"This I believe" Speech

          When was the last time you faced a challenging problem, but was able to overcome it with the help of others and with your effort? I think everyone faces a difficult challenge at least once in their lifetime. I believe in perseverance and effort.

          I remember that about five months ago, I was going through a rough patch. It was this time of year, where I had a big downfall with myself and my schoolwork.  I got very behind in one of my classes, and I just kept digging a deeper hole for me to get out of. I wanted to just give up and change classes. I wasn't thinking of how this would affect me in the long run. I convinced myself that I wouldn't be able to get caught up.

          With the support of my parents, teachers, and friends, I was able to realize that I could get caught up, and be able to succeed. I learned to never give up so easily, and that you can accomplish anything if you really set your mind to it.

          I believe that everyone has the ability to be able to preserve and accomplish something that you may think of as a challenge. Don't ever give up on something just because you find it a bit difficult. Instead of giving up, prove yourself that you can achieve anything. Trust me, once you accomplish something you felt you couldn't, you will feel a lot better about yourself.

Final Reflection Blog

          The three most important things that I learned from this year would be to not get behind with work, always try your hardest and never give up. Not getting behind with your work is important because if you do get behind then you will have a hard time catching up. It is very important to always try your hardest and put effort into your work because that is the on,y way you can get a good grade. It is also very important to never give up because even though you might be in a difficult situation, you can always put forth in effort and you will over come what you are going through.

          Something we did this year that I think I will remember for the rest of my life was when we were learning about the holocaust. I was able to learn a lot from this unit and I think it is something that I won't be able to forgot. It is something tragic that is in our history and I think learning about this really had a big impact on me. I didn't really know much about the Holocaust before this year. Watching the movie on the Auschwitz Concentration Camp really gave you an idea on how things were back then and how horrible these Jews were being treated.

          I think the nicest thing someone or the whole class did for me was when we would help each other in our group chat. If any of us had questions or didn't understand something about the homework or class work, we would ask the group chat. Someone in the group chat would be kind enough to help answer our questions or confusion. I think this really did help me when ever I had a doubt about something with the homework we had to complete. We were all able to help each other in some kind of way with the group chat.

          Something I taught my classmates was that you can get through anything if you really put your effort in to getting something done. I was able to show one of my classmates that even though I was very behind in that class, I was able to get caught up with everything because I was actually trying. This classmate in particular was also having a difficult time getting their work done, and they were about to quit. I was able to show them that they shouldn't quit and they should actually put forth in effort to get their work done.

          I feel like I made my biggest improvement in my writing. In the beginning of the year, my writing wasn't as good as it is now. I still need more improvements with my writing, but I do feel like I am progressing with my writing a lot more. Something that I think helped me with my writing can be all of the mini grammar lessons that we did throughout the year. All of the writing prices that we have done this year has also helped me with my writing a lot. Something that I accomplished this year that I am proud of would be my butterfly project. I am proud because I think I did a pretty good job, and I enjoyed working on the entire project. It was something that I was interested in and I put a lot of effort with the writing piece of the project as well.

          I think the most challenging part of this year for me was getting caught up with my work when I was very behind. It wasn't impossible for me, but it was a big challenge that I have faced this year in this class. I kept digging myself a bigger hole to get out of which didn't help me at all and it just made the challenge even more difficult. I convinced myself that I wasn't going to be able to do it, which is why I think it was a big challenge for me. Getting through this challenge helped me learn a lot lessons. One thing I learned from this was to never get behind with my work again. Another thing I learned was that if you actually put forth in effort, you can do anything you want. Also I learned to never give up so easily.

          I think my best piece of writing that I did this year would have to be my argumentative essay. I think it is my argumentative essay because I was really into the topic which made me put a lot of effort into making the essay. I thought I did a really satisfying job and I was able to learn a lot from all of the research I did while making my essay. I have never liked animal testing, and that is why I was pretty happy that I was able to write an essay against it. I was able to gather evidence as to why animal testing isn't good, and I think I did a fine job with my evidence and counter-claim. Overall, I really enjoyed getting to create this essay. 

          Out of all the books that I read this year, I would have to say that my favorite was Tuesday's with Morrie. I had a pleasant time reading this book because it taught lessons that are meaningful in life, and I was able to learn a lot from this book. I though that many of the ideas that were portrayed throughout the book are very relevant to life today, and we all need to get the chance to read this book. Also the fact that it was non-fiction and that I was able to watch an interview of the main person in the book had a bigger impact on me. I also really liked the personality of the people in the book, which made it more interesting to me. I would have to say that this one of my favorite books that I have read throughout my life. 

