Last Reflection

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

      Being in Mrs.Larsons class has helped me learn multiple things that have helped me learn and grow. One thing that I learned was better grammar. In 6th grade, my grammar was HORRIBLE and although it's not amazing, it is a lot better. I also learned a lot more about the world and what goes on around the world. And lastly, I learned how to peer review. From helping people with their speeches to helping them write papers, I am now able t assist peers about their work.

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

     One thing that I will remember,  hopefully, for the rest of my life is learning about Sea World and Orca whales. Although a lot of people don't care for the subject, I couldn't believe that Orcas were being treated so horribly. Learning about the history of whales in SeaWorld and how they are affected and how they affected people really drew me into the subject and hope to do something about it in the  future.

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

     The nicest thing that someone in our class did for me this year was when Isabella gave me a witty valentines day card. She ran up to me and just said happy valentines day, gave me a hilarious smile, and then  ran away to give one to Gianna. I remember laughing because she was just so weird and I wasn't expecting the horrible pun that was on the card.

4- What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?
     One thing that I think I taught my classmates is the importance of having fun. My friends are always saying that i'm always laughing and smiling and just enjoying myself. A lot of times, my friends may be upset or somber and I feel like when they are with me , they possibly become happier and for a little while, forget what was upsetting them and that they carry that on for the rest of the day.

5- In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of?

     Like I said before,  the biggest improvement I made was on my grammar. My grammar has improved extensively and if it wasn't for Mrs.Larson class, I would still have the grammar of a 6th grader. One thing that I accomplished this year was getting MVP in intramural volleyball. That was one thing that I was ecstatic about. I love volleyball and getting MVP just boosted my confidence even more.

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

     The most challenging thing this year was, honestly, turning assignments in on time. I have a problem with having procrastination. I always wait to the last minute to do things (like this blog.) However, I have become better in
turning in assignments. I also had a hard time finding time to turn in my assignments. I may have stayed up until 12 and up multiple times but it was worth it so I can turn in my assignments on time.

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

     

     The best piece of writing I did this year was my paper on Orca whales because, like I said, it was a subject that I was passionate about. Although there were flaws in my paper, I think it was my best piece. I put a lot of paper in that paper and enjoyed writing it. Also, I feel like this was my best paper was because I got a lot of peer reviews on my paper so I had the best possible paper.

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

      The best book I read this year was The Girl With No Name. I t was based on a true story and the story itself was outrageous and it was a real page turner for me. With every chapter, I learned a part or a true and scary story of a 6 year old left in a jungle by herself to live with monkeys. My favorite book used to me Th1rteen R3asons why. Both stories are raw and amazing stories that just make you waiting for more. 

9- What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year?

Some advice for next yeas class is to PAY ATTENTION IN CLASS. A lot of people think that they can waltz through middle school barely paying attention in class and then wonder why they are failing or getting horrible grades. The teachers make a lot of their tests straight from what they teach and worksheets they do. They sometimes just copy and paste worksheets into a packet and call it a test. If you don't do the work, you wont pass. By actually paying attention in class and participating, I can guarantee that if you pay attention or actually do the work, you will get good grade. 

“The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.”

3-     Evaluate the aphorism by explaining why you agree/disagree with it. Give specific reasons for your position and specific evidence from the text to support your position.

1-    Explain the aphorism in detail. what was Morrie's main message?

2-     Relate the aphorism to a movie, song, historical event, current event, personal experience, etc. and explain in detail how the example you have chosen relates to the aphorism.

“The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.” I feel like through this aphorism, Morrie was trying to say something that most people are scared to admit. Our culture and society make people feel bad about themselves. More and more people are losing their self-confidence. From television commercials to clothing to movies, people are thinking less of themselves and a lot of people don’t notice it. He saying that so many people get stuck into everything thats popular and are all mainstream. They don’t make a change or do anything different. Only the people that are truly strong and know the difference between being yourself and being what other people want you to be are able to get out of the mainstream flow and start making a change. 

Like how I mentioned before, people are losing their self-confidence to our culture like books, movies, and videos. I feel like one influence of this is the idea of being a “tumblr-girl.” Pretty much, tumblr girls are girls from the ages of around 13 and up who are usually really pretty, photogenic, skinny, and usually have something unique to them. Whether it’s their hair or clothes or eyes. Of Facebook, I always see girls posting pictures of them asking if they could be a “tumblr-girl” and then getting nasty comments about their looks. The worst thing is that the girls then end up believing it and thinking that they are not skinny enough or pretty enough or just useless. However, there are also those girls who comment, "your beautiful", or "Don't listen to them, who cares if your not pencil thin, your still beautiful." Those are the people who don't follow all the people commenting rude and hurtful things. The aphorisms talks about how you have to be strong to not follow the culture and that is exactly what these girls are doing. Saying they are beautiful no matter what instead of following those who want to put people down.

