Reflection

1- What are the three most important things you learned this year? I've learned a lot in this class this year and I think the three most important ones should help me in high school. Like a technique called TIQA, it stands for Topic sentence, Introduction to quote, Quote, and Analyze. I will use for future essays in high school. It's a good strategy and way better than the C-EI one. Another thing I learned was a lot of new words. It really improved my diction and I sometimes use words that were on previous vocabulary tests. I also learned to participate more and how to discuss openly. Like in Socratic Seminars we learned to make the questions broad and able to be challenged. So it could start a discussion. 

2- What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life? It's difficult trying to remember the past things we did which already eliminates most. But, I think the most memorable was the UIC university trip. It's the most relevant and I will be reminded of it when I get into Junior or Senior year in high school. When someone mentions college visits or I start going on them, I'll think of the trip we had in 8th grade. 

3- What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year? There was a lot of kind gestures and acts in the classroom. Since everyone typically got along easily. Like sometimes if someone needs to study the vocabulary words we'd let them borrow ours. Or how most of us test each other in the 5 minutes we have before the test. It's hard to say the nicest thing that happened because nice gestures happen to people all the time in the class. I guess the cheesiest thing to say is people let me be their friend and have conversations with them.

4- What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year? If we're not talking about academics, I could've taught someone in the class to come prepared or something based on something I got in trouble for. Like I need 3 words (for prefixes) for Quizlet, someone overhears Mrs. Larson tell me that, then adds an extra word for each prefix. I didn't really play a teacher role at all in this class. 

5- In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of? I think I improved greatly in objective summaries. Also I think I improved a little in formatting in general. Since we've had all those lessons on thesis statements and conclusions. We've also practiced objective summaries almost every week of this year with AoW's.   

6- What was the most challenging part of this year for you? All the homework and essays, especially the essays. The homework wasn't really challenging more time-consuming. The essays just sucked the life out of me. I didn't really want to do it and my brain was just being lazy. I tried to get into the essay while proofreading so it could be decent. I usually got average C's on my essays. I think I might've done good on one essay, but not sure. 

7- What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best? I think the best piece of writing was the Poe narrative we did. It was fun to write and also fun to read others' pieces. I enjoyed doing it unlike a lot of other things and got an A on it. It might've been a low A but still an A. It was a creative and fun experience. 

8- Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why? Of all the books I read I'd have to say Night by Elie Wiesel was my favorite. I was always interested in learning about historical events. Whether it's bad, or good. It was cool being able to read and learn about the camps and things. Also, the experiences that one might've had. 

9- What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year? Some advice I'd have is to manage your time wisely. A lot of people say this because it's very important. You don't want to wait last minute to do things. Also, use your class time wisely. I remember sometimes I'd have stress-free nights because I finished homework in class and didn't need to finish it at home. 

Aphorism Blog

     The aphorism is about questions in life. Morrie was telling Mitch about how people think of non-important questions in life. The important questions, one you should focus on, should be about love, responsibility, responsibility, spirituality. An example would be how Morrie wanted to bring up Mitch's family, and he said to "love each other or perish." Morrie's main message was to think/question other things other than money and keeping with the culture. "We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don't satisfy us." Morrie states this when discussing about how everyone is deficient, spirituality-wise, in some way. To think about love, your responsibility, spirituality, and your awareness towards the world and other things you might overlook since you're "sleepwalking through your life". 

I agree with what Morrie is saying, we should think about the most important questions in life, so we can try and live it to the fullest. The aphorism was practiced as a homework assignment. To look around your neighborhood and see all the things you missed in life. In a way you think about awareness and how you're missing out on some things in life. 

Aphorism: The important questions have to do with love, responsibility, spirituality, awareness

  

Tuesdays with Morrie Blog 4/29/15

Based on the 6 Tuesdays you have read about in Tuesdays with Morrie, choose which topic (The World, Feeling Sorry For Yourself, Regrets, Death, Family, or Emotions) that has had the most impact on you or inspired you. On your blog discuss the importance of this topic with your own opinions, including textual evidence (direct quotes) from the book.