          To the students that are coming to this class next year, I would advise them the same three very important lessons that I learned from this year. Those three important lessons that I mentioned in paragraph one were to: never get behind in this class, always try your hardest and never give up. I think as long as you follow these three rules, you will do fine in this class. Never getting behind with this class is just something that you never want to do because each day you don't do your work you just keep digging a deeper hole for you to get out of. Trust me, it isn't fun trying to get out of that hole, but if you ever get yourself into one, always persevere and try your hardest. Always try your hardest with all of the assignments that are given to you. If you actually put forth effort into your work, then you will do just fine. Also never give up, even if you find something to be difficult. Remember, you can get anything done if you really wanted to. Good luck to all of you! 

Morrie's Aphorisms Project

" Find someone to share your heart, give to your community, be at peace with yourself, try to be as human as you can be."

          I think with this certain aphorism that Morrie stated he was saying exactly what he meant by it. By saying 'Find someone to share your heart', I think he meant that find someone that you can live the rest of your life with together. This would go along with marriage, and love and caring for each other which is what I think he meant by 'share your heart'. In the aphorism, he says 'give to your community', I think this just means to help out with your community. To me, it means to be involved with the community you live in. To make sure that you volunteer, help out your neighbors, or being involved with events that are a part of your community. When Morrie says, 'be at peace with yourself', I think he is referring back to forgiving yourself. By forgiving yourself, you will no longer have any regrets or feel guilty for anything in life that you may or may not have done. I think once you have forgiven yourself, you will finally be at peace with yourself. I think Morrie meant to experience all emotions/feelings and live life to its fullest by 'try to be as human as you can be'. By letting all your emotions out, and by recognizing each and everyone of your feelings. Also by knowing that no one is perfect, and you're going to end up making mistakes, but to make sure you always forgive yourself.

          I can relate this aphorism to the movie The Fault In Our Stars with every part of this aphorism. Hazel had found Agustus to share her heart with and she cared and loved for him deeply. They loved each other a lot, and this goes along with the 'Find someone to share your heart' part of the aphorism. They relate to each other because Hazel loved and cared deeply for Agustus and she was planning on spending the rest of her life with him, which is kind of the whole meaning of that part of the aphorism. Hazel was a part of a support group in her community in which she would listen and talk to others about her problems. I think this kind of goes along with getting involved with your community. Getting involved with your community is also part of the meaning in 'give to your community'. When Agustus died, Hazel was a wreck, and she couldn't live with herself. Then she finally found some peace within herself and she was able to live much better. I think this would go along with 'be at peace with yourself' because she was able to be at peace with herself. With the part, 'try to be as human as you can be', goes well with Hazel's character. She kept a diary in which she wrote down all her feelings. This relates to the aphorism because she was able to express her feelings.

          I would have to say that I agree with this aphorism 100%, because you will be able to have a much better life if you follow this aphorism. If you find someone to share your heart with, you'll have someone that will always be there for you. Someone that can care and love for you throughout your life, and you can do the same to the person. I think you're way better off living with someone that you love than being alone. Giving to your community is just a nice way to say thank you for everything that your community has done to you. If you try to be at peace with yourself then you will be happy with yourself. If you are able to forgive yourself, then you will just end up living a more happy and peaceful life. I think you are much better off like this then feeling sorry and guilty for something that you may or may not have not in the past. Being as human as you can and expressing your feelings will help you stay sane. Keeping your feelings all locked up inside of you isn't a very healthy choice, and that is why you are better off just letting all your emotions out.

Socratic Seminar Morrie Reflections

Tuesday's With Morrie
05-5-16

          The Socratic Seminar influenced my thinking with the reading and life in general in many ways. One way the Socratic seminar influenced my thinking with the reading is that it helped me think about stuff that I may have not thought of before. It made me think more of how Morrie's childhood could have had a big impact on Morrie and helped him become the person he was in his days of living. It also made me think if maybe Morrie's mother had not passed away so early, then he wouldn't of become the person he is today. The Socratic seminar also really made ,e think about what would happen if I were to die tomorrow. This makes me want to live life to the fullest because you never know when you're going to die. It makes me want to make sure that I always forgive when I get the chance and never have any regrets.

           I noticed many trends that I had throughout my personal goals for each Socratic seminar reflection that we did. I noticed that for every Socratic seminar, one of my personal goals would be to contribute more into the conversation. I feel like I did a decent job of getting into the discussion and adding more of my thoughts, but I also felt like I could've done better. I could've added more of my ideas and thoughts into the conversation. Another thing that I noticed throughout my Socratic seminar reflections was that one of my personal goals was to bring more people into the conversation. I wanted to pull in different people that were shy, and weren't speaking much. Another trend that I noticed was that I wanted to improve on being able to keep the conversation going. I wanted to be able to add more ideas to the topic and discussion so that we can keep the discussion going.

