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.

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