Talking about Death

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. 

  
    The one tuesday that has the biggest impact on me is the tuesday Morrie and Mitch talk about death and the tuesday they talk about the fear of aging. From a young age, I had always been really scared of dying. The fact that one day I will never walk, talk, think, breathe terrified me. From like the age of 8, I would sometimes cry over the fact of death and the fact that I will never be as young. That one day, I will have a family and not a child anymore. Although I am not excited to grow up, then, I despised it and wanted to be young forever. 

     The Tuesday about Death really impacted my view on death. When Morrie said, " Everyone knows they're going to die but nobody believes it. If we dod, we would do things differently." I took this that people live their lives knowing that they are going to die but they don't think it will really happen because a lot of people waste time doing things that in the long run won't make them believe they had a good life. It made me realize that I spend so much time watching Tv or on the computer when I could be out making memories and having fun.

      The tuesday about the fear of aging also really impacted me because like I said, I used to get really emotional at the fact that I am going to get old and not be able to do so many things. However, after when Morrie said that he is every single age because he was each age once, there is no reason to wish to be young again because we were an still are 5 or 8.

Little Girl Raised By Monkeys?

Prompt: Give a summary of your book and how you feel about it.

  Tell me, have you ever heard of a 4 year old getting abducted from her home. Sadly, that happens in the world. However, have you heard of that little 4 year old getting drugged, put in a van with other kids then being abandoned all alone in the middle of the jungle? Probably not but thats not the whole story. After 3 days of being in the vast jungle, this little 4 year old girl found a pack of monkeys. Now, you wold probably think that this little girl would run away screaming, crying, scared out of her mind. Not, Marina Chapman. Marina (not her real name) just stood there. After a couple minutes, a couple monkeys came over and started playing with her hair, poking her, wondering what she was. After a while, the monkeys got bored and let her be.

     Over the next few months, the monkey befriend her and they start becoming closer. When Marina ate a fruit that was bad for her, she was in complete pains. You would think that the monkeys would ignore her but your wrong. The eldest monkey went up to her and rolled her to a stream. He forced her to drink the water and waited until she finished and felt better then left. From then on, the monkeys actually started treating her as a part of their group. Grooming each other. Playing with each other and treating each other as one.

Marina Chapman now.

     You might be thinking that this is a fiction story but you are in fact, wrong. Marina Chapman was a real little girl who was ripped away from her home. When I first read the summary of the book, I too thought that this was fiction but I then noticed there was pictures of Marina, the places she lived, and her rescuers. I just find it absolutely astonishing that a group of wild monkeys was able to accept a little girl. Did they know she was frightened? Did they think she was too little to cause harm? We will never know. However, we will know that they made her one of their own and that is amazing.

Is Life Really Beautiful?

The way she looks at him !!! <3

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? How is life shown as beautiful throughout the film. Pull out at least two examples from different parts of the film and explain your rationale.

     After viewing Life Is Beautiful, I noticed there are many connections with this film and other films, poems, and books about the Holocaust. Life Is Beautiful is able to show the reality of the horrible concentration camps without making the whole movie dim and upsetting. The music that they use most of the time is really uplifting an nice and slow. In most movies about the Holocaust, the music is very dark and fast a, frightening. Take The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. The movie itself is dark and sad but the music they use is very dark and mostly low notes making they mood very dark. However, in both films, they show the reality of the "showers." In life Is Beautiful and The Boy in The Striped Pajamas, both times, we see people and kids being tricked into taking a shower when they were really going to their death in the gas chambers. Another way Life Is Beautiful is similar to other works about The Holocaust is the father son bond we see with Guido and Giosuė. In Night by Elie Wiesel, we see the bond Wiesel has with his father. Although in Life Is Beautiful, Guido is looking out for his son in the film and Wiesel is looking out for his father in the book. Either way, we see a strong father son bond that has formed between the sons and fathers. Wiesel and Guido are trying to keep their family member safe and to live as long as possible.  One last difference between Life Is Beautiful and Night is the fact that the women lived. Throughout the movie, Dora survived along with many other women. In most camps,  after arriving, the women would be sent to the furnaces. This was odd for me. Why was this camp different? Did they have too much work? Who knows...

