Final Reflection Blog

Final Reflection - Please incorporate these nine questions into your final reflective blog for the school year. Keep in mind these questions should be focused on your time in Mrs. Larson's Accelerated English Language Arts classes.:)

1- What are the three most important things you learned this year?  

     I learned a whole lot this year in Mrs. Larson's class. I learned a lot about current events through our AOWs. When we were able to chose our articles I was able to learn about many things in one class period. I became more aware of what is happening in our world today. With the help of my piers I was able to be more informed about terrorist groups, laws, and even diseases occurring worldwide. Another important thing I learned that will be very useful in my future education experience is learning how to properly annotate articles. Learning how to properly annotate articles will help me with understanding what they are trying to say and what their main points are. Annotating is very helpful and very useful for understanding articles that might be a little tough to read. Learning new vocabulary was very important as well. By having vocabulary tests every week I was able to add to my knowledge and my vocabulary. I found new meanings and new words to use for my papers and for my every day vocabulary. 

2- What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?

     I think one thing that we did this year that I will remember for the rest of my life is the butterfly project during the holocaust unit. I think I will remember this project because of the fun I had thinking of ideas while reading my poem that I was given. I had fun creating the actual butterfly and I think it turned out better than I thought it would have. Learning about the holocaust was very interesting and the activities we did helped me when learning more about the events that occurred and helped me create the butterfly.

3- What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?

    There are a lot of very nice and very intelligent people in this class. They have all been very helpful and very nice inside and outside of this class/school. One of the nicest things someone in this class was help me with my work when I didn't understand it. They explained everything to me and helped me correctly do the assignment. 

4- What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?

     For one of the AOWs where we were able to chose our article I chose one about the transgender community and how they are finally starting to get some recognition  They used to be in the shadows for a long time but social media and television is starting to recognize them more.

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 that I made my biggest improvements in blogging. I have been able to have better quality blogs. The content has increased and I have grown in this a lot. I have better grammar in my blogs and I have better quality paragraphs that show that I improved in writing. Overall, blogging and writing are my biggest improvements in this class.

6- What was the most challenging part of this year for you?

The most challenging part of this year for me was being Abel to manage all of my work. In every class we were given a lot of homework. Being able to manage all of it was quite hard because I was pretty busy. I didn't always mange my time well and would sometimes wait till the last minute to finish my work. (Mainly the weekly work like the AOW's and Blogs) but manage my time with all of the other work I had to do was a struggle. When I had a. Lot of homework in other classes, I would do all of it beogre my weekly work and most of the time I was stuck finishing it on Thursday when it was do Friday. Overall, homework/study time and managing my time, was something I struggled with this year.

7- What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best?

I think my best piece of writing this year was my speech. My eight grade speech was my best because I worked really hard on it for a long time. All my other papers took my quite a while as well, but I'm most proud of my speech. This was one if the few pieces I wrote that I did more than 3 drafts for. I love the way it turned out and I am proud of what I wrote. I think it's my best because I put a lot of effort into it and it turned our pretty well. I was able to write from the heart and not for a specific topic.

8- Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why?

     I think my favorite book that I read this year was Tuesday's With Morrie. I really liked reading Tuesdays With Morrie because it was interesting. I also liked the storyline and it was even better because it was real. I really like reading books based off of true situations like Morrie and Mitch. I learned some life lessons and aphorisms from this book that will help me through my life.

9- What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year?
Some advice I would give to the future students, don't wait till the last minute. Try and get your work done as soon as possible. When I say this I am mainly referring to the Aow and blog. As a student in Mrs. Larson's class, it's best to get all work in as soon as you can. The longer you wait, the more is going to be added as new assignments appear.

Aphorism Project

Aphorism: “Don’t let go too soon, but don’t hang on too long.” 

     "Don't let go too soon, but don't hang on too long,"  was spoken by Morrie during the Audiovisual Part Three in Tuesday's with Morrie. Morrie was being interviewed for the TV show "Nightline" when he mentioned his newest Aphorism. He told the interviewer, Koppel, that he wanted to die with serenity. When Morrie talks about not letting go too soon he means that you should't give up too early. Morrie has ALS and he isn't letting it get too him, he is trying to stay healthy for as long as possibly and doesn't want to give in too early. When he mentions "not hanging on too long", he means that you can't stay forever. If you are ill and your life is coming to an end, you don't want to put yourself in pain and hang on until it's officially time for you to go. You should die peacefully and the way to do that is not hanging on too long but facing the fact that it's time to go. 

