Martie's prompt

I haven't read a lot of books before, but To Kill a Mockingbird was one of the best books I have ever read. Last year I read To Kill a Mockingbird and it made me think a lot about how hard life was for people who had different skin color. The way that African Americans were treated is not right. A man, Tom Robinson, was accused of something he didn't do because he had a different skin color.
There was a white lawyer, Atticus, who was told to defend Tom in court. Atticus was a very smart man who failed to keep Tom out of jail, but was very friendly, and did everything he could. After the jury said Tom was guilty, Atticus was ashamed. This book made me change the way I look a people. It not their looks, but the way they act, and treat others.

Writing Center

My visit to the Writing Center was an average experience. I was having trouble with my literary analysis so I decided to take a trip to the Writing Center It wasn't fun or boring, but I did improve my paper a lot more. The writing fellows were very nice and they offered many suggestions. We would discuss the different suggestions and decide which one would best fit my paper. 

To me, talking to a teacher and talking to a writing fellow isn't any different. A writing fellow and a teacher are both trying to improve your paper. I usually don't care who I am talking to as long as my paper is improved a little, or a lot. I also visited the Writing Center a couple weeks ago, and I forgot my writing fellows name. 

LOTF Reading Times:

 17 pages - 30 minutes

17 pages - 30 minutes

17 pages - 30 minutes

18 pages - 30 minutes

Reading times 12/2

LOTF Reading Times
20 pages - 30 minutes
17 pages - 30 minutes
17 pages - 30minutes
21 pages - 30 minutes

Free Post 11/18

The Episcopal boys cross country boys team has won their eighteenth straight championship. To me, that is incredible, takes a special person to run cross country. Who wants to run for fun? There are many different sports I like, but running for fun is something is respect. Plus, winning eighteen state championships in a row is difficult to do.

During football practice, all I hear is Coach Dupe yelling at them about winning state and encouraging them to get better. I ran cross country this year, and he is one of the best coaches I have ever played for. He is friendly to you when the times is right, but when it's time to work, he gets serious. Before races, he tells us jokes to relax us before our race. Hopefully we make it to twenty!

Blog Prompt

What are your opinions on Lord of the Flies? 

I think that Lord of the Flies is an interesting book, with lots of symbolism in it. Each Chapter I learn something new about each character, and they is usually a clever quote with some sort of meaning or background to it. Even though I am not a big fan of reading, this sort of stuff makes change my opinions on some things around the world. 

I do think that Lord of the Flies is a week written book; however, I feel as if the class is moving to fast on trying to finish it. I think that we should take three chapters a week, and have group discussions where we clarify things we didn't understand in the first place. I do not like how we have to cram in more than three chapters a week. 

Reading Times:

27 pages in LOTF - 60 minutes

30 minutes wrapping up short story

30 minutes making corrections to literary analysis

Free Post 11/11

English 1 has been very tough for me this year. I did get a B the first nine weeks; however, the assignments are very difficult. Some of the projects we do are very complex but I know that they will benefit me later.
For example, the literary analysis was very difficult for me to understand. After three days of asking for help and looking at examples, I finally got a basic understanding on how to write a thesis, and a literary analysis. I have never written one of these in my life, and I know that I will need to know how to write one later in life.

Deserted Island

On Friday when we said that our class cars handed on an island, there was a lot of talking a first. Everyone was voicing there opinions at the same time, but very calmly. It took a while to actually get things going. We elected a leader a five minutes, and split into groups. After a couple of ideas shouted out about things, we started to loose focus on trying to survive on an island. Then, Parker started to loose his mind, which lead other people to shout out things they would do.

If this actually happened, I think that we would have been a lot better focused on surviving. We may have had one or two people faint or pass out. As a group, we would have taken the surviving thing a lot more serious.

Reading Times:
LOTF Chapter 1 - 40 minutes
Writing Literary Analysis Rough Draft - 100 minutes

Reading Times 11/4

Detailed Outline - 120 minutes
(It actually took me two hours and thirty seven minutes)

Free Post - Episcopal Football

The Episcopal High School football team is undefeated beating various teams all over the state. We have had blowout games, and we have also had very close games. In the end, we were the victors. Our goal is to win state of course, and we are working hard each and every practice to achieve it. This football team won that most games in Episcopal history, and are hoping to break more records.

