Final Reflection

The three most important things I've learned his year is, work hard, don't doubt yourself, and be determined. I had plenty of fun in Mrs.Larson's ELA class, but one thing that I will always remember is when we would laugh and joke around saying vocabulary words and use them in a sentence to talk to one another. It was funny when Jorge and Isaiah would use the word debacle in the wrong way then Mrs.Larson would correct them. The class had its days where it had to be serious but we would always have fun no matter what. The people in that class are very funny and nice and try to help when they can. I remember the nicest thing someone did for me in that class is help me study so I wouldn't get a bad grade on my vocabulary test. Something I taught my classmates this year is to be happy and enjoy the time they have, whether they're popular or not. Life is too short to invest our time in people that don't care for our wellbeing. Just live life and don't worry about what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. Go with the flow and everything will be okay.
    I feel like I made the biggest improvement in the way I write and annotate articles or passages. In the beginning of the year I didn't know how annotate how I do now. Now I write things down, ask questions, I think more, and it's all thanks to Mrs.Larson’s ELA class. Even though things got hard I still persevered and got through it. One thing that was challenging this year was the vocabulary because they were words I never really understood or knew what they meant. I think the best piece of writing I did this year was my “I believe” speech. I believe that is my best because that speech shows how I really am and what I'm interested in. That speech let me express my feelings and myself more than anything else I have ever done. Out of all the books I read this year I'd have to say The Giver was one of the best books I have ever read because it gave me another perspective of the world and that we should appreciate the memories we have with people no matter if we never got along with them.
    The advice I would give students in this class next year is that to work hard, have a great bond or friendship with Mrs.Larson, because even though she is strict, she is a very fun person and she's only strict because she doesn't want to see you fail. She is one of the teachers that would never give up on you no matter what.

Heat & Texas article Blog

Do immigrants choose to stay away from police or anyone that works with the government because they're afraid they might get deported? This question relates to both the article Texas announces lawsuit against local officials considered hostile toward 'sanctuary cities' ban, and the book Heat, because in the article, immigrants are scared, and distant with the police. In the book however, the main characters do not stay away from the police, they just make sure that they limit their conversation with a police officer in case they ever have to talk with one.

In both the article, and book, they share information about immigrants a different way. In the book, I recall that the main characters, Michael, his brother Carlos, and his friend Manny were discussing how they were going to talk to Mr.Lima without him finding out they were Cuban immigrants.”They definitely asked you for Michael’s last name?” Carlos asked Manny. “I thought about giving them a middle name or something, just to throw them off for now,” Manny said. “But if they found out later I'd lie about something that easy to find out, I figured they'd be asking themselves why I lied about something that easy to find out” (page 58). This quote shows how Carlos and Michael are afraid of getting discovered by the police or government that they're immigrants. Michael looks at New York as his home, and as his chance to actually accomplish his goal of making it to the Little league Baseball series.

In the article there are many ways that show people are distant from the police and that they're afraid to ask for their help because they're afraid they might get deported. In the article it states that people are standing up for their freedom no matter if they're immigrants, and one person mentions that people are distant from police nowadays because they fear them. “We want them to help us solve crimes… I'm afraid that people will shy away from the police altogether.” This quote shows how the government/leaders fear people getting distant with the police just because they're immigrants. They want them to feel safe in their country or state, they don't want them to worry about deportation.

MLA Citations:

Lupica, Mike. Heat. New York: Puffin , 2012. Print.

Jarvie, Jenny . "Texas announces lawsuit against local officials considered hostile toward 'sanctuary cities' ban." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, n.d. Web. 11 May 2017.