     I think the third tuesday, regrets, has impacted/interested me the most. In this chapter Mitch starts thinking about possible regrets he would have if he started dying. Like any secrets he wanted to tell or apologies. He asked Morrie and he said, "It's what everyone worries about isn't it? What if today were my last day on Earth?" This gets Mitch thinking about his own life, him at his desk writing an article and then getting ill. Seeing his editor snatch up the story as the medics take him away.

     Morrie sees the ambivalence on Mitch's face and goes on to say, "the culture doesn't encourage you to think of such things until you're about to die." Then went on about how no one really thinks about their life or their things because of little challenges they're faced with everyday. No one steps back and evaluates their life naturally, they need someone to guide them into thinking/doing that.

     I chose regrets because of it's main message. Which was that everyone has some regrets and most of the time people don't think about them/their life because of the culture. Everyone always has a challenge or something to do. No one can naturally "take a step back" and see if they like their current position. If it's all they want or not.

Tuesdays with Morrie 4/23/14

Pages Read: Whatever we needed

     My initial reactions to Tuesdays with Morrie were mixed. The beginning seemed nice with a college graduate saying goodbye to one of his favorite professors. Then it went on to tell what happened to Mitch, the college graduate. How Mitch had wanted to become a famous pianist and it was rough. After college he had lost contact with a lot of his friends. Including his professor who had cried when Mitch had left. Which made the happy tone in the beginning go down. It shows the reality and hardships that come after college/in real life. The book started showing how you'd hardly stay in touch with old friends and you can't always get your dreams. Although Mitch did get very successful. It's hard to say my reactions, I was just kind of taking the information in. But, I can say this book's portraying a more happy/hopeful mood to anyone who reads it. With a few reminders that not everything's peaches and cream.  

     Tuesdays with Morrie follows a dying professor. Who overall teaches you to not take life for granted. Even though Morrie is dying, he stays optimistic and tries not to feel sorry for himself so much. Which is a great take/perspective to take when you're dying. A bucket list hasn't come up in the book yet but it's one of the things that are highly associated with death. They usually include fun/scary new things to have done before you die. This is my bucket list.  

-Go down Route 66 with just a Harley Davidson motorcycle and a dream. (And money, of course.)

-Go to college and stay for at least 4 years.

-See how hard farmer's lives are and based on that temporarily become a farmer

-Rent a sports car and drive it full speed (In a controlled environment.)

-Live life to the fullest

-Become independent and stable at young age

-Skydiving.

Life Is Beautiful Blog 4/16/15

     Life is Beautiful and Night both have what usual Holocaust things contain. For example, there's always a showcase of life before and ends at the liberation. A very great connection made was that both fathers died right before liberation. There was also a situation in which the family was separated. Causing the father and son to bond. Although in Night the father/son band was more special since the father and son never usually communicate or hang out with each other. In Life is Beautiful the father, Guido, constantly protects his son's innocence by telling his son that the camp is a big game.

      What events, scenes, or situations are similar or different? What is similar or different about the mood or tone of the pieces? As stated before, the likes and differences are things like family separation, and father/son bonding. Both have a grim mood and only Life is Beautiful had a comedic mood throughout the film. A big difference that I found was that in Night, the prisoners were cruel and one even killed his own father for bread. In Life is Beautiful, most of the prisoners played along and helped preserve Joshua's innocence. 

     Life is shown as beautiful and is easily spotted in the beginning. Guido meets the woman of his dreams. After marriage, they had a kid and Guido opened up his bookstore. Although he did have to make the books half off, he was living his dream in a way. Then in the camp, Life is beautiful because for the most part, everyone's alive. Also, Guido got to comfort/give his wife a sense of security that everything was ok twice. Once by using the speakers and the other time by playing the song they heard in the play when he was a waiter for the camp. 

Night 3/31/15

Pages Read; Done
Prompt: How has Wiesel changed through the book?

