This I believe speech

"Being Good Won't be Good Enough"

I don't consider myself to be the best. I think that knowing I'm good at something will only make me narcissistic and also prevent me from wanting to improve. Therefore, I believe that you can always grow.

Last year in the spring, I had just received my first main role in the district musical, which I was very proud of. Flash forward to this past November when I auditioned for a school called Chicago High School for the Arts. I had confidence because of my past role in the musical, however, when I got there my confidence began to fade because of other student’s talent. At first I was afraid, but after awhile the confidence came. The next thing I knew, I found myself standing in front of four judges auditioning.

As of now, I am proud to say that this fall I will be attending ChiArts.  I now know that I am not the most talented person out there in the world nor am I the worst. However, I do think that with the right training I can turn my goals into a reality.

I think that with hard work and determination that I can grow, but I will never be done growing. With anything we do we can always improve; it just takes determination. Growing won’t always be easy but you have to always make an effort. I believe we can all grow, it just takes determination to do so.

Final Reflection

Prompt:

1- What are the three most important things you learned this year?

2- What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?

3- What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?

4- What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?

5- In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of?

6- What was the most challenging part of this year for you?

7- What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best?

8- Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why?

9- What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year?

The three most imprtant things that I have learned this school year are how to try your best. I learned this mainly because at first I thought I could just float by without trying. I later learned that I can't do this because this class requires a lot of thinking and I now realize that I have to try. I think that another important thing was that when talking try to use vocab words. This method really helped me learn vocab words quicker. The last thing I found really important was to read a lot more. I realized that I had to read more over break and at first out of laziness I wouldn't. Once I was maybe 40 pages into a book I found the need to continue reading the book.

Something we did this year that I will definantly remember for life would probably be the To Kill A Mockingbird feast. I will remember this for a while because the class as a whole was able to try different foods and we had fun. I will remember this because it was the first time I had ever tried collard greens and I liked them. Another reason why I will remember this is because it was a huge reward from reading everyday at times 30 pages while annotating. I made a really good friend at the feast (Mariza) so this feast will definantly be remembered throughout my life.

The nicest thing someone has done for me this year was keep me posted on what was going on in class. The person who kept me posted was Rebecca. Rebecca really helped me the week of the musical because I was gone and she made sure to remind me of what we had for homework. I really appreciated this because not only was I able to complete my Tuesday's with Morrie project but I also knew what we had for homework and I had general idea of what we did in class.

Something the class taught Mrs. Larson was what "Salty" meant. If you don't know what it means is it's when your basically angry or jealous at someone or something.

I feel like I made the biggest improvements in vocabulary this year. I feel like I made the biggest improvement in this section because for the most part I received mainly threes and fours. I personally think that vocabulary test have been really easy this year because I study everywhere, for example the park. What I do to do this is pullout out my phone and use quizlet to study. I think that quizlet is what helped me and I use this to study for any test because it's really easy to use. I am proud that I was able to accomplish my goal of growing a lot on my MAP scores for reading. This really goes to show that if you focus in class you can grow and improve.

The most challenging part of the year for me is definantly writing. This was challenging for me because when I write I tend to not re-read what I wrote so instead of checking for run-ons I leave them behind. I will definantly start rereading what I write that way I can ensure I am making sense. I now know that for future I will definantly be rereading anything I write to check for spelling errors etc.

The best piece of writing I did was the Argumenitve research paper. This was the best piece of writing because the paper was very professional sounding and I used good sources to help support my claim. I think that this piece of writing did have flaws and it wasn't perfect however I'm proud to say I wrote it. One problem I had with the paper was the citation section so I have to make sure for future pieces of writing that the formatting is good.

Of the books I've read this year my favorite book would have to be To Kill A Mockingbird. This is my favorite book mainly because the book taught me life lessons that are very relevant today in our society. Another reason why I really enjoyed the book is because the characters were very funny and just the storyline was very interesting. I think that the characters were relatable in different ways. I think I can relate to the most would have to be Jem because he looks after his sister a lot just like how I look after my younger cousins.