     I've used this aphorism in my life a few times. There was a time when I was in a friendship that wasn't all that great. It seemed like every other week there was an issue with each other and I knew that wasn't normal. I didn't want to let go of the friendship because I knew the other person was going through a rough time in their life and that they needed my help. I didn't want to be a part of this friendship if it was going to stay this way. Things did get better after a while. But then I realized that things were once again changing between us. I knew that it was time for me to leave the friendship. She was moving to a new school and we decided to lose contact with each other as a mutual decision. We didn't want to hold on to a bad friendship too long but didn't want to let go too soon when we still could see each other every day.

      I agree with this aphorism for many reasons. One of those reasons is because I think that it is not good to hang onto something that is hurting you. If you are in pain or are hurting because of a relationship or because of a person, you can't hang onto them. You don't want to hang onto something when it's hurting you. You don't want to put yourself in pain when there is a way to prevent it. But, you can't give in too easily. Some situations call for certain measures. If you were faced with death, you can't give in and let yourself shovel up and die. You have to push and stay alive. But you can't hold on too long, where it puts you in pain to breath.

Which Tuesday Lesson Impacted you the most? 4.30.15

Prompt: 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 that the Sixth Tuesday, Emotions, was one of the lessons that impacted me quite a bit. This one impacted me in a way that I'll be able to use throughout my whole life. In this lesson Morrie talked about how sometimes you have to detach yourself from your feelings. This is something I recently learned before reading Tuesday's With Morrie. I learned that you can't let you emotions and or feelings, get in the way of things. That was something Morrie was trying to explain to Mitch. He was telling Mitch that detachment from emotions and feelings can be a good thing. He said "I need to be able to detach from the horror. I need to say 'This is my moment.' This is showing that detaching from feelings can be good when you need to focus on something or when you need to keep fighting. We need to pull away from the fear sometimes to get to the good side. But it isn't always with fear of horror. Sometimes we need to detach ourselves from the love we give to others. Morrie was trying to say that we shouldn't be consumed in our feelings.

     This has impacted me a little bit so far and it will defiantly impact me in the future. Right now it has impacted me in a few different ways. One way was the regret and sadness I was feeling. I was letting regret consume me even though I shouldn't have felt regret in the first place. A few weeks ago my Great Aunt passed away at the age of 50. I was very sad that I didn't have the chance to say goodbye to her and I was very upset. I let the sadness take over and let it put me in a dark place. I learned how to detach myself from feeling this way. I learned that I shouldn't be so upset because she is in a better place now. I also felt regret because I didn't go to the funeral service. I didn't go because I knew that I couldn't handle it. I couldn't bring myself to accept that she passed away. Immediately after the service I felt guilty for not going. But then I read about detaching feelings and realized that I should't feel guilty. I learned that I just had to remove myself from feeling this way and move forward because it was getting in the way of my life.

     I think that this is one of the most important lessons. I feel it is important because everyone should learn how to detach themselves from feelings and emotions. We may not always want to detach ourselves from feeling a certain way, but in certain instances we have to. We can't let fear take over our lives. If we are scared to take new risks on activities, jobs, meeting people, or even clothes, we may not be living life to the fullest. Living life to it's fullest and not "sleep walking" is another lesson Morrie gave to Mitch that has impacted my life. The point is, we can't be afraid to let go of things that are harming us. An emotion can be harming you mentally and even physically. By detaching yourself, you can stop the harm it's causing you by being wrapped up in your emotions.

Tuesday's With Morrie Blog 4.23.15

     So far in Tuesday's with Morrie I really like it. This, to me, is one of those books that you can't put down. The first night we were assigned to read up to page 17, I went well over that amount. I didn't want to stop reading but I knew that I should stop because I can't finish it before the class does. I like this book because it is real and based off of real events. Since it is based off of real events, the relationship developed in this story is more relatable and of course, believable.

     When I was reading I was sad. I admit to feeling bad for Morrie because he has ALS and I know how hard that can be. Morrie has a great personality and he seems very caring. It's sad seeing how he loses function in his legs, then arms, and then eventually every where else. The one thing that bring me motivation in my everyday life is the fact that he is accepting fate and going with the situation. He knows he is dying but is still positive. I find that really nice.

