Speech

                                                    “Help For The Better of Everybody”

     Have you ever done something good and felt ecstatic by doing it? I believe that little things you do for people, such as fixing your brother’s bed or cleaning the house, can have good effects on the day. Not only can that action make somebody feel good, it can also make you feel good about what you’ve done. 

   My siblings and I aren't as clean as our parents, but if we see something on the floor we'd pick it up. We can be messy, but we don't like the house looking bad; or at least I don't want the house to look bad, so when I saw the house a total wreck after coming home from school I knew something had to be done. My parents weren't home, so it was just the kids home. We knew that our parents would have been tired from work, so we started cleaning the house. When my parents came home they were really happy that we did that. They praised us and we all felt good about it.

     My point is, that a small action spared my parent’s more time and let them take a load off from work. Ever since I had helped them that one day I remembered how good it felt, so now I clean the house more than usual, and help people with their “little” tasks. Little things like that can make everybody feel good, not just the person you are directing it towards, but also to yourself. 

End of Year Reflection Blog

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

The three most important things I've learned is memory, punctuation, and self-obedience. Memory is really important because almost every week we have a vocabulary quiz and you have to memorize the spelling, definition, and part of speech. Punctuation is important because it is needed a lot in the future. For example, in the future you might have to write a letter, but if you do not have the correct punctuation you might end up looking really dumb. Self-obedience wasn't taught in her class but I had to learn how to control it. If you were to not do something like homework then tough consequences were made, which is where self-obedience comes in. Not only is it helpful in this class but it will also help in the future.

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

One thing we did this year that I think I'll remember is the To Kill A Mockingbird feast. The book was quite challenging for me to do but when we got finished with it we got rewarded with a feast of the food that was mentioned in the book.

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

The nicest thing someone has done for me is helping me with something I didn't quite understand. They would help me with homework or help me in class. When I say that, I don't mean that they did everything for me, it was more of pointers and hints on how to do certain things.

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

One thing that I taught to my classmate is how to study for vocabulary quizzes better. I noticed that someone was studying with flash cards and I to,d him that using quizlet was an easier way to study. After that, they started getting better grades than they have before.

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

The area in which I have improved on the most is punctuation. After Mrs. Larson gave us a lesson on punctuation I noticed that I had done a lot of things the wrong way. In fact, learning how to properly punctuate is one thing that I am round of accomplishing.

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

The most challenging part was the To Kill A Mockingbird unit. First off, To Kill A Mockingbird is a great book itself however I had to stay up until midnight or even later to finish it or to finish what we had to read. It was quite challenging because the next day I would be extremely tired, but when I got finished with the book I felt as if I won at life. Literally.

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

I think the best piece of write ping was my personal narrative towards the beginning of the year. I thought it was the best because I felt as if I poured my best into it, I felt as if I put my emotions into it and gave it all I got.

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

Of the books I've read this year I thought that Tuesday's with Morrie was the best. I thought it was the best because I've made the most connections to it. Tuesday's with Morrie made connections to me by my personal life, but another reason is because it is full of aphorisms, or life lessons and themes.

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

I'll give them the cliché advice of never giving up. The reason is because there were many times that I thought I couldn't do something in this class, but I persisted on doing it until it was done to my best abilities.

Morrie's Aphorisms - Final Project

My Aphorism: “Don’t assume that it is too late to get involved.” (p.18) 

     What Morrie meant by "Don't assume that it is too late to get involved" was that the positive effects of getting into the decision of getting involved. For example, if it is the middle of the school year and you have just gotten there and already see everybody with their own friends, you might think it would be too late for you to be friends with anybody because they already have their own friends. Morris's aphorism could be taken into a variety of different situations, but the point of the aphorism was to get you looking at the positive effects of getting involved is.

     The aphorism reminds me of when I first transferred into Heritage Middle School. There were about 2 or 3 moths left in the year and everybody made friends with everybody else. I felt as if I couldn't get a lot or many friends versus they already had their groups. I then tried to befriend them by getting involved with them. I started talking to them more about random things and right now I am friends with a bout everybody.

     I agree with Morrie on the side of the positive effects. However, this aphorism could be taken the wrong way and influence people into thinking doing bad things are good. An example would be that somebody is trying to get into a fight with somebody else, Morrie's aphorism could be taken to the wrong extent and end up starting a fight. That person might think, well I shouldn't think it's too late to get involved in this fight, which is where Morrie's aphorism's flaw is.