Advice that I would give students coming into this class next year would probably be to do your work. I  give future students this advice because if you don't do one assignment on time your going to have hard time doing the rest. Another piece of advice I would give future students is to manage your time wisely. If you get home at 3:45 I would suggest doing your work right away. I think that once you get your work done earlier the more free timre you have to do things you like out of school. My last piece of advice would be to have fun. Your in this class because Mrs. Larson sees you have potential to do great things and I know the class is stressful at times but trust me it pays off. The amont of work Mrs. Larson gives us is the help prepare us for high school and it will pay off. Finally since this is my last blog that I will write on this account I would like to say, good luck to anyone who has the class.

Morrie Aphorism Project

Prompt:

1. Explain the Aphorism in Detail. What was Morrie's main message?
2.Relate the Aphorism to a movie, song, historical event, current event, personal experince, etc. and explain in detail how the example you have chosen relates to the Aphorism.
3. Evaluate the Aphorism by explaining why you agree/disagree with it. Give specific reasons for your position and specific evidence from the text to support your position.
4. Take a picture of your Aphorism to use as your graphic.
5. Include your own Aphorism regarding life.

The Aphorism "Once you learn how to die you learn how to live" (P.82) is a message that basically says once you realize that you are dying you start to care more about your life. Morrie was trying to express to Mitch that to start appreciating things in life because once there gone they are gone forever. I think that Morrie was trying to express to Mitch that since Morrie knows he is going to die that now he is appreciating things more and is trying to live his life to the fullest that he can.

I can relate this Aphorism to when my mom and I moved out of my grandmas house to our own. This event is similar because when my mom and I moved out my grandma renovated the house and so when I look at photos I realize how I miss the old house. I think that if I had known that  my grandma was going to have the house renovated that I would start to cherish the house more because I essentially grew up in that house.

I personally agree with this Aphorism mainly because I think that if we knew we were going to die I think we all would try to live our lives to the fullest with the time that we have left. On page 82 it says "...no one really believes they're going to die." this quote to me is expressing that at times we think we are invincible and that we can do anything. To me this shows how we are so caught up in the news and whats in that we forget to even try to live our lives to the fullest.

My Aphorism:

"Every day that you are living is a day closer to your death"

The message for this Aphorism is that to live your life to the fullest while you still can. I think that everyday that you don't do something that you enjoy or that makes you happy is a day wasted. I think that if you aren't living a happy life then you should change that because in the end its up to you to change your life. Most people would think that because of this Aphorism that I am a very sad person but I mean this in a good way because if you were spend your last day on Earth sitting down and making a puzzle for example would you be happy with how you ended your day. I think that unless you really liked making puzzles then you would be pretty unhappy because why would you want people or yourself remember your last day on Earth doing something you don't enjoy.

Socratic Seminar Morrie Reflectiom

Prompts:

*Explain how the past four Socratic Seminars have influenced your thinking about Tuesdays with Morrie and life in general.

*What trends did you notice with yourself and your personal goals for each seminar? How did your personal goal(s) change and what did you actively do to change throughout our last four discussions?

*What trends did you notice with the class for each seminar? What did you notice that helped or hindered a specific seminar?

The past four seminars have influenced my thinking on life from reading the book Tuesday's with Morrie, mainly because the lessons are useful and relatable in ways. Some lessons that were useful were lessons on how to live a better life and to not take things for granted. The Socratic Seminars really helped me think more on certain subjects such as death and love and it really made me think on how if I'm not happy with my life then I can make a difference and try to make my life better. The Socratic Seminars really made me think about how to live a better life and to appreciate the things I have because you never know when it is your turn to die.

Some trends that I noticed throughout the Socratic Seminar is how throughout all of the Seminars we talked about death. Death is a very morbid subject however the life you live before it should hopefully be influential to others. I noticed that throughout all of the seminars that one of my goals was to draw other people in the conversation and I did this once. I didn't really accomplish this goal because I would find it very awkward to draw someone else in. Another reason why I did not accomplish this goal was because I didn't want to look like I was putting them on the spot. Instead for future seminars I will try to draw others into a conversation by asking them how they felt or their initial reactions to something that happened in the book.