    There is a lot I want to do in my life. Some things more than others. For example, I of course want to be successful and have a job, a family, etc., but there is a lot of activities I want to do as well. Life is too short to not do some risky things and to not live life to the fullest of your abilities. You should have fun, take risks, and just relax. My bucket list is not really long or outrageous but it is pretty decent for right now.

Bucket List:
-Cliff Climbing
-Meet Katy Perry (My idol)
-Indoor Skydive -AGAIN (I already did it once)
-Bungee Jump off a bridge with someone
-Ride in a hot air balloon
-Dance on stage professionally
-Travel the world
-Go laser tagging
-Hang Glide over a rainforest
-Go to DisneyWorld
-Go to LA
-Ride on a Segway
-Go horse back riding
-Get a successful job
-Create my own clothing/makeup line
-Get married
-Have children
-AND MANY MORE

"Life Is Beautiful" 4.16.15

Prompt: Based on the Holocaust literature and poetry we have read, what connections can be made between Life is Beautiful and our reading?  What events, scenes, or situations are similar or different? What is similar or different about the mood or tone of the pieces?

     Life is Beautiful is sort of different from other Holocaust films and stories we have seen/read. This is because Life is Beautiful has an overall more uplifting and happy mood and tone. There are many parts where we are laughing at the way Guido is behaving. Guido is one of the main characters and he views the whole situation differently than everyone else. Guido is trying to make sure that his son, Joshua is safe and doesn't know what is happening. By doing so, he keeps a smile on his face and turns this into a "game". No one else thought of being in a concentration camp as a game. Thats one reason why the mood/tone is different from other films and books. For example, in the book Night by Elie Weisel, there was a depressing mood and tone. It was depressing because the Jews were being sent to concentration camps and Elie's father was sick. There was really no way to make that seem better than it was. Guido had an interesting way of viewing things and making them seem better than they were.

     The mood and tone isn't the only difference in Life is Beautiful and other movie/books. Another difference that I noticed was the relationship between Guido and his family. He was so connected with his son and wife and tried to see her in the concentration camp. Guido had the courage and bravery to let his wife know if and his son were ok. This was sort of shocking though because I would think he would have gotten caught. Was this even possible? The fact that they had the chance to sneak into headquarters and speak on the intercom surprised me a bit. 

     Some of the similarities that Life is Beautiful has to other books/movies is the events. In a lot of movies/books about the holocaust, the father usually passes away before liberation due to putting their child's needs first. In the memoir Night, by Elie Weisel, Elie is only fifteen and his father wants to make sure he is stays alive and safe. Elie's father ends up getting weak and ill. He can no longer go on and eventually passes away. Something similar happens in the movie. Guido tried to protect his son and make sure he wasn't taken to the showers or found. Guido was killed when he went to go look for his wife. Although they weren't killed the same way, it is very similar because they died out of trying to protect the ones they loved.

     Another similarity is the bond between father and son. In Life is Beautiful, Guido and his son Joshua were very close and Guido did everything he could to protect him. He made sure that he stayed safe and that he was healthy. This is just like Elie Weisel and his father in Night. In Night, Elie's gave his father his food when he was sick. He wanted his father to stay alive and stay healthy. Elie would give his father bread and his soup. In Life is Beautiful, Guido gave Joshua his bread to make sure he wasn't too hungry. In these two Holocaust books/films, we can see that family bonds is a common theme.

Night Blog Week of 3.30.15

Prompt:  How do Elie's experiences during the Holocaust change him as a person?

   In the beginning, Elie had a lot of faith in God and in himself. He didn't lose faith until he arrived at the concentration camp and realized how hard this was going to be for everyone. He starts to question everything. Some things he questions are why his God would allow him to do this and why this was happening to him. He never understood why and was losing this faith in God. Elie also put his family before himself. As the memoir goes on and we go with Elie through his journey, we can see him changing. Instead of putting his father before himself, Elie cares more about his well being than his fathers. Towards the end, his faith is restored.

