Final Reflection

    This year has been a really challenging in Language Arts, and I mean it in a good way. There are many things I learned in Mrs.Larson's class but, three things that stuck out the most were time management, responsibility , and how great your writing is if you really put all your effort into it. In the beginning of the year I didn't realize how important it is when you manage your time because you can accomplish many things. Responsibility is something i was familiar with already, but Mrs.Larson showed me responsibility in a whole different way. And it was mostly through the assignments she gave because I had to make sure I turned in everything on time because she didn't remind us every second of the day. My writing got so much better in this class due to all the amazing techniques, but most of all because I decided to write from the heart when it was needed in my assignments.

      

      Something that we did this year that I will forever remember is the "I Believe" speeches. The reason why is because I felt that we all got to know each other better and in a way we all started sharing a bond with each other. Not only that but I feel like some of the things we shared made us feel better because it was out there. For me personally,I feel like sharing what I shared in my speech has made me feel less weight on me because it was a very sensitive topic.

       The nicest thing someone did for me in this class was the feedback they would give me on my writing. And it wasn't normal feedback, they gave me feed back without making me feel bad about my writing. It just felt like he was helping me and not being negative towards the errors I made.

       Something that I feel like I have taught my classmates, along with my teacher, was the importance of family. And I accomplished this all through writing and putting my heart into it.

       The area that I feel like I've improved the most in is introductions while writing a essay. I wasn't the worst but I just felt like I wasn't writing at the level i wished I was. Currently I am very satisfied with my writing but I know that I can improve even more.

       The most challenging part of this year was research because there are far more steps than just searching up a question on Google. You have to make sure the source is trustworthy, that the information is from current time, and that you give credit to the source when typing it up in your writing.

      The best piece of writing that I've done this year was my "I believe" speech. I feel that it was the best one because I wrote it very sincerely and I think that it was a very touching piece because I know that some students cried when they heard it.

     My favorite book of thus whole year was "The Giver" because i just find it so interesting of what a different society would be like.

      My advice for the next 8th graders is that you guys need to be very responsible when it comes to turning in work. If not your at risk of Mrs. Larson calling your parents in front of the class. Also don't procrastinate with your assignments because this class requires you to always be caught up or else you will fall behind.

"The Perfect Family"

Out of the many beliefs that I carry,  there are only a few that I will forever have with me. I believe in self confidence, respect, wisdom, but most of all I believe in a perfect family. I believe that there is a possible way of having a perfect family. Everyone has in vision of what a perfect family looks like, so yes it is possible.
                                                                                                                                                             What about you? What's your definition of a perfect family? In general, family is a single word with many different meanings. If you were to  search up on Google the definition of family it comes up as “a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household.” But I believe that family is people that you share a bond with, people that are there through thick and thin, and people who will support you and love you wholeheartedly.

I believe in a perfect family. It might not be theoretically possible for people to believe in perfect families, and that's fine, but we should keep in mind that if we feel safe, loved, and happy that already is a perfect family.

My mom was never an ordinary mom while I was growing up. Matter of fact she wasn't much of a mom at all. I had to rely on myself every single day to get my siblings and me through the day since I was 7. And no I don't believe she was the worst mother in the world because at some point she was the best mom anyone could ever have, but realistically she never was truly ready for motherhood. Well since I was still a minor and wasn't supposed to be taking care of two younger kids, in the summer of 2015 a neighbor called DCFS. On a Saturday a social worker knocked at the door, my mom wasn't at home, as usual, I let her in, and as she did an inspection the social worker realized that we were living off eggs and apples. She soon she made me call a relative and if I didn't do so she would have taken us to a foster home. I ended up calling my mom’s brother, my uncle, he came and took us in. We didn't stay with him forever, we were just there until our court case was solved. But in the meantime Him and his family showed me and my siblings how a real family works. They showed me what it feels like to actually have someone else worry about me.                                    
More than anything they showed us what a perfect family is.
                                                                                     
At the end of 2015 my brother and sister were taken into custody by their dad and I stayed half a year with my mom because I thought she might actually change. Eventually I realized that it wasn't happening so I went to go live with my uncle permanently On April 2016.