A trend I noticed with the class is that with each Seminar we made connections to other pieces of literature such as, To Kill A Mockingbird and A Child Called It. I think we made these connections because different characters relate to certain people or ideas in the novel. Another trend that was brought upon throughout the novel was how strange Morrie's behaviors were. We all mainly thought that Morrie's behaviors were strange because throughout the novel Morrie kept a positive attitude. As a class we discussed how we would react if we were in his place and how we differ from him in different scenarios.

Inspirational Tuesday

Pages Read: 0-152

Prompt:Based on the 6 Tuesdays you have read about in Tuesdays with Morrie, choose which topic (The World, Feeling Sorry For Yourself, Regrets, Death, Family, or Emotions) that has had the most impact on you or inspired you. On your blog discuss the importance of this topic with your own opinions, including textual evidence (direct quotes) from the book. 

Throughout the book Tuesday's with Morrie one of the most inspirational "Tuesday's" so far has been the one about feeling sorry for yourself. This is one of the most inspirational Tuesday's so far mainly because throughout the chapter they talk about how it's natural to feel bad for yourself, it doesn't necessarily make you egotistical. I think that I tend to feel bad for myself mainly because it's only me and my mom. I know it's natural but sometimes I say wow I hate my life but do I really, yes/no. I think that sometimes we say these things just to help compensate for the things you lost but in the long run life moves on.

Another reason why this Tuesday has inspired me so much is because in the book it says "I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life." (P.57). This quote to me really inspires me because instead of always focusing on the negatives we should focus on the positives. There are so many negative things in life that we begin to focus on them only when there are so many things we should be happy about. 

One more reason why I think that this quote is really inspiring is because if you focus on negatives more you start to become a negative person. Once you hit that people wont really like you because no one likes negative vibes. I think that the more kind and positive you are the better and happier your life will be. However I think that it can be hard to be a positive person at times because sometimes life is hard but it is up to you to try and make it better.

Tuesday's with Morrie

What are your initial reactions to what you have read in Tuesdays with Morrie thus far? One of the main themes developing in Tuesdays with Morrie is not to take your life for granted. Based on this premise, what is on your Bucketlist? You can write a paragraph leading up to a bulleted list of what you would like to do/accomplish in your life.

In the book "Tuesday's with Morrie" the main character, Mitch, visits his old teacher Morrie who has ALS. Morrie throughout the book so far seems to be very calm and seems to not care that he has ALS. Morrie does it like to think of the negatives so in the book he is trying to make the best of the time that he has left. Morrie seems like a very happy guy which surprised me because if I had ALS I think I would be very sad because not only do I know that I'm going to die but I will be leaving people behind. In the novel Morrie has lost total control of his lower body so he is reliant on people to take care of
 him. Something that I really liked was how Morrie likes to teach his about life. In the book on page 31 Morrie says, "You can play all the lovely parts of life that I'm to old for now." To me thus quote really shows how Morrie likes to help others and how he likes to stay positive. 

Morrie in the books seems to not like to take things for granted because of his disease so he try's to make the best out of his life with the time that he has. Morrie was said to be a very happy person prior to him being diagnosed and he loved to dance. Something that really shocked me was how close his relationship is to Mitch. This really inspires me to one day hopefully have a really good friendship with someone. Another things that shocked me was how laid-back Morrie is. In the book when Morrie was being interviewed he swore and was completely honest which I really liked. I really liked this because Morrie wasn't acting fake or putting tons of makeup on as if he was trying to disguise himself.

Reading about Morrie trying to live his life to the fullest really inspired me to try and live mine to the fullest. The following things are goals I wish to accomplish in my life.

Education Goals:
Graduate High school in the top of my class
Graduate College with a bachelor's degree in Musical Theater
Get a masters degree for Musical Theater
Attend NYU

Life Goals:
Make it on Broadway
Become famous
WIN A TONY AWARD
Perform on the Gershwin theater stage
Live in a apartment near the city of New York
Have kids (2)
Get Married
Have an organized closest

FUN GOALS!
Become and organized person
Go to Coachella
Go to Lollapalooza
Go to see Halsey
Go to see Lana De lRey
Go to see Melanie Martinez
Go to see Marina And The Diamonds
^ I know I'm such a fangirl!