     Ellie loses his faith in god due to the fact  he is in this concentration camp. Elie asks why god is doing this to them and why they are here. He says "why god, why are you doing this to us?" Elie wants to know why this happening. By him asking these questions, it's the first sign of him losing his faith. Wiesel was very religious and always had so much faith in god. That was all the way up until now when he is in the camp. Elie is questioning god and his choices. As he does this, Wiesel is slowly losing his faith in God and God's decisions. 

     Elie Wiesel loses faith but gains it back in the end. One of the reason I think Rlie starts to gain faith, is because he probably remembered what Moishe the Beadle told him. He said "Man raises himself toward God by the questions he asks him." This quote was from the beginning of Night. I think that although he never explicitly said that he thought of this, I think it stuck with him. Wiesel is begging to gain hope again when asking questions to his God. He soon finds "answers" and rejoices with God in a way. At the end of Night Wiesel gained all of his faith back and didn't question God anymore.

     Faith wasn't the only thing Wiesel lost through his journey in the concentration camp. Wiesel's morals were shaken. In the beginning Elie wanted to make sure he wouldn't be split up from his father. He said "“I first wanted to see where they send my father. Were he to have gone to the right, I would run after him." This was showing the strength in their relationship and showing how he cared for his father. As time at the concentration camp goes on, Elie begins to blame his father for doing things that cause him to get beat up. He stands and watches his father get beaten without helping or asking if he is ok. Elie starts putting himself first before his father. This shows that the bond between the two is becoming weaker. Eventually it is repaired when his father is dying and becoming I'll.

     Overall, Elie Wiesel changed a lot during his time through the concentration camp. He started off with so much faith in God and was very religious. He cared for his family and wanted to make sure his dater was with him during this journey. As Elie stays there, he begins questioning everything and asking God why they were here and why this was happening. He starts to become focused on himself instead of his father first. Elie becomes selfish in a way. Once things at the camp are coming to an end, Wiesel changes again. He starts to gain his faith back and fix his relationship with his father. When his father becomes ill, Elie makes it his job to make sure his father stays alive and safe. He begins to put his father befor himself and cares more for him than himself. Elie's relationship with his fathers is now fixed. In the end, he was changing back to himself. With all the ups and downs along the way, Elie was able to leave the concentration camp with faith and a stronger bond with his father. 

"Lights Out" Butterfly Project

I commented on: Gustavo, Sarai, Nik, and Bela's butterfly's.

Night Blog Post 3.26.15

Pages Read: 0-46

Prompt: What do you think of the book so far?

    This week in class we started reading Night by Elie Wiesel. Night is about a young boy who is almost thirteen and he gets taken from his home. The little boy gets taken from his home and goes to a concentration camps. Before this happens though, the German soldiers invade the Jewish community which they live in, Sighet. The Germans were acting nice at first which is what Moishe the Beadle didn't think would happen at first. After they were nice and the Jews became comfortable with them, the soldiers started to order around all of the Jews. After that, they took the Jews and put them in Ghettos. From there they were deported on their way to the concentration camps.

     On their way to the concentration camps, their was a lady who kept screaming "Flames! Look at the flames!" They were on a train and they couldn't see the fire she was talking about. The Jews were on the train for days and every night the lady would scream "Flames!". No one knew why she was saying this, but they were about to find out. The train stopped and the lady once more screams "Flames!". The Jews looked out the window and they saw the flames. The flames were coming from a concentration camp, the Jews just arrived at Birkenau, the reception center for Auschwitz.

     When the Jews arrive at Birkenau, they are split into two lines. One line is for men and the other is for women. This meant that the main character and his family was split up. His mom and sister went in the women line and him and his father went to the men line. From there they were going to be split again. One line was for people who were too young, too old, or too weak. The main character and his dad were confronted by one of the inmates there and he asked their ages. The inmate told the main character to tell the guards his age was fifteen and his dad's age is forty. This was so they could stay alive.

     I think this book is really good so far. The storyline seems very interesting and from what I have read, it is. The characters seem interesting as well. I'm excited to continue to read the rest of the book because the story and journey throughout the book seems good. I think that this book is going to be great. The story is true which makes it ten times more interesting to me. I can't wait to finish it! But from what I have read, I really like this book and I think others will enjoy it too.