     Like I've said before, most Holocaust movies were completely upsetting, sad, and depressing. However, In Life Is Beautiful, we are able to see a positive and sort of happy humorous mood be created. Throughout the movie, we se Guido try his hardest to show his wife love and his son happiness. A lot of men and women fell into a depression or state of shock but in the film, Guido is able to hold himself quite together. One instance where we see that life really is beautiful is when both Guido and Giosuė went onto the loud speaker of the camp spoke to Dora. The fact that Guido and Giosuė took the risk of being caught and killed to show Dora their love for her is amazing. They just didn't forget her. Didn't let her just drift out of her memory. We see Guidos true love for his wife and how much of his life she takes up. Another instance where we see how life is beautiful is when Guido plays the one Opera song that Dora and him listened together out to the camp. Like the first instance, their was a possibility that he could of been killed on the spot but took the risk to show his wife the love and to reassure his wife that he was still alive. One last instance that I thought strongly showed how life was beautiful was when Guido was still able to stay happy and make his son laugh one last time when he probably knew that he was gonna die. A lot of people would of cried or been completely a mess but he thought of his son first and made sure he had another good memory of his father.

      Comments: Maria, Gianna, Athziry

Night : 2.2.15

Prompt:  How do Elie's experiences during the Holocaust change him as a person? Your goal is to identify at least two major changes, and 'prove' using textual evidence and interpretation, how Eliezer transforms by the end of his memoir. Please use TIQA as your tool for organization.Page: Finished

     Night by Elie Wiesel was an amazing book. It gave us a first hand account of what the Holocaust was and and how if really affected people. In Night, we see Elie Wiesel start changing. Theres a fluctuation in his faith. In the beginning, he was a devout Jew but as we see his story unfold, he starts losing his faith but then we see him start coming back.  Also, we see his compassion towards others change. He was only 15 when he had the mindset of, me over anyone else. However, we also see that change multiple times in the book.

      Another way we see Elie change in the book is his compassion towards others. As a child, most kids feel compassion and don't think twice about being sad if they lose someone. When Wiesel was taken, he thought about his sister and mother. He states in his book "From time to time, in the middle of all that talk, a thought crossed my mind: Where is Mother right now…and Tzipora…" Like any other child, he worries for his family. He missed them. Yet, his time in the camps starts making him hard minded and he starts forgetting about the life he used to have and his family. He states in his book, "I no longer thought of my father, or my mother. From time to time, I would dream. But only about soup, an extra ration of soup." Being in the camps caused him to think of his survival and his survival only. 

     In the beginning of the book, we see Elie as a devout Jew. He's constantly praying and has no doubt that God is real and that he loves everyone. When asked about why he prays he states, "Why did I pray?... Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” Praying, to him, was something routine. He didn't question it. He just did. Just like breathing or thinking, you didn't need a reminder. As we get deeper into the book, we start to see Wiesel question his faith. He doesn't understand why God is willing to let his people be killed as if they were animals. After being in the camps for some time, he states, "Why should  I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?" Elie thinks that there is no reason to love and thank God if all God is doing is sitting around not doing anything. 

"Preparing for The Commissioners Visit" -Helga Weissova

Comments: Isabella, Nadrian, Autumn, Jesus, Abdiel

Night- I kind of read ahead... *SPOILERS?*

     I cannot explain how I feel towards this book. It sickens me that all these events actually happened to Elie Wiesel because of something so small as his religion. The book is the story of a jewish man named, of course, Elie Wiesel. So far, we have read about Wiesels  home town, the experience he had in the ghetto and the first few days of being at the Birkenau concentration camp.

     The book is very graphic. We learn, from Moshe the beadle, that the Germans were using "foreign" babies as targets and shooting them. We learn from Wiesel himself that he was put in a cattle car with 80 other people. They were given very little water and very little bread. He watched a lady go mad because of being deprived of water. Because of her going mad, her fellow Jews started beating her to get her to be quiet. We also learn about how Wiesel saw children from the age of 17 and down, including babies, be thrown into a pit of fire and burned alive. Personally, I don't know how Wiesel was able to make himself look sane. I would of probably ended up mad like the lady.

      In the book, we also learn about how Wiesel and his parents had to lie about their age. Wiesel had to lie and say he was actually 18 even though he was 15. His father had to lie and say he was 40 instead of 50. If it wasn't for a prisoner who came up to them and told them to lie, we would of never been able to hear Wiesels story...

Comment: Gianna Nik Marisa

Holocaust Reflection Blog

     This weeks AOW gallery walk was probably my favorite one yet. I Liked how even though the topic of the articles were really restricted, people were able to find many articles that circled around the idea of The Holocaust. One article that I found quite shocking was Isabella's. In her article, she talked about a survivor who was able to hide away for 2 years and detour the death camp Auschwitz. However, he decided to keep this a secret.For 60 years, he didn't tell anyone about his secret. Nor his wife or children knew about his story until his wife died and decided to come out and tell the truth.