3rd Quarter Reflection

3rd Quarter Reflection

4/8/16

I think that one of the biggest improvements I have made this quarter is reading a lot more and being more proactive. I think that this is one of my biggest improvements because I have read four books this quarter versus last quarter two books. I think that this is very beneficial for the future because I have been understanding books more and looking for things such as theme. This will definitely benefit me in the future because I am getting a head start on future things that I will be doing in high school.

The books that I have read this quarter include, "Girls Drums and Dangerous Pie", "Oliver", "After Ever After" , and "The Green Glass Sea". The book "The Green Glass Sea" I read at the library in one day so I'm pretty proud to say I finished that book because it's a decent sized book.

Something that I have accomplished that I am proud of is reading 20 books this year. I am really proud of this because it's means I'm half way to accomplishing the 40 book challenge. I think that this goes to show that if you want to accomplish something you just have to put your mind to it. Throughout the process of reading 20 books I have started to find new writing techniques, and I have expanded my horizons because believe me if I could only read John Green books I would. However instead of doing this I found new books and started reading different genres and finding new authors that I really enjoy reading from.

The most challenging part of 3rd quarter for me would probably be time management. Time management was a huge problem for me because at times I would want to read for battle of the books however I had to go to practice etc. In the end I was able to read my books however I did this in a bit of a hurry. Sometimes I would say "Oh I will do this tomorrow and hold it off for a week. This was really bad because I held back my team a bit however I broke out of the habit because I realized I was only making it worse for myself because I'm building up stress the more I hold it off. My goal for next quarter is to be more persistent with my reading and to not procrastinate which is hard to do but with some dedication I think that I will be able to overcome this challenge.

Blog for week 3/10/16 After Ever After

Prompt: what you are reading is going to be made into a movie. Create the movie poster.

          On my photo one of the things I added in was a guy and a girl holding hands. The reason why I decided to add this was because of the crush that Jeffery has on a girl named Lindsey. Both of them so far in the book seem to be getting along quite well and so far she is one of the only nice people in the class. Jeffery seems to have a really huge crush on her and she seem s to be a bit interested as well. In the book it says, "'By the way' she said, 'there are two thing you really ought to know. First of all, classroom windows are very reflective. If you're not careful someone siting from you might be able to look at them and read your computer screen.' Oh, geez 'what's the other thing?' 'You're cute when you blush."(P.24). This quite shows how she not only likes teasing him but finds him cute and I find that really cute.

          Something else that I added in was a laboratory flask. The reason why I added this was because this was the class where Jeffery not only struggles in but also sits right by Lindsey his crush. In this class the teacher is very mean and expects a lot from Jeffery however Jeffery doesn't pick up material as quick as some of the other students. Above the photo I have the words perfection and the reason why I added this was to show how the Science teacher expected perfection.

           Another thing that I added was a pile of journals on the right side to represent how in Ms. Palmas's class he had to write journals. This is very interesting because his older brother had her as a teacher when Jeffery had Cancer. Jeffery's older brother would write in his journal on how he feels neglected and how his world was now flipped upside down. Just like his older brother, Jeffery has a tendency of derailing from the topic and venting about his life problems.

After Ever After Blog 2-6-16

Prompt: Why did you chose this to read? Give at least three reasons why.

          One of the reasons why I chose to read After Ever After was because of the author of the book who is Jordan Sonnenblick. Jordan Sonnenblick has wrote other books that I personally really like such as, Drums Girls and Dangerous Pie, and, Notes from The Midnight Driver. I really like his books because they are very realistic and tackle things that are relatable like trying to fit in and making huge mistakes. I think that we can all in someway relate to characters in his books because they are all realistic books and some of the things you might be going through or maybe you know someone going through the same things that the character is going through.

Spoiler...

          In the book Drums Girls and Dangerous Pie the main character Steven has to deal with his younger brother Jeffery and his whole life being changed. The reason why I am brining this up is because I didn't at first notice that After Ever After is the next book and that in this book Jeffery no longer has cancer and now he is trying to live a normal life. The similarities between both his older and younger brother are noticeable however they do differ a bit. The reason why I wanted to read this book was to find connections and see how his life ends up because the thought of having cancer is very sad and I want to see if he would get it back or not and if he would truly live happily ever after.

Everything is good...

