All The Light We Cannot See

All The Light We Cannot See has been my favorite book we have ever read in ELA. My favorite part of the book was the imagery. The way the author uses basically every sense (sight, taste, touch.., etc) was beautiful. I loved it so much I am writing an essay on imagery for my response project. Some examples of the imagery in the book are "Bees are silver; pigeons are ginger snd auburn and occasionally golden. The huge cypress trees she and her father pass on their morning walk and shimmering kaleidoscopes, each a needle a polygon of light." "Out of loudspeakers all around Zollverein, the staccato voice of the Reich grows like some imperturbable tree; its subjects lean toward its branches as if toward the lips of God. And when God stops whispering, they become desperate for someone who can put things right." "We are mice he thinks, and the sky swills with hawks." "The eggs taste like clouds. Like spun gold." "Seconds later, she is eating wedges of wet sunlight." I strongly recommend this book.

Marie-Laure and Werner, how has your opinion of Marie-Laure and Werner changed and why?

Marie-Laure: My opinion of Marie hasn't changed that much throughout the book. I think she is very smart, amazing, and I love how much she loves her family. I think its so impressive how she can solves the puzzles her father makes her and navigate her way around the neighbor based off counting and memorization. I think she is a very caring person. Always thinking of her father and helping her uncle in anyway she can.

Werner: My opinion of Werner has changed. At first I thought her was an extremely smart boy who was a great big brother. But, as time throughout the book as passed Werner has made decision that I do not agree with. For example how he never helped his friend by standing up for him, or when he threw the water on the man, and how he never writes to his sister. I understand that its not a black and white situation and that he is only a kid going through war. That never stopped his friend Frederick. I still like Werner though. I think he is very smart and talented.

"Just roll with it" Oral History

A granddaughter interviews her grandfather in a parking lot in her 1994 Buick. Why the parking lot? Her grandfather lives in a senior living home and didn't want to share his life with others. She begins the interview with questions about his life and her grandmother. Her grandmother passed away in 2012 and he loved his wife very much. Her grandfather has had lots of hard moments in his life. He lost his eldest son of Lou Gehrig’s disease. He now is dealing with Alzheimer disease. His family was poor growing up. He shares a story that one time he knew there would be no hot water at home so he broke into his school to take a warm shower. Throughout his interview though he has wonderful attitude, many laughs are shared. When his granddaughter asks if he has any advice for them as they get older? He responds with "Don’t fight it. Just roll with. I mean real life. Live it. It’s wonderful." I think that is a beautiful message and great advise. https://storycorps.org/listen/james-kennicott-and-kara-masteller-112015/#

My thoughts on Persepolis

I really enjoyed reading Persepolis. The story was capturing and beautiful. I strongly recommend the graphic novel. It was one of my favorite books we read for ELA. Marjane faced so much in her life and reading her life story as a graphic novel was amazing. The story also taught me a lot about the Islamic Revolution. One of my favorite parts about Persepolis was learning about how the revolution affected her and how she handled it. For example when she started to have to wear the veil and she first did it because she was told she would be killed, raped, murdered if not. When she had to leave her family because of the war you see her face many struggles from not having her family. She becomes depressed, sells and does drugs, goes through many changes in personality. A lot of the things she faced were experiences teenagers face like the changes in personality. I think that because she didn't have her family around she would be things she was disappointed in. Multiple times in the book she says that at those moments in her life she isn't the person her family would be proud of.

Character Sketch

I am doing my character sketch on Marie-Laure LeBlanc. Marie-Laure is a French sixteen year old girl. She is tall and has freckles. She is blind, but was not born blind. She has a very close relationship with her father. Her mother passed away so it is just her and her father. She loves to read and solve puzzles with her fingers. Every year on her birthday her father has a new one for her. She is able to solve them in less than 10 minutes. Her father is a locksmith and he works at a museum. She often spends time at the museum. Her father has built a small replica of her town, she mesmerizes the town by running her fingers along the model. She loves to drink coffee with lots of sugar in it. Marie-Laure and her father are running from the Nazi soldiers, it is not clear whether that is because she is a person with a disability or because she is Jewish. I look forward to finding out more about her.

Oral History Interview

This past week my group and I interviewed Dawn Callaway and her husband/business partner. Dawn , her husband Scott, and their two other business partners run 4 businesses together. We interviewed Dawn and Scott mostly about Black Hole and Poison Girl. Black Hole is a coffee shop and Poison girl is a bar. It was an amazing expierence. Dawn and Scott are very kind and had many great stories. I think the interview went very well. My team and I learned a lot of information, not only about their businesses but also about them. In the future I would request to have the interview in a more private setting. We had our interview outside of Black Hole. There was a lot of background noise, for example people starting a and stopping their cars. The most interesting parts of the interviews were their stories about how they feel apart of the community and stories about the buisneses themselves. My favorite story was the one about the giant Kool-Aid man in the back of Poison Girl.