     Although a lot of the articles this week were positive in the sense they talked about survivors but there were a few negative articles. Marisa's article talked about a specific death camp named Ravensbruk . It was an only female camp used predominantly for medical experiments. When the camp was liberated by the USSR, instead of helping all the women who survived, the "liberators" raped the woman causing them to become more scared than they were. Another negative article was Nik's article. It talked about a former Nazi. He was 90 years old and they just found out he used to be a Nazi. He worked at Auschwitz and is thought of to been an experimental scientists. he is currently being charged for war crimes. For me, i'm kind of twisted on what I think about him being charged. It was an awful thing that he did but the man is 90 years old. He's already living with the horror and guilt of his actions. Having him die in a jail cell just sounds kind of wrong to me. He only has so much life left.  It's a sensitive topic that I would have to be more informed on to make a clear decision. however, there were many positive articles like Diego's. Diego's talked about a survivor named Ivor Perl. he was taken to a camp at the age of 18. he had to lie and live off of very little food. However he pushed through everything and was eventually liberated.

Berlin Memorial Activity- Reflection

1- What did you learn?
2- Why do you think this monument was built?
3- What did you notice about the number of laws passed in certain years?
4- Which restrictions do you think you would have the most trouble dealing with and why?

     During today's activity, I was completely shocked about how Jews were treated and restricted even before the concentration camps. I learned how the Nazi party created over 400 stupid and unnecessary laws restricting Jews from living a normal life that most people then and now take for granted. Some laws were that there was a specific curfew for the Jews. They could not be out at night past 8-9 PM. Jewish doctors, writer, artists, actors, and more could not do their job. if they were allowed, they would not be paid and eventually fired. Jewish people could not go to the beach, pool, or movies. Besides taking away Jewish peoples entertainment which was possible to live without, their basic necessities were taken away from them. Jewish people could no longer buy shaving cream or soap. They were no longer able to but new clothes and certain foods/drinks like milk, eggs, and specific meats. The Nazi party was also trying to get rid of any Jewish history behind the city as well. All streets named with Jewish names were renamed and Jewish peoples houses of worship were torn down and prohibited from being rebuilt. The Jewish were slowly losing their life piece by piece. Being dehumanized.However, they still believed in what they did and were not gonna change for anyone.

     I think this monument was built because they don't want all the new generations to forget what happened. It's so easy to forget things. No matter how big. This monument is a forever reminder of what happened. Something horrible that manipulated so many people and caused people their lives. The laws passed in all of the years of the holocaust were kind of weird. However, understandable. When they first laws came out, there were so many at once. They just threw so many laws at these people out of no where, The next year however, there were so many less laws made. I think it was because they didn't want any other countries being suspicious. They wanted to be on the down low. Towards the and of the Holocaust, like the 3 to last year, there were hardly any laws made. This was because there were really no other ways they could make Jews lives any harder and because most Jews were in concentration camps.

My Brother thought it was a good idea
to give our dog, Buddy, eyebrows...

     I think the 2 restriction that would be the hardest on me are 1, I am no longer to draw, read, or write. Although I don't write much, I think that if I was in that time, i would need some outlet. Somewhere where I can just rant on and on and not be harmed by it. Also, I love to draw. I may not be very good but it makes me feel better. Without drawing or writing then, I would have no real way to express myself. I would feel like i had a straight jacket on. Being constricted and having no way out of it. Lastly, I may not read much but if I would not be able to entertain myself by going out in public and I can't write or draw, reading would be the only thing I have left and I wouldn't be able to do that either. I would be bored all of the time. Being useless. Without being able to do any of these things would probably make me go ... crazy. the second restriction that I would have the most difficulty with would be that I can't have pets. My dog is like one of my best friends. I would probably have no friends back then because I would not be able to play with them or I was too scared to go outside. Without my dog, i would have no one to talk to. Although I know he would never respond, he would listen. I already can write and draw or read so I would honestly have nothing to do. My dog is always there for me, no matter what. Without my dog, I would feel... alone. Like a big blob of nothing. These 2 restrictions are definitely the 2 that would be hardest with me to deal with.

3rd Quarter Reflection Post

      Another quarter has ended and a new one is beginning. It almost the end of the year! however, have I improved at all? Has my grammar improved? Has my writing style changed? Do I read more books? Personally, I think I have. Im definitely
not the best writer and I still make lots of grammar mistakes but I'm at the point where I notice it a lot more than I used to.  I haven't really thought of any of this until now. I know I have improved in a lot of things. Language Arts may not be my strongest subject but I have improved. I read more, and notice grammar mistakes more. Also, I have learned new necessary skill for writing papers since I have been in Mrs.Larson's class.

      I've also noticed that I read a lot more than I used to. Now, you may think that books written by people online about celebrities and youtube stars aren't real books but in fact they are. They have characters, a problem, a solution. They have a full plot! And, I have read many of these stories. So, I guess you can say that I read more. However, I may have read more books this year but I'm still not the best writer. I guess that I write how I talk and if you have ever had a real conversation with me, you know that I tend to talk fast and kind of all over the place.

