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.