Persepolis Character Sketch

I am doing a character sketch on the grandmother in Persepolis. Marjane's grandmother is the mother of her mom. She has a very strong voice and is my favorite character. Her sass and just rational thinking along with her being a total badass makes her my favorite character in this book. Marjane and her grandmother are very close. She loves the scent of lavender and sticks her breast in ice water for ten minutes every morning and night to keep them perky! She is a very influential character in this book. She gives Marjane some very important advise which is  "always keep your dignity and be true to yourself." She keeps Marjane on a good path and is very loving. Her badass side is like lying to guards and making up a whole story of how she is diabetic so they can get ride of all the alcohol. Reading her parts were some of my favorite parts.

Marjane's Personality

1. Explain the differences between Marjane's personality before she left Iran and when she returned after being in Austria. Why do you think she changed so much? Use specific examples from the book to support your claims.

Marjane's personality when she left for Austria and when she came back were very different. Before she left for Austria she was a typical 14 year old rebellious girl. She listened and followed her parents rules and she respected them. She was well behaved except for the small acts of rebellious nature. She was also very close with her with her family. When she returned from Austria her personality was very different. She went through so much in Austria. She had to grow up on her own, had sex, smoked, developed bad habits and got into the wrong crowds. All these things influenced her and when she finally returned home after hitting what I would say is rock bottom she has grown up and matured. She still has a passion for politics and fighting for what she believes in but she is a matured adult. 

Why is Marjane's relationship with her uncle so important to her?

I think that Marjane's relationship with her uncle started out as just wanting to have someone that was related to her be a hero. She was jealous that her friends got to tell stories of how their friends dads were heroes and she wanted that attention. I think that after she met and spent time with him though they bonded and had a true relationship. His stories fascinated her and he loved her. He treated her like a daughter because he lost his and she wanted to be with him. He gave her stories of rebellion and adventure. She was beginning to feel like it was time to start taking action with her life and I think he stories gave her ambition to do it. I really enjoyed reading about their relationship and seeing them interact with each other. It made me so sad when he died.

ELA This Year

1) What was the most fun/engaging activity that you did in ELA this year? Why was it fun/engaging?

The most fun activity I did this year hands down is the music video based on the Odyssey I worked on with Jordan Barger. It was fun and we got other students engaged. It was fun to write and film. It was funny, fun, and just overall an amazing project. 

2) What was the most boring activity that you did this year? Why was it boring?

I really can't think of anything that was boring. I have always felt engaged and not wandered off because I was so bored. 

3) What was your favorite book this year? Why?

My favorite book was a Raisin In The Sun. It was my favorite because we got to act in out in class and I like any chance to preform a little and because I really enjoy learning about the times of segregation it just really confuses me how people could find others less because of their skin color. 

4) What was your least favorite book this year? Why?

My least favorite book was Maus or Gatsby. Maus because the way the book was written and drawn was just really confusing for me to understand the story. Gatsby because the story was just really confusing for me 

5) What should I definitely keep the same for next year's ELA curriculum? Why?

Keep the seminars. The seminars help me to understand the story and see others peoples point of the book. I really enjoy seminarians the book. Also keep response projects the same. I love the response projects. 

6) What should I definitely change for next year's ELA curriculum? Why?

I really hated the vocab work exercises. They were just tedious and a waste of time they never helped in any way. It would be easy to just get the words and their definitions. 

7) Is there anything else that you would like to tell me about your experience in ELA? If so - please put it here.

I really enjoyed ELA overall. I think you are a good teacher I did learn a lot of new things. It did frustrate me though that I had specifically said I needed help with grammar and sentence structure and that you said we could do lessons and work on that but only did two lessons. The two we did were so helpful and then we never did them again. Again though overall I had a great experience. 

A Raisin in the Sun

I really enjoyed reading this play. My favorite part about reading this was getting the chance to read it in class and act it out with everyone. We should read more plays! Something that really interested me in this book was the topic of segregation. I have had an interest in learning about the times when segregation and racism was a very common and normal thing in the U.S. for a long time. I really enjoy learning about it and hearing peoples stories because I think everyone should be treated equally. It doesn't matter what the color of your skin is, where you come from, what accent you have, we are all people. No one is better. We are all incredible and beautiful human beings. One of the most impactful moments for me in the story is when the character Linder comes to the family and basically tells them they are not welcome because they are African American's moving into a white neighbor hood. I love that the family moved anyone despite what those people might do to them. I am glad that I am in a time where its better than it was but I would like future generations to not have racism at all. I hope our society and world can get to that place someday.