      So, writing isn't my best suit. But, I have improved a lot. It's now just routine to plan out essays so they are a little easier to write, I used to just start writing but now I know that doing an outline helps tremendously. i have also learned how to do in text citations for any direct quotes that I use in m writing. Without that, who knows how I would of done in high school. And lastly, I learned about doing works cited pages. Although they are a complete pain and hassle, I learned that works cited pages are good simple ways to show all your sources for a paper. Without that, I could of done relly bad on papers in my high school years

     I only have one quarter left. Hopefully, I can learn a lot more to help me succeed in high school and on.

Character Poem

Indigo

Stubborn, Tough, Short, Spitfire

A Character in Amy's story

Lover of tattoos, leaving Oz,and secrets

Who notices animals in distress, the law, and a helpless person

Who learns to accept people, accept change, and love

Who says "It's better here since we're farther away from the mines, but nothing's what it used to be. It'll just be one big pit soon."

Who used to think that Amy is fragile but now knows she has guts

Major character in Danielle Paige's Dorothy Must Die

A book that makes you look at The Wizard of Oz differently

ISIS, #TheDress, Marijuana, etc.

    This weeks AOW gallery walk one one of my favorites so far. People were finding articles that centered less away from ISIS, which I loved! After a while of listening about ISIS over and over again, it all sounds the same. ISIS kills people, ISIS steals, ISIS expands. I know that they are pressuring issues around the world but it ends up sounding redundant. This week, I listened to articles surrounding #TheDress where we learned why some people see white and gold and black and blue. I read about how Marijuana might be legalized in New York. Ever since it was legalized in Colorado, all crime has dropped 17% while in New York , crime has gone up by 17%! And, almost every crime that the police had to deal with had some type of connection with Marijuana because people wanted some.

Original Dress

What do you see? (I see white and gold)

     I also learned how about the "The Dress"  and its true color. I learned that the Twitter phenomenon is actually blue but for some reason, thousands of people see the dress as white and gold rather that blue and black. Why? Well, it's due to multiple reasons. Depending on the cameron, lens ,and lighting can all affect the way your see the dress. However, it mostly depend on your genes on whether you seethe dress black and blue or white and gold. It's how your eyes perceive light.

This was definitely one of my favorite weeks. it's kind of see all the new topics that people find . I had a lot of fun. :)

Comments: Gianna, Sarai Abdiel

Another Online book....

What made you want to read this story?

http://www.wattpad.com/33441293-last-chances-cameron-dallas-the-new-kid

If you didn't read my last blog, I talked about how I read an online book. I again did it again. This one, Last Chances was a lot longer than the last. That didn't keep me from reading it for as long as I could. I took me around 2 weeks to read but it was so good. Before I get into the prom, let be kind of describe what it is about. Last Chances Is about a Girl named Abigail who is 18. She meets this new kid named Cameron at school who has a very bad past. Most of the story is Abigail trying to get Cameron to open up about his past and to trust her. However, in the middle, 2 of their friends get into a problem. Her friend is pregnant. We see Abigail and Cameron try to get their friends through the pregnancy and after. That is all I know right now. I'm still waiting ofr the author of the story to update. That's what kind of sucks about online books like this. :/

     Back to to prompt. There are 2 reasons on why I was attracted to this book right away. !, the description really gripped you and pulled you in. The exact description of the story was, "He's a troubled kid." "Stay away from him." "He's dangerous." I knew all these things, but I refused to accept these facts. I knew I could be hurt, but I saw a boy that needed to be loved. I would not give up on him like everyone else did. It's probably because I know how he feels." As you can see, its's quite gripping. Mysterious. I live for mystery and as soon as I read this, I knew i couldn't live until I read the story. And after reading it, I feel in love.

The second reason that I really wanted to read this story is because it wasn't your typical love story. The fact that Cameron was troubled and not your average jock was really cool. You needed to see if he opened up. If he was willing to let people know about his past.  The story overall is great. It's killing me waiting to see if the author is going to update. Hopefully, soon.

   

AOW Impression - 2.20.15

     This weeks AOW Gallery walk was quite interesting. There was a variety of Topics but mostly revolving around ISIS. Explicitly, ISIS beheading 21 Christians in Egypt and getting bombed. However, there was also topics such as feminism, Russia and gay people, droughts, and more. It shocked me how much is going on in the world right now that I had no idea was going on.