     Eliezel Wiesel has changed a lot in the book, one example is religion. In the beginning of the book he wanted to practice it and found Moshe and asked him to teach him all about his religion. "Why did I pray?... Why did I live? Why did I breathe?" Elie started questioning things like if God was actually watching him and why would he let this happen to them. Instead of being really religious he started losing faith in his religion.

     Elie has changed emotionally too. When his father died he said, "I did not weep, and it pained me that I couldn't weep." Elie said this once he woke up and saw that his father had been missing. He also states earlier in the book that most people to be hung never cried, since they were out of tears. Elie is way less likely to cry now than before.

     Elie and many other prisoners are now on survival instinct. They'll do anything to help themselves. For example, Kapos are Jewish prisoners turned into leaders. One told Eliezer, “Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else… Here, there are no fathers, brothers, no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone.” Eliezer had a though that he should be getting his father's rations and he shouldn't help him, then feels really guilty afterwards for even having that thought.

Butterfly Project

I commented on Steven's, Citlalli's, and Jesus' blog.

Night 3/23

Prompt: Describe characters and setting.

     It starts off in a small town, we learn about Elie's desires to study religion and Moche the Beatle. Moche's last name is never revealed or said, after a while he was taken away because he was a foreign Jew. The community was shocked at first then kind of forgot about it. Moche came back talking about how they were throwing infants in the air and using them as targets. He says he survived because they gave him a leg wound and left him for dead. This was the first time of many where the town shrugs it off and stays optimistic. 

     After those events officers came to isolate them, the community was a ghetto. The citizens were all thinking it was for the best since now they were closed off in their own community amongst fellow Jews. The German officers were also acting very nice at first. Elie's Father was a leader figure and there was a Jewish council. Everything changed once they were called to go to a concentration camp or another ghetto. The community went in groups, Elie was in the last group to go. He was sent to another ghetto.

     Elie had lived in the ghetto shortly before being transported to his first concentration camp. But he has to endure a long train ride where everyone was hungry and thirsty. During the ride there was a woman who kept on yelling that there was a fire. After a while the people on the cart tied and gagged her. She would get loose and start yelling again until they eventually beat her to try and shut her up. When they arrived at their camp she started yelling fire again, and there was indeed fire/smoke coming out of the chimney. The place smelled bad, they later found out it was the smell of burning flesh. 

Passion Project Update

     When we first began this we had planned wrongly. There was less people than we thought there would be. At first there was little planning, but they liked the game. The second time we planned more accordingly but one kid wasn't participating, or he couldn't. So we changed to soccer and had it more planned out. Everyone participated and had fun.

Holocaust AoW Impressions

     This week we took a look at everyone's articles they picked. They were all required to be Holocaust related. There was a lot of variety in topics though. For example, there were articles talking about the altered stress hormones of Holocaust survivors. There was also an article that Nadrian picked that was about the Holocaust survivors meeting their liberators. 

     Other articles included a survivor who mysteriously walked out of the gas chambers alive. Jenna and Emily chose an article that talked about the recent discoveries with the Holocaust. They estimated 7,000 camps and ghettos, they found 42,000. This shocked the researchers and they changed the death toll estimate to 20+ million. Another dark article was one that Maria picked, which was about a medical testing camp being stopped by the Red Cross. At first they didn't want to talk about their liberation because they were taken advantage of upon liberation. Nonetheless, I was surprised to see so much variety. But it was cool to learn stuff about this tragic event in history. 

   

Jewish Decrees

1- What did you learn?
I learned about the restrictions the Jewish people had to face and the deprival of basic human rights. They also had no way of fighting back because of the laws being placed. Like how they got rid of any Jewish people with a job of power at first. I also found out a basic idea of the Jewish people's hardships. Especially during the 1940's when their basic rights were being taken away.

2- Why do you think this monument was built?
I think the monument was built to leave a reminder of the terrible things that happened. Especially since a law in 1945 was passed to essentially try and hide all of the evidence of any discrimination. It could also be an honor to those who had to experience the injustice and died during those times/

3- What did you notice about the number of laws passed in certain years?
At first there was a bunch of laws passed, then it slowed down, then back to full speed. The first laws weren't so extreme. They took away entertainment and other things that you don't need to live. Then, they started making the laws more extreme. Some examples include taking away their radios, having certain times to go shopping for food, and no milk. Those are just some of many more though.

