End of year reflection

     Three new things I learned this year was, signposts, argumentative writing, and TIQA. Sign post helped understand a text at a deeper level. While argumentative writing help me make and persuade an audience better. TIQA will always apply to the way I write. My teacher had showed me how effective and important it is to incorporate in my writing. I will remember the TIQA for the rest of my life.

     What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for me this year? I think the nicest thing someone did this year was to help me gain my confidence for public speaking. They were probably more things that others did to me, but I currently don't remember.

     What is something you taught my teacher or class this year? I don’t think I taught anyone in my class something different or unique.

     I feel like the most challenging part for me this year was Vocab. At the beginning of the year I felt like I was complete garbage of it. However, as the year progressed, I saw my vocab grade improving little. Until quarter 4, I been getting none wrong. I felt proud every time I saw I got none wrong. Except for one though. But I still received a 3 on it.

     The Gun violence argument was the best piece in my opinion. I felt like I made a strong argument on that and showed how important this issue is to everyone. If you haven’t read it, check it out on my blog.

     Of the books you read this year's which was your favorite? Why? The Watson go to Birmingham is my favorite book currently. It has humor and it good life lessons in my opinion. I also could relate to one of the characters in the book to be honest.

     What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year? I have bit to advice to give. For starters, give it your all. Don't do work to minimum, requirements, or barebones. Give it your all. You will be able to impress your peers, teachers, and your parents when your report card comes rolling in. Also participate as much you can, so the class can be more interesting and fun. Always have your homework turned in, or else you'll be placed into working lunch. Don't take it as a punishment, take it as a opportunity, to do your work. One more piece of advice for the class of 2017 - 2018…… Just have fun!

Music

                                                                       Music

                                                                By: Erik Lopez





As a little kid, my radio became my brother. When I hear the groove, I always, no matter where I am, move with the rhythm of the beat. It can be the same for others too. Music inspires us to keep going, depends on what you listen to. Therefore, I believe in music.


I was at the age of 8, I was on my way to my house from school. As I got out of the garage, I saw two boxes. I was kind of disappointed, because the boxes were small. I opened them anyway, I was discombobulated. It was a radio and a portable CD player. I was curious how it worked. My grandma came out of the bushes like if she was a predator hunting on a prey, she scared the poop out of me (Not literally). She turned the magic switch on the radio and I felt like I entered into a whole new world. I completely ignored the portable CD player. Music became my brother that day. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but I realized there were so many options to choose from.


    I eventually started to use the CD player more because I won't have any interruptions with the CD’s compare to the radio. It had a huge impact on me. It lifted me up when I was feeling down. It helped me keep going no matter what. I cherished the CD player for a few years. Until, it broke. Nowadays, I used a portable speaker and my Spotify with my phone. Due to tech evolving quickly.
I will continue to use this In future when I'm feeling anything else besides happy.

Music inspires us to keep going, depend on what you listen to. Therefore, I believe in music. I also encourage you do also

Literature Circle/Non-Fiction Article blog

     My essential question for my article was how does the racism impact the child’s point of view and behavior. This ties into my book because it was similar to the essential question I had for the book; how does Birmingham change the Watson as a whole. The Watson goes Birmingham, Alabama to visit their grandmother and to have small vocation. While they're in Birmingham, they find the truth and see segregation.

     The book ties into an article called Racism Harms Children's Health, survey finds. The article states, Anderson tracked answers to this question, and compared them to the prevalence of various health issues that children were reported as having, including obesity and ADHD....She also found that children who had been exposed to racism were also more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression (Paragraph 5-6). This quote shows kids feel closed minded and dehumanized in society. Which can eventually lead to mental disorder and behavior issues. This could explain why Byron had terrible behavior. African- Americans faced the struggle at all ages. Even kids.

     Kenny finds this out through out the book. According to the book, “Watsons Go To Birmingham”, it prints, “We'd seen the pictures of a bunch of really mad white people with twisted-up faces screaming and giving dirty finger signs to some little Negro kids who were trying to go to school. I'd seen the pictures but I didn't really know how these white people could hate some kids so much (Curtis 122-23)" While Kenny hears this, he observed the other African-Americans kids and he notice they soaked it in and believed they were meant to be treatbed like that. Which was totally off. This could lead up to the kids devolving mental issues.