     One topic in specific was ISIS and the killing of the 21 christians.  Around 5 people had and article surrounding that topic. That or the bombing of ISIS. The main problem however was that ISIS is spreading. That was the take away message. It's getting larger and bigger. Some of the measures that countries are taking is bombing ISIS like how they did in Lybia. The ISIS articles probably left the biggest impression on me because one, again, the were multiple articles on it but also because of the fact that ISIS is starting to affect Italy, One of our biggest and strongest allies. I feel like ISIS is starting to feel more real. If you understand what I mean. Like, they are making themselves more present and intimidating and it's kind of making me worry even though there is a whole sea in between me and them.

     The other topic that probably left the second largest impression on me was how some Russians deal with gay family members. On specific incident was when a son told his father that he was gay. The fathers reaction? He tried putting his son through an exorcism. He tried taking out a "demon" that was "making" his son gay. When that didn't change anything, he forced his son into rehab. What shocked me most was that it is now 2015 and yet people see being gay as such a horrible thing that affects them. It really doesn't. They are doing nothing to you. Let them love who and what they want.

Love, Sophia - 2.19.15 *Spoilers*

Link to story: http://www.wattpad.com/79631061-love-sophia-m-e-fanfic-prologue


Prompt: Explain the story from start to finish and talk about how you felt about it.
Pages: Finished


     Before I continue, I would just like to say that  Love, Sophia was a story written online. Either way, I feel that the story was amazing!  I got hooked and I was able to finish it in 2 days. Throughout the story, we follow a girl names Sophia. She has moved in with her stepfather in Virginia. At her new school, she had no trouble fitting in. However, she noticed one kid that was singled out. He had been labeled as the school freak and is getting bullied quite severely. His name was Matt. Throughout the story, she tries, continually, befriending Matt but is always shot down and pushed away. We continually see Sophia writing in her journal but we really see no significance. After finally being accepted by Matt she feels a connection between them. One day, Matt disappears in towards the end of the school day.  She eventually find him in the back of the school getting beat by a group of guys that run away. Matt ends up going into a coma for a month and during the period, Sophia goes through a really hard time and continues to write in her journal.

     When Matt finally wakes up, Matt also starts feeling a connection between him and Sophia. After some time, Something happens to Matt with his Mom and his Dad who is quite dangerous. In the middle of the nightSophia goes to help him and she finds him in a state of distress and we find out his mother is missing and his father took her. After calming him down they finally reveal how the feel about each other and after finding Matts mother, she stays the night to make sure nothing happens. After going home, her stepfather says that she can no longer have any contact with Matt because she left with permission. After a month, Matt feels hurt and is angered and in pain. After confronting Sophia and not letting her explain her self, she snaps. She flees town and left  a not explaining everything to Matt. However, no one knows where she might've gone. When Matt looks through her journal, he sees a lot of short but sweet entries about him from before they were friends, during the Coma and before she left. Although we don't know where she went, he realizes how much she care and loved him. The story ends there and

     Like I said in the beginning, Love, Sophia was AMAZING! Although it was written by some random person, they were able to grasp my attention. One thing i especially loved about this story is how the author was able to incorporate the journal as something so small in the beginning but such a huge part with the name of the story and with helping Matt understanding everything. I also loved how she had Sophia push and push to befriend Matt. I think the story overall was also a good way to see how fast things can leave. And how some people can be pushed so far. Overall, an amazing piece.

Comments: Jenna, Sarai,  Citlalli

Progress on My Passion Project

     Since my last update, Gianna and I have come farther than where we were but have been stuck. We have recorded 2 videos. One which is a TMI tag (a series of question to let our views know a little more about us.) And one which was going to go on our channel for school related videos. We are in the process of editing out our TMI tag.

     Me and Gianna have realized that making and editing just ONE video is taking a lot longer than we expected. We have to be together and editing can take a really long time. So we have decided to get rid of our second channel which was going to be school based. We are planning to continue doing the channel after we leave Heritage and doing those videos would be really difficult without a school setting. Our original plan was to do the videos based on problems we encounter during the year. Without either of those 2 things, it would be kind of weird and hard to make these videos during the year.

    Overall, I think that we have progressed and stayed in a spot. We are almost done with out first video! We are planning on doing a few videos over spring break. By that time, we are looking to have around 2-4 videos already up. We know that we need to pick up the pace and are working very hard on that. Thanks for reading!

If I Stay: Gayle Forman - Book Review

    The book the I will be reviewing this week is If I Stay by Gayle Forman. It is young-adult fiction. Throughout the book, we follow Mia Hall. After her and her family get into a car crash and she is the only one who barely survives, she is sent to a hospital and goes through an out of body experience. Throughout the day, we see Mia go through mourning for her family, flashbacks, and the decision of I she wants to die and be with her family but leave her boyfriend. Or stay with her boyfriend and friends but live a harder more painful life than she anticipated. Mia is a 17 year old girl. She has a boyfriend named Adam, and mom and a dad, a little brother named Teddy and her best friend, Kim. Mia is a very quiet girl and most of the time, she stays away from other people and is very quiet. She is musically gifted. She loves to play cello even though, most of the time, she feels out of place from her rockstar family and boyfriend. The main conflict of the story is Mia is trying to decide to stay alive or die. Both sides have pros and cons. During the story the mood is mostly serious and tense. So much is happening that there are very little happy or funny moments except for the flashbacks that Mia has with her family.