Heat Blog

In the book Heat, by Mike Lupica, there is a character named Ramon and another character named Michael. The book started off with Ramon, a 16 year old boy that lived in New York. He was a troublemaker, he was a thief, he would go around stealing people's money so that later on in his day he'd spend the money on a girl of his choice. One day Ramon was bored and decided to go steal someone else's money. He stole this old lady's purse and ran off with it. The lady told a police officer and the officer ran after Ramon, but he was too slow to catch him. Ramon ran past a park with a baseball field, there was a kid named Michael. Michael was a good baseball player, he was really good at pitcher. Michael saw Ramon running and he saw the police officer running after Ramon. Michael threw his baseball at Ramon, hitting him behind the head. Ramon fell and blacked out, when he woke up, the officer put him in handcuffs and walked away with him. Michael continued on. He went to home to home to his brother Carlos. Michael and Carlos are both Cuban, they're immigrants and are trying to hide the fact that they can't be staying unless they have papers. Carlos, Michael's brother, is 17 years old and is waiting to turn 18 so he can get papers for him and his brother Michael. A few days later Michael goes to play baseball against his friend Manny, this girl watched them play. Michael went to her as soon as him and Manny had finished playing but while Michael headed towards her, she started to run away.  A couple days past and now Michael and Manny met up to play baseball again. The same girl was watching them, Michael threw the ball over to her trying to let her know if she wanted to play. She threw it back and then headed over to them. They played for a couple of hours and then the officer that arrested Ramon showed up with man named Mr.Lima, he was looking for Michael because they had heard how good he was. Michael told Manny to tell the men he wasn't able to stay, he chased after the girl that watched them play. Her name was Ellie, she was a really good pitcher like Michael. Since Michael's dad is dead, is hard for him to get around. Mr.Lima talked to Michael and told him to tell his father to call him or email him directly, but since his father is dead, he has no one to help him out.

Throughout all the chapters I've read Ramon hasn't came out, so why did the book start off with Ramon then transitioned to Michael. I wonder if Ramon was just a person in the book to present us to Michael or if he actually serves a purpose. Does Michael meet him later on in the book or does Ramon work with Mr.Lima. It did mention in the book Ramon runs really fast so it might even be possible if he is in a baseball team and goes against Michael's team.

I think the characters can be realistic because they're all human and nothing is fiction about this story. The characters in this book face real life situations like being an immigrant, growing up with nothing and having a hard and painful past and finally getting ahead in life. The characters have hobbies and jobs they have to do throughout the day. Michael, Manny, and Ellie play baseball. Carlos has to work and make money for his little brother. Although Michael's dad isn't really a main character he was still a character, he died and in life people die. It's part of life, therefore, I think these characters can be real.

3rd Quarter Reflections

In 3rd quarter, I had the chance to read Night by Elie Wiesel. It was a really good book to read, I learned a lot from it. I would say this is my favorite book that I read this quarter because I feel like I had the chance to learn more about a very serious topic that happened. The Holocaust is something I knew nothing about, but after reading it I really learned a lot about what was going on during the time of the Holocaust. It was really interesting to learn about it but it was very sad because of all the tragic events that happened.

    In English Language Arts, I think I made my biggest improvements on just staying on task more. At the start of the year I would get distracted easily and wouldn’t care because I didn't really want to do anything. Thanks to my teacher Mrs.Larson I was actually able to get back on track. If it wasn’t  for her caring about how I did in school/ her class, I wouldn’t have got this far.

    This quarter, I have accomplished my knowledge on the Holocaust. Before this quarter, I knew nothing about the Holocaust or what it was, but having the chance to go to the Holocaust museum, create a butterfly about the topic, read the book Night, and study this topic, I was able to understand what happened during this time in history. We spent a lot of time in class learning about this, and I enjoyed it because I love learning about the past and what happened. I'm just so glad I got the experience to see how lives were during this time.

    The most challenging part of 3rd quarter for me was the vocabulary tests. In the beginning of the year, I got excellent grades, but I think I’ve been slacking on my tests and haven't been studying as much as I should be. To improve my test scores, I can find more time to study for a while maybe every day or every other day to get better grades.

Life is beautiful vs. Night

While reading Night, and watching Life is Beautiful, I was able to find many similarities and differences between the two and was able to get a better understanding of what the prisoners went through while being in concentration camps.

