Monday, January 25, 2016

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.

       

Monday, January 11, 2016

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.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

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.

         

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

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.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

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.