The Conclusion

I never thought this day would arrive... but it's here! My last blog! Yes! Well it wasn't too bad but I didn't get much of a kick out of it either. Since i'm honestly a not very deep person, I didn't find any deep meanings to connect all my posts, but I always tried to make them light hearted and different so you might have a little fun reading mine :D. I did realize when I wrote, I related a lot of things to my parents or previous experiences where I had learned something. I learned a lot since writing my first blog about the blog intro and My Boo Radley. I think I went from writing about myself and other stories to including other things and going a little bit deeper. This year I learned a lot about finding the meaning and I tried to incoorperate that in my blogs (even though i'm not a very deep person). It amused me reading over my blogs just seeing how I developed as a writer just in these blogs. At the beginning of the year I truly dreaded the whole blog thing, but as I got better and more accustomed to it, it became a lot easier. In my first blog I said, "I think English is really important in your student school career to learn and appreciate the language we speak and to learn about famous writers and their novels." I realize now that english isn't just sitting through a class and learning about writers and novels, it's about exploring them and finding the roots of what they mean't. I liked reading through all my posts because I remember and recall every word I wrote. This quote by Maya Angelou summarizes my blog and english experience, "Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning."

Projects

My favorite project that we did was the project on the book Slaughterhouse 5 back in the beginning of the year. The reason I liked this one so much was because of the poster I created. This might be one of the only projects I have done that I enjoyed doing. Assembling and drawing everything was actually enjoyable.

One thing I used on the project were actually bullet casings and bullets that I glued on to symbolize the war part of the story. It was fun to be able to use bullets from guns on a school poster, (since that doesn't happen to often). It was the best book I have read all year which made the project not too bad either.

Poetry In My Life

Well, to be honest with you Mrs. Gilman, poetry and I have never been too great of friends. But since I must write something about it then I guess I will. Since I never read poetry, the only thing I remember that has to do with it was in 3rd grade at Pioneer Elementary. I recall that I was placed in this smart kid class because obviously i'm super duper smart :D. Anyways, one of the things we had to do in that class was write Haiku poetry. For some reason this kind of got attached to me (don't get me wrong, this was a one time thing), but I actually enjoyed writing it.

The rules were that it had to be 5 syllables, then 7, then 5 again. The difficulty in this just kind of caught onto me. I would write about my pets, or my sports, or just about anything that ran through my head when I was writing. At one point I think I even wrote one about giraffes... I still believe I have that one in my house somewhere too.

My mom saved a lot of the poems I wrote but she says she can't find them. Thinking about it now, I think it would be interesting to go back and read some of the ones that I wrote. Thinking about it now i'm glad in a way that I wrote them and had interest in poetry back then because it obviously had a impact on me if I can remember details about it clearly from all the way back then.

When I hear the word "poetry" now I think of boringness. I'm less interested than I was back then and I find other better things to do. To me poetry is something that is just there, not something I necessarily care about.

Romeo and Juliet

1. One conflict in Romeo and Juliet is the conflict between the two houses, or their parents. They both strongly hate each other which makes it tough for them to be together. Towards the middle of the novel Tybalt kills Mercutio then Romeo kills Tybalt. Obviously these 2 households strongly don't like each other if they fight and kill each other. This conflict is important because it's the whole reason why Romeo and Juliet can't be together and never will.

2. This conflict can also happen in todays relationships. Sometimes when two people start a relationship, each side of each others family don't really like eachother. Whether it be because of religion, race, or flat out they are not alike, it's a reality in todays world. My very own parents parents were not too fond of each other because of their political terms, but after time things settled out and now they very much enjoy each other.