My mom might not realize it but thanks to her poor actions she's taught me how to be independent, how to be responsible, and more importantly, she's taught me what an unhealthy family looks like. The lesson I learned was that there is a better image of what a family looks like. I have witnessed both a bad and a perfect family, It has opened my mind up more. I definitely feel less pressure on me since I don't have to be taking care of two younger kids. I feel that it has changed me into a better person because I realized that forgiveness exist, although I don't think everyone deserves that privilege. I also come to realize how important it is to have a family because they are the one’s that are there for you when you're going through a hard time.  I know that this experience will help me when I get older, and I decide to have kids on my own. I will do everything in my power to just let my kids be kids.

At times we take for granted the type of family that we have, and like I've said before family doesn't imply having the same genes but having a bond. We don't come to realization that they are one of the people that are there for us unconditionally. we are all able to have someone that cares for us and loves us.

I believe that we all have the opportunity to have a perfect family

Literature circle/ nonfiction article blog

       Before I started reading After Ever After I wanted to guide my learning by using an essential questions. For instance the question that I asked was “What will happen if Jeff were to detach himself from Tad?” Well in the book Tad is Jeffery’s best friend, they both were cancer survivors until Tad, unfortunately, got cancer again. He ends up passing away and Jeff’s reaction connected to my EQ. Afterwards I found an article that connected to my book. “At 12, a cancer veteran serves others, becomes an author” in the article, Peter Zucca, a kid who was a cancer survivor had to get his leg amputated and his life changed. Just like in the article Jeff went through a big life change after his best friend died of cancer. The outcome that both Jeffrey from After Ever After and Peter from “At 12, a cancer veteran serves others, becomes an author” was that they decided that they were going to do something that was going to change other people's lives.

        Both in the article and in the book there is a common challenge that is being faced, cancer. Although cancer get’s interpreted differently. For instance in the book cancer was introduced as a negative thing, which it is, but Jeffrey would see no type of positivity on being a cancer survivor. In the book it states, “ The funny thing is, the treatment is nothing compared to what happens after you're ‘cured’. And the most annoying thing in the world: they tell you how lucky you are to be cured, like you've escaped a death sentence all it's own. But being a cancer survivor can be a life sentence all it's own.” Jeff doesn't see the fact that he survived cancer is a blessing. He also hates the fact that everyone pities him. In the other hand Peter actually saw cancer as a way to be more confident with himself. In the article it states, “Yet Peter emerged determined, a superhero of sorts, hence the name of his nonprofit, the Peter Powerhouse Foundation, established a year ago with his mother, Dawn as president.” Peter always tried to look on the bright side after his illness.

          But the same outcome ended up happening at the end. For instance Jeffrey decided that he was going to do a bike race or cancer ride as he calls it to raise money for cancer patients. Peter as well  made a foundation to raise money for kids with cancer. Cancer is something that is some what similar throughout out the patients because in these both scenarios the both of them had a fight or flight option, they both addressed it a different way but had the same result in finding a way to help out.  Even though they both had suffered from cancer and both had a different view of the cancer and they both ended with the same result, defeating cancer. It is something that is difficult to understand specially being a young child, they both wanted to make a difference at the end, a way to help others, to find the good in the bad.


Snyder, Susan . "At 12, a cancer veteran serves others, becomes an author." Newsela | At 12, a cancer veteran serves others, becomes an author. N.p., 8 Sept. 2015. Web. 12 May 2017.


Sonnenblick, Jordan, and Marijka Kostiw. After ever after. New York: Scholastic, 2014. Print.

                                 

     

After Ever After

The book After Ever After is a book about a teen named Jeffrey Alper. In the beginning of the book he talks about having cancer in fourth grade but luckily he survived making him a cancer survivor. The cancer is far behind him but, he still worries that it might come back. Now that he’s in eighth grade he tries to have a normal life and worry about “normal” stuff. As the he explains his life he mentions how he meets his best friend, Tad, also a cancer survivor. Jeffrey also brings up another character named Lindsay, his crush that later on becomes his girlfriend. Things were looking really great for Jeffrey until he discovers a letter for his parents on the mailbox. The letter informed that in order to pass eighth grade every eighth grader had to pass a state test in which there would be a lot of math involved. Which was a huge problem because math was something Jeffrey has struggled with. And if his dad, who's a math teacher himself, were to find out about this test he would make Jeffrey go on study mode everyday until the test.