Although we have an undefeated record, we are not satisfied. We forget that we won the past Friday, and get our minds ready for the next week. We don’t brag about ourselves, and try to get better in every way. Hopefully we don’t lose and make it all the way to the dome, but a win in the dome isn’t going to be handed to us. We have to go out and play every game like it is our last.

Reading Response - Short Stories

This week, I read “The Sniper,” “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” and “A Worn Path.” The Sniper is a simple story about a sniper in the Civil War who is in the middle of a small battle, and shoots his brother. He is just doing his job, and will only shoot someone if he has to. It is 3^rd person omniscient, and told from someone who seems as if they are right there with the sniper. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is about a man getting hung, who imagines himself escaping, but doesn’t. He doesn’t listen to directions very well (which gets him killed), but is a calm character that is very clever.

            A worn path is about an old lady who has traveled the same path many times to get medicine for her grandson. The old lady is nice to others, and likes to make other people smile with her actions. She can be impatient at times, but for the most part, she is a nice old lady. It is 1^st person omniscient, because the narrator is right there, and it is like she knows what the old lady likes and doesn’t. These stories are very interesting and I would like to read more stories from these authors because they give me a better picture of what a short story must be like. I think that I will write about "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," for my literary analysis.

Reading Times:

10/26

A Worn Path – 35 minutes

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge – 40 minutes

10/27

The Sniper – 15 minutes

The Berlin Boxing Club – 17 pages, 30 minutes

Reading times 10/21

10/18:

17 pages, 30 minutes

18 pages, 30 minutes

18 pages, 30 minutes

10/19:

17 pages, 30 minutes

Reading Times 10/14

Saturday 10/12/13
19 pages- 30 minutes
17 pages- 30 minutes
17 pages- 30 minutes

Monday 10/14/13
22 pages- 30 minutes

Personal Question:
1.) What makes me want to read or not?

Reading Times 10/7

The Berlin Boxing Club
By: Robert Sharenow
10/5-18 Pages, 30 minutes
10/5-18 Pages, 30 minutes
30 minutes on writing short stories
30 minutes on Short stories
15 minutes-Waltz of a Fat Man
15 minutes-Girls in Their Summer Dresses

Dry September

To me Dry September was one of the most confusing short stories I've read this year. First of all, the story had dialogue, but no details just facts. I didn't pay attention at times, which made me have to re-read some parts of the story Secondly, it was had to decipher who was who. At first, I didn't know what Butch, Jack, or McLendon. Questions came up like who was talking at the time? Is she dead? Is he dead? Whose side is he on?
Lastly, I didn't understand why they did what they did. They spent half the time talking about who was right and wrong, instead of going out and trying to find evidence. Also, why did the story have parts? Why did it end how it did? It was sudden, and Once again, I found myself re-reading pages.

9/28/13:
-19 pages, 30 minutes
-20 pages, 30 minutes
-19 pages, 30 minutes
-30 minutes on short stories altogether

Plot of my story

My story is about how a man tells his story of how he became successful in life. Christopher Stephens grew up in the Thibodaux, Louisiana. Like every other kid, he had dreams and expectations. He always wanted to play in the MLB. His parents where farmers, so he grew up with plenty of room for a baseball field. When Christopher was old enough, he started to play in little leagues but didn’t perform to well. Christopher was the smallest and weakest on the team. After games he would get angry with himself for not hitting the ball past the pitcher’s mound. As he got older, and the competition got harder, he began to sit the bench. When he did have the opportunity, he failed again and again. 

This made Christopher loss his self-esteem, and get angry. He quit baseball in seventh grade and instead of crying about it, he went to the gym almost seven ours a day. He watched numerous people hit, and observed how they hit. After almost four years of the same thing, it was his second year into high school. It was a small school, so there were no tryouts. He sat the bench because he had one player in front of him. Luckily, Chris’s team made it to the playoffs, but the guy in front of Chris got hurt. Chris used his instincts on baseball, and helped bring their team to a championship.

My character

My name is Author Clarence Jr, but people call me Junior instead. My father always dreamed for me to become a football player when I grow up. I am six foot two, and my father says I am athletic, strong, and have a good future. With hard work and dedication, I can become any person I want to be. Do I really want to go to the gym and workout all the time?
That doesn't sound fun to me at all. I'd rather stay home and watch tv, maybe play a couple video games. My father did mention I was lazy. But really, that sounds boring. Don't get me wrong however, I do like to throw the football with my friends, or going enjoy the great outdoors. I just don't see fun in make yourself stronger or faster. Plus, I'm just a kid. Doing homework or running till you throw up isn't isn't adventurous.

