I believe speech 5/24/16

                                           "I Believe In Caring For Your Sibling"

             I believe in being there for your siblings when they need you.  We have experiences that make us who we are. We all have experiences that change who we are.

             I found out that I would have a younger sibling during 2009. I was delighted. However, a thought slithered into my mind. What if I wasn't a good older brother? She was born on May 11, 2010. Eventually my sister started Kindergarten and when she would be dropped off at school she would cry, saying she did not want to go. This lasted for months. I tried to comfort her, so that she would feel better. I had to be there for my sister, since this was a traumatic moment for my her. I had to take charge, so that she wouldn't be scared. It would take some time, but we would be able to get my sister to go to school without crying.

           The situation impacted my family and through this I learned that being there for your siblings is important.

    

Final Quarter Reflection

Final Quarter reflection 

Anybody entering Mrs. Larson class should know that this class is not for the lazy and slackers. You will have homework on the daily and must be able to turn the homework in on time and the work must be high quality. One of the things to make this easier is to be organized, as their is nothing worse than not being able to find work and getting in trouble for it even if you already did it. Time management is very important, as you will have lots of work you will need to manage your time.  The final thing that a new student to Mrs. Larson class should know that if slacking off and not listening in class is not a way to succeed in this class.

The book that I enjoyed to read this year was “Sylo” by D.J Machale because the book was fun and interesting to read.  I was able to get invested into the book, as the book embodies two of my favorite genres science fiction and mystery. The book deals with the mysteries death of a fit football player that evolves into an adventure involving the government and a mysterious item that helps people become better athletes. The book has very interesting character that get you involved in the story. The book is just for a good time and I founded very enjoyable.

I believe that the hardest part of the school year was having to write my argumentative essay. It was the hardest part of the school year was the fact that I had to revise my essay multiple times until the essay was good. Making the M.L.A citation was difficult, as making the M.L.A citation on the Ipad is difficult. However I believe my argumentative essay was my best work of writing I have made this year was my argumentative essay, the reason being I worked so hard to make the essay good.

I believe I have made the biggest improvements in my writing this year. I notice when I looked back at my seventh grade blogs that I would start many sentences with “As well…” However I have found other ways to transition from sentence to sentence, while managing to keep the follow of the paragraph.  I also, learned how to properly use commons and how to properly form an independent clause. I was able to learn these things from my teacher which helped me be a better writer.

The nicest thing that anyone did for me this year was helping me in my writing. Even though it was not only one person that helped me it was the nicest thing anyone did for me. I needed help with my writing this year and when people helped me better my writing I was glad that I could get the help I needed. When I got help it made me feel great and it was very help full.

I believe that the things that I will never forgot was the party we had after we finished reading To Kill A Mockingbird. Being able to eat food from the location of TKAM, was very exciting and fun. The ability to talk with my friends in class, while eating food was a great experience. This was the one of the best parts of the year and is something that I will never forgot. 

One of the most importing things that I learned this year, was how to properly use commas and in which occasion to use them and when to not. Learning this was important as being able to use a comma properly is fundamental part of writing. The second most important thing that I learned this year was how to properly write an independent clause. I knew how to write independent clauses, however I did not know the complete and total ways to write an independent clause. The third most important thing that I learned this year was how to properly proofread an essay. I had prior experience on proof reading, however I needed more experience.

Tuesday's with Morrie project blog

My aphorism was "Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and powers is not a substitute for tenderness." The aphorism tells that money cannot replace the care of a parent or some that you care about. Money cannot replace care or tenderness because love from a loved one is a special things that can not be replaced. Power can not replace care, as well do to the fact that power cannot replace care if you are able to get what you want you cannot care and love.

My aphorism "Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness" relates to a Mexican Telenovela called "Los popres mas ricos", which translates to the "The Poorest Most Rich". The telenovela has a story of a rich and powerful family struggles to have a good family live however a poor family seems to great family live, but do not have enough to make ends meet. The rich family does not have a good family life because they try to throwoney at all their problems instead of giving love and the tender care that they needed. Throughout the telenovela the rich family lose their money and power and live with the poor family, however the rich family begins to get a better family live because they learn from the poor family. Without their money the rich family has to deal with their family problems with love and care.