Socratic Seminar Morrie Reflections

     The past four Socratic seminars influenced my thinking about Tuesday's with Morrie by making me think about my own life. The reason is because during the seminars people would usually make personal connections to the book, which would also make me think about my personal connections to the book. After looking at my connections to Tuesday's with Morrie I noticed that I had a lot of connections to the book. One of the connections was that I had a family member who died of ALS before I was born. I found out by telling my parents what the book was about. After I told them the part about Morrie having ALS they told me about one of my grand-uncles who had died of ALS a couple years before I was born.

     A trend that I found about myself was that I had more content to discuss about than the last seminar. I gained experience from the last Socratic seminar to make the next seminar better. My goals were basically to participate more in the seminars. I would make it easier to participate more by, once again, writing more content to discuss about. It helps because the more content you have to discuss about, then you will be able to talk about more things, therefore allowing you to participate more.

      The trends I noticed about the class was that it got more participation and the discussion got more personal and went more off topic. It wasn't a bad thing that we got off topic because the students were making connections to Morrie, or the book in general. One thing that made each seminar better was that everybody made each other participate or help each other into the discussion. Also, since people made connections to their personal life more people felt comfortable with it and it helped them join e conversation.

Tuesday's with Morrie - What 'Tuesday' Has Inspired You?

      The Tuesday that has most inspired me is the second Tuesday. The second Tuesday is focused on feeling sorry for yourself. It impacted me the most because I think it is one of the most important things to do in your life, plus it is a human emotion that everyone has. Feeling sorry for yourself is important because it can help get rid of the stress you may have. If you are really feeling down and nobody else is feeling sorry for you then you would feel as if you are all alone. Feeling sorry for yourself gives you a feeling of reassurance.

     I think feeling sorry for yourself is one of the most easiest but hardest things to do. Feeling sorry for yourself is easy because it is a basic human emotion. It can happen without you even noticing or you might want to fight that emotion but it can happen by itself. The hard thing about feeling sorry for yourself is that you can't do it all the time because you will just be dragging everybody else's emotions down. Morrie said, "'Sometimes, in the mornings,' he said. 'That's when I mourn... But then I stop mourning.'... 'But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. On the people who are coming to see me.'" Morrie has a technique to stop mourning and feeling sorry for himself, which is focusing on the good things and other people in his life.

     One other thing I'd like to mention is how Morrie said he was lucky on knowing he had a terminal disease. In other words, he thought he was lucky that he knew he was going to die. Morrie said, "'It's horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But it's also wonderful because of all the time I get to say goodbye.'" The reason is because many other people die without knowing that they were going to die. Since they die without the knowledge of them dying they can't say goodbye to anybody. However, since Morrie knows that he is going to die he can say goodbye to all of his loved ones, friends, and family.

Tuesday's with Morrie - Bucket List

     I thought that it was pretty interesting on how the narrator says that Morrie was different, and then it shows how he was different than everybody. Something that showed he was different than the usual person is that he had a funeral for himself but he was still living. Usually somebody wouldn't do that, the usual routine was to just do a funeral when the person was dead.

     Somethings else that peaked my interest is how brave Morrie is. I think he is brave because he would go on and ask random students to help him hold a beaker while he was using the bathroom. Not only that, I was surprised that the students would accept his request. I'm sorry to say this but if he would have asked me to do it I would have rejected, but I would call another student to do it for him.

Bucket list:

 - Go travel out of the country (Out of the Americas)

 - Get at least a bachelors degree

 - Have a career or professional job that I would be proud to have

 - Help my family out as much as I can

 - Get a decent home in a good neighborhood

 

3rd Quarter Reflection Blog

     The area I think I have most improved on in English Language Arts is turning my assignments on time. Yes I know that there were some assignments that I turned in late but last quarter I had even more assignments that I have turned in late. I think it is a major improvement because before, I would not be able to turn in assignments during class and have to take it for homework. Now, I work a little faster and I'm now able to turn things in on time and not suffer later.

     Something that I have done this quarter that I am proud of is actually reading a book, not for an assignment however. I was bored one day and I didn't want to play video games or be on any electronics. So I just scavenged my house for a book, luckily I found one and it is called Black Beauty. I have been reading it for the past couple of weeks and I have been quite intrigued by it. 

     The most challenging part in 3rd quarter was doing the Anne Frank slides for the Holocaust Unit. That was the most challenging because when I would forget to do a couple slides then I would suffer later because I would have to do even more work than what I would have had to do. I made it easier for myself by doing it earlier so I wouldn't have to suffer later.