AOW Holocaust Impressions 3.23.15

 

 There were many varying topics for the AOW last week. However, we all had to choose an article on the Holocaust and they were all different. Some articles talked about survivors and their stories while others talked about the camps they were held at. Others included Holocaust Remembrance Day, experimenting on people held at these camps, and accounts of people being charged for killing the people in these camps. Even though there were many varying topics, they all come back to talking about the Holocaust.

     One of the articles that really captured by attention was Bela's and Citlalli's. Their articles talked about how a doctor was experimenting on people while in the concentration camps. He mainly experimented on twins when they were first born. He once did an experiment on a new born baby who had no twin. He decided to see how long t could survive with no food and that was two weeks. After two weeks he decided to kill the baby because it would be a lot less effort than trying to nourish it back to a healthy state.

     Another article that captured my attention way Sarai's. Her article talked about how Isreal doesn't have a set date to remember the Holocaust. This is because they believe that if they celebrate this depressing time then the people will become depressed. Isreal thinks that instead of holding a celebration for all the people who were freed, they should just remember the tragedy and those who perished.

Berlin Memorial Activity 3.19.15

While doing the Berlin Memorial Activity in class today, I learned that Jews were not allowed to do many things. Of course I already knew that they were restricted from a lot of things but what I didn't know was that there are over 400 Jewish decrees! Some of them were outrageous! There were decrees stating that Jews couldn't attend school, couldn't own pets, or even go to bakeries. Those are just three of the 400 laws that were given to Jews. Other laws were extremely irrelevant like "Every Jew must change their middle name to 'Sarah' or 'Isreal'." Why is this important? Does their middle name really matter?

I think that this monument was built to remember all the people that passed away. By having a memorial it reminds people of the hard times that the Jews had to go through. By creating this monument it represents a tragic time in history, the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a very gruesome event that happened. By having a monument to show the public, I think they are hoping to not have a repeat. This memorial shows respect for those who lost their lives and represents the Holocaust and how serious it was.

As we did the activity and had people come up by the year these Jewish decrees were passed, there was a lot of variation. Some years there seemed to be many laws passed and others there were very few. I wonder why this is. One year (I believe it was 1939) almost the whole class went up to put at least one decree on the wall. This however was not the case in every situation. There were a few years when only one decree was posted on the wall and another were there were none. Most of the time there was more than one law posted on the wall they all had to do with similar topics. Some of the laws were about transportation, education, where you can and can't go, as well as what you can or can't own.

I think that one of the most challenging restriction I would have would be not being able to have a pet. I love animals! I personally have four dogs and if they were taken away from me I would be devastated.  Animals are truly a man's best friend and I personally can't live without them. I think it is pointless to take away someone's animals if they aren't harming others. Let them own pets if they want to, what is the big deal?!? 

Reflection Blog 3.12.15



- Of the books you have read this quarter, which was your favorite? Why? Out of the books I have read this quarter my favorite would have to be Twilight. I wanted to read twilight for the longest time and when I did, I enjoyed it. Twilight has always interested me and I really liked the plot. Once I read it, I knew it was going to be my favorite book. It was my favorite because of the way it was written. Twilight was written from Bella Swan’s perspective and is easy to read. The word choice also helps to form the setting and plot very well.

-       *In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts? I think I improved the most on my writing. I still make errors in my writing, especially in my AOWs and Blogs. When it comes to essays however, I feel like I improved. My body paragraphs have increased in content and the way they are/ should be written.


- *What is something you have accomplished since the new year that you are proud of?
 I have accomplished being able to use time management. Before I used to procrastinate until the very last second but I don’t really do that anymore. Whenever I am given an assignment I like to start as soon as I have time. If it is due by the end of the week I will try to start when I am given the assignment.

-       Where are you in your 40 Book Challenge? I am about 12 books into the 40 book challenge. I don’t have much time to read most of the week but I try to squeeze in some time over the weekends and at night. Some of the book I have read are “To Kill A Mockingbird”, “NightJohn”, “Along for the Ride”, “If I stay”, “Twilight”, and “Go Ask Alice”. The other books I have read are not listed on my blog because I read them over winter break.

-        
- *What has been the most challenging part of 3rd Quarter for you?
 The most challenging part of third quarter for me was balancing the homework. There were sometimes days where I had 2 hours worth of homework and other nights I had very little.