4- Which restrictions do you think you would have the most trouble dealing with and why?
I think I would have trouble no attending school. No school would be hard to deal with because you don't really go out and make friends in a grocery store or something. You usually make and meet friends in school. Plus, it'd be hard to gather a bunch of your friends to do something organized like an actual baseball game or something. There is also the whole not being able to get an education thing. Which a lot of people, including myself, take for granted.

 

3rd Quarter Reflection by me obviously

- Of the books you have read this quarter, which was your favorite? Why? Allegiant because I waited like a month or two after finishing Insurgent to read it. It was worth the whole two months to be able to finish the series, kind of. Since I haven't read Four.
  
- *In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts? Objective summaries, I'm got better on writing just the basics of something/summarizing. 

- *What is something you have accomplished since the new year that you are proud of? I was surprisingly one of the few people to have had all of their IXL goals done so I've been having free days in math the past few testing days. - Where are you in your 40 Book Challenge? Like 5 or 6 books, not very far at all. I'm pretty sure they're all fiction too. My gal is to read more books of other genres. (Non-fiction, mystery, etc.)

- *What has been the most challenging part of 3rd Quarter for you? Annotating articles, not really challenging just kind of a long process. I usually read through and try to annotate but end up reading it all the way and having to annotate it during a second reading. But, the second reading does bring up some hidden facts or something I missed the first reading.

- How have your blogs been progressing since August? I think they've been the same, maybe a bit better from the August ones. Since I juts got back from vacation and my mind was foggy.

 - What strategies have benefited you? The annotation pages thing we made when we were discussing what should be in our annotations. The thesis practices, so I can now make a successful thesis statement. 

- What have you learned about the world? There's a lot of conflict with ISIS. Also, we need to try and prepare for the next epidemic so it doesn't hit us by surprise like Ebola.

Character Poem 3/11 A Rumor of Dragons (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, #1; Dragonlance Chronicles, #1)

Raistlin

Cool, Damaged, Sarcastic, Careful

A Character in Margaret Weis' story
Lover of pride, Caramon, and fables
Who notices magic, monsters' weaknesses, and conflicts
Who feels recessive, weak, and traumatized
Who learns to accept his fate, strength, and that he can see his friends ahead of time
Who used to think he could face anything, but now knows not to be hasty after a near-death experience
Major Character in A Rumor of Dragons
A book that's all about fantasy and adventures. With dwarves, goblins, wizards, elves, and more. A team of old friends meets back in their home town. Except one, which was a princess, she was busy doing something else possibly under a new leader. (Since she's a mercenary). The old group of friends find evil in their own home town and have to flee. They then pursuit a new adventure with many conflicts throughout.

AoW Impressions

     This week was a bit less of ISIS articles. Most of the ones I got were about teenage girls being recruited. One was how one girl got others to join ISIS. The other was about 3 girls from London going to join ISIS. I only had one about some of the hostages being freed. Some have said that ISIS didn't want to harm their neighbors so they decided to let them go.

     There were a lot of mixed articles this week. One was about a 14 year-old girl who had Cystic Fibrosis. She resides in Chile and is demanding to get killed. Canadian doctors have found a cure for Ebola, they're currently testing it. It's been successful in curing Ebola for monkeys so far. Speaking of Ebola there was an article discussing how we need to prepare for the next epidemic so it's not as devastating as Ebola. Autumn chose a article that can raise paranoia. In Louisiana there was a deadly bacteria released. It grows in soil and water. That means that the bacteria can be in Louisiana's water and food supply.

     These articles are more about social problems. For example, there was an article about Social Media having an impact on suicides. Once a suicide goes viral the suicides and attempts go up. Some posted their notes before committing suicide which also spiked rates. Jesus had one about Racial Job Issues. For example. Black students were found to have a harder time finding a full-time job. Also, employers have stated that they let racial prejudice decide who gets a job or not.  Stanley had an article about vertical gardens that a country had to make because they kept getting flooded. Salty soil can't grow food. Gabe had an article talking about a "green" power plant. It runs on wave energy with a man-made lagoon. It can already generate 8% of the UK's electricity.
   