Relating to the book

One movie I thought of that relates decently well to the story is the movie series of Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, and Little Fockers. The two different parents of the lovers are different, and are not very fond of each other. The girls parents are really hard on the guy, especially her dad. It might be best if the two were not together but they won't be spearated because of their love for each other. This is a lot like the story between Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet

1. Just to start off, I personally think Romeo is very girly. He is always talking about his feelings and the girl he loves, it just comes off as someone of the other sex... anyways here are some things I can connect to. I can connect to the way that Juliet's father is looking out for her and not forcing her into a marriage like they did a lot of the time back then. When hopefully i'm a father, I would want the best for my kid and do what he/she wants. I respect Juliet's father a lot more than I would if he would have told her that she has to marry Paris. Who would want to marry a guy named Paris anyways?

2. The reading at home isn't bad, (especially since it doesn't take an hour or two... *cough cough Great Expectations) but I really do like going over it in class. It really helps me connect all of the pieces I missed when reading it by myself. Also it helps when you have a kid named Matt Brost to explain what everything means. I really like what we are doing right now, and think we should continue it.

Wrapping up

The overall message in this book I think is flat out just don't turn your back on the people that love you. Pip chased his dream of becoming a gentlemen/Estella and paid for it by loosing Joe and Biddy. Joe was his best friend in life and he pushed him away for something that was not nearly as good. Pip learns kindness and appreciativeness from Provis just as he is dying and kind of comes back to life and realizes what hes done. All of this shows guilt and shame that Pip experiences in the book. Everyone in life also experiences this in some shape or form.

Finishing Great Expectations

It's FINALLY over. Well, it wasn't quite that bad, but it was a struggle to get through at times. I enjoyed the main character Pip, he just seemed to rub off in a way. I wasn't to fond of the other characters, because of the fact that they were quite boring, except Estella, who never failed to excite. Some parts of the book were interesting but most were horrible... in my opinion. Some parts of the book were predictable for me, like the fact that Magwitch was the benefactor. For some reason I thought that was true.

I ended up making it through the entire book. It seemed I found myself reading late at night, because that seemed to be the only free time I had between baseball and all my other homework. Sometimes I even found myself reading between commercials while watching SportsCenter. Although my reading habbits might not have been the best, I seemed to understand the book pretty well. The last reading I had to do I ended up reading 40 pages because of my inability to understand the little yellow sheet... but besides that everything went well.

Connections

I connected the story of Cinderella to Pip's life because of what they both went through to reach where they are today. Cinderella also grew up with a hard childhood and was pushed around by the elders. When Cinderella turns into the princess for the ball is just like how Pip became a gentleman. Pip's benefactor was Abel and Cinderella's was magic but they both had help from outside things to become who they are. Although Pip doesn't get the prize of Estella and Cinderella gets her prince, I could still relate these two stories.

Connections

To me, Pip in "Great Expectations" is chasing his dream of becoming a gentlemen. The only thing I could think of that I am familiar with that could relate to this book was the movie "Rudy". Rudy in this movie chases after his dream of becoming a football player at Notre Dame. Rudy and Pip I think are both kids growing up with not the greatest of lives, but they both have motivation to do what they want to do within them.

Both these characters are unique and had to push through difficult things and times to achieve what they wanted. I know were not finished with "Great Expectations" yet, but at this point in the book, this is how i can relate these two characters.

Stage 2

In Stage 2, the theme/motif of "becoming a gentlemen" is still in play when Pip is on his way to London. When Pip arrives, he is not very pleased with London, and actually is quite disappointed. When he arrives at Mr. Pockets house, he is greeted by the pale young gentlemen (now known as Herbert). Herbert has to teach Pip some table manners such as how to hold your fork and how to eat your food.

This relates to what we have been talking about in class because Pip is on his way to becoming a gentlemen. He has the sponsor, the money, the place to live, and the clothes but he still doesn't know the basics. I believe that Herbert will be the one that will be guiding him through all the basic manners.

quote

Pip is talking in this quote, to meeting Esthella and Mrs. Havisham. That day changes him because he begins to agree with Mrs. Havisham, which leads him to the 25 pounds and an apprenticeship with Joe. Pip withgoes serious changes in his life. A lot of these are good changes in maturity and understanding of what goes on around him. I can relate more and more to Pip's experiences as he grows older.