I agree with the aphorism "Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness", because the love and care of a parent or a guardian is important and if you do not get that love, but money you might have a challenge growing up.  In the chapter “The Eighth Tuesdays we Talked About Money” where Morrie says, “These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things...” “But it never works.” (p.125) The quotes shows that Morrie believes that people that cannot find love try to substitute love with material things. The quote, as well shows that even with the material things they gained it cannot replace the love they did not gain. When someone is given power and uses that power to get what he/she wants will miss the tenderness that they cannot acquire.  On page 127  were Morrie says, “Mitch, if you're trying to show off for people at the top, forgot it. They will look down at you anyhow.”  Power and showing off will never get you the care of other people. Even if you try to show your power you will not get the care or tenderness of others you want it from

Without empathy a society can not function.

Tuesdays with Morriie Socratic seminar

           The past four Socratic seminars have helped me with the understanding of Tuesdays with Morrie as certain parts of the book I had trouble interpreting. Morrie tells Mitch a story as Morrie and Mitch are having one of their Tuesdays. The quote between pages 179 and 180 Morrie says, "All waves are going to be nothing! Isn't it terrible? The second wave says 'No, you don't understand. You're not a wave, you're part of the ocean." Which I did not understand until our Socratic seminar. The meaning of that story is that even though we will all die we are still part of a greater cause. This showed me that even though we will die and what we do you might not stay forever we are still part of the world helping the greater good.

          One of the big trends that I found in my work durning the Socratic seminar was that every Socratic seminar I was having more and more trouble talking. I was having trouble talking, because more and more people were talking. Another reason that I was having trouble talking was that the conversation was flowing much quicker which made it hard to talk. To solve this problem I will have to be more aggressive and quickier to start my own conversation.  I as well have to be more attentive to the situation, so that I am able to jump into the conversation. 

   One of the biggest trends that I found during the Socratic seminars was that many of the same people were talking through out the conversation. This became a problem as those same people seemed to be talking with each other and not bringing others into the conversation.  When I tried to get into conversation I would be cut off by some of the same people that were talking early.  I saw this happening to the people sitting next to or those that I could see. A way to fix this would to get the people speaking to past the discussion to those that have not talked during the seminar. 

Tuesday's with Morrie blog 4/28/16

            

Tuesday's with Morrie 

Prompt: what Tuesday has influence you the most?

Pages:81-114

        The Tuesday with the most influence was the fourth Tuesday because it talked about death.  Death has always been a topic that I have had trouble dealing with and this Tuesday helped get a better understanding. The Tuesday influence me because it helped me get a better understanding of death this is shown on page 81 were Morrie states "do what the Buddhists do. Everyday, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks 'Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? " the quote showed me that we should live life like we could possibly die. Which makes me think we should think about living are lifes to the fullest.

        The second reason I picked this Tuesday was the fact that Morrie talks about religion. however he does not have a specific religion as he borrows freely from all religions. This is shown on page 81 were Mitch says "Morrie borrowed freely from religions." Which shows that it does not matter if you follow one religion or all religions. The quote shows that you do not needed to follow anyone religion, instead take the parts that are good from a religion and use them to live your life in a better manner. The quote as well shows that as a person you do not need to follow one religion which is something I have had trouble doing.

          The final reason this Tuesday has influenced me was the fact that Morrie was living your life with meaning and not without purpose. In the book Morrie and Mitch our talking about death and Morrie tells Mitch he should listen to the parrot on his shoulder. This is shown on page "Well the truth is if you really listen to the bird on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time- then you might not be as ambitious..." Which helped me to understand that sometimes trying to over achieve can cause stress which is one of the things that I have done. The quote as well shows how sometimes it is good to slack off and relax.

             

Tuesday's with Morrie bucket list

In the book Tuesdays With Morrie Morrie is diagnosed with A.L.S. and he tries his best to life his life without help. However Morrie does not care about the fact that he will die does not bother him as he feels as though his life is complete since he has lived life and has done what he wants to do.   While the narrator of the book has lived a life of regret where he decided to invest himself in his job instead of the things he wanted to do. I have many that I wanted to do before my death. If I am going to die I wanted to be able to say that I am okay with the life I have lived and have no regrets. 

Go to the Eiffel tower. 

Visit every state in the U.S

Start a family

Visit every Continent 

Run a marathon 

Run for a political spot.

Own a business

Throw the first pitch in a baseball game

Go to every major theme park in the world. 

Skydive 

Eat food from every state that is famous for

Thrid quarter reflection.

In the third quarter there has been many difficult task that I have to complete in E.L.A however the hardest one was keeping up with the work. I had to make sure that every week I had all my work. I as well had to make sure that the work is in the best quality possible, so that it can be work that I can be proud of.  To over come this problem I had to be organized to not let work sneak up on me. I as well had to be time efficient.