Allegiant 2/24/15 *Spoilers*

Prompt: What challenges do the characters face in the book?
Pages Read: 365-426

     The characters in the book have faced a big conflict. After finding out that their city was just a experiment, they also found out that it's on the brink of being abandoned and called a failure. The Bureau don't want to abandon their longest experiment and decide to reset everyone's memories. Leaving Tris and the other Allegiant distressed since they don't want their friends and family to have no memory of each other or their past life.

     A challenge Four faces is trying to tell Zeke that Uriah died. It's hard to do because Four participated in the event that put Uriah in the coma which caused his death. More pressure was added because he had told Zeke he would look after Uriah. Four is having trouble getting over the guilt, which is another challenge.

     Tris and the gang decided that they were going to wipe the Bureau's memories in an attempt to save Chicago. Whilst trying to come up with a plan they find out the backup security is the death serum. No one can resist it, a safe suit might buy you a few minutes but not a lot of time. They decide someone needs to sacrifice themselves in order to obtain the memory-wiping serum. Caleb, Tris' brother, decides he will, and Tris feels weird about the whole situation. She's not sure if she wants Caleb to think the only way to repay his debt was to sacrifice himself. They have some little bonding moments which isn't the best for her when he's about to sacrifice himself.

Global Articles

     This week when we showed our AoW's off there were lots of things about ISIS. Some were duplicates, some showcased other problems ISIS are causing. For example, Diego chose an article about how ISIS is hacking websites and other things. Most, were about Egypt's retaliation towards ISIS though. All mentioned that it was a response to a video released showing the executions of multiple Christian Egyptians. These events are very important because it could cause a possible war and more airstrike, causing civilian casualties. More on the war, Amelia's article mentioned that 63 countries were already dedicated to fight against ISIS, the article also pointed out that ISIS is growing rapidly, with more than 90 countries backing them up. Speaking of possible war/conflict. Russian aircraft have passed by English channels causing tensions to rise between England and Russia. There was also an article picked by Isabelle R. which was about Nigerian conflict. How Bokoharam was getting put under the radar and he's gaining a lot of power.

     Going away from all the possible wars/worldwide conflict, there were some articles that had important messages. For example, Athziry had an article about a girl who was thought to be ugly to many, she tried to ignore them and then she was later asked to be a model. Which gives a positive you can do anything if you set your mind to it message to the world. Maria's article focuses on gender equality in Turkey. Gender equality/woman's rights have been big and they should get their rights which is why it's important. Elenia and Gabe had similar articles addressing whether we were prepared for another epidemic or not. Which is important because they're trying to get us prepared for the next epidemic so we are prepared and not taken by surprise like what happened with Ebola.

   

     

Allegiant 2/16/98

Prompt: List conflicts the characters were faced with

Pages Read: 0-365

     In the beginning of the book there was the trial/hearing for Tris. Before she had been called a traitor for not letting Tori kill Jeanine, their enemy. They realized she wasn't a traitor and let her free. Tobias realizes he doesn't want to be under Evelyn's command anymore so they came up with a plan. Recently there's been conflict regarding leaving the community. There's a group called the Allegiant and they want to leave the city. They decide to get a group and leave the city.

     In the process of leaving the city Tori dies and they meet Amar and Zoe. Amar was Four's old trainer from Dauntless. Four was surprised when he saw him and Amar had to explain that he faked his own death along with some other Divergent at the time. Zoe gave Tris a group photo with her mom in it, which interested Tris and from there they went to the Bureau. At the Bureau they found out that their whole life/home was just an experiment, and they were monitored all teh time. 

     A more recent conflict is that Uriah was put into a coma and they find out that the Divergent are genetically healed. The rest are genetically damaged and that worries Four and the others who aren't Divergent. They find out that the Bureau has made the serum to take over people's brains and they made a deal with Jeanine. They admit that they're going to try and eliminate Abnegation and Tris wants to do something. 