     A strategy that has been the most beneficial to me is getting things done early. For example when I was doing my Holocaust slides I started out not doing so well, like forgetting to do something then paying for it later. After that I thought that it would have been way easier to do more things than I needed to do later. That way I could have free time or could do any other work I was missing, or even do more.

     Other than that 3rd quarter has honestly been the easiest quarter in comparison of the others, one reason is because I made things easier for myself. Another reason is that I tried my hardest to commit to school.

Night

     Elie changed quite a lot from before and after the Holocaust occurred, or even during the Holocaust.  However, I see only one way he changed that is most noticible. The most noticible way he changed was by his belief in God or his religion. In the beginning Elie wanted to be more in touch with his religion and wanted to learn more about it. "Thus began my initiation. Together we would read, over and over again, the same page of Zohar. Not to learn it by heart but to discover within the very essence of divinity." Wiesel first asked his father on who can help him learn Kabbalah but his father says Wiesel is too young to learn it. After his father rejected Wiesel's answer he asks Moishe the Beatle if he could teach him to know more about his religion. That is when Wiesel began his initiation.

    About midway through the book, when Wiesel is in the concentration camp he says different things about God and starts questioning God. This is the time when times have gone completely hard and that is when Wiesek asks God on why he is not helping him and why he isn't stopping anything. "for the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?" Wiesel is asking why God is being silent or is not doing anything and he also says that there was nothing to thank god for since he wasn't helping or doing anything about what is being done to the Jews.

     Towards the end of the book Elie sees that the Rabbi's son tried to ditch him or get rid of him to get a better chance of survival. Elie then realizes that it was an easier way to survive but he really didn't want to do that to his own father. He ends up praying to God to not let him do what Rabbi's son did to his own father. Throughout the entire book he ceased to pray and to believe God was helping them, but now that he has seen somebody turn on their own family he does not want to do the exact same thing.

Night Blog

     After reading this far I wonder if Wiesel's mother and sisters made it out of their concentration camp alive or even reunited with Wiesel and his father. I wonder this because I know that Wiesel made it out alive or else we would have not been reading the book in the first place because he wouldn't be able to make the book if he was dead. So since we know he made it out alive that is why I'm curious if his relatives made it out alive too.

     The most important event in the story Night is when Wiesel and his family leave their hometown and go to a concentration camp. I think it is the most important event because this is where their lives and prespectives change by a lot. When they were first turned into a ghetto in their hometown they still had smiles on their faces and felt not a lot of change in their life, after they left they had a shot new prespectives of everything. Wiesel goes throughout a series of hard events, Wiesel's family is put in a compacted cattle car with most of the people from their town crunched up in there, Wiesel's family gets separated, then everything gets worse from their on. Little by little their humanity or civil rights get taken away and it breaks them down.

     One big way I see the main character Wiesel change is his loyalty to God. As time goes by he loses his faith in God and starts to question Him. "Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?" Pg #33 This quote goes to show that Wiesel didn't think God was doing the right thing and God wasn't doing anything but watching them suffer as they go through these rough experiences. Another way he changes is by him not saying anything when his father gets beat. When his father gets beat Wiesel says he didn't do anything but he thought that before they went to the camps he probably would have tried to help his father. Now he is just accepting everything that is happening and is changing the way he is as a human, the Nazis were taking away his humanity.

Holocaust Aow Impression

     What I have learned from the other articles was money first person experiences of the Holocaust. Most of the other AoWs were about what different experiences different people had in the Holocaust. One AoW was about how a man got to live because he was a technician for the Nazis, they didn't eliminate him because they had no other technicians and he was the only one to do it. Some people didn't make it as lucky as him, they had lost family or have even been a refugee. I have seen other opinions about Nazis who were even Jewish, someone who has been interviewed in the article talked about how they do not hate the Nazis because it would make them as bad as the Nazis.

     One other thing I learned about the AoWs was that some were repeated, or I have seen the same AoW from different people. Not only that but, they all had different explanations for their AoWs. One person would focus on only one of the people's view whom has gone through the Holocaust, and some would look at different experiences of different people. I have also learned that most of the articles were publish last year.

     

Butterfly Thinglink "Night In The Ghetto" Anonymous 1943

Berlin Memorial Blog

     There there are many things that I have not known before this activity or assessment that I now have gained knowledge of. I have my opinions of this activity and here they are.