     I read this book because, at the time, the movie was coming out and it seemed interesting. So I started reading the book and fell in love with the story. Personally, I love serious stories and seeing this conflict play out was really cool. One part of the book I remember was when Mias boyfriend has a break down while sitting next to her. He started talking to her and how much he felt for her and how much he loved he. I just thought that that scene was so sweet but serious at the same time. Just the way that Gayle was able to out those 2 completely different moods was so cool. If you love serious or romance novels, I think this is a perfect book for you. The way that Gayle is able to make major twists and is amazing. Her description makes you picture whatever scene she is describing like you are witnessing it. However, she does beat around the bush a lot and leave a lot of cliff hangers throughout the story. If you are kind of an impatient reader, i wouldn't recommend this book. If not, you should definitely read this book.

Comments: Jacky D. Braden B. Keegan W. 

World Article Impression

Prompts:Today you were updated by your peers as to what is currently happening in the world.  Now take a moment to reflect upon your impressions of what you have learned from the array of articles in at least two well written paragraphs, using evidence from your graphic organizer.

     Friday was a pretty cool experience. From multiple Ebola articles to immigrants and the Holocaust to sports announcers, Isis, and the atmosphere. I realized that so much is happening in the world that I didn't know about. I noticed that things such as Ebola and ISIS are still relevant today. i remember, 3 a few months ago, that was all you heard. I think it was because then, it was new and a shock. However, now less and less people are being affected and everyone expected a vaccine. So, even though it's not getting the type of attention it got a few months ago, it is still relevant. There were 2 articles dealing with Ebola and I noticed how much has been done to deal with the problem.

Stuart Scott

     Also,  realized on how much is going on that I had no idea about. Remarkable people that were amazing such as Stuart Scott who had cancer but always went to his job as a sports announcer and stuck by his friends. Or how the earth is getting warmer and warmer because of the amount of CO2 in the air. Or how the UK is changing up their legal system to where men have to prove the they did not rape a woman. All these these things that are so surprising that are big. I feel that this activity really connected me closer to the world. So much happens that I might ov never known about. I honestly think we should do this again.

     

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Book Or Movie. Spoilers?

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Prompt: Which do you prefer between the book and the movie? Are there any obvious difference?

     This week, I wanted to do something really similar to what we did with To Kill A  Mockingbird. Except with  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. has always been on of my favorite stories of all time. I think it's just because it't a very unique story that has many remakes like superhero's.  I mean, the thought of a girl being transported into another dimension by a tornado where there are talking scarecrows, a tin man, and a talking lion? Who wouldn't remember this story?

     Personally, I feel like the question on if the movie or book was better is very controversial. I think it all depends on the way they execute the movie. When a movie isn't executed the way that a person imagined it, they m
ost likely will prefer the book because they can interpret the story however they want. For me, I enjoyed the movie better. I have always been a visual person. I enjoy a story when I can see it put into action instead of as text on a piece of paper. Also, Judy Garland did an amazing job as Dorothy in the movie. R.I.P Judy. 👠

     Since the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is my favorite story of all time, O of course read the book before. When I first read the book, I was so shocked on how much was taken out of the movie. Although I don't specifically remember a lot of the differences, I remember one specifically. That was the part about "The Dainty China Country." I remember reading that chapter and just thinking to myself, why would they leave this out? It's so creative and would make the movie so amazing. The Dainty China Country chapter was pretty much, Dorothy and her friends were on their way back form Oz. They had just discovered that Oz was a fake and he had just been sent on a hot-air balloon off to his version of a paradise. Dorothy and her friends encounter a small village of china people. For people who don't know what china is, it is a very delicate type of glass. Dorothy and her friends try interacting with the people and they welcome them in until Dorothy and her friends accidentally start literally breaking their town. All their building were shattering and breaking. All was fine and the people still welcomed Dorothy and their friends until their church was shattered and Dorothy and her friends were kicked out. After thinking, I realized why the director of the movie didn't put this scene in the movie. It really didn't affect the story or plot. If they put this in, it would of made it and even BETTER movie than what it already is but would make the movie longer than it needed to be.


Comments: Amelia, Citlalli, and Nik

If I Should Die Before I wake: Han Nolan

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Prompt- Describe the what you read and how would the main character be looked at in todays society.