          I noticed that many of the trends of goals for the whole group were very similar to my personal goals. I think the reason for this, is because I wanted to improve on myself so that I could help improve the entire group as well. I noticed that one of the main group goals I had was to not interrupt others as they speak. I feel like this was a problem, because many people didn't know when others were going to speak, so many ended up speaking at the same time. Another group goal I had was to be able to keep the conversation on a certain topic going. I feel like this was a problem because we would jump from different topics too fast and weren't able to stay on a certain topic for a good amount of time. I feel like the best seminar we had was the last one, because we were able to learn from our mistakes from the past seminars. We were able to improve on not interrupting others, and we brought many more people into the conversation. This also kept the discussion going and it brought in new ideas to the conversation.

Which Tuesday has inspired you the most

04-28-16
Tuesday's With Morrie

          All of the Tuesday's has really inspired me and helped me look at life in a different perspective. The Tuesdays that most inpired me would have to be The ixth Tuesday in which Morrie talks about emotions. Another Tuesday that really has inspired me a lot would be The Fourth Tuesday where they talked about death. i think that the sixth Tuesday really helped me learn how to handle my emotions more better. Another reason why The sixth Tuesday really inspired me is how Morrie talks about detachment. Also it inpired me because of Morrie'ss connection of death with living. The Fourth Tuesday really inspired me because it helped me look at death in a different prespectie. it helped me understand Morrie's feelings about death, and how it is really different from how everyone else looks at death.

            I feel like one of the main reasons why The sixth Tuesday has really inspired me is because it has showed me how to be able to handle my emotions and experience all emotions with a good porportion. Morrie states '"But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely.'" This shows me that if I let myself feel my emotions then I will be able to experience and know how all emotions feel like. This follows along with the concept that Morrie explained about detachment. Morrie explains how you have be able to detach yourself from everything in order to really be able to experience all emotions. Something else that inspired me from this Tuesday was when Morrie made the connection of death and living. Morrie stated '"When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.'" I think Morrie was saying that when you are dying, you experience many emotions at once, and once you are able to detach from all these feelings, then you are able to learn how to live.

            Reading the Fourth Tuesday in the book about death, really helped me look at death in a different perspective. Everyone looks at dying as just plain horrible, but Morrie shows how there's much more to dying than just that. He explained how if people knew exactly when they were going to die, they would be involved more with their lives. Mitch stated "And the things he was saying in his final months on Earth seemed to transcend all religious differences. Death has a way of doing that." From this, I was able to interpret that death helps you become more open to new ideas, and helps you look at things differently. This also made me realize how right Morrie is about how no one really thinks about dying when they are living. Morrie stated '"We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do.'" This inprires me to actually take this advice, and live life to its fullest because you never know when you can die.
         
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Tuesday's With Morrie - Bucket List

          So far, I would have to say that Tuesday's with Morrie has been one of my favorite books that I have ever read and I haven't even finished the book yet. Morrie is such a positive guy and he never looks on the bad side of things. This is one of the things that I like about Morrie. Morrie always tries to look on the positive outcome of things even though he is dying with a terrible disease. Morrie is really brave and isn't afraid of death. I think Morrie is really different than most people, and I think all of his experiences have impacted him to become the person he is today. Morrie is really self-less, and thinks about others a lot more than he thinks about himself. He shows no self-pity for himself, and considers himself lucky in the position he is in. He explains how most people don't get to say goodbye to everyone because they don't know when they are going to die, but Morrie takes this oportunity to do just that.

         Some things that I would like to accomplish in my life, would be of course graduating high school. After I graduate high school, I would want to earn a full-ride or part of a scholarship to get into a really good University anywhere in the U.S. I want to be able to earn my bachelor's degree, and then after that I want stay in school to earn my master's degree. After earning my master's degree I would want to go to Law school because I want to become an attorney when I become an adult. After finishing school, I would maybe want to start a family. I would honestly want to become someone like Morrie when I grow older. The world needs more people like Morrie to live on this Earth, then maybe the World can become a better place. I would also want to travel the World because I love seeing new places . I want to visit all 50 states of the U.S, and visit all 7 continents of the world. Two places that I would have to go to would be Italy, and Paris.

Bucket List: 

-Trvel the World
-Go to Space
-Meet my favorite artist
-Go skydiving
-Go bungee jumping
-Volunteer around my community often
-Work at an animal shelter for volunteering or as a part-time job when I am in high school
-Have a family, and friends that are loving and caring
-Have a bunch of dogs, cats, or other aniamls as pets
-Live in a mansion
-Have a big pool in my backyard
-Have a trampoline

3rd Quarter Reglections Blog

Prompts: In what area do you think you have made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts?
What is some thing you have accomplished this quarter that you are proud of?
What has been the most challenging part of 3rd quarter for you and what did/can you do to help overcome this?