    I learned that there were a lot of different unfair laws that the Jews had to go through even before they were put to death. The laws first start out bad, but not too bad where it would be horrible to live. However, as the years go by the Jews start to lose all of their civil rights. Working revoked, school revoked, pets taken away, then the last stage is lives condemned to death.

     I think this monument was built for a variety of different reasons. First off, the definition of memorial is a structure to remember important events or people. So the main reason I think the memorial was created was to show the Jews who had survived the Holocaust and the Jews who died respect. I think it was built to show the pity of what horrid things the Jews had to go through and is therefore a monument that is basically to show pity for the Jews. 

     I saw that the number of laws didn't really change much. There was basically no correlation between the laws and the years that went by. One year there might be a lot of laws, then another year there might not be a lot of laws, then the year after it goes back to making a high number of laws. One other thing I noticed about the laws was that the more years that went by, the more harsh the laws became.

     The law that I feel would be the most trouble dealing with would be the one to get everyone who is working and organize their arrest. I can only imagine if one normal day of your life that you wake up, go to school, and once you get back home your dad isn't there and everybody at your house is crying or is depressed. That has got to be one of the worst things that could happen in your life. Losing a loved one is one of the hardest things that could ever happen to you, especially if it has no good reason behind it. Sure some people might think that losing their pet is bad and it is like losing a loved one, but imagine actually losing a loved one. That might seem a little cold hearted from me, but it would be harder to lose a relative than to lose a pet. This is all why I think that would be the hardest law to go through.

     In conclusion, I think that I have learned many things from this activity and will most likely help me in the future if someone ever starts talking about the Holocaust or knows somebody who was in the Holocaust.

2nd Quarter Reflection

     The one of the most challenging parts of second quarter for me was reading the book To Kill A Mockingbird. Throughout the time I was reading that book I usually had to stay up late trying to read it, which was kind of hard because the next day I would be tired. There was a couple of times when I didn't do it because I was just too tired. That didn't stop me from completely not doing it though. The way I overcame it was whenever I had the spare time I would finish the parts I didn't do on for the book, like answering the questions and filling in the organizer. 

     I think that the most I have improved for English Language Arts is that I would complete the missing assignments I did not or was not able to do. For example, if I didn't do an assignment from before because I was absent or anything of that content I would end up finishing that assignment at another time. Before, I would have just left it the way it was and not do anything to make up for it. That is one way I have improved, for all of my other classes too.

     Out of all the books I've read so far I would choose To Kill A Mockingbird. I would say this is my most favorite because unlike any other book I've read, I have annotated it, I've answered questions, and did a study on it. All of that made me have a better understanding of the book. Most of the other books I would read wouldn't make sense because I would read it half-heartedly, but this book I was forced to read and analyze it and it made more sense to me. Another main reason is because it shows me how it was back in the day, I don't know why but I like to compare things on how things were back then to how they are now. Of course To Kill A Mockingbird wasn't an ordinary place but it shows how it was back then and how people in small towns were like.

     I have many things that I have accomplished that I am happy of but there is one thing that I have accomplished that I am most proud of which is getting good grades. I know that sounds a little bit cliché but usually around the second quarter my grades will take a little drop. Last year I had 2 Cs and the rest Bs, but I am holding up most of my classes with 3s. I plan to keep maintaining my grades that way for the rest of the year, I will even try to go higher. 

TKAM Comparative Analysis

     I think that the most important difference is the events in which they happened. I think this because the book did a better job at developing the story, but the movie did less of a job because they had different events happening at different times of the book and some events from the book didn't even show up in the movie. One example is when Mr. Ewell spat in Atticus' face, in the book he spat in Atticus' face toward the middle of the story. However, in the movie Mr. Ewell spat in Atticus toward the end of the story.

     The version of the story of To Kill A Mockingbird that I believe delivers the best message is the book version. I think this because in the movie version it skips lot of things that happened in the book. Since the book has more events then it could develop the story better and you could understand better on what is going on. The book version is also more descriptive than the movie. In my opinion I think that the book version was way better at delivering it's message to the audience because it is way more descriptive and develops the story.

     I think that the purpose of having two different versions of a story is to show what other people think about it, or what they think it's about. I think this because the movie and the book were made by two different people. The movie was inspired by the book, so the person who made the movie put in what they thought the book was about. It is like a fan trying to mimick what they like or do what their admired person does.