So far in After Ever After there have been a few important events but one that has stuck out to me the most is the story of Jeffrey’s cancer. The reason why is because having cancer can change anyone's life, it can make you see life with a different perspective. For Jeffrey death doesn't seem like a big deal to him. He believes that when it comes to death he's more mature than his older brother Steven. Cancer didn't only affect Jeffrey but it also affected his friend Tad who's also a cancer survivor. Tad is in a wheelchair due to all the brain damage that caused him not to have full control of his body. Although it's not impossible for him to walk he says he stopped completely trying because of a comment his crush made about him walking funny. Cancer is something that will change a person's perspective and motives on certain things either for better or worse.

A prediction that I have for the next pages of the book is that since I'm in the middle of the book something big is going to happen that will change the course of the story. For instance maybe Steven will come back from Africa and will give Jeffrey lots of advice that might change all of the decisions that he makes from now on in the book. Another thing that could happen as well is Tad getting cancer again. That would definitely be something crucial to the book because that's Jeffrey's best friend. We would also get to see if Jeffrey's perspective of death changes.

I commented on Arely's blog

'Life is Beautiful' Blog

The film Life is beautiful and the memoir Night has many similarities as well as many differences. An example of how they are similar were some of the events, the fact that both in the book and film the main characters and other Jews received a warning of some sort of what was coming. In Night their warning was Moche the Beadle, a character who was a foreign Jew that was taken by the Nazis. Moshe was able to escape from the slaughter that the Nazis were doing with Jews. Afterwards  he wanted everyone to the atrocities he saw being committed towards Jews by these men known as the Nazis. Unfortunately no one believed him, they let their positive thinking get in the way from taking Moshe the Beadle’s story and trying to figure out if it was true or not. In the film Life if Beautiful they too had a warning. The Nazis spray painted the white horse of the uncle of Guido with green paint and wrote “Danger, Jewish horse” in German, Guido was a positive man that didn't pay no mind to the warning.
          Life is Beautiful and Night didn't only have similarities they as well had differences. For example in the film Guido had made up a game for his son as they were going to the work camp. Guido basically made his son believe that they were going there as a vacation and that if they stayed there they would earn 1000 points and that would get them a tank. Of course the child believed it. Guido found a way to make his child avoid being traumatized by the camp itself. But in the memoir, Elie and his father were already older so they just took in the reality of being prisoners of the work camps.
          The mood was very different but at the same time it was the same. In the movie the main character from Life is Beautiful, Guido, made the film have humor. The reason why he used humor was to not make his son, Giosué, feel frightened in the camp. Not only did he add humor to the film but he also gave hope along with the humor which was a bit refreshing. Unlike in the book, Night, there wasn't any humor at all. It was all very serious and a bit depressing. But then again the film was all fiction and the book was a memoir of a Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel. The similarity though was the sorrow that was seen in both. At the end of the film Guino dies trying to keep his child safe and in the movie Elie’s father dies, the last family Elie had.
       Even though the end of the film Life is Beautiful was very sorrowful there was some parts within the movie that really did show how beautiful life is. For instance some part during the middle of the movie there was a party in which Dora was announced to be engaged to a man when all of a sudden Guino comes in with a horse and basically asks Dora to go with him. She accepts and they have a child. I found this part really beautiful because Dora fell in love with Guino and left what she had for him while Guino really obtained what he wanted, to be loved by Dora. The best part was the fact that they had a baby which gave the audience the feeling that they would have a happily ever. Another event that I found beautiful was when Guino and his son were in the camp and Guino made up a game for his son. He told made him think that they were there to earn a prize. Guino did everything in his power to keep his son from suffering. It caught my attention because Guino was willing to do anything to keep his son from finding out what was really happening in those camps.

           

3rd quarter Reflection Blog

This quarter has been one of the craziest yet, I've had many ups and downs. I don't think that I did so great in ELA for 3rd quarter. And yeah you would expect a student to have everything together by the end of 3rd quarter. Unfortunately I didn't. I’m pretty sure my grades went down, and I don't think I was focused nor do I think I tried my best. But there is something that I have taken from this experience, and something that I will improve on in the future. I've realized that I need to manage my time to get work done. I also come to realize how to be more focused and be even more responsible so that I don't fall behind like I did this quarter.

