Future Books I want to Read :D

Here is some books I want to read in the future! 

- The Giver by Lois Lowry

- The Island at the End of the World by Austin Aslan

- The Kill Order by James Dashner

- Twisted by Laure Halse Anderson

- Survival Colony Nine by Joshua David Bellin 

- The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau 

- A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer 

- Unwind by Neal Shusterman

- Downsiders by Neal Shusterman 

- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

"Paradox and Dream" Relfection

Paradox: “We proudly insist that we base our political positions on the issues- and we will vote against a man because of his religion, his name, or the shape of his nose."

             This paradox is saying how we say that we will elect people because of what we think, but in reality we chose based off of how they look, or what his or her religion is. It talks about how It doesn't matter which issue they are trying to solve, as long as they have good looks people will vote for them. This paradox is explaining how some people judge people on his or her religion, and because of that they don't see political people for their accomplishments, or the things that they want to achieve in the future. 

           I can relate to this paradox because I've seen people do this. Sometimes my family will immediately judge someone. It doesn't have to be for political reasons, just the way they look or talk. To be honest I do it to, and I'm trying to not think like that as much. I can also relate to this because I have seen it on the news. How many people didn't want Barack Obama to be President because of his race. Even after he was elected many people still don't like him because of who he is. 

Paradox: "We are able to believe that our government is weak, stupid, overbearing, dishonest, and inefficient, and at the same time we are deeply convinced that it is the best government in the world, and we would like to impose it upon everyone else."

           This paradox is saying that with the people we live with or talk to (Neighbors, friends etc.) we talk about how our government is bad. Or how it's weak and its failing on us or making us pay more tax (this ones more for adults). Then when someone visits from out of the country (relatives etc.) we say how well our country is all because we want to impress them. It's like we are two faced people that love yet hate our government.

           I can relate to this paradox because again, I've seen people do this. In fact I do it. There's been so many rumors about the government on how its bad, that I have found myself believing in them. Then of course when my family from Mexico ask me how its like over there I say everything's great the government is amazing, etc.! I also have seen my brother do this, I feel like I could have got it from him. Then again there's so many bad things related to the government, so is it really wrong for me to have my doubts?      

`

Final Reflection 5/18/15

            The three most important things I have learned in Mrs. Larson's class would be how to cite the sources I use, more sophisticated words, and how to correctly write a paragraph. When we had first started citing our sources I had little knowledge on it, but now I know how to cite them correctly. Our vocabulary tests this past year have made me increase my knowledge in more difficult words and even add them to my vocabulary. I want to say I used to not know how to write a paragraph. Like I knew it had to be three to four sentences but to be honest I didn't really understand the concept of a topic sentence and then supporting details after that, I know now however!

            Something that I will remember for the rest of my life would be our holiday parties. I say this because It was one day where we could either watch a movie, or just hang out and eat snacks. This class is like a mini family to me and it made it special that we could all just be together celebrating. I hope to always get good memories from those parties like when Jeremiah and the others ate sardine. 

            The nicest thing that someone in this class did for me would have to be when we would be about to take our vocabulary tests, we would quickly study together. I remembered the words either way but it was nice to have someone quiz you so you can have those words fresh in your brain. I would actually get better grades then I did before those little vocab reminder tests. 

            I feel like something I taught some of my other peers would be to do your time management. Many times me and some of my other peers would wait until the last minute at the beginning at the year. Now I've learned that I have to pace my homework, so that I wont be as frustrated. 

            I feel like one of my biggest improvements would be my reading skills. I think that I've done this because of reaching my goal of 25 books during the year. To me this is a big accomplishment and I'm very proud of it. Even if some may think this is a short amount. 

            I think that the most challenging part of this year would be keeping up with the homework. I would always get it done but sometimes I couldn't keep up and would get very frustrated. This is when I later learned that time management is key in this class. 

            One of the best piece's of writing that I have written would be the Death With Dignity paper. I think this because we took so much time looking for evidence and then converting that into our paragraphs which took a lot of effort. We had also put so much time into making those paragraphs perfect, by checking if they actually made sense. To checking spelling and punctuation inside of the essay. 

            I think that the my favorite book that I have read during this year would be The Maze Runner. I think this because I immediately liked the characters and how they where sort of close to our age so I could relate to them in that way. Another reason its my favorite is because I think that the overall story was very good and that when I was reading it I couldn't put it down. 