-        

Bio-Poem 3.11.15

Annie
Knowledgeable, courageous, overachiever, and perfectionist.
A character in Jenny Moss' story.
Lover of outer space and writing.
Who notices the good in people.
Who feels annoyance at sound of doubt.
Who learns how to take risks.
Who says "I yearn to leave, yearn to stay".
Who used to think dreams were hopeless but now knows they can come true if you believe hard enough.
Major character in Taking Off.
A book that made me believe too.

AOW Impressions 3.06.15

        This week the articles were the same as usual. Could we expect anything different? One of the main focuses was on ISIS. By seeing a repeat in topics over the past few weeks defiantly shows that ISIS is a huge deal. I do have to say, I was pretty surprised by the amount of articles that focused on ISIS. Usually about half the class has something that involves ISIS somehow. This week there was less than 10. They all varied in topic though. Citlalli's article was about how ISIS has been trying to persuade teenage girls to  join them. They contact the girls over social media and told them how "cool" it was to be apart of ISIS. I think that is outrageous! Other articles on ISIS included, 19 Christians hostages being released and 21 Christian hostages being killed.

       I was surprised to hear about some of the health issues happening. Autumn's article was about how a virus leaked somehow and scientists are trying to figure out how. This virus killed all of the test monkeys and is extremely dangerous to humans as well. Carlos' article was about the measles virus and how there was a huge outbreak causing people to get extremely ill. Nadrian's article was about how scientists just might have found a cure for Ebola! This vaccine has cured all their test animals that were infected with Ebola. They think this could work on humans but have not yet tested it on them.

      Overall, I think this week was really good. All the ISIS articles talked about different things and there was a larger variety. My favorite articles were Julia's and Nik's because they talked about "#TheDress". "#TheDress" has been trending all over social media and everyone was wondering "is it blue and black or white and gold?" Many things were cleared up in the last week and in their articles some of it was explained. We see the dress differently than other depending on the way the light goes in our eyes. I personally saw blue and black.


A few questions you can answer in the comments if you WANT:
-What color did you see "#TheDress"?
-What was your favorite article?

Comments: Stanley, Emily, and Sarai
6th Grade Buddy: Viviana

Twilight Week of 2.26.15

Pages Read: Finished!
Prompt: If you were a character in the book, who would you be and why?      

             In the book Twilight I would choose to be Bella Swan. Bella Swan has a pretty interesting and cool life. How amazing would it be to know a family of vampires?!? If I were Bella Swan I would defiantly be a little scared and worried when meeting the family. This is because you don't know how they might react to things you do. I would love to be in Twilight because I would get to learn about vampires and werewolves as well as hangout with them. The only bad thing is the weather. Bella and the others live in Phoenix, Arizona where the sun is almost never shining and it's always cold/rainy. But, Bella has seemed to move past that and focus on her friends and now her boyfriend. This is one reason why I like Bella, she doesn't let the little things stop her.

              My overall impression on Twilight is that it was amazing! This book was 100 times better than the movie and 200 times better than I expected! I really enjoyed reading the extra detail added in the book that was not in the movie. I also loved the background stories that we found out about. In the movie Twilight, we learn a tiny bit of history on some of the Cullens but we don't learn too much about them. We also don't learn about all of them. We learn about every one of the Cullen members in the book, some go into greater detail than others. Overall, I think Twilight is an amazing book! I can't wait to read the other book in this series.

AoW Impressions 2.20.15

      There was a large overlap in the topics discussed for AoWs this week. There were many articles on ISIS and how they are still at large. There were also a few articles on the topic of rights. One article talked a little bit about LGBT rights and another on Women's Rights. In the large variety of articles we discussed there was no specific country or even area focussed on. Some articles talked about Nigeria, America, Egypt, and Turkey. I enjoyed learning about the many different events happening in the world right now. Doing these gallery walks is a great idea because it encourages students to learn about important events that may effect us of the world.

                My favorite topic that I learned about was about the English changes. There was an article that talked about how there may be changes in the English language and how this could effect many people. This is very important for people to know because there are so many people who speak English. If the English language were to change in anyway there could be many issues. Since there are many people who speak English it will be hard to have them change things already used for so long.

              I think that at least once a month we should do gallery walks for AoWs so we can become aware of what its happening in our world. This is a fun way to engage in what is happening while learning from your peers. It is also very interesting to see what articles your peers choose because we get to see what they are interested in as well. I am defiantly one to say this is fun and I want to do it again.

