1st Quarter Reflection Blog

Reflection

10/28/15

          During the 1st quarter of school I learned alot. I learned about Syrian Refugees and a small portion of Edgar Allan Poe's writing. I learned that there are Syrians leaving there homeland because of war and more specifically I learned that Mawi graduated from Harvard after being a refugee. We read a part from, "Cask of the Amontillado," by Egdar Allan Poe. In his writing I learned how dark his writing was compared to others back then.

          My research skills have improved during this quarter. I know this because I started to use keywords instead of writing the entire sentence. For example:

What were some traditions in the Venice Carnival?

Key words > Venice Carnival Traditions.

These key words aren't only faster to type but they will give more accurate traditions. This example has to do with the reasearch done before reading Egdar Allan Poe.

          I have also learned new techniques and strategies for writing. I learned how to use the TIQA format for my Of Beetles and Angels blog. The way this format goes is:

Topic sentence

Introducing quote

Quote

Analyze quote

This technique helps me format other blogs that I do not know how to start. I also learned about passive and active writing. Passive writing isn't all that convicing or intresting, but active writing is all the opposite because it is intresting and makes you want to keep on reading. What I found most intresting about these types of writing that is that it all depends on your word choice.

                              

The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time

Book: The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time
Author: Mark Haddon
Pages: 0 - 62
Prompts:  

1. Which character do you like best? Why?

2. Which character do you like least? Why?

3. Who is the most important character to you? Why?

          The character I like the best, so far, is Christopher Boone. The reason I like this character is because he likes to deal with numbers and is very logical. I know this because in the text, Christopher says, "Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking of them." This quote shows how Christopher feels "prime number are like life." I feel the reason I like Christopher is because I can relate to how he enjoys dealing with numbers.

          The character I like least is Mrs. Shears. The reason I dislike Mrs. Shears is because she cursed and yelled at a young child. I know this because in the text Christopher Boone says, "She was shouting, 'What in f**k's name have you done to my dog?'" This quote shows Mrs. Shears' anger and how she made an assumption of what happened. I feel the author chose to make Mrs. Shears rather grumpy because she was older, living on her own, and her dog just died. 

          I feel the most important character is the the victim which is the dog. I feel this because without the victim there wouldn't be a reason to go hunt for the killer, therefore no story. I know this because inthe first few pages of the book Christopher Boone says, "I pulled the fork out of the dog and lifted him into my arms and hugged him. He was leaking blood from the fork-holes." This begining to the book makes me wonder what happened to the dog and who's dog is it. At the end the most imprtant character in the book is the dog because the entire story revolves around the dog, so far.

Life Lines Poetry 10/9/15

"You are ready to change the world"

By: James

my parents

and my brother

taught me to see beauty

in everyone

a rich man donates a large sum

and a poor woman donates

her last two cents

her gift is worth infinitely more

turn and look at your friends,

know that they are your true family

for friends

even enemies become family

a butterfly flapping

its wings

in Japan can cause a hurricane

in Louisiana

today's small act

of kindness

can become tomorrow's whirlwind

of human progress

no matter how much strangers represented beetles,

they could be angels, 

given to us by God to test the deepest sentiments

of our hearts

you are ready to change the world

thank you! 

good luck! 

and congratulations!