 Everything wasn't so bad this quarter, from the blogs that I've recently done I have seen improvements. For example compared to my blogs from August you can tell that I'm doing a better job of organizing my thoughts. Other improvements that I'm very proud of is how easy it is to write in an objective tone when it comes to a topic. It has become like an instinct to not put subjective words such as I, we, and I think. I'm positive this will help me do a better job in debates etc.
 
A goal that I want to accomplish for 4th quarter is to have a better vocabulary when it comes to writing. For instance I don't want to keep using basic words to describe emotions. I also would like my writing to be more meaningful. I want it to have some sort of effect on the reader's thinking.

Night blog

        People change in many ways all the time, especially after a very tragic event. An example of change in a person can be seen in the memoir that I've been reading called Night by Elie Wiesel, here he goes back and talks about his experience as a Jew in a concentration camp during WWII. He describes scenes that can’t be unseen. Elie changes both physically and mentally. For example a change that can be easily seen is his connection with God and his religion.

       In the beginning of the memoir Elie is a young boy who was only seeking to serve god in any way he could, in other words he was very pious. An example of his devotion for God is in the book where it says, “He had watched me one day as I prayed at dusk. "Why do you pray?" he asked after a moment. Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe? "I don't know," I told him…”(4.) In this passage Elie’s master, Moshe the Beadle, asks questions that even Elie can’t answer about himself. When he’s asked about why he cries when he prays he makes it seem as it it’s something necessary to live and compares it to breathing and living. Young Wiesel believes that he was born to serve God. Unfortunately when he arrives in the camp his beliefs change. In the text it says, “ Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my souls and turned my dreams into ashes.” (32) Elie feels as if as in the moment that he was prisoner in the concentration camp his God wasn't the one he thought He was. Elie saw so much death that it actually destroyed his view on God.

        Wiesel’s faith wasn't the only thing that changed through the book, his relationship with his dad also did. In the book as Elie and his father arrive at the concentration camp a traumatizing moment for any child happens, in the text it says, “I did not move. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, before my very eyes, and I had not flickered an eyelid" (37) As Elie’s father gets beaten up by one of the guards Elie gets paralyzed and does nothing, he himself was even surprised. Before Elie was ever in the camp he would've definitely done something if one of his parents was ever disrespected like that, but the fear made him freeze and be a bystander. If you think about it Elie and his father were there for a small amount of time, which means that it only took a bit to change Elie. It also shows how cruel and terrifying the atmosphere was.

Butterfly Project

"It all depend on how you look at it"

Terezin is full of beauty.
It’s in your eyes now clear
And through the street the tramp
Of many marching feet I hear
In the ghetto at Terezin,

It looks that way to me,
Is a square kilometer of earth
Cut off from the world that’s free.

Death, after all, claims everyone,
You find it everywhere.
It catches up with even those
Who wear their noses in the air.

The whole, wide world is ruled
With a certain justice, so
That helps perhaps to sweeten
The poor man’s pain and woe.



        I commented on Claudia's blog
        I commented on Nathaly's blog
        I commented on Jack's blog
        I commented on Isaiah's blog
        I commented on America's blog

Berlin Memorial Activity

          Based  on the Berlin memorial activity I learned that when laws for the Jewish were made they were small changes, at first, such as Jewish people not being able to join clubs or prohibiting them from going to the beach. Now this all started in 1933 and as the years went by all the way to 1945 the laws made for Jews became more extreme and specific, for example, in 1942 Jews HAD to have a "Jewish star" displayed outside of their homes. There are many other absurd laws.

           I think that monument was build stop making people feel like it's okay to talk about the Holocaust. Of course some people may think that that's disrespectful but I'm sure those aren't the intentions of the people who put the signs up. It's more of a symbol that they were able to get through that and see it as a big life lesson.