    One of the main similarities that I found between this film and the novel, was a father and son relationship. In both, you were able to see how much care and love is between the father and son. I also noticed in both the film and the novel, the prisoners had a number assigned to them, which would be their new identification, it was like a tattoo in their arm, which was basically their identification. They showed that in the movie they had the numbers put into their arms, and in Night, Elie even told the number he was assigned while being a prisoner in the concentration camp. I also saw a difference within the similarity itself. The difference was that in the book Night, it was Elie taking care of his father, and feeding him incase he needed help, but in the movie Life is beautiful it's the father taking care of the son and feeding him incase he didn’t have enough to eat.

    In Life is Beautiful, Mussolini was the leader, while in Night, Hitler was the leader. One difference I noticed was that in the movie, you can definitely tell they tried staying positive. The father tried making the concentration camp seem fun for his son because he didn't want his child to be scared or worried because he was too little to be worrying about things like that. He wanted to have positivity. Also, in the beginning of the movie, it was a love story, everybody was happy, until they finally got taken away to go to the concentration camp. Even while being in the concentration camp, the father tried looking on the bright side of things to still try to have a positive life for him, and his son even though they were suffering and going through very bad and harsh times. While in the novel, they had to accept the fact that they were part of the Holocaust and had to live with these bad conditions no matter what. No matter if they tried to imagine the place as something else or making the best of it, they couldn’t because 1) Things were too hard, 2) The kids were old enough to understand what was going on.

    Sense of humor paragraph - While watching the movie, there was so much positivity and humor being spread. As stated in previous the paragraph, in the movie, the family stayed positive even while knowing they were going through terrible times. They tried making the place seem as friendly as possible. Life was shown as beautiful in this movie, I noticed lots of colors to show happiness, and they took care of their family. What I mean by took care of their family is that the father made sure his wife and son were taken care of and that he always looked on the bright side of their life to make his family happy. Even in the concentration camp he made his son, and wife happy. He’d play the song him and his wife heard in the play, and he went on  the loudspeaker with his son so his wife could hear. He did all this to reach out to his wife to show her that he still thought about her and that he will do anything possible to make sure she was happy.

Night Blog

In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie changed a lot in many ways. His personality changed a lot since the beginning of the book. In the beginning Elie was a kid that was always about positivity, he never focused on the negative and always thought positive because he believed that if you thought positive, then positive things came. Although towards the end of the story he wasn't the same. He stopped caring about many things, he didn't cry about anything because he had been through so much, he didn't care about his life nor anyone else's. “I have nothing to say of my life during this period. It no longer mattered. After my father's death, nothing could touch me any more” (Elie 107). This quote shows how he doesn't care about anything including his life.

Elie’s beliefs have changed so much since the beginning. He was very pious at first but then he changed once he felt god was no longer by his side. He stopped believing because he believed god could stop evil and the negative, but since Elie didn't see it happening he stopped believing in his god that he once used to pray to every night/everyday. “Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent” (Elie 31). This quote shows how he has gave up on believing in God. He says god is silent because he is not doing anything about the problem. He stops believing in him because of the same reason that god won't help the people getting mistreated or killed. He is staying silent.

The way Elie knew right from wrong changed quick. In the beginning of the story he was a very calm, humble and caring. By the end he is still the same, he cares, is humble, but he isn't calm anymore. He would get angry whenever the Nazi's would hurt his father or any Jew in anyway. He grew so much hate for the Nazi's and couldn't stand living understand terrible conditions. “I began to abuse his neighbors. They laughed at me. I promised them bread and soup. They laughed” (Elie 104). Elie abused some men that were near his father because they'd hit his father even though they knew he was ill but they did not care and they hit him and took his bread. Elie got mad so he abused the men. It showed that Elie wasn't calm and got furious really quickly, and this shows how his mood or morality changed from the beginning to the end.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam , 1982. Print.

Butterfly Project

"Dusk"

The dusk flew in on the wings of evening . . .
From whom do you bring me a greeting?
Will you kiss my lips for him?
How I long for the place where I was born!

Perhaps only you, tranquil dusk,
know of the tears shed in your lap
from eyes that long to see
the shade of palms and olive trees
in the land of Israel.