           To the future kids in Mrs. Larson's class, the most important advice that I will give to you is to manage your time. If you don't, you will get caught up with your homework like I had in the beginning on the year. Another thing I would tell you is to not goof around in her class. Mrs. Larson is a very nice teacher that's if you do something bad or goof off in her class. From one of her student's, I wish you a great year and good luck! :D 

I Commented On:

Omar's Blog

Siari's Blog

Justin's Blog

Something That Symbolizes Me

            
              I think something that would symbolize me would be a book. I would say this because books are always filled with emotions no matter how crazy they are and I feel like that fits my personality perfectly. I also think it symbolizes me because of the fact that I love to read books. I am sometimes stubborn and very determined, like how If possible I would try to finish a good book in one sitting. As sometimes books can be determined to make people want to read them. I feel like books symbolize me because all books are different in some ways with different styles or different stories, and I like see myself being different from all the others around me. Not just sticking to one story or style but going around to try new things. I also feel like books symbolize me because in every book there is so much potential in the way it's stories are written. I feel like in my story there is so much potential for what I am going to do in the future. 

I commented on: 

 Mia's Blog

Jared's Blog

John Z's Blog

Omar's Blog

 Evelia's Blog

Of Mice and Men: The Movie

             The indecent in Weed was different from what we had read in the book. It was different from the book because in the movie the indecent was what started the whole movie and inside the book you don't know what happens until later when George is talking to Slim. I think the director chose to do it this way because it could have added more of a back story to George and Lennie. It changes the story because now we didn't need to try imagining the setting as it was displayed inside the movie, so there was more space for the indecent in Weed.

             I think that the directer would start off the movie with George on the train instead of them being at the pond because it shows how their life was back then, moving from job to job. I think it also showed how they where very poor by the way his face was dirty. I this tells us that George has had a very hard time during his life. Taking care of Lennie yet also having to move places to find work must be hard. I feel the director is telling us that maybe George must be very emotionally and physically tired, like he has done so much for Lennie and himself that maybe thats why he wants the little ranch. We can see this in the ending of the movie when George shoots Lennie. It shows how he had done so much for him, and the best way to help Lennie and himself was to let him go. 

             I didn't like the directors choice for Curley's wife. I kind of thought she would be blonde and more like meaner towards the men. She wasn't what I imagined, I thought she would have been a blonde like mean attitude, kind of like Tallulah from the musical we saw Wednesday. I would have put Emma Stone as the role for Curley's wife because from what she looks like in her pictures, she always looks serious and to be honest very scary, or mean. I'm not sure what kind of woman she is like (I'm guessing she is a good person) but if I saw her in the movie I would probably say she would do great as the role of Curley's wife. 

             Overall I thought that Of Mice and Men was a very good book. I liked that it wasn't one of those books where everything in life has a happy ending, because it doesn't. I think that from Of Mice and Men was when George had to shoot Lennie. I say this because It shows what true friendship is. That even though George didn't want to do it, he did it for Lennie because he knew that Lennie was dangerous like when he had killed Curley's wife and he knew it was for his own good. It shows how he put Lennie in front of himself by actually shooting him and not letting them take Lennie to jail as they would of if they had found him. I would recommend this book to my friend Karen because she loves books that have sad endings, (I don't know why that's just her) and I feel like this would get her very emotional just like it did to me. 

            

Aow Reflections

            For this week's Gallery walk I learned a lot. For example Devin's aow (Article of the week) talked about how the riots in Baltimore have been causing a lot mayhem. I had heard about this before but hearing him talk about how many buildings and cars where set on fire me me realized how upset, angry and even crazed these people are. The people rioting had set 144 vehicles and 15 buildings on fire. He had severed spine injuries and a crushed throat box, because of those injuries he died in the cop car. Which lead to the many riots inside of Baltimore and other cities as well. I think that because of all the recent news with cops and the killings it has accelerated so much that, it may be the reason it set everyone off. 

             Another article I found interesting was Omar's article on free water in California. I thought this because I know that California has been in a drought for a long time. Their solution was to refine the toilet water, into drinking water. It concerns me that if they where to give away all the water, where would they drink after wards? Omar told me that people can get how ever much water they want for free. He also talked about how 25% of the water has already gone from the water that California has. If the people from California keep using up the water this fast, what will happen in the future?

 
              The last article that I found interesting was Joseph's article about emotions. I thought this because I use to have a dog and I remember always getting happy when I would pet him or be around him. He talked about how just staring into a dogs eyes could make you feel happier. It could also make the bond you both have (friendship or loyal) bond stronger. I feel like I'm evidence of this being true. Even if I didn't stare into my dogs eyes for hours, all those times where he made me happy count.