 My development as a person, has been caused by multiple things, but if I had to track down one moment in my life that made me who I am today, it would have to be my parents. My parents always taught me well and to do the right thing. They shaped me and helped me become the person I am today. Without them, I would be just nothing.

great expectations

In this book, the author uses several terms that I don't understand. Here are a few of them I was hoping someone could help me with. What does the author mean when he says tar-water? like literally water with tar in it? Or boot-jack? Or when Pip says hes going to his "garret" bedroom?

Group Essay

Dear group,

I have not changed anything in my paragraph since I have read it to you. Check that, I added a little bit to my concrete detail but that's about it. It was only about 5 more words that were added and it was one of Atticus's quotes so it's nothing to worry about. Can you guys think of any synonyms for lower class? I seem to be repeating that quite often. Thanks.

Importance of Being Earnest

1. There is a lot of dishonesty in The Importance of Being Earnest. There is dishonesty for pleasure, humor, and relating back to the title of the book. Algernon and Jack both create fake people to go get away and avoid situations. Algernon has a good friend "Mr. Bunbury" who always needs visiting when he is invited to dinner with Lady Bracknell. Jack's brother "Ernest" lives in the city so Jack goes to the city to visit him every once in a while. They both fall in love with girls under the name of "Ernest", a name which both girls absoultely love.

2. I think the author shows there is a lot of lying and dishonesty everywhere, but it doesn't get you very far. The way some of the characters spoke and some of the words they chose made you think that they were starting to catch onto some of Algernon's and Jack's lies. I couldn't tell whether the author was promoting it or against it though because of all the humor he put into each character when they lied. Also for the fact that they characters lied all the time.

animal farm

In addition to the projects presented in class, view ten projects of your classmates from their blogs. For each project complete the following:
1. Name of classmate
2. Type of project (comic strip, poem, artwork, etc.)
3. Effectiveness in conveying literary elements from the novel. Write a 1-3 sentences for this part for each project.


After evaluating the ten projects, write a little bit about how your own project measures up to those you viewed - did you do as well as your classmates? Did you put in enough effort? Do you think your project conveyed literary elements successfully?
Matt:
Comic art
Shows all the main characters and aspects of the book. Shows these in a neat way.
Daryl:
Picture
Shows in an interesting way of what happened in the book. Some satire made it enjoyable and fun to look at. Looks like it had all the aspects that it needed.
Olivia:
Picture
Not a whole lot going on in the picture. Had to write lines to explain it.
Galen:
Comic strip
This was the most fun to look at so far. It was funny and it had all the foreshadowing and plot points etc.
Britta:
Song
Nice song. It was very long and had all the elements to it. I enjoyed reading it.
Kady:
Movie
This was great! I'm very impressed with your movie making abilities. It had everything it needed to have in it.
Connor:
Picture
This was very interesting. I liked the way you portrayed the whole situation.
Jake:
Picture
I liked the way you showed the corruption within the farm. Especially having Napoleon at the top with his guard of dogs around him.
Nic:
Picture
This was a comical picture that I enjoyed. I liked the communist hammer part of it. Explained some things but not all.
Jameson:
Movie
I really enjoyed your movie along with Kady's. It was well put together and had everything you needed in it.

Self: For my lacking inablility to know how to use computers all that well, I was not able to upload my garage band song to my blog. I believe my song was good and it had all the foreshadowing etc. that it needed to have but I think I could have made the song longer to emphasize it more.

Extra Credit: New years resolution

I have a few things I would like to see change for my new years resolution. My first would be to put forward a little more effort on my schoolwork. It's not like I don't put the effort forward, it's just that too many times i find myself on Facebook or the t.v. instead of studying for a test. The second new years resolution on my list is to have a harder work ethic toward my sports. I should be going to the Valley and shooting more shots and practicing more. Or hit baseballs more often in my batting cage. Those are some small steps now, but could make a large impact later in my life.

animal farm

I was not able to get my song on to anything on the internet. Including my blog!