I believe that I have improved the most in my writing over the third quarter. One of the weakest parts of educations was writing so, I have to improve was my writing. Through the courses of the third quarter I tried to improve my writing my double checking my writing and making sure that everything was spelled. I also had to make sure that I do my best when writing the paragraph to make them cohesive.  

I am most proud of this quarter is improving my writing quality overall. The reason I am most proud of this is that being able to write is an important part of my education. Writing is important as a majority of jobs require the ability to write at an advance level. I am also proud of this do to the reason that I was able to overcome my inability to write at the best of my abilities and now I am able to do it. This has shown me I can over come other parts of my education that are as strong as they should be. 

Counting by 7's

Pages 220-250



Prompt:What surprises you in this story? Explain why. 2.)Think of a problem that a character had to face. Write the problem and how the character solved it or is working to solve it. If you were that character, what would you do differently?

            One of the most surprising thing so far in the book is the fact that Willow went to live with with her Vietnamese friend Quang-ha. The reason that this surprised me was the fact that usually in movies and other entertainment Willow would have gone with a dysfunctional relative. While instead Willow has to learn a new language just to communicate with the family that she needed to talk to. Willow also needs to able to adapt to her new surroundings as her new "family" are of different culture. Which ends up causing her to have to learn more of this family's culture. 

            Another part of the book that surprised me was the fact that killing Willow's parents was a true surprise. The reason that I was surprised was the fact that in most book many character's family parents are never touched. This surprised me as the family was killed off in the first chapter. Even in book were parent or characters are killed off it is foreshadowed or developed, but the characters are just killed. The final reason that this surprised me was the fact that you do not get to see what happens to her parents for over twenty chapters.


            The biggest problem that Willow had to deal with was not having to go to a foster home. For Willow not to go to a foster home she has to lie and say that a family friend will be taking care of her. Then she needs to clean and use her counselor's home to say that her family's is living their. While Willow is actually living wither her Vietnamese friend. I believe that if i was in the same situation I would just use my house instead of using my counselor's house as that would she to invasive of his property. 

           

Counting by 7's 3/4

pages 0-220

Prompt: What special way did the author write (for example, flashbacks, told in first person, multiple voice narrative, foreshadowing, lost descriptive words that create visual images in your mind, etc.)? Did that make reading it better or

worse? Explain.

The story in Counting By Sevens the story is not told in a linear formal way. In the beginning of the book we are introduced to our main character Willow Willow appears to be with a man named Dell and her friends as they are eating ice cream. When they arrive to Willow’s house the police are there and telling her about what happened to her parents. Then the story goes back a few weeks to establish the storyline of the book until the characters return to the point in time were we find out what happened to her parents.

I found this type of story telling to be quite interesting as instead of being told what happens you have to read. Which of course some people might not enjoy as they want to know what happens. This way of story telling also makes you think and try to find any foreshadowing as you try to find out what will happen. A downside to this type of storytelling is that wanting to know what is happening in the story can be distracting.

In Counting By Sevens the main character per chapter throughout out the is always changing. The main character throughout the book is Willow and most the chapter revolve around her, but in some of the chapters to learn characters backgrounds or what they are thinking the chapter will shift to their P.O.V. 

This type of writing is interesting and is less conventional, it is still an idea that is used, but it is still some what refreshing compared to other books. The obvious downfall of this would be the fact that sometimes it can be confusing on whether or not Willow is the main character of the chapter especially when the chapter is about her best friend, were they have similarities.

Night and Life is beautiful comparison

         The book Night and the movie Life is beautiful both talk about Jewish people having to deal with the Holocaust. Elie in Night on page 28 were Elie says "We had arrived. In Birkenau" Birkenau was a concentration camp were hundreds of thousands of people were systematically killed. In the movie Guido and his family arrive to a concentration camp were they are forced to do hard labor. In both the movie and the book the characters try to find a way to cope with the fact that they are being killed. 

         The book Night and the movie Life is Beautiful have s major difference that affects the tone of the book. The major difference is that the book is a very dark story with much death and the movie has humor while still having some serious moment. In the movie Guido is trying to open up a book story and he accidentally drops a flower pot on a man's head and he wobbles in comedic fashion. Since humor happens throughout the film the tone of the movie feels upbeat and fun even when they are in the concetration camp.  While in the book many people are killed in the book Elie talks about three Jewish prisoners being hanged. "But the third rope was still moving the child,too light, was still breathing... And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death..." This is on page 65 which is a very descriptive way to show the death of a young child which was slow and painful. By describing the horrible death it shows a mood that is sad and unbearable as death is horrible, but it is even worse when it is of a young child. 