MLA:

     Jackson, Reginald André., and Christopher Paul. Curtis. The Watsons go to Birminghan--1963. Woodstock, IL: Dramatic Publishing, 2011. Print.

     Panko, Ben. "Racism Harms Children’s Health, Survey Finds." Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, 05 May 2017. Web. 12 May 2017.

Book blog.

So far the book is about introducing the watsons. And how they're preparing their way to Birmingham. They also are introducing each and everyone of the characters.

    Do I think the characters are realistic? Yes I do. The author gives each of the character a unique, funny, and interesting characteristic. Byron, is the troublemaker and the one that tries to act “Mr. Cool Daddy” according to the book. Which I see that he acts like that. He behaves so terribly that he got his head shaved and became Balón. Which is balled. However he isn't always cool, like the little things makes him seem like a little child again.

    If you could talk to the author, what questions would you ask? And why? I would ask him how could he live to having a brother like Byron day to day. The reason why I'm asking him that is because he gives Kenny a very hard time. He picks on Kenny, and allows other kids at the school to pick on him also. I would also ask if their relationship is still the same?

3rd Quarter Reflection

In what areas did I improve the most? I feel like the area I mostly improved on was my blogging. After the butterfly project, I feel like I did an huge improvement. My committing and things like have become better also. I use better vocabulary often.

One thing I did that I'm proud of accomplishing is getting all my vocab right and and getting 2 wrong on the roots and prefixes. I'm getting better and better on my vocab week after week. I hoping that by next quarter, I'll be able to get all correct answers on my test.

I think the most challenging part for me this week quarter is me finding evidence for my counter argument. I can't find it. But I will persevere and continue to look for my counter argument. Once I find that, it will be a breeze for me to finish my argumentative piece.

Life is Beautiful blog.

For starters, the father - son relationship is brought into the movie. Like in the book Night. Another thing that is similar is how the father and son traveled in the indecent conditions you can ever imagine. Some differences are that the book tells they were in the ghetto. While the movie the father and son were caught. By The gestapo invading their house.

Another similarity is the fact that both sons of the movie lost their father to the camp. But the difference is that Elie lost his father because he became tired and to weak to continue to survive. He eventually came to stop and laid on the ground, to rest. While in the movie Life is Beautiful, the father died from protecting his son. Also he died because he try reuniting with his wife. But couldn't do it. He was caught, and shot.


Between the book and the movie, there point of view is completely different. In Night, the point of view is from the child, Elie. It's really bias to his opinions, thoughts, and experience in the holocaust. While in the movie Life is Beautiful, the point of view is a combination of 1st & 2nd point of views. In the first half, it's the father’s point of view. However, towards the middle, the father focuses on the child. In the movie they use humorous effects to interact with the audience. Also to use them as a hook, to get them to focus into the characters more. It’s also serious, but it has some bits of humor in the movie. While in the book Night, it's a very formal and serious tone throughout the book.


In the movie, there are many ways of showing how life is beautiful, one of them is falling in love. The movie really demonstrates that in the beginning, Guido chased after the love of his life constantly and was trying to impress her in many interesting and humorous ways. Another thing that showed how life is beautiful was family. Guido protected his child at any cost. He invented a game to prevent him from finding out the terrible truth. He also thought him to hide and blend in with the others. He also tried to connect with his wife and reunite them together with their child in the end.

"NIght"

How do Elie’s experiences during the Holocaust change him as a person? Elie was a survivor of the Holocaust, so he changed in many ways, from the beginning of his terrible experience till the end.

His transformation affects his faith. Elie was very pious. He seek for further assistance so he can use the best of his abilities to stay pious. He even seek a mentor for help to study the Cabbala. But he would pray often. For example,  according to the book, “ Why do you pray? he asked me, after a moment. Why did I pray? A strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (Wiesel 2). This shows he is confused from the question he asked. That's why he seek for further assistance. Which shows that he is very pious. However, since he is being in a concentration camp, his faith in God has faded dramatically. He begins to questions God and his faith. For example, according to the book, “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God himself. Never” (Wiesel 32). This shows how his faith fades, and how he begins to doubt God.