          The most challenging part of 3rd quarter for me was being able to keep up with all of  my work and submitting it on time. I feel like time management has always been a struggle for me, and I am getting a little bit better at it but it is still very challenging for me. I am sporadically changing my ways with my time management. I feel that sooner or later, I will finally be able to manage my time and submit all of my work on time with my best quality. Something I can do to help myself overcome this would be manage my time a lot better with all of my classes. I can organize my days in the week in which for each day I plan what I am going to be doing so that I can turn all of my assignments in on time. I could organize a planner for myself to use every week, and this could help me know what things I have to get done on a certain date. This could help me a lot with my time management and so that I won't have to be doing my work at the last minute. This way I'll be able to turn in all of my assignments on time with good quality.

          Something that I have accomplished this quarter that I am proud of is completing my butterfly project and doing the argumentative essay. These projects and essay were both really fun assignments for me and I definetely enjoyed working on these. I am proud of how I was able to submit my butterfly project and complete all of the steps for the project on time. I am also proud of my work that I put forth into the project. I worked really hard on the butterfly project and I am proud of the quality of my work. Doing this project also allowed me to learn a lot more about the Holocaust. The argumentative essay was something that I also really enjoyed doing because I was very interested in the topic. I was able to get a plethora amount of knowledge on scientific and commercial testing on animals. That is something that I am also proud of because I was able to learn new things that I didn't know before. Also I am pretty proud of my essay in general because I thought that it turned to be pretty good.

          The area that I feel that I made the most improvement on in English Language Arts would be with my writing. I feel that I made the most improvement with my writing in this class because we have been learning many tips that has helped me with my writing. We have been doing many mini-lessons on certain writing tips which has helped me improve a lot. I feel like I noticed how my writing has improven with my argumentative essay. In this class, we also have recovered basic writing tips that I may have forgotten about which helped me remember those basic writing tips. That itself also has helped me with my grammar in my writing which is one the main parts of writing. I like writing a lot, and I feel like this quarter I have been able to get more into writing and have gotten more interested when it comes to my writing. This helps motivate me to try my best on whatever piece I am writing. Trying my best always on my writing is something else that has helped improved my writing.

Personal Book Blog

2-7-16
The Hunt for the Seventh
Pages Read: 90-188

Prompt: If you were the author, how would this end?

          If I was the author, I would end this book with a big twist. The book is about a family that moves into a mansion because thier father gets a new job in that mansion. Jim, which is the son of the father that had the new job finds out about the 7 children that died there. He encounters with the 6 children that are now ghosts but they want him to find the 7th dead child that is missing. He gathers around clues in order to find this 7th dead child. Jim is  forced to find the 7th, or the 6 other dead children proposed to kill innocent people if the 7th child isn't found. Jim has a certain amount of time in order to find the 7th dead child before the other dead children start killing innocent people in the mansion.

          I haven't finished reading the book yet but I have a feeling that the book will end in good terms with everyone. If I was the author I would have a big twist at the end of the book to finish it off. I would have Jim go on a mission on his last attempt to find the 7th child or the other children will kill his entire family. As Jim goes on this mission to find the 7th child, he arrives in a huge maze in the middle of the night with only 2 hours left to find the dead child before the other dead children kill his family. Jim gets deeper and deeper into the maze without knowing a way out of the maze and he soon looses the way he entered the maze. He starts hearing a faded voice, and more footsteps as he walks deeper into the maze. He then sees a shadow hidden behind a bush and as he walks towards it, he is knocked out with a tree branch.

         When he wakes up, he sees that he is in the hospital laying down in a hospital bed surrounded
by his family. He is soon informed that he has been in a coma for the past 2 weeks for he has been terribly sick. He finds out that everything that had happened was all just a dream he has while he was in his coma but he has finally woken up from his coma. Jim is very surprised about all that happened and he doesn't even recall being sick or being taken to the hospital. Jim is also very relieved that it isn't his dream wasn't true because he was terrified of losing his family. After one week has passed of recovering in the hosipital, he is finally able to go home. After a couple weeks of settling down in his house and everything being normal, his dad gets a new job in an old mansion.