          Both the book and the movie have another similarity as both main character have a family member that they use as a reasons to keep going. In the movie Guido has his son and his wife which he does not know whether or not she is alive. Guido only tries to continue with the hard work so that his son will not be discovered and as he is even willing to give up his life to accomplish this. In the book Elie uses his father as the reason he continue to try to life. On page 73 Elie writes "So? Did you pass? Yes. And you? " "We were able to breathe again." Which shows that they need each other to the point were their existence revolves are each other. Since they knew that their other family would not life.

        A major difference between the two characters is that Elie from the book Night has not had time to develop his live and has not experienced the major points in ones life. While Guido has a wife and has a child were his life is mostly fulfilled. Throughout the first two acts Guido is getting and fulfilling the major life points such as marriage and having children. In the book Night Elie says that he is fifteen which is a young age and he has never gotten married or had children. Elie  assures this by saying on page 30 "I'm fifteen."  Which shows you how old he was and that he had not yet married or had a child.

            Throughout the movie Life Is Beauitful there are many moments that show that life is Beauitful. One of these moments is when Guido is able to create a family, as most people want to start a family which only a few species can do. Being able to know that you have a child can be beauitful part of 

Life.  Another moment in the movie that shows that life is beauitful is when Guido sacrifice himself to save his child as he wants more than anything for his child to survive. By doing this he knows that his life is more than just him thinking of himself. Which is one of the greatest things that someone can do knowing that their live has helped others is great.

Night Blog character change 2-26-16

Throughout the book Night Elie changes in his way of thinking of God and religion. In the beginning of the book Elie talks about how he wants to pursue his religious studies an example this is on page 4 (new book) "...I asked my father to find me a master who could guide me in my studies of Kabbalah." The quote shows that Elie wanted to further his religious studies and that he want go beyond his religious studies. After Elie is sent to the camp and see all the death his religious beliefs are completely shaken.  One page 34  "...those moments that murdered my god..." 34 Which shows how Elie is unable to keep his faith in god and says that his god is dead to him. 

The relationship between his father and Elie himself changes throughout the book as they live the horrors of the Holocaust.  At the beginning of the book Elie has a casual relationship with his father. This is shown on page 30 were Elie thinks " Were he to have gone to the right, I would have run after him. The baton, once more,moved to the left. A weight lifted from my heart." The quote shows how he wanted to his father to live like most children want their father to live. At the end of the book Elie no longer feels pain when he finds out that his father died. On page 112 Elie thinks "They must have taken him away before daybreak and taken him to the crematorium.  " "I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep." The quote shows you how he could not weep as he was not hurt by the last, but felt bad that he could not feel those emotions. 

Elie has changed as a person from the beginning of the book as now he is an activist to try to help out those in need. Durning the end of the book Eliezier says "...You could have two rations of bread, two rations of soup..." Elie thought that he could survive if he let his father survive and even though it was for a second he felt guilt. Which is different from today as he tries to help out all those he can and speard the message of peace. He even won the Nobel Peace prize by helping and spreading the message of what happened during the holocaust.

Butterfly project part 2

    I commented on Joseph H., Paolo L.,Justin R.

Night Blog 2/18/16

After reading, I wonder…

Do any of the characters feeling change as you’ve read? Explain why or why not.

Describe a character that you would like to meet (which doesn’t mean that you

think you would like the character, but that you think the character would be

interesting). List 4 questions that you would ask.

           After reading, I wondered what would of have happened if Elie had not lied about his age. He could of died which is the most obvious possibility or he could of still survived through the camp. I wonder if there was a way for Elie’s mother and his sister could of survived or were they sent to the gas chambers as soon as they arrived. Was it possible that if the hanging of the young child happened earlier when they were in the concentration camp could that mean that they would of revolted. Elie feelings towards god have changed through out the book.


            In the beginning of the book Elie want to advanced his religion studies on page 3 were it is stated “I was almost thirteen and deeply observant. b day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple.” This shows he cares about god, but after he was sent to the concentration camp he begins to say “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God” This happens on page 33 which shows that eventually he stopped caring for his god.

              If I could meet any character it would be the hangman because he done so much. In would ask him how many people has killed or help kill during the Holocaust?  I would want ask him "How did he feel knowing that he ended the lives of so many?" Did you want to kill the Jew or were you forced by a threat? My final question would be "If you could go back and not kill the Jews are would you not change anything?"