           Something that I noticed about the number of laws passed in certain years was that it was all  definitely planned out because in 1933  there was a ton of laws that were being made for Jews, and it wasn't laws that immediately made them go into concentration camps or anything like that they were more of small things being changed like Jewish actors and actresses not being able to continue their career. As the years progressed the laws were very specific and were more serious. One thing that I know for sure is that Hitler was a very smart man that had the talent to talk people into things. Unfortunately he didn't use his brains or his talent for anything positive.

           A restriction  that I would have the most trouble doing with would be the law passed down  that said that you werent able to have any pets at home. The reason why is because back when I used to own a dog I know that you get attached to your pet. And I know what it feels like to have your pet taken away. It always feels lonely and you miss even the smallest things of them.

2nd Quarter reflection

          As this 2nd quarter ends there are many things that have contributed to my writing and to my learning in ELA in a positive way. For example an area in language arts that I have improved on a lot is my writing. Now it’s more easier to have my ideas come out on to my writing. In the beginning I wasn’t the worst writer but I wasn’t writing in the level that I wanted. Now it’s more easier for my ideas to flow and make my writing sound more professional. Annotating was another big accomplishment too because at times I would annotate information that was irrelevant to what I was supposed to be looking for.
          Another improvement that I have accomplished in this class since the new year is being more attentive to the world. Before I didn’t really see the news or anything of that sort. Me being involved with my surroundings has made me analyze to what's happening in the world. It also helps me in my writing. For example me reading the newspaper has influenced me to try to mimic some of their techniques into my own work.
          The most challenging part of 2nd quarter was to keep up with the assignments. Even though I didn't miss any it was hard and challenging because Mrs.Larson was already expecting us to have a more professional writing. Along with a lot more reading. We made about two blogs on books that we had to read on our own. Another thing that I had a bit of a hard time on was on research. Even though I love doing research it’s a lot more challenging when you have to make sure your sources are trustworthy.

Written transcript: "Flipped" by Wendelin Van Draanen

       The title of the book that I'm currently reading is called Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen. The genre of this book is Realistic fiction. The setting in which the book takes place isn´t very specific of when or where the book happens but we do know that it's in a small town called Mayfield. The book happens within two places in the town, a school called Maywood Junior High and a neighborhood in Mayfield. The main characters of Flipped are Bryce and Julianna. We go through the journey along with them of growing up from a seven year old to a teenager in 8th grade with both characters. Even though Juli and Bryce narrate the same situations in the book they remember things differently since they have different mindsets. It makes both of them very different. Bryce for example is a character with many fears. He's afraid to climb the Sycamore tree, too scared to eat Juli´s eggs or even talk to her about them. Bryce isn't brave enough to stand up to his dad when he's being a jerk. He has been called a coward many time through the book as well. In the other hand Julianna is a free spirit who is very kind hearted. She also happens to have a big crush on Bryce since they were seven. Julie is a great daughter and great friend but she does go through some tough times as she grows up.
          The main conflict in the story is more like two problems in one. While Bryce was being a jerk by making fun of Julie’s disabled uncle Julianna realizes that Bryce might not be the one. At the same time Bryce is slowly noticing how great of a girl Julie is and how she might be the one for him. In other words the roles get ‘Flipped’. Since there are two narrators in the book, Julianna and Bryce, there are a variety of different moods. For Julianna the moods that she brings to the book are very passionate and exclamatory. She makes the book have more excitement and brings lots of deep emotions as well. For Bryce the type of mood he brings into the book is more of a laid back type of feeling. Don't get me wrong he also can bring a very cringy feeling as well. The theme of the book Flipped is to never exclude anything to anyone. What I'm trying to say is to never overlook something or just assume that what you see is all a person has to offer. It's basically like that saying “Don't judge a book by it's cover”.

        

            The book Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen is by far one of my top three favorite books. The reason why I really like this book is because I really liked the way the reader got to see both main characters change. It also has a lot of unexpected details that you could've never guessed. Something that I remember most of the book is the conversations Julianna and her dad had. For example I liked that advice he gave her about to not only focus on the small details of something but to look at the big picture. Someone that I would recommend this book to is to anyone that likes books that end up turning out completely different of how one imagined. The viewer should definitely try to read this book because I think it's a book that really makes feel like your part of the book. I mean you're basically watching the main characters grow and change.