Life is Beautiful V. Night Blog

Some similarities that Life is Beautiful and the book Night have is that they are both based on the Holocuast. Another connection that can be made from both the movie and the reading is that they both had a scene in which their families were separated. In Night, when Elie and his family arrived at the concentration camp, his mother and sister were separated from him and his father. In Life is Beautiful, when Guido and his family arrived, he was with his son but he was separated from his beloved wife. Another similarity between the movie and the book would be how they both showed the hard work that the concentration camps made the Jewish prisoners do.  In Life is Beautiful, they showed the hard work that they had to do by showing Guido struggling with carrying a very heavy piece of metal. Guido kept complaining about how he was about to give up with all the work they had to do throughout the movie. Another example of this would be when they showed someone bleeding from his arm as if he had cut his arm. This also shows the hard and dangerous work that they had to do. In Night, they made Elie Wiesel and his father walk in dangerous conditions. This was the time that Elie's father felt like giving up and wanting to let himself die.

Some differences that Life is Beautiful and the book Night have would be thier begginings. In Life is Beautiful, the begging focuses on the romance between Dora and Guido. It then focuses on thier family and how they are living thier lives happily and peacefully. In the movie, there was this one scene in which Guido was taking his wife to work, and they took their bicycle along with Joshua and they looked very joyful and happy as they rode along the path to Dora's work place. Guido never stopped loving his family, as he was in the concentration camp, and he sacrificed himself to be able to save his wife and son. The beggining of the movie was very peaceful and happy, but then as they got to the concentration camp, the mood started to change a little. In the beggining of Night, they mostly focused on how much Elie Weisel was interested in his religion. It showed us how he wanted to take his religion seriously and learn a lot more about his religion. Then, as he arrived at the concentration camp, he started doubting God and didn't believe in him as much as he used to.

There is a big difference with the mood and tone in the movie Life is Beautiful and in the book Night. Night has more of a very serious, dark, and depressing mood, which is almost the opposite of the tone and mood of Life is Beuatiful. Throughout the movie, Life is Beautiful, you see a lot of moments and scenes of humor. Guido pretends to be happy and courageous in the concentration camp and puts on those little moments of humor for his son. There was only scenes of humor throughout the entire beggining of the movie. Night, on the other hand, gave you a very depressing mood throughout the entire book. Elie was always serious when he was in the concentration camps. He only talked about the horrible things that were happening to him and other people in the contraction camp. This of course would make the mood and tone through the book depressing. As we can see, there is a difference between the mood in the movie and the reading.

Life is shown as Beuatiful throughout the movie in many different scene of the movie. There are many elements in life that can make life beautiful, and most of these elements were shown throughout the move. The first element that shows Life is beautiful would be romance and love. Throughout the beggining, the movie focuses on how Guido was trying to get Dora to like him. There was many scenes in the beggining of the movie that showed the romance and chemistry between Guido and Dora. Another element that shows life is beautiful in the movie would be the humor and the joyfullness of life. Guido was always joyful and confident throughout the movie. He showed us how good life was to enjoy in the beggining of the movie with his family. A third emelement that shows how life is beautiful throughout the film would be family. In the movie, Guido shows how much he loves his family and how he would do anything to keep his family. In the concentration camp, Guido did anything possible to be able to keep his son and wife full or hope and happiness. The movie shows us how much Guido appreciates his life along with his wife and son.

Holocaust A.O.W Impressions Blog

                 I was able to learn a plethora amount of new things about the Holocuast by participating with the gallery walk. A really surprising fact that I learned from a couple of the articles was that a lot of the people who used to help the Nazis are still being found today. I find that very surprising because it's been a long time since the Holocaust had passed. Another interesting thing that I learned was how Htiler came into power and how he gained so much control. I kind of understand why Hitler came into power but I'm still a little surprised at how much power and control he was able to gain. A third thing that I learned from the gallery walk would be how Holocuast survivors that are still alive today are demanding that the Syrian refugees get the help they need.

                Many articles that were summarized to me in the gallery walk talked about Nazis still being found today. One of the articles was about a former S.S guard that was convicted of 300,000 assistant murders. This was one of the recent articles, and it explains how the former S.S guard didn't know what job was he doing when he got sent to a camp. It says that once he got to Auschwitz, which is the camp that he guarded, that he didn't want to work there but he had no choice. The other article was about the Holocuast survivors wanting to help the Syrain refugee. This article explains to us how the Holocuast survivors are feeling sympathetic towards the Syrian refugees because they believe that they went through something very similar. The Holocuast survivors don't want the Syrain refugees to go through what they went through because they know how terrible it can get. That is why the holocaust survivors are demanding Isreal that they help the Syrain refugees in any way they can.

               
              Another article that I was introduced to in the gallery walk focused on how Hitler was able to come to power and take control. The article talked about the Great Depression during the World War 2 and how Germany was in desperate need for help. This was a reason why Htiler was able to come into power because Hitler had promised to make Germnay great again and the Germans believed him because they were in need of help immediatly. Also the article explained how Hitler had a group called the 'National Socialist German Workers Party' and this group helped give Hitler followers and power. Everyone supported Hitler, and his group the 'Nazis', which is why the people of Germany let Hitler come into power. The president of Germany at the time made Hitler his chancellor, so once he died, Hitler came into full power. Hitler was also a powerful speaker which is why people listened to him and supported him.