          The final reason why I chose to read this book was because my cousin recommended it to me and gave me a speech on how it was very inspirational. My cousin told me how the book would help you learn to appreciate the things you have and to live day by day. I find myself to have a lot of anxiety at times due to the fact of trying to be perfect, and I would stress myself out on trying so hard that I would grow anxiety. This book helped teach me in a way that it's okay to just be you and don't try to be something that you aren't because then you would be missing out on yourself. In the end you are who you are and you shouldn't change for anyone or anything and no mater what happens you have to keep on moving forward.

Life is Beautiful

Prompt: Based on the holocaust literature and poetry we have read, what connections can be made between "Life is Beautiful" and our reading? What events, scenes, or situations are similar or different about the mood or tone of the pieces? Analyze how differences in points of view of characters create suspense or humor.

How is life shown as beautiful throughout the film. Pull at least two examples from different parts of film and explain your rationale.

*Four Paragraphs Minimum.

          In the movie "Life is Beautiful" and in the book Night the characters are sent to concentration camps and throughout everything both Elie and Giousué were able to get through it. Both of these people were cared for dearly by their parents. In the movie "Life is Beautiful" and in the book Night both Elie's father and Guido cared for their sun and were with them almost the whole entire time and sadly in both cases both of the fathers die and give up their life for their son's life. In both the movie and book the characters try to show hope and in the book Night Elie starts to lose faith however goes back to it. In the movie Guido tries to make not only his son but wife hopeful. The father tries to tell them that things will get better. When he plays the music and also tells his son that everything happening was a game he shows how he cares for them very much.

          A few things were different between the movie and the book. One of the things that was different was how right off the bat you knew that Night was much more serious and in the movie it was very funny. In the book Night one of the saddest things was how at the end Elie had no one but himself, he had lost his whole family and it was a very morbid book. In the movie "life is beautiful" its starts off showing how this man really loves this woman and it mentions in some areas on how Hitler is coming to power and they vandalized the horse calling it a jew horse however the beginning wasn't focused on that it was focusing on his love for this woman. The man himself is a very funny character and he does some outrageous things that make him seem funny however it isn't until the end where it gets serious because even then the man is still kind of funny. Another big difference was how in the book Night it really focused in on religion and how to keep it when in "life is Beautiful" it never truly focus's in on religion.

          The tone in Night was very melancholy and morbid because it focused a lot on losing faith and death etc however it seemed like a more honest version because he wasn't sugar coding anything he was giving us some honest information. The tone in "Life is Beautiful" is defiantly a lot more happy and hopeful and this was because he had a young son who was probably five so he told him how everything was a game and not to worry because I  doubt you would go up to your kid and say how were all going to die no matter what so your done because that is pretty harsh for a five year old to take in. However in Night his father never really said anything about were all going to die and he didn't sugarcoat anything he just let Elie find out himself.

          I think that one point of view that was really funny to watch was in the movie "life is beautiful" when the little kid was hitting himself in the head with a spoon because it shows how he was innocent and was bored and how he was just trying to entertain himself. This created humor because it shows how he didn't know right from wrong and how he was really bored. another point of view that was really funny was when  that main Character Guido was trying to impress the girl by walking around her with a pillow on a stick and he used this as an umbrella. This was funny because it shows how this guy is really awkward and funny and the girl was kind of like what is he doing. A point of view that I found very serious was when in Night Ellie Wisel would step out and say how he didn't know that this would be the last time that he ever saw Tizpora and his mother which was very sad because he is telling a story and goes into present time and talks about how he feels or what he didn't know.

          Life in the movie is shown as beautiful in multiple ways. One way that life is shown as beautiful is when we switch views and see the mother going through a pile of clothes that belonged to the people who were just gassed and when she is about to break down because she wonders if one of the clothes belonged to her son she hears over the loudspeaker her husband and son speaking and saying "buongiorno principessa". This gives the wife a ton of faith because now she knows that her husband is with their kid and that they are still both alive. Another way that life is shown as beautiful is when the husband (Guido) and the son are in a house serving food and luckily the son is sitting down eating with everyone else however they don't know that he is Jewish. What happens is when Guido is walking by a record player he notices a record and it is from the opera that he went to see and ironically his now wife was there and he played the song that they first heard when they looked into each-others eyes out of the window. Soon she heard it that night and she was reminded of the wonderful times she had with her husband and is reminded to not lose faith.