Perhaps only you will understand
this daughter of Zion,
who weeps
for her small city on the Elbe*
but if afraid ever to return to it.
  -Anonymous
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Holocaust Restriction

What I learned was that the Nazi's restricted many things from the Jews. Jews slowly became poor because of how much restrictions they had put on them. Poor was how Nazi's wanted to see Jews and Hitler made sure of it. They would take their homes, furniture, family, and money. Many people would be sent to concentration camps, many were killed or tortured. A concentration camp is a camp where they send kids and adults and their they torture them and they live in very bad conditions. There is up to 3 people in one single bed and the beds are like bunk beds. There is no mattress just wood.

I think the monument was built to show people or to teach people how or what those people were facing back at that time. Most likely to honor those people that fought for what was right and not wrong. People were dying and being harmed each day and those that fought for the right things are the heros they are honoring. Standing up for what's right at that time was hard because if people didn't let Nazi's do what they wanted to or refused to do what they were told to they got beat or tortured.

What I noticed about the number of laws passed in certain years is that some were irrelevant. What I mean by that is that it some laws made no sense at all. Jews were even restricted from having pets, buying bread, and going out after 8pm. Like what kind of laws are those? People have the freedom to anything want and they shouldn't be taken away because of their culture,religion, or race. Nazi's made it so hard for Jews to get what they wanted in life and the laws were just unnecessary. Nazi's just wanted money but that's not the way they should have done it. They could have talked it out but since Hitler was full of hate is way of talking was violence.

I think the hardest restriction was Jews not being able to graduate. If Jews weren't allowed to graduate that means they can't go to college to get a better education. Without education they can't find good jobs and since Nazi’s were taking away things from Jews, those Jews that at least had good jobs had good money meaning they can still support themselves pretty well. Since their homes were getting taken away most Jews couldn't do anything. The ones with money had the chance to move to another country but the ones with little money couldn't. This is why the education for those that weren't able to graduate was very important. Nazi’s took away their permissions away very slowly and they restricted so much that Jews were poor afterwards. They weren't able to do anything for a long amount of time. Jews of course were very frustrated because they were powerless while Nazi's had all their money. All those kids that were supposed to graduate didn't because of Nazi's they and those kids could have gotten jobs and probably even found out ways of how to get money even Nazi's took some away. The education for these people was important but thanks to Nazi's they had no future.

Quarter two

Out of all the books that I have read this quarter my favorite one is Ever lost. The book is about these two families that crashed their cars into each other and their kids flew out the window and into a forest. In that forest they met a boy that has been living there since he was very young. Since no one else was there with him he never used his name and after a while he forgot it and never remembered it again.

I think that I made the biggest improvement in vocabulary. I say this because even though it was the last day of quarter two I got a good grade on my vocabulary test. I only had a negative three points and before I've had negative ten or eight. I think I have improved because of the studying I have done at home. If you're having trouble on your vocabulary quizzes I highly suggest you study more to get the grade you're looking for.

The hardest part for me in quarter two was the vocabulary quizzes. No matter how much I studied them I would never get a good grade. The main reason I think it was hard for me to get a good grade was because I only studied alone and when you study with multiple people they can test you on the words. So if you have trouble by yourself try studying with more than one person.

Book Talk

I am reading "Wonder" by R J Palacio, a fiction book.

     The story mainly takes place in two different places. One is in the character's house and at school. The main character in the book that I'm reading is August. August was born with a disability, and looks very different than the other kids. Nobody talks to August because of the way he looks and because he's different from them. August is described as scary looking, so far in the book there hasn't been a solution to this problem yet but the problem is August's disability. If it weren't for this, he would have a normal life just like every other kid does too. The whole mood or theme changes in the story. I mainly find it sad because no body talks to August just because of the way he looks or his disability, everyone is the same no matter what. The theme of this text/story is not to judge someone by how they look, people are judging August because of how he looks/disability, and they even called scary looking which is worse. People just judge by appearance not by who you are.

I like this book because it gets you wanting to read more of it. In every chapter the author gives everybody's point of view. The point of views he gives are from, August, his classmates, family, and more. With the author doing that you can see how everybody feels while this problem is going on. I recommend some people to read this book because it is honestly read good.