AOW walk around 2/14/16

WWhile walking around in around during our A.O.W discussion I found some every intestine topics. One of the interesting things that I learned was that a 14 Holocaust survivors are suing Hungary in an American court. The survivors are suing the country because they were forced out of their houses and their belonging were taken away from them. If the Hungarian government lose the lawsuit they will owe billions of dollars to the survivors. The reason for the survivors suing in the U.S is that America is one of the few countries that has a law that allow for people to sue other country. 

    Another article that I found interesting was finding out that Jewish survivors wanted to help out Muslim refugees. I thought it was interesting do to the fact that it shows how people that go through similar experience tend to relate. I found it amazing how it takes some one that has lived through the misery to understand why they needed help.  We should try to follow the example of the Jews as they want to help the refugees, why can’t we be the same. 

Butterfly project

Holocaust blog

I think the biggest restriction that I would have the most trouble would be living without school. Even though sometimes I do not feel as though I want to go to school that is the time I get to hangout with my friend. As well that is where I get to learn most of the things that have helped me out in live even if not all them were taught by a teacher. Without school I as well would not get to social which is an important live schools. 

A learned that through the twelve years that Hiller was in power he took many of their rights slowly.  The first year that Hitler was Chancellor he introduced twelve new laws that took a small amount of rights of the Jew. Then the next year only a few laws were made and not many rights were taken away. The next six years 40+ laws were passed and no ever stopped slowly took away the Jew right.

           At first the Jews ability to be in clubs or play with the Aryan race, but it began to escalate. The first two years simple laws were introduced, but in the third year laws were passed that did not allow Jews to marry none Jew. Eventually he would take away their ability to work and eventually took them to the concentration camps. Finally he took away the ability to buy food.

2nd quarter reflection

I believe that one of the strategies that has helped me through this years is that I keep nearly all the papers that are given to me. Even though it might seem as though this would cause disorganization, but in contractor it is easy to keep them in check. Another strategy that has helped me in Mrs. Larson's class was putting my work on a Google Doc. The reason being that incase my iPad ran out of battery or I start to do work on my laptop, so I will not lose my work.

Since August I have tried to make my blogs better than they previously were so that they could be more interesting to read.  The blog’s quality has increased as I try to implement the vocabulary words that I we get every work.  I as well try not to leave my blogs to the last minutes, so that I will not be rushing. I as well try to prove read my blogs as to catch my grammatical mistakes so that the quality is much better. 

I believe that the most challenging part of the second quarter is managing to keep my grades up. The year continues to drag and as time passes I feel as though my moral begins to sink. Which causes keeping interest in school more and more difficult to the point where listening becomes hard. The fact that we have near hour and a half long classes does not help keep me interested or able to pay attention.

To Kill A Mockingbird Book vs Movie 1-21-16

To Kill A Mockingbird

Pages 0-373

Prompt:  1.)What do you think is the most important difference between the written and filmed version? Provide evidence with specific details. 2.)How would you prove or disprove that one version of To Kill A Mockingbird is more affective in delivering its message than the other? Be sure to provide specific pieces of evidence to support your opinion. 3.)What is the purpose in having different versions of a story? Think about how different versions contribute to the overall understanding and interpretation of that piece of work. Use specific concepts to support your opinion.

        I think that the biggest difference between the book and the movie of To Kill A Mockingbird is that Scout never learns what Maycomb's usual disease. Scout's cousin Francis calls Scout's dad a jogger lover. Which causes Scout to punch Francis and gets in trouble and her uncle comes to talk about Maycombs disease racism.  This shown on page 87 were it  stated  "Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro come up..." Without Scout learning Maycomb's usual disease Scout does not learn about empathy as much. Even though she learned about empathy without Maycombs usual disease she does not learn about empatny as the racism is put as a disease.

        I believe that the book is able to convey the message of treating people like you want to be treated or empathy. In the movie it uses the technic of show not tell. Which makes it more enjoyable with less exposition, but with less exposition it make the message is less understandable. On page 373 Scout says "Atticus was right."  “...you never really know a man until you standin his shoes and walk around in them" This quote nearly states that the message is to empathizes with other as the old saying you do not know a person until you walk a mile in their shoes. 

        The purpose of having different versions of a story is that you can have two interpretations. The importance of two different versions is that the movie uses the technique of show not tell and the message is implied and nearly stats, but you still have to think about it. While the book nearly states the message of the book on page 373 were scout says "Atticus was right."  “...you never really know a man until you standin his shoes and walk around in them" The movie as well uses the important from the book which allows people to see the important part and not the filler that is not needed.