Night Blog

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

          Elie's experiences during the Holocuast did indeed change him as a person in many ways. One significant way that Elie was changed was his views on his religion. In the beggining of the book, Elie had very strong faith in his religion and he would take his religion studies serious. In the very beggining of the book, Elie states "One day I asked my father to guide me in my studies of Kabbalah." This shows us how Elie took his studies serious and he even wanted someone to be able to guide him and teach him more. Later in the book, as he is placed in the concentration camps, he starts to question and doubt God. After time has passed in the concentration camps, Elie states "I was not denying His existence but I doubted His absolute justice." As you can see, here is saying that he has not given up completely on God because he is not denying his existence. It also shows us how he has been doubting God ever since he was placed into the concentration camps. 

          Another way that Elie changed after experiencing the Holocuast as a person was how he no longer cared about anything, and he isolated himself and he became a different person. Being in the Concentration camps, and seeing all those terrible deaths really does traumatize you with those horrible memories forever. Elie was so traumitized that he didn't want to talk about what he went though for a whole decade. That shows you he had been really affected by what the Nazis had made him go through. Towards the end of the book on page 113, Elie says "Since my fathers death, nothing mattered to me anymore." "I spent my days in total idleness. With only one desire: to eat. 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." This shows us how having his father die also affected him. He felt like he had no one left in his life, and he felt loneliness. Elie tried not think about the experiences he went through, and he would just think about the food. This shows us how he really was traumitized from those experiences. 

          Another way that Eli changed after experiencing the Holocuast throughout the book would be with his relationship with his father. In the beggining of the book, he would be terrified of his father dying because he felt he would be lonely if his father left him. Elie never wanted to get separated from his father, and he wouldn't want to leave his father's side at any times. He was very attached with his father at the beggining, and they had a pretty strong relationship. Elie would pray so that him and his father would never be separated. Elie saw how Rabbi had left his father for a better chance at surviving, and Elie didn't want that to happen to him. Then towards the end of the book, his father got really sick, and he was dying. Now that his father was dying, Elie felt like he was going to have to take care of his father now and help him and he was the one who was going to have to take care for the both of them. He started to feel like with his father, he isn't going to survive. He felt as if his father was only slowing him down. When his father finally died, Elie didn't even cry. He was sad, but he didn't even cry. This shows us how he didn't really care anymore if his father had died, because he wanted to survive and to be able to get his freedom. 

Night Blog

Butterfly Thinglink Blog

Berlin Memorial Activity

Prompts:
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 the certain years?
4) Which restrictions do you think you would have the most trouble dealing with and why?

          I learned a plethora amount of things in class about the Berlin Memorial and about some of the laws that were past in the Holocaust. Some thing that I found very interesting was that Hitler tried to destroyed all evidence of his hatred for the Jews. I never knew that, and it's interesting to me because at first all Hitler wanted was for everyone to follow his hatred for the Jews and then he just wanted to destroy evidence of ever hating them. I also learned that the restrictions were not only placed on Jewish people but also Gypsies, and homosexuals. As I was going through the laws, I realized that in the beggining of the Holocaust, the laws were taking most of their entertainment away. For example in 1933, they passed mostly laws that prohibited the Jews from joining any entertainment clubs. Also in 1939, they passed a law that prohibited the Jews from using swimming pools. Then as the time went by, I noticed that starting in 1940, the laws started to take needs and necessities for their daily lives. For example, in 1940 they passed a law that only allowed Jews to shop for food between 4-5 pm. Then in 1942, they passed laws that prohibited Jews from drinking milk or eating eggs. All these laws that were placed on the Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals were very unfair.

          I think that this monument was built to help remember people about the horrible laws that were placed on the Jews in Germany during the Holocaust. I believe that the signs and posters are to remind people about the kinds of laws that were placed on the Jews. I think it was also kind of a way to show who had all the power in Germnay in that time period. I also think that this monument was built to honor all the Jews, Gypsies, or homosexuals for the horrible laws that they had to deal with. Also this could be another way of honoring all the lives that were taken during the Holocaust due to these laws.

          I noticed that there were a huge number of laws being placed on the Jews that took away mostly all of the Jews rights. The Jews had no power due to the laws being placed on them and they had no rights at all. I also noticed that in the beggining, the laws were simple and only taking away things like entertainment or jobs and stuff like that. Then I noticed that the laws started taking away needs like food, or stuff to drink. I think they did this to lower their chance of surviving for those who weren't in any concentration camps. I also noticed that at first a lot of laws were being placed on them. Then the number of laws being placed on them started dropping. After a while like around 1939, a plethora amount of laws were being placed on them, and as the years passed more laws were getting passed.