Passion Project Reflection 2/10

     The project was successful but had to be scaled down. Instead of doing it at the Y with random people, we did it with some DLP kids in the Gymnasium. The objective was still the same, meaning that we still kind of showed kids how to play. We also had volunteers and supervisors ready to help. We did have to change plans because only 4 or 5 kids came though. So our plan was put into a smaller scale but was successful overall.

Book Talk

Schooled by Gordan Korman

Genre: Realistic Fiction 

     The book seemed to take place maybe 80s or 90s, it's confirmed that it's after the 1960s. It takes place in a little town. The story focuses on a boy named Capricorn Anderson. He grew in a closed off with little to no electricity and really any modern things. It's called Garland. Rain, Capricorn's grandma, has an accident and she has to send Capricorn to a public school where Cap is initially picked on because he doesn't know anything about the real world. Capricorn has to learn how to adjust to his new surroundings. The mood throughout the book was more of a funny and sometimes sad tone. At the end Capricorn is so used to the modern he wants to get modern stuff and at first Rain disagreed and said that was all baloney. But she eventually decided not to keep Capricorn from learning about the real world and decided to get a condo. I think the message is to try and adjust to new things/try new things without having to be pushed to do it. 

     I really liked this book because of it's characters and plot. Like the main character looks like he came out from the 60s and he's put into a modern world place. Where he's the weirdest and easiest kid to pick on. You want to see what happens next, like does he get popular, does he get liked? I remember the part where he spent a lot of the school's funds because he didn't know how checks worked. Since he was in Garland and no one could contact him. I would recommend this book if you want a decently sized book with lots of drama and some humor. You should go out and get this book because it's really memorable and it has a great plot to it. 

AoW Impressions weak of 2/2

     This week students shared their articles telling a brief description and why it's important to know that information. There were a lot of global warming articles. They were all on different subjects though. Like Stanley's was on how 2014 was the warmest year and the temperatures are slowly rising. The scientists are trying to stop it. Amelia's was about how even though plants and the ocean absorb carbon it doesn't make it carbon-neutral. Steven's article addressed the Sea rise and how the US is in danger because the way the US and the icebergs are positioned the ice should come straight at us.

     There were a lot of other articles too. Like Diego's was about a man who didn't stop being kind and kept on doing something for other people even though he had cancer. Gabe talked about the Yemen water crisis. He explains that they use around 50% of water on quat, popular with the Yemen citizens. Also, that Yemen isn't close to any natural water source making the situation a little bit tougher. Bela's was about South Korean activists dropping notes on North Korea. Making fun of their contained way of living and "showing them the truth". Elenia picked an article showing that domestic/woman violence has decreased and non-violence is spreading. Isabella's is on the UK's new rape laws. Nadrian's is 20 things about travel. One of the 20 things is not to expect paradise/the best things. Athziry chose an article about women in stem fields. She explains that their conditions are bad and the workers are also treated bad.

Schooled (Pretty much everyone is doing this book) 1/29/98 *Spoilers yo*

Pages read: 100 something-end
Prompt: Describe Major conflict.

     I think the major conflict was Capricorn trying to get used to the real world. That's pretty much what the whole book revolves around. In the beginning he was wearing different clothing that the other students found weird so they picked on him. When Zack and his goons started messing with Cap he was taking it seriously. Then he started doing Tai Chi on the lawn, Sophie (the daughter of the social worker who took Cap in) doused him in water so he started doing it further away. He didn't know how checks worked so he continued to spend the school's money on charities.

     Another conflict is Sophie and her dad. Not really talking about in the book, like thinking ahead. What's going to happen? In the book he remained to be the father who came and went. He got her hopes up and then he just left "breaking" her, as said in the book. So when or if he comes back I'm making the inference that they start fighting. Maybe Sophie brings up how he lied and he counters with he just wanted her to be happy. I don't know, but there may be drama.