Twilight 2.19.15

Pages Read: 300-350
Prompt: Do you enjoy reading you book? Why or why not?

                I do enjoy reading Twilight! If I had the time I would love to just sit down and read for hours. Unfortunately I don't. This week has been crazy with the snow day and other things so I have not been able to read much. I really do like reading Twilight though because it's a fun and easy story to get into. If there were more hours in the day I would defiantly read this book more! I like reading Twilight because of the storyline. The storyline is fun and interesting. If there was a boring storyline no one would want to read that! I also like reading this book because it keeps me on the edge of my seat at least once in every chapter. There are times we get to learn about one of the Cullens' background or when Edward and Bela are alone. Twilight is very intriguing!

              This week I read about Carlisle, Edwards adoptive, vampire, father. I read about his past and what era he was born in. Carlisle was born in the 1600's. The reader get's to find out how he became a vampire and when it happened. They also get to see what his reactions were when he found out he was turning into a vampire. I loved reading this chapter because the facts about his background were so amazing and very descriptive. I look forward to finishing this book soon!

           

Passion Project Progress Blog 2.10.15

             Since the previous update, Bela and I have created our Youtube channel. Originally our plan was to create two Youtube channels, one for school and one for fun. Things have changed since then. Bela and I agreed to no longer have two channels but to instead have one for everything. This channel will consist of things such as the TMI tag (our first video; not yet uploaded), DIYs, and even school related tips and videos. We decided that it was too much to have two channels and we were running into many problems. That was when we decided to just forget about the second channel and use one for everything.

            By now we were hoping to have at least 5+ videos on our channel but we unfortunately ran into so many problems. These problems were recording issues, meeting issues, and editing issues. Recently we have been working on our TMI tag and its almost finished! It is our first video so its not that great but it's getting there! I can't wait till we upload the video!  It's almost ready!

           Stay tuned for more info!!!

           

Book Talk 2.05.14

Written Transcript:

One of my favorite books currently is Twilight. I am all most finished reading Twilight and I love it! I'm so close to finishing the book and then I will start the second book, New Moon. This is one of my favorite books because I love the storyline and the plot is just so good!

Twilight was written by Stephenie Meyer and it is a Fictional story. You could also say it is Fantasy because there are vampires and werewolves.

         Twilight takes place is Forks, Washington. Bella Swan moved here with her father from Phoenix, Arizona. Bella Swan now lives with her Father, Charlie Swan. When at school Bella meets Edward, a vampire. They both like each other and it's hard for them to hangout. Bella also knows a werewolf named Jacob Black. She finds out about the vampires and werewolves half way through the book. One big conflict in this book is that Edward and Bella are trying to hangout but Edward is a vampire and being with Bella is too dangerous. They are trying to make things work but that can't always happen. Good V.S Evil is a theme of Twilight because Edward is the "bad guy" and Bella is the "good guy". Edward is viewed differently by some people who know about them being vampires because they might be viewed as wicked and Evil. Bella is innocent and doesn't have any bad qualities that make her a bad person. She is viewed as a great person and everyone likes her.

        I liked this book because the vampires are viewed a little differently from the author's point of view. I also liked it because the qualities of the vampires in this book are really cool! Bella and Edwards relationship as friends is really interesting in the beginning and the vampires' backgrounds are really cool! I would recommend this book to anyone who likes drama books and or book about vampires. This book is more of a "romantic novel" and has a storyline about relationships but is overall great! If you like romantic stories then this will be good for you. You should read this book because it is really interesting and has really cool characters. If you like vampires and or werewolves then this is for you!  

AoW Impressions 2.2.15

         In class we did a gallery walk on all of the different articles students picked out to teach each other. I found this really interesting because we got to learn about many different issues affecting the world. Some of the things were learned about were ISIS,  Ebola, Climate Change, and other important world issues. This was cool because not only did we learn about one important issue in the world, but we got to learn about 16 different issues in the world. I liked learning about something called corral bleaching and how the climate average has increased by over one degree. They were fun to learn about and easier to learn about because they were taught by our peers.

        My overall impression of the gallery walk was a good one. I had many likes but very few dislikes. I liked learning from our peers and learning about many different issues going on in the world. I didn't like how there was a limited time to learn about eight different topics at a time. I didn't like this because we were rushed to learn about these eight issues and didn't get to go in depth with everything. There were some articles I didn't get to go to as well. But overall I enjoyed the gallery walk and learning from our peers.