Reading Response

The new book I am reading is called, The Berlin Boxing Club. This book is set during World War 2, and so far it is about a boy taking lessons from a boxing legend in Germany, Max Schmeling. The main character Karl, gets bullied by three boys, also known as Wolf Pack. The Wolf Pack torments Jews for their entertainment. Max is friends with Karl's dad, Sig, and makes a barter with Sig. Max wanted the last paintings by Grosz, for private boxing lessons with Karl.
That barter Max and Sig made, can be important in the long run, because Karl may be able to defend himself, or maybe even become a legend himself. I wonder if Max is interested in Karl, because MAx said Karl looks like a true boxer. I predict that KArl will not be a good boxer, because of who raised him and how he was raised. His parents are artists only, and their family is famous for that. At this point however, anything can happen in the story. The true question I want to know is what will happen next.

Saturday 9/21/13
Page 1 to Page 22 - 30 minutes
Page 23 to Page 42 - 30 minutes
Page 43 to Page 62 - 30 minutes
30 minutes reading short stories

eBooks

Our class is doing an ebook! Sure it sounds boring, but working as a team as a class to make the best ebook in the history of ebooks sounds pretty cool to me. The first thing I will do is make some changes in my narrative, and put some classmate names inside it. Hopefully I get the job of formatting or designing the pages, because I want people to see how creative our class can be.
Creativity never was one of my talents, but I always try to make things explode with color, and catch the audience's eyes, with my ideas. It may be a challenge but I'm willing to risk it for the biscuit. This ebook is representing our class and I hope it turns out well, and we all get good grades of course. Another things I might wanna do, is take pictures, and show the world what it's like at Episcopal and anywhere else.

I Once had a Dream

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., begins his speech by saying that black people are not free. Even though Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation long ago, but black people today, still live in hatred world were you will get judged no matter what you do or where you come from. In his speech he said all of God's children should be treated the same as everyone. Why would white people be treated the black people the same over the past years? I personally do not think it will ever stop. I think that it is insane that everyone has to be so judgmental in this world. That is why bad things happen left and right.
Martin Luther King Jr., and all of his supporters want the freedom now. Not today, tomorrow, or the next day. In his speech he mentions to his supporters, that it is unnecessary for violence. All he wants is to be treated like every other white person is treated. He is also saying that it is not that hard to ask for, considering we had a civil war and a law passed that states black people are free. No harm, just true freedom. Why does everyone have to see the negative things in people, or judge them by their looks, or where they come from? We all need another Martin Luther King Jr., to straighten up our perspective on things; especially hate.

Fishing Trip

My father and me were on our way to a fishing trip. It was my responsibility to bring bait, poles, and everything needed for a boat.

“Who’s ready to go fishing today?” my father exclaimed.

“Me!” I shouted back to him.

“Lets go through a checklist shall we? Do you have everything?” my father questioned.

I went through a quick checklist, and said, “We have everything! Lets get going!”

We hit the road, and after four long hours on the road, we arrived at our fishing spot. We caught only about five or six, but we still had a good time.

“That was fun!” my father said, “Should we do it again?” he asked.

“Yes we should!” I said proudly.

Reading Response 4

The Body of Christopher Creed has been a very interesting book to me. At the end of the book, Torey, the main character, is in a mental hospital. He finds out new information also. Justin Creed, Christopher’s little brother, said that the day Chris disappeared was when he and his mom were fighting about privacy. Also, Torey was able to look through anybody’s emails due to a website. He went through Chris’ email, asking people if they knew anything. The main response was that he thought Chris wasn’t dead, had treasure somewhere, and didn’t want to be bothered. It was a very vivid journey trying to find out what all happen, but the question still remains; Is Christopher Creed still alive?

The new book I am starting, No Safety in Numbers, is so far about a mysterious room in a parking garage. The room is used for heating, ventilation,  and air conditioning. Marco, found footprints that stopped right in front of the flashing machine with red lights. He called the cops and left the scene. Marco got to that scene because he was chased by rich kids, because he accidentally scratched one of their cars with his bike. He was trying to find a good place to hide, and ended up into the HVAC. The beginning, even though i am on page seventeen, can go a lot of different ways and take different plots. No telling what will ha[pen next in this mystery.

Reading:

I spent 1 hour trying to write my literacy narrative.

9/8/13=Page 233 to Page 248-30 minutes

9/8/13=Page 1 to Page 17-30 minutes