       

Night 2-24-16

Prompt: How do Elie's experiences during the Holocaust  change him as a person.

          The Holocaust changed Elie's life completely in many ways, one is when Elie and his religion. In the beginning of the book Elie is very religious and then in the middle of the book he starts to question if god's even real and begins to lose faith. At the end of the book Elie soon comes back to his religion for that is the only thing that he has.

          In the beginning of the book Elie Wiesel is very religious, in the book on page 3 (new edition) it says "By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogues to weep over the destruction of the Temple.". Right away you cant tell that he is highly pious man. Later in the book we are introduced to Moshe who is also very religious and plays almost like a mentor for Elie. In the book on page five it says "And Moshie the Beadle, the poorest of the poor of Sighet, spoke to me for hours on end about the Kabbalah's revelations and its mysteries."to me this quote shows how Elie was very devout in his religion and was very passionate in his religion.

          Later on in the book Ellie starts to question god's existence and this really does change Elie's attitude. In the book on page 33 when Elie is marching he begins to hear people pray and he then says "For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why would I want to sanctify his name? The almighty the terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent." .A little bit later in the book on page 34 where it says "Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams into ashes. Never shall I forget those things, ever were I condemned to live as long as God himself. Never." This quote shows how Ellie himself and his Views on God is starting to change and  soon starts to lose himself.

          Towards the end to the book Elie starts to get back into religion because of what the Rabi's son has done. Near the end of the book the Rabi started to run quick intentionally to get aways from his father because he believe the he would only slow him down and so what Elie does is pray that he will never end up like the Rabi's son because he doesn't want to end up like him and abandon his father. In the book on page 91 he says "It was good that I had forgotten all that. And I was glad that Rabbi Eliahu continued to search for his beloved son. And in spite of myself, a prayer formed inside me, a prayer to this God in whom I no longer believed. 'Oh god, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son had done". This quote shows me on how no matter what Elie still has that faith because he hopes to never do something that bad to his father because at that moment that the only person he has.

          After reading this book I have learned on how the Holocaust had a huge impact on not only Elie's life but other peoples lives. Elie has gone from worshiping to not liking god and his experience must have been very traumatic. Elie has lost his mother, seen babies burn, watch his father die, to many other things however he continuously kept on moving in life and that's honestly very inspirational. I feel like I myself take things for granted and this book has taught me to cherish the things that I have while I still have them because, you never know when they may be taken from you.

         

Night by Elie Wiesel

Prompt: List at least three problems the character has faced. Which one would be the most life changing?

          One challenge that Elizer faced while in the concentration camp was keeping his faith. This was a giant struggle considering on how in the beginning of the book he was highly pious. Now in the book he is doubting his religion considering on how God isn't currently helping others which makes him doubt that he's even real. In the book Elizer sees multiple people being hanged and this causes him to wonder why is God not helping.

          Another problem that Elizer faced during his time in the concentration camp would have to be trying to help his father. This was a huge problem because Elizer wanted to help however if he were to help he would probably die for trying to interfere with the Nazi's goals. In the book when Elizers father gets slapped Elizer wants to help however has this fear of being hurt while attempting to help or trying to step in because he could possibly make things worse.

          The biggest problem that Elizer had to face would probably having to part from his mother and sister forever. I think that this would be a major problem because he hasn't seen them ever again and it isn't really mentioned all that much however just thinking of never seeing your mother and sister ever again seems very sad. To me I would be completely crushed however Elizer seems to be okay but I feel like he's hiding his pain.

Holocaust Aow Impressions

Holocaust Aow Impressions
2.13.15

          One thing that I learned throughout the gallery walk would be on how a US Nazi Hunter has one last case. The Nazi hunter's name is Eli Rossen Burn and she is well known for her prior cases. The last Nazi is allegedly to old to go back to Germany so they decided to leave the man in NYC because they think that if they were to take him back to Germany that the man will die so they decided to leave him in NYC. Eli Rossen Burn thinks that this man is the last Nazi however some people disagree.