2016 Election

The election was between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump won the election on February 9th 2016. Donald Trump won the election by the help of a few people. He worked with experienced leaders to help him form his organization. He promised them that he will get them higher in their job but they never got anything in return.

This is why some people have trouble believing Trump on what he says, but after Trump won he met with president Obama. Obama and other people from the White House trained Trump for big choices he may have to make in the future. Even though he won and Hillary lost, they still respected him. In the meeting of Trump and Obama everything was calm. Him and Obama didn't like each other but in the meeting they had to put their past behind and focus on what the meeting was about. Donald Trump respected Obama and Obama respected Donald Trump as well. At the meeting they taught him many things of what he could do if something major happened in the future.

The CIA thinks that Russian hackers might have hacked the election and that, that made Donald Trump win. Hillary had more votes than Donald Trump at the start but then lots of people started voting or Trump. They voted for him at the electoral college, but CIA thinks students and U.S citizens may not have voted and they think it might have been some hackers but they don't have much evidence yet to prove their theory. When Donald Trump won the election he was happy and proud that he won because the whole time during the elections he's said things he's wanted to do and now he finally can. Hillary wasn't so happy. The CIA thinks hackers made Trump win but the citizens know that Hillary deleted emails. Even though all this happened people still thought Trump was the worst out of all.  The article claimed, “U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies are investigating what they see as a broad covert Russian operation in the United States to sow public distrust in the upcoming presidential election and in U.S. political institutions, intelligence and congressional officials said.” This quote shows how there was distrust in the election and in the way people think about the election. This is why it is never good to threat people like Trump has before, and it's also not a good idea to lie about deleted emails because then the citizens of the U.S won't think you're worthy enough to be the leader of the country.

                         

Nonfiction Blog

What has happened in my book so far is that some people have gone to jail for murder, robbery, and shootouts. A man named Black Jack formed a gang. That gang he formed was made to rob from trains. Black Jack was not afraid of anyone, if he had to use his gun he did it. He committed many crimes when he formed that gang. He robbed, he killed, and he got into shootouts. In one shootout that Black Jack was in, he got injured and was arrested afterwards.

The part I found interesting was the part about "Bounty hunters and thief takers." It's interesting because I never really knew that bountys existed before. "Whether bounty hunters in the American Wild West or thief takers in 18th century Britain, some people have always been ready to catch criminals for a rich reward. There were few sheriffs in the new, 19th century towns of the United States, so bounty hunters flourished as rough and ready peacekeepers." I like this little passage because it basically explains what bountys were, what you would get if you caught them. But it also said people wanted to catch them for the rich reward, which is money. So some people might have been greedy and wanted money.

One thing I've learned so far is about bountys. I learned what they are, what some did, and how people caught them. People would catch for money or because they didn't want the bounty killing people. I also learned about Black Jack. Black Jack was a criminal that formed a gang ad used them to steal gold from trains. He also murdered people and wasn't afraid of anyone.


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Thankful Blog

Some things I am thankful for this year is my family. I am very grateful to have my family by my side. They have raised me since I was an infant and they have supported me since day one. My family is honestly the best, they are always there for me when I am going through hard times and even when I am happy they know how to make me smile and laugh. My parents have always supported me, my mom and dad always make me laugh and smile. No matter how mad I may be sometimes, they still manage to make me smile and laugh. My family is the best and I wouldn't ask for nothing more.

I am also very thankful to have friends that care for me. I have many friends from Chicago and here in Berwyn, my friends care for me and will always be there for me whenever I need them. Even though I have friends in Chicago I still stay in touch with them. I may not always be able to see them but when I can I take advantage of the time I have with them. They will always be there for me and I will always be there for them. I am very grateful to have my friends that mean most near me.

Another thing I am thankful and grateful for is the opportunities I have been getting. I have been getting so many opportunities to do better this year, and every opportunity I get to do better I do it. I want to make sure I succeed in life and I want to make sure I have a better future then the ones my parents have. Money is not my motivation, my parents are. They have taught me that money isn't everything and that money is not worth much. The thing that matters most in life is family. I want to succeed to make sure I have a good job in the future so that I am able to support myself, family, and my friends. This is why I am very thankful and grateful for everything that has come my way this year.