Another conversion is his humanity. After being in the consecration camp, his personality has changed significantly. What do I mean? Well since he was very pious He was always kind and considerate. Even at the beginning of the terrible experience, he shares with his father with the little he has. But then he sometimes turns on him and let's all his anger on him. But sometimes there things that Elie doesn't understand. For example, according to the book, “I had watched the whole scene without moving. I kept quite. In fact I was thinking of how to get farther away so that I would not be hit myself. What is more, any anger I felt at that moment wa directed, not against the Kapo, but against my father. I was angry with him, for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak” (Wiesel 52). This shows how his relationship with his father change. Although it’s not his relationship with others, it's his patience also.

These are just a few ways his experience of the Holocaust change him as a person, like his faith and his humanity.

 

Wiesel, Elie . Night . N.p.: n.p., 1956. Print

"The Closed Town"

"The Closed Town"

Everything leans, like tottering, hunched old women.

Every eye shines with fixed waiting
And for the word "When?"

Here there are few soldiers.
Only the shot-down birds tell of war.

You believe every bit of news you hear.

The buildings now are fuller,
Body smelling close to body,
And the Garrets scream with light for long, long hours.

This evening I walked along the street of death.
On one wagon, they were taking the dead away.

Why so many marches have been drummed here?

Why so many soldiers?

Then
A week after the end,
Everything will be empty here.
In the middle of the street will stand
An empty, dirty
Hearse.


                                                                                                  Anonymous



I committed on my: Gabe, Christian , Jaclyn, Dylan, and Nathaly.

Berlin Memorial

What did I learned? I learned that Hitler had a very strange but affected strategie to help him concur his territories. They were very affected towards Jews.

Why do you think this momentum was built? This monument was build to remind those who tried to ignore the horrible laws hitler had made. Also it was there to make a law stand out in a way so Jews could realize Hitler was in power.

What did you notice about the number of laws passed in certain years. The number of laws that were created were huge during his time of power. It started huge then little by little, he added more laws. Which was meant to be for torture.

Which restrictions do you think you would have the most trouble dealing with and why. I would not be able to deal with anything without music to be honest. That's the only thing I can't not live  without. I listen to music every single day. I listen to music when I'm bored, upset, or happy or etc… The laws that prevent d that were passed between 1938 - 1939. That's one of the restrictions I can't deal without.

Second Quarter Reflection

    To be honest, this a great start to my year. I'm half way to finishing my 8th grade and I'm doing great. Well at the beginning of the year, I wasn't so good at vocabulary. But as the time passed by, I have made a major improvement of the course of 8th grade. I've study extra to accomplish my goal, I still need a little more work to getting to my goal, but I'm happy where I'm currently at.

     One thing I was able to acomplish that I'm proud of is writing a successful blog. A mouth ago I made a blog that I'm cerentaly proud of.  Before I would made blogs that I felt like something was missing, but I kept practicing and learning new strategies and was able to put them into use in my writing. If you want to check it out, it's called Gun Violence. 

 The most challenge thing for me was probably the Harlem Renaissance web quest. The only reason I think it was difficult because I missed one day. That one day was when the class was introduced into the web quest. When I return to the class the next day, I was completely lost. But after I was asking my classmates for help, I was able to start my web quest and complete the assignment.

I honestly think I'm doing great so far and hope it will continue to go like that for me until I finish my school cereer. I'm looking forward for a great school year. How about you?

Book Talk

   The current book that I'm reading in called "The Death Penalty: Opposing viewpoints"  This book talks about many interesting things people did back then and what people do. Which is the death penalty. It's a way of punishing those who have committed horrible crimes, such as murder. But why do they resort to this? Isn't there any other way?

Before I go any further about this book, I just want to inform you that it contains many sad and gross things from the book. As stated in the book, "The moral defense of the death penalty is the principle of justice. In the case of premeditated murder, capital punishment roughly proportionate to the harm that has been done to the murder victim." (Pg77) This quote explains what the the higher end of the justice system think. And in a way they think that the criminal who caused the murder should feel the same way the victim did. But I feel that's wrong. Because you are dealing with the same criminal that caused a horrible action. Think about it though, if you give them the death penalty, wouldn't that make you the murder? Because you are ending someone's life. You will realize that you will look just as bad as they do. This is a problem that happen national and international. The author writes the informative book to raise awareness of what enforcement do to people.