          Another thing that I learned throughout the gallery walk was how Survivors of the Holocaust really are trying to teach young children about what had happened so that the children can try to make a difference if something like this were to happen again. Jewish speakers around the world are trying let people know that we need to help with the Syrian refugee crisis and how it can't only just be Jewish people it has to be everyone because we've seen the outcome of the Holocaust so we should all make a change and help.

Thinglink Butterfly Project

I commented on Diana , Mariza, Lillian, and Rebecca's Blog

Berlin Memorial Activity Blog

Berlin memorial activity blog
2/3/16

          During the Berlin memorial activity what I learned was how many things were taken away from Jewish people through the years of 1933-1945. Some things that were taken away from the Jews were their jobs. Since the Jews lost their jobs their was no income meaning people didn't have much money. The Jews gradually as time went on lost about everything, the Jews had lost not only their jobs but some necessities they needed to have to stay alive such as milk and eggs. The Jew had also lost some ways that they would be entertained or ways that they would be able to have fun like going to a pool or going to see an opera.

          I think that the monument was built to teach younger people learning about the holocaust that this was real and some of the laws etc. I also think that this monument was built to help commemorate all of the people who died during the holocaust considering how Berlin is the capital and thats were most of the laws were made and the decisions that Hitler made were also made there.

           A pattern that I noticed with the laws are that each of them have one huge thing happening in the same year which could potentially change or affect the laws that came out. I think that Hitler mainly started to slowly strip away rights from the Jews slowly because he didn't want to make it look like he hated them out of no where. I noticed that in the year 1933 Hitler joined so when he first came in he wanted to show how he would become powerful so he striped the Jews of SOME rights.

          I think that something that would be hard for me to deal with is the law on Animals saying how any Jewish person couldn't own any pets. I think this because personally my dog is the love of my life. I feel like if someone were to take it away I would be really sad and mad because its mine so why would you take it away? I mean it could be worse for example the Nazi's taking away my family members or taking me away however it is kind of similar in away because
both for me are family.  

New Year New Me (2nd quarter reflection)

Blog For week 1-22-16
Prompt:


          I think that one of the  biggest improvements I made throughout quarter 2 would have to be doing good on vocabulary tests. I think that I've made a bug improvement in this section because so far I've received only threes and fours meaning that if it were to be a letter grade it would probably be a B. I think that I also improved in this section because I've been using good studying strategies which possibly will be able to aid me in the future.

          Something that I have accomplished that I am very proud of is having the courage to take a placement test at Nazareth. I am very proud of this because before I was very nervous because I had never taken a test so hard however all of the practice test have he helped prepare me in ways I didn't think it could. I think I did good on the test which I am very proud of because of all the practicing.

            I think that the most challenging part of 2nd quarter has been keeping up with the To Kill A Mockingbird readings. I think this because at times it was really hard to keep on reading so many pages everyday. I did keep up with the readings however it was tiring at times but I kept up so I'm proud of that. In conclusion I think that to prevent getting tired I will start reading more pages everyday.

1-19-16
Book: To Kill A MockingBird 
Pages read: Beginning to End

         I think one of the biggest differences between the written and movie version of To Kill A Mockingbird is how Aunt Alexandra isn't in the movie. In the book Aunt Alexandra plays a huge role as basically Scout and Jem's mother. The children at first don't like her however soon begin to like her and see her ways. In the movie Miss Maudie takes Aunt Alexandra's place and takes that role as a mother possibly because the movie producers didn't find her role that important however she is important. In the book Aunt Alexandra teaches Scout to be a bit more feminism and teaches Scout to be more ladylike. In the movie Scout doesn't have aunt Alexandra there so she never learns this lesson meaning that Scout could have never been taught how to be lady like which could have changed her life.

          I think that the purpose of them having multiple versions of To Kill A Mockingbird is to get the strong story out more. In the movie "To Kill A Mockingbird" the children don't really interact with black people as much as they do in the book. When the children go with their father to go tell Hellen about how Atticus will be taking up the case Bob Ewell comes out of nowhere and stares at the children in the car and they zoom on his face etc. This is the first time the children interact with Boo Radley and black people which is huge! The children interact with Black people in the book when they go to the church with Calpurnia which is pretty important because they get to see a different side of racism coming from a black person.