely.

Two Voice poem for The Hostile Hospital 3/16/15

Violet - Purple
Klaus - Green
Both - Pink

I was not safe.                                                                              We were anxious.                                                          I was safe; at the moment.                      

I was slowly getting very tired.                                                                                                                             I became very alert to try and save Violet.

I was beginning to drift off into a deep sleep.                                                                              I was wide awake trying to find a way to figure out where Violet was.

I fell asleep in the middle of danger.                                                                                        I became frantic searching a way to figure out where Violet was hidden.

I didn't feel anything as I entered the operating room.                                                                                   I felt relieved when I found what room my sister was in.

I was in a deep sleep with the medicine I was given.            We had to save ourselves.                                     I was alert with the news of Violet I was given.

I was surrounded by Count Olaf's disguised assistants.                                                                             I was surrounded by soup, doctor's coats, and rubber bands.

I was in an operating room.                                                                                                                                                I was hiding in a supply closet.

I had to be saved; I couldn't save myself now.                                                                                                                         I had to save Violet.

I had made no progress to wake up.                                                                                                    I made more than progress; as I finally found out where she was.

I remained on the gurney while Olaf's assistants prepared for the operation.   We were in grave danger.    I disguised Sunny and I in doctor's coats and snuck out.

I had unintentionally fooled the doctors intro thinking I was a patient.  I had fooled Olaf's assistants into thinking I was also an assistant and came into the operating room.

I was beginning to wake up.                                                                                 I started to stall while the audience were waiting for me to operate on Violet's head.

I could hear the faint sound audience talking.  I heard the roar of the anticipating crowd as I quickly made an excuse of having papers filled out before the operation.                       

I didn't hear anything anymore.                                                                                                   The crowd went silent and then started agreeing with me.

I suddenly heard the audience agreeing with something.       We were relieved.        One of Olaf's assistants glared at me; finding out what was going on.

I started to hear shouting as I opened my eyes.                                                    I felt my doctor's mask disguise being ripped off as the audience started to shout.

I reacted by trying to sit up.                                                                             I reacted by putting Sunny on top of Violet and running while wheeling the gurney out.

I felt shocked as I started to move out the door.                                                          I felt rushed as the people followed me and I suddenly ran into a fire.

I gathered my strength and got up as we ran to a closet.  We were safe; for now.  I was relieved as we quickly made a cord for jumping out the window, as we escaped.

Spine Poem 3/19/15

My poem is about how the place that we live in found the meanings of someone's words were "dancing on the edge". This meant that in the world, people thought that what they said was close to something that was important or powerful.  I also made this to mean that the world can see people's words as a very powerful trait to them. Finally, I think that it showed the importance of words.

ThingLink Interactive 3/16/15

I commented on Diana, Jared, and Bianey's blog.

3rd Quarter Reflection 3/13/15

     Now that it is almost 4th quarter, I feel that I know a lot more than I did in the beginning of the year. I learned more things, and now I have a bigger vocabulary. I have read more books, and now I know how to edit my writing. There are also a lot more things that I've learned, but these are the things that stood out this quarter.

     In the book series that I'm currently reading (A Series of Unfortunate Events), there are a lot of vocabulary words in there. The author; Lemony Snicket constantly stops the story and talks to the readers. Then, he explains what words mean. One example of this was, "Sanctuary... is a word which here means a small, safe place in a troubling world. Like an oasis in a cast desert or an island in a stormy sea." Anyways, there was a lot of these throughout the series and they helped me to expand my vocabulary as well as the weekly words.

     I also have read a lot more books for the 40 book challenge. The 40 book challenge is where we have to read 40 books, but not just any. We have to read a variety of genres, so that makes it more challenging. So far, I am on book 19, so I need 21 more books.

     The one thing that I didn't really know how to do was to edit my writing. Now I know to go step by step. I used to just go all over and correct the grammar. The important thing that I have learned was to have a good topic sentence, grammar, diction, etc. In conclusion, I think that I have learned a lot over the three quarters of the school year.

   

Choices Poem 3/12/15

Netflix or Sleep?

Two choices for the day:
Netflix or sleep
And I was tired, so I looked at my bed...
Then I also looked at my phone.

It was right in front of me, as I grabbed it and went on Netflix
The bed looked inviting...
But I chose to watch Netflix anyway.
Because I decided I wanted to catch up on the Vampire Diaries.

I knew that I would be tired the next day...
And that my phone would lose battery,
But, I was happier the next day,
to finish the most recent episode.

At the end, I decided I made the right choice
Even with  the consequences 
Two choices for the day:
And I chose Netflix.


I commented on Emily, Jared, and Diana's blog.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                       

Bio-Poem: A Series of Unfortunate Events 6 (book 6) 3/9/15

Violet Baudelaire
Smart, Caring, Resourceful, Responsible
A Character in Snicket's story
Lover of her parents, her siblings, inventing, and her hair ribbon
Who notices when there is trouble, Count Olaf is in disguise, and tools that could be useful for inventions
Who feels protective over her siblings, sad about her parents, and scared about Olaf
Who learns how to escape trouble, invent materials, and save herself and her siblings
Who used to think she could have luck, but now knows she doesn't have much
Major Character in The Ersatz Elevator
A book that warns the readers to put the book down because it's full of misery

Darkness as Crows - An Extended Metaphor Poem 3/2/15

           

                                                      Darkness is the thing with wings
                                                             that spreads it's sides,
                                                        as it covers the sky's surface.
                                                     It starts to deeply darken the night.
                                                      The gloomy dusk is starless above,
                                                           leaving no light beyond it.
                                                            A bitter breeze blew past,
                                                         causing the trees to shiver
                                                              in the cold darkness.
                                                       And it takes off at exactly dawn;
                                                       leaving it's trail of fog behind it.

                                        I commented on Justin, Joseph H, and Omar's blog.
                                             
                                                   

The Lonely Road - A Picture Poem 2/27/15

    “The Lonely Road”

 
I drive out into the dusky night,

  on a lonely, abandoned road,

     surrounded by trees.

     It’s as dark as pitch,

as i go down the lonely road.

The black fringe of the forest,

        speeding past me

   and it’s all a blur of black,

as the trees brush their fingers

          against my car.