Reflection on articles

Today in class we shared out what our articles were about with our classmates. I recall one of the articles was about child labor and how kids were being kidnaped from home while their parents are gone(happened in India). The kids were being lured to people either with candy, or food. Kids were lured to people with either candy or food. Those kids that were taken from their home were never seen again. They'd be either be put into sex trades, they'd be used as slaves, mad the female kids would sometimes get raped.  

Another article I heard about was one of air pollution in South Asia and Africa. Kids in Africa are being impacted by the pollution in their area. Some of the kids lungs and brain are damaged by the pollution in the air. In Asia kids are being impacted the same way. More than 600,000 kids have already died from all the pollution. These kids don't even make it to adulthood, which means most the kids in Asia and Africa won't have futures if this continues to happen.

2016 Election

This presidential election was the worst. I think people made a wrong choice choosing trump, he is racist, he disrespects women. He also says many things that a president wouldn't say. This man tried protesting and Donald Trump said that he would punch him. A person that wants to become president wouldn't say those things. He wants to win not lose, all the disrespect brought him down but somehow he won the election. He is very sexist, disrespectful, rude, and he does not deserve to be president. 

Some issues I think are important is that Trump is president. Some other issues are, he is disrespectful, he has sexually assault women. He talks about immigrants being drugs dealers, rapist, and trouble when in reality he is going to cause lots of chaos in the world. Trump has said he would bomb isis and that is a big problem because he is going to start war with them and isis might bomb the U.S. He is not worthy of being called the president. He does so many wrong things but people don't see that and that's what needs to change. 

I am honestly not excited for the next election because people might make the wrong choice and pick Trump again. After these 4 years of Donald Trump being president I hope everyone sees that making him president was a mistake. Donald Trump is planning on taking the card for food away. He said he would deport immigrants, and everyone that was illegal. He said Mexicans were drugs dealers and that all we do is cause trouble. But who built these buildings? Mexicans did, now I know other people did too not just Mexicans but Mexicans are hard workers too. They are not like others that do drugs. Donald Trump said he would also build a wall and ,are Mexicans pay for it. This goes to show that Trump isn't worthy of being president. 

Stars and Freedom poem

Stars shine bright in the sky
Stars shine like gunshots firing back and forth
Stars is the light that make the night bright
But gunshots kill and injure

Stars is what we see in the sky
Thanks to our veterans we are able to see them still
Thanks to our veterans we are a free country
Our veterans have fought for our freedom
Every soldier has a future

But the ones that die, are the ones we see at night as stars
Our veterans and soldiers that served in wars are the ones that light up our night
They fought for our freedom and light up our sky when they die
Every star has a meaning

Every star shines bright in the sky, just like our veterans shine bright for their bravery
This is why when they die, we honor them with a day to appreciate what they did
And we look up high, amazed to see them lighten our sky

Weekend Observations

Five days ago on October 23, police cars and firefighter trucks were driving down somewhere near Janura park. Police officers and firefighters were on the way to the accident. I don't know exactly what happened, but this took place here in Berwyn. I was feeling very palpable when I saw the police because whenever I see police I think something bad happened, some people that were near it might know what happened and might know why the police arrived.The police and firefighters were driving incredibly fast, they might have drove that way because something major happened, other people were just standing around shocked because of how fast they were going. Although some were just standing around watching the police and firefighters arrive at what happened. Hopefully people are more alert next time so an accident won't happen again.

It was a scary thing to see because the police and firefighters were driving so fast. It looked like they were racing because of the speed they were going. This accident might have happened because someone was on their phone distracted or someone took a red light on purpose but nobody really knows because nothing came up on the news. But lots of accidents have been happening and people should honestly be more cautious because they may never what can happen.