     The climax/turning point conflict was when Hugh and Zack teamed up against Cap. He became popular and loved, which neither of them liked or wanted. Hugh dressed him up in the opposing school's football team uniform. This is when Darryl gets more developed. He feels bad and decides to stop being one of Zack's goons. He's like, "This is whack yo!" then Zack's all like "No man you're whack" then Darryl attempted to punch Zack and mistakingly hit Capricorn. Where later he went back to Garland with Rain. Which then unfolded a lot of conflict from Capricorn's past actions *cough* checks *cough*.

sentences about other people's opinions: Athziry, Diego, Maria

Schooled 1/22/98

Prompt: Dates Read
Pages Read: 0-116

    Capricorn Anderson has never been out of his little closed off community named Garland. The whole conflict begins when Rain falls off of a plum tree and hurts her hip. He then tries driving her to the hospital. He gets pulled over then taken to a social worker. The social worker invites him to her house and enrolls him into public middle school. The first month or two was just him getting used to his surroundings. Hugh Winkleman became his best friend and kind of felt bad that he felt good that Cap was the one being bullied.

     It's explained that Hugh was the original that was always picked on and that Cap was the new target. Also Sophie, the social worker's daughter, started getting more friendlier towards Cap. It was boosted when Cap gave her driving lessons. After a while of getting picked on at school, something happens, the bus driver has a heart attack and Cap drives the bus to a hospital.

     After the whole bus hijack thing and Cap getting taken away by the police, he became a hero to the people. A lot of people were asking a bunch of questions. Naomi, a girl who's started to show interest in Capricorn, asked to join him in his Tai Chi lessons. He started leading a bunch of stuff and even got a whole period where he taught students how to tie-dye their shirts. He then got a checkbook for the school account for the Halloween Party planning. He starts using it on other stuff like charities and even gives fellow students who are supposedly running a marathon a thousand dollars. Zach starts talking to Hugh about backstabbing Cap and that's as far as I got.

Movie VS Book TKAM

Prompt: 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. 

Does the movie's message hold up to the book's?

     I think that the movie did good with portraying the book's message. Although the movie did leave out many supporting/important scenes. Like Calpurnia taking the kids to church, the whole part with their Aunt and Uncle, and Miss Maudie's house burning down. Speaking of Calpurnia, she is not included that much in the film. She only had some lines and didn't even go with Atticus to confront Helen about her husband's death. They also skipped out on the whole lesson Jem learned with Miss Dubose. 

     Some of the events listed above are important. Like Calpurnia, when she took the kids to church, they saw the people's conditions. They gained a sort of empathy if you will for them. They also found out a little bit more of how Calpurnia had to act in society, how she wouldn't fit in if she spoke proper english. After the whole event with Francis and pressure from school, she explains why she wanted to fight them. She didn't want Atticus to be called a n-word lover. He explains that it doesn't bother him, so it shouldn't bother her. It's here that we find out more about Atticus' characteristics/morals. The fire at Miss Maudie's house helped keep Boo relevant/mysterious. 

     Even though the scenes not shown or made were kind of important, they were mostly foreshadowing and/or supporting something else. Like some of the scenes cut out helped show the reader figure out Atticus' morals and characteristics. Also, the house fire was foreshadowing towards Boo possibly being important or maybe that he does something to help the children. Which some of the scenes left out did help portray the message better, the movie was good at portraying the message overall.     

Comments: Citlalli, Steven, and Nik

     

Choose your own adventure 1/8/1998

Prompt: When's the last time you ever did something for the first time?

     The last time I ever did something for the first time was zip-lining. The event occurred over Summer. I was at this vacation home thingy with family and we decided to go to a zip-lining warehouse. I was a little anxious at first, like when you're going next to ride a roller coaster and the people's screams start getting to you. Then you're like, "Where's the exit!". But anyway, I enjoyed the experience and learned to try and overcome anxiousness or fear.

     Another thing was going to a different state I don't know how many years ago. I went to Florida to, you guessed it, Disney world. we stayed for a week and that was my first time leaving Illinois. There was one more recent going to Georgia like 3 or 4 years ago. I stayed for 3-4 days. 

First blog of 2015 Woo!