Twilight 1.28.15

Prompt: Who is your favorite character and why?

Pages read: 251- 300

            When reading Twilight I get so drawn in that I could honestly read for hours if I had the time. Twilight is pretty easy to get into after you've already seen the movie like I did. It's actually a lot more interesting because you can picture the characters doing things in scenes that weren't in the movie. I find that really fun. It's fun to me because I get to create the scene from something that was described like an area I have seen. I could also create a whole new scene out of one chapter and have a mini movie in my head. That is probably my favorite thing!

           My favorite character in the book would have to be Edward. There are many interesting qualities about this character. Many people may think I like him because they may think in the movie I might find him attractive, that is not the case. Edward is a vampire and like I said in my last blog, vampires are my favorite. Edward can read people's minds which is so fascinating! Whenever someone has asked me what superpower I would want I usually said to read people's minds. Edward can also run really fast, one of the perks of being a vampire. He is actually one of the fastest vampires in his family.

         Edward being a vampire isn't the only thing that interests me about him. I like his background story. If you have never seen Twilight, Edward and the rest of his family were adopted by their mom and dad who are vampires. All the teens in his family were dying and were saved by their now dad, Carlisle. Edward's story was the most intriguing to me. His was so interesting because he was originally dying from a disease. He was the also first one adopted out of the family even before his mom was rescued. His story goes more into depth but I don't wan't to spoil is for you.

Comments:  Marisa, Athziry, Abdiel

Twilight: Week of 1.20.15

Twilight by Stephenie Mayer
Pages Read: 0-250
Prompt: Would you be a werwolf or a Vampire

                Currently, I am reading Twilight, the first book of the Twilight series. I decided to read this book because I have seen the movies and wanted to know if the books were better. So far, it is! I never had the chance to read them but then discovered that my oldest sister had all of the books. I was so excited to pick up the book and start reading. It wasn't hard to get into and it has smooth transitions  which makes it easier to comprehend.

                If you don't know, which you probably do know, Twilight is about vampires and werwolves. A girl named Bella Swan falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen. Her best friend, Jacob Black, is a werwolf. Once Bella figures out that Edward is a vampire, they can't be separated because they love each other too much. But, Jacob doesn't like that, his family is enemies with Edward's family. Jacob is also in love with Bella but she doesn't like him that way. When Bella finds out Jacob is a werewolf she becomes overwhelmed and confused.

               I chose the prompt of "Would you be a werwolf or a vampire because it has to do with the book Twilight. If I could be a werewolf or a vampire I would choose a vampire. The reason why I would choose a vampire is because they are cooler to me. In the book vampires can run really fast and each one has their own "power". Some can read minds and other can control people. There are some vampires who can even send electricity through your body or tell the future. The werwolves can run fast and turn into big fury animals which isn't "my style". I would defiantly prefer to be a vampire if I was given the option. Vampires are cool.

TKAM: Difference Between Movie and Book

Prompt:What do you think is the most important difference between the written and filmed version? Provide evidence with specific details.

            I think that the most important difference between the written and filmed version of To Kill a Mockingbird is that Aunt Alexandra wasn't in the film. Aunt Alexandra is the aunt of Scout and Jem. In the book she is a pretty big character, maybe even a main character. But we don't see her in the movie. All the big scenes that Aunt Alexandra is in still happen but she isn't in them. Why?, I'm not sure and I don't think many people know why but she isn't there.

              Aunt Alexandra not being in the movie is an important difference because we don't get to see some of the big scenes she was in. For example, when Scout and Aunt Alexandra have a long talk we don't see it. Also, when Aunt Alexandra has her friends over and Scout is ask to join them. These may not seem so important but they are pieces of the book that we could have seen a little bit of. Aunt Alexandra was a main character and should have been in the movie.

             If I were to cast roles I would defiantly cast someone for Aunt Alexandra. The reason I would do so is because personally, I believe that the movie would be more like the book. Without Aunt Alexandra the movie doesn't really seem so much like the book. There is something missing and that could be Aunt Alexandra. She makes up a part of Scout's life. It may not be that big but she still has an affect on Scout and should be placed in the movie.