1st quarter reflections

I can't believe we've reached the end of first 1st quarter! These past 2 months in school were amazing, it made me see things and the world around me differently. I learned many things this first quarter, one of things I learned is how to write a blog. I learned to write a blog using the T.I.Q.A method. The T is topic sentence, the I is introduce, the Q is quote, and The A is analyze. When I first started to learn this method I was very confused, but as days went on I got better at it. We started the blogs on August and now it's October, I've gotten way better at the blogs and at following the T.I.Q.A method. The T.I.Q.A method helps a lot because you don't get confused using it and because it tells you what to do step by step.

First quarter (In ELA class) I have learned lots about the world we live in. I have learned that every experience and every moment in life should be valued so much because everything we experience may never happen again. Everything I learn or experience I kind of value it more than ever before because now that I'm actually trying I like things more. I want to learn more and ELA class is very fun because we learn things in different types of ways. The way we learn in ELA is very fun because sometimes we do partner work or sometimes individual work. It's all fun!

My goals for next 3 quarters in ELA class is to study more for my vocabulary test. I want to study more to get better grades so I can pass 8th grade. I would also like to learn more about annotating because some of the articles we read are really fun to read and if it's fun that means we'll like which means that we'll have fun but also do our work at the same time. I'd also like to pay attention more so I won't always be off task and so I can just get to work so I won't have homework. One of my other goals is to get a good grade in ELA and every other class. I will accomplish that by studying, paying attention, doing good quality work, and taking more time on my homework so I can get a better grade.

Compare and contrast The Giver book with Film

In the book Jonas sees the color in the apple change first. But in the movie he sees Fiona's hair change first. They're different because they didn't really follow the order of the book but they're the same because Jonas did see the change in Fiona's hair. It kind of affects how the story goes because for the people that read the book would be confused if they watched the movie because the movie is a bit different. They also change the jobs of Fiona and Asher in the movie.

In the movie the director showed the community differently because it looked so futuristic and in the book it seemed like it was a time in the past where there were carriages and things like that. In the movie they show the bikes looking so high tech and the houses look so futuristic, all the systems they use in the movie is different from the book. Mainly everything they use in the movie involves touch and it's like touch screen. Another thing that changes everything is the jobs of Asher and Fiona. In the book it said they would all be too busy to be with friends but it in the movie they are always together. In the book it said they'd be alone, especially Jonas. “Jonas remember the elder saying his training would be alone and apart”(65). This shows that the movie and book is different but it shows a bit of similarities.

The film impacted me more because it actually showed me how important certain things are in life. The book didn't really show me that, the book was just like any other book that I read and I like it. But the film impacted me more because of all the events it had in it and because of the intense scenes in it. The film also had a bit more detail in things than the book, the book just told a story but I think the film taught how important things are and that if we don't do much, we're missing out on a lot.

Giver Theme

Jonas is a dynamic character because when he receives memories from The Giver, he starts to see everything in a whole new different way.  When Jonas was at The ceremony of twelves he was only wondering and worrying about what he was going to get, he wasn't thinking of other just himself.  “Twenty, he heard her voice say clearly. ‘Pierre.’  She skipped me, Jonas thought, stunned”(57).  I honestly feel like this quote is a good example of how Jonas is a dynamic character because it shows how at first he's only thinking about himself and no one else.  “Jonas felt himself losing consciousness and with his whole being willed himself to stay upright atop sled, clutching Gabriel, keeping him safe”(179). I also picked this quote because it shows how he changes. The first qu ote showed that he only cared about himself but the second quote shows how he starts caring for someone other than him.

I think the theme is importance of memories.  It's connected through a character and that character is Jonas because he is the only one that receives the memories.  I remember the time Jonas used his memory to make him and Gabriel warm.  “He climbed, stopped, and warmed them both briefly again, with a tiny scrap of the memory that seemed certainly to be all he had left”(178).  This is a great quote because it shows how he used his memory to remember what warmth was and because thought about it so much, he actually felt warm.  I remember Jonas told The Giver something about memories. He said “It's just that…without the memories it's all meaningless”(150).  This quote is also good because it shows how life without memories is meaningless and that there's really no point to live. Jonas was basically trying to say that if you don't have memories, you're missing out on a big part in life.