          I think that the laws that I would have the most hard time dealing with would be getting my pet taken away or getting my privilege to swim taken away. I don't think I would ever be able to live without my pet. I really do live my dog, and if I had my dog taken away for me, I would have such a hard time dealing with it. Over the years I've gotten so attached to my dog, and that is one of the reasons why I don't think I would be able to live without him. I also would have a hard time living without ever being able to swim. Personally, I absolutely love swimming. One of the reaosns why I am always excited for the summer to come is because I will get to swim in the pools. Swimming is so much fun for me, and if I ever had that taken away, I would be devastated.

2nd Quarter Reflections

January 22, 2016

          Honestly, I think that 2nd quarter was a big downfall for me but I can also take it as a big learning opportunity. I fell really far behind in class and I was at a point where I was done with everything and I just wanted to give up. The most challenging part of this quarter was being able to catch up with my fellow peers on all the work that I missed. To help overcome this and to help myself do all of my missing work, I took time out of a weekend to be able to catchup with part of my work. I wasn't completely caught up with just one weekend but it was a start. Then on Christlmas break, I did some of my missing work to get even closer to being completely caught up. On the first week of school after Christmas break, I worked really hard to be able to get all my missing work finished, and I was finally able to get caught up with the rest of my class.

           I didn't get much accomplished in the 2nd quarter due to my big downfall that I had during this quarter. The only thing I did get accomplished was being able to get caught up with all my work after I felt like giving up. I can say that I feel very proud of myself for doing that, because I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to get caught up. I didn't have much hope for me in the beggining of 2nd quarter, but I realized that you should never give up. I learned everyone is always going to have a point in their life where they are going through a really hard time, and you are going to have many of these points in your life. I realized though that even though you are going through a really rough time, you shouldn't just give up and quit. You should try your best to be able to overcome through what your going through and it is going to end up making you feel really good after you overcome it all.

           I have to say that I feel like I didn't have much improvements on anything, but I would have to say my biggest improvement this quarter would be on my mentality and state of mind. At the beggining of the quarter, all I wanted to do was quit and give up. After being able to look at things differently, I feel so much better and so much charged with my mentality of this class since the begging of the quarter. Now that I was able to overcome through everything that happened to me this quarter,  I am going to try my best from now on in this class. I feel like this class has helped me in so many ways that I am thankful for and I wouldn't want to give that up. Being in this class also even helped me a lot with my other classes. Every week I am learning something new, and I've also been able to keep up with what is going on this world due to the Article of the Week responses that we do.

       

TKAM Setting Comparison

            When I first saw the picture, I noticed a lot of the advertisements that were painted on the walls, and the Coca-Cola banner. I also noticed how the picture was black and white and a little blurry which would infer that this picture was taken a long time ago. I also noticed how there wasn't just one advertisement for Coca-Cola but a few of them one the walls. Another thing I noticed would be the way the people are dressed in the photograph. They don't have fancy clothing, they all have some casual clothing, and all them seam to be wearing similar clothing. I also noticed how they are all wearing hats. You can also see what it seams to appear as a bunch of newspaper stacked on each other in a little cart.

            I picked this photo to symbolize what I think what Maycomb would look like because I believe it has many similar qualities as to how Harper Lee described Maybomb. Harper Lee described Maycomb as being a little town with not that much of a population. This photo can also symbolize a sort of small town. You can see that there isn't many people in this photo on the streets, the street doesn't look busy, and it looks very calm and peaceful. That makes it seem like a small town, which is what Harper Lee said about Maycomb. In the book, they also mentioned Coca-Cola a lot, and this photo has many advertisements of Coca-Cola. Harper Lee also said it was an old town which would make sense why the picture was taken a long time ago. I know that the picture was taken a long time ago because it is black and white. Those are just some of the similarities between this picture and the discription of Maycomb, which is why I picked this photo.

TKAM Charcter Relationship Blog

Characters: Aunt Alexandra and Atticus

         
           Some similarities that Aunt Alexandra and Atticus both have are that they care about Scout and Jem, they want the best for the children, and they both have strong opinions on how Scout should be raised. Aunt Alexandra and Attcius both care deeply about Jem and Scout and they are very protective over them because they don't want anything bad happening to them and they love them so much. Aunt Alexdanra and Atticus both want Jem and Scout to have the best that they could have. They want them to succeed in their lives and become someone that is caring and respectful. Aunt Alexandra wants Scout to be raised as a lady and to be how she was a little girl, and Atticus just wants her to be nice and respectful and not be like most of the Maycomb town folk.