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A Raisin in the Sun

On p. 143, Walter states, "There ain't no causes - there ain't nothing but taking in this world, and he who takes the most is smartest - and it don't make a damn bit of difference how."  Do you think that this is true? Why or why not? 

I agree and disagree with this statement. I agree that this is a tough world a more than the majority of people take rather than give. Everyone wants to be on top. Betraying others taking what they have its so common now. The takers have been the ones to get ahead in life. I disagree becasue it shouldn't be like this. I think everyperson should give 60% and take 40%. I don't think you should have to take from others to get ahead in life. Taking from people does make a difference. You could make their life harder or hurt them in the process. 

Putting myself in their shoes

Put yourself into the shoes of the Younger family. What do you think it would be like to live in a tiny, three-room apartment with three generations of your family, without the choice or resources to move elsewhere?
Thinking of living with three generations of my family in a three room apartment is terrifying. I would want more than anything to get out. It would just make me feel trapped. The thought of not having a choice, that my race and skin tone was affecting my chance to have basic living conditions. I consider basic living conditions space, privacy, and comfort. Living with that many people can't be comfortable and there is definitely no space and privacy. I feel bad for the family. I see the family as not complaining about it though. They are strong willed and what good does complaining about something you can't change do?

Brighter Bites

A couple weeks ago the 9th and 10th grade students went on an outing to Kashmere Gardens Elementary School. We were there to help with the Brighter Bites program. The Brighter Bites program gives families who live in food deserts, food during the school week. When we got there we helped unload the food bank truck. It was a lot of fruits and vegetables. Once we unloaded all the food and arranged it in the auditorium we started placing the food in bags. I was on the mushroom team. We placed one package of mushrooms in each bag with a recipe slip. After we had finished all the bags we got to interact with some of the students at the school At my table I had 4 second graders. I really enjoyed getting the chance to hang out and talk with the students. My group at the table had so much fun and we were able to get all the kids at our table to try the healthy snack. We had to dance for 10 seconds though it was the only way we could convince them to eat the snack. I look forward to doing this kind of work again.

Topic of interest

1. Choose any topic of interest that we have discussed in class (or not discussed, if you have a new one)  in relation to The Great Gatsby and explore it further. Use textual evidence to support your ideas.

A topic that I really enjoyed talking about in class was the concepts of the subconscious. It really interested me all the theories there are about the subconscious. For example the idea that every night when you fall asleep you actually die and are just given a new body with the same memories, or that you can't really prove anything behind you or is out of your vision range is real that just every time you turn your head your brain is just creating it all. The topic kind of just blew my mind. That maybe I'm in a coma and that everyone and everything is just a figment of my imagination. These philosophical thoughts are just fun and crazy to think about. The beginning of thinking these things really kind of shook people. For so long the world was that the world revolved around us and that God made us and to start thinking that well maybe that isn't true kind of knocked people off their pedestals and really made people think. I can't even imagine having the whole aspect of life all of sudden being questioned. This topic really interests me and I hope to research and learn more about it. I don't have any textual evidence of this in Gatsby because I didn't receive my copy of the book back. 

Contrast in story

1. Contrast Jay Gatsby's story about himself on p. 65 and Jordan Baker's story about Daisy and Gatsby on pp. 74-77.  What is different about these stories, and why do you think that they are different?

There is obviously difference between Gatsby's story and Jordan's. There were a few things that were obvious differences. In Jordan's story it was all about Gatsby and Daisy, their lives together, in Gatsby's it was his life story. Jordan spoke hers with a voice that focused in on the romance of their story. With Gatsby his story came across fake and rushed. Almost like it was all a lie. Those were the two major differences I noticed from them. I think they are different stories because they come from two different people who experienced it in two different ways. Gatsby was living the story while Jordan was just an observer of it all. 

American Dream Example

The American Dream to me is basically a lie. Yes it applies to some people but for the most part I think it is unrealistic. The American Dream is the idea that if you work hard in life you can make and do anything you want. There are so many people who are struggling everyday to barely makes meet that work way harder than big CEO's who make way more for barely any of the amount of effort others do. An example of someone who the American Dream did work for is Jim Carrey. He had nothing growing up, he had to drop out of high school to get a job so he could help pay the bills. Since he worked hard and never gave up he was able to make his dreams possible and is now a very famous actor.