     The main character, Hilary, is very angry person. The book takes place in WW2 and she is a follower of Hitler. Her and hey friends and boyfriend. So far, she has been in a motorcycle accident and she is critically injured and is a JEWISH hospital which she is furious about. From the very beginning, she is insulting this little jewish lady. Saying horrible crude things to her. However, it is just in her mind. For some odd reason she feels so much anger at the lady, especially because she is looking at her with understanding. The woman to Hilary.

     Also, Hilary has just woken up from a really unusual dream. At least for Hilary. She was a Jewish girl. Her and her friend were forced to where the star of David just like ever other Jewish person. On their way to school, they are stopped by 2 soldiers and take to possible hospital and are forced to clean with their tights instead of rags. Most of the people in the dream were random people but she did know her neighbor who was cleaning with her and when she saw her in the dream, she felt a little bit of comfort until a solider almost threatened to shoot her if she didn't stop talking. After cleaning, they are able to go home. When dream Hilary and her neighbor are running, she hears a lot of commotion in the town square and her dream dads yell. She immediately runs towards the soldiers who had out her father hanging on a tree by his clothes and she demanded them to stop. When they laughed in her face, she asked why they were doing this and they said that her father had went to lean on the tree because he was tired and could no longer work so they "helped" him out by putting him on the tree for everyone to see. She then said that she would do the work and in return, they take him down. They agree and take her over to her fathers place. As she is working she hears a gunshot go off and knows exactly who they shot and without knowing it, she is screaming in paint until she realizes it isn't her voice screaming and stops. Afterwards. she wakes up startled only to still see the little Jewish woman and continue to make fun of her.

     I feel that Hilary would not fit in good at all in todays society. Especially in America. In the book, she is in Germany so it was really common back then over there but then and now, we never thought that Jewish people were "children of satan" as stated in the book. We have also adapted to make people feel equal and to not discriminate. Not every single human being in America feels this way but most do so.She would most likely not be welcomed by most people because her opinions are so strong and sever that people may be scared by the person or scared they may start believing what they do. Now, I don't think that she would definitely be shooed away and have no one care about her but she would most likely be seen as an outcast.

   

Why Should We Have Different Versions of A Story?

     Before I start, I would like to state that I really wasn't that disappointed with the movie. It did a really good job of getting the story line across and even though it did not have a lot of scenes from the book. The scenes they picked from the book still got the storyline easily to the views without any confusion. But I do agree the writers should of put in some important scenes like where Boo gives Scout a blanket during the house fire.. Anyways, having multiple versions of a story are actually very helpful in understanding a book/story. Mainly because one, you get a picture of the environment the characters lived in. And secondly, you get to see how someone else or another group of people perceived a book and how they imagined it coming to life.

     When you read a book, you usually think about how something looks life in real life. How a certain character dressed. How the town our house they lived in looked like. When a book is turned into a movie, you get a real picture of how the characters and their surroundings looked like. A description of a character in a book only goes so far. It those small little things like knowing what a characters hair or face looks like that helps make the character feel more alive than just fake people.

     If you have 2 people read the same exact story, they both read the same words but they both perceived it differently. One might of pictured a character differently or a scene more casual than serious. It all depend on the reader. When you see a story come to life, it's kind of fun to notice how similar or different the readers and the writers perceived the book. You see what really went on in their minds when they were reading the book because they recreated it.

Comments: Athziry Sarai Leanna

   

What Would Be The Theme Song For My Life ?

      The first thing I would like to say is, this is a super tough question. I don't think one song can represent a persons life. When I was deciding which song would represent my life, I was stuck between "Skyscraper" by Demi Lavato and "Show You" by Shawn Mendes. Skyscraper is pretty much a song about self confidence and how you can try and try to break someone and make their life horrible but they will get through it and stand tall like a skyscraper and prove you wrong. I really liked the message of the song but it has a negative/upsetting tune to it and I don't think my life is negative at all. I do have hard times but not enough to say my life is negative. This is why I decided to chose Show You by Shawn Mendes.     

     The Song "Show You" talks about how your not gonna live by anybodies rules that hold you back. That your gonna prove to everyone that you can accomplish something by yourself. No matter how long. The song states, "And I will walk this road ahead One hundred miles on my hands Do I need to show you?Guess I gotta show you" and then goes to say,"And if you don't believe me now I'll flip the whole world upside down
Do I need to show you? Guess I gotta show you." It shows how the singer wont give up. The singer is going to blow everyone aways. And that is exactly how I feel

     It's common for a person to want to do something when someone says you cant do it. You want that sense of freedom. You so badly want it that you try your hardest to show them what your capable of. You want to prove them wrong so badly you wont stop at anything until you finally win. I personally love that feeling of accomplishing something that someone thought I would never have the chance or will to do. Also, when your able to see how the people react, you have pride. They gain more respect for you and it makes you feel amazing.