          Some differences between Aunt Alexandra and Atticus is that Aunt Alexandra is very traditional, she doesn't really stand up for what she thinks is right but sticks to what everyone else is doing, which is the completely opposite from Atticus. Atticus is caring, brave, and he doesn't like to follow anyone else but believe in what he stand for and he doesn't judge other people based off their looks or skin color. Aunt Alexandra is all about giving their family name a good reputation and having the people in the family all be the same, sort of like all Maycomb folk. Atticus along with Scout and Jem are a lot different from the family and the Maycomb folk, they have their own opinions and like I said before they don't judge people by their looks or skin color but rather by their personality.

            Atticus is Scout's father, while Aunt Alexandra is Atticus' sister which makes her Scout's aunt.  Atticus is like Scout's role model, he teaches her how to be a good person that is caring and not judgemental based on appearances or skin color. He teaches her how to respect others, and how to have her own opinions and believe in what she wants to believe and to not just go by with what everyone else says. Aunt Alexandra is like her feminine influence on her, and she pretty much teaches her how to be a lady. Since, Scout's mother is no longer with them, Atticus thought it would be best if a Aunt Alexandra gave her advise and raised her like a lady.

         

TKAM Final Blog

To Kill A Movkingbird by Harper Lee

Prompt: 1) Which character do you like the best?
              2) Do any of the character's feelings change as you've read? Explain why or why not.
              3) If you could change what your reading, what would you change?

           Scout is the character that I like best from all of the characters in the book To Kill A Mockingbird. Honestly I had to think about this one, because I really liked Atticus' character as well so it was a bit hard for me to decide on which character. The only reason why I like Scout a little bit better than Atticus is because I feel like I could relate to her a lot more than I could relate to Atticus in many different ways. I really like Scout because she is independent when it comes to making choices and having her own opinions. She judges people based off of how they act and not just by their looks which is another reason why I like her.

           I feel like a lot of the characters throughout the book change their feelings. Some of the characters I believed changed their feelings mostly is Scout, and Jem. I feel like their feelings changed a lot when it comes to Boo in the begginning of the book and at the end of the book. At the begginning of the book, their feeling towards Boo was all negative and they thought of Boo as of a horrible person but just based off of rumors they have heard. At the end, they were able to actually meet Boo and get to know him, for he have saved their lives. After they actually got to know him, their feelings towards Boo were a lot more positive and they actually liked him, and they learned not to judge someone based off of rumors or of what they have heard.

           Honestly, if I was able to change what I was reading, I wouldn't change any of it because this was a great book. I feel like even though I wouldn't change anything, I would have added more to the end of the book because I didn't really like how the book ended. I feel like if Harper Lee added a bit more to the book at the ending it would be a lot better. I didn't like how it was the last time that Jem and Scout ever got to see Boo, and that kind of makes me sad because Boo had just saved their lives and they had barely just got to know him and they were becoming good friends. Besides this, I don't think I would change anything else because this honestly was a great novel.

Theme Development Blog for 40 Book Challenge

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

          Theme is a message about life or human nature that the writer conveys for the reader. I believe that the book The Hunger Games has plenty of themes but the main one would be inequality. One of the reasons why I believe this is the theme is because the rich districts have plenty more advantages when it comes to food. All of the poor districts struggle with starvation and finding food to feed their families. Another reason why I believe that this is the theme, is because of the tessera system and the way the reaping voting works.

           Since in the book, the rich people in Panem have plenty more advantages than the poor, it leads me to believe the theme of inequality. The rich districts don't have to worry about starvation or being hungry because they always have food which is one of the advantages of the rich. The poor districts sometimes starve themselves, and for example Katniss has to go beyond the boarders to hunt in order to be able to feed her family. Most poor people don't even have that privilege because plenty of the poor people don't know how to hunt. When Katniss goes to the Capitol, she is surprised at how many food and fancy prepared dinners they have. That is one of the reasons that leads me to believe that inequality is one of the main themes of this book.

                Another reason that leads me to believe that the theme of the book is inequality is the tessera system and the way of the reaping choosing system and how it works. Everyone is allowed to put down their name as many times as they want for the reaping, but the poor have a much bigger chance of getting picked. They have a bigger chance of getting picked because the poor families want to be able to survive, and the reward of the games is food, they risk anything they can to be able to survive and get the food for the district, that is why many more poor people are chosen. Also if a rich person is chosen, they have a bigger change of winning because they are able to get special training for the games which Katniss calls 'Career Traning'.  That is why I believe the rich people have more advantages than the poor which leads me to believe that the theme would be inequality.