2nd Quarter Reflection 1/22/16

Prompt: 
- In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts?
- What strategies have benefited you?
- What have you learned about the world?
- How have your research skills improved?

          Throughout this quarter I have improved on many of my skills and learned a lot. I have mostly improved on my annotating and my writing skills in general. I've improved a lot since August. In August, my writing wasn't as good as it is now due to the fact that over the summer I didn't write much. Now, I've polished my skills again. I've also polished the skill of research. Before, when I did research I just had one question and then looked for the answer. Then found more information along the way. Now when I do research I ask myself a couple of questions and from there I start my research. Also, with the articles of the week I have learned a lot about what's been happening around the world. Over the summer I wasn't as updated as I am now. 

           I think that my annotating skills and my writing skills are one of the biggest things I've improved on so far this year. In the beginning of the year my annotating skills weren't as good. Most of my annotations were very basic and just pointing out important information. Though, thanks to annotating the whole book of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee my annotating skills have increased by a lot more. Now when I annotate I can actually fill up the whole margin of the article with questions, comments, connections, etc. Also, much of my writing has improved. In the beginning of the year my writing was really sloppy because I didn't do it as much over the summer. Now that we've written a lot of pieces over the course of the year, my writing has improved a lot. Those refreshers on how to write a thesis, topic sentence, etc. helped me a lot too. 

           Throughout the course of the year I've also learned many strategies that have helped me in my writing and I've also learned much about the world. For example, the TIQA format has helped me a lot. It has made writing easier for me because now I know in what order to put things. This format helped me a lot in my To Kill a Mockingbird essay. It made things flow a lot smoother. Though, during this quarter I've also learned a lot about the world. For example, that animal abuse has now become a more serious crime. I also had no idea that animal abuse could possibly have a link with household abuse. The articles of week helped me get updated on everything that's been happening around the world that I didn't know about.

To Kill a Mockingbird Comparative Blog 1/22/16

Prompt:
1.  What do you think is the most important difference between the written and filmed version? Provide evidence with specific details.

2. How would you prove or disprove that one version of To Kill A Mockingbird is more affective in delivering its message than the other? Be sure to provide specific pieces of evidence to support your opinion.

          There are many differences between the movie To Kill a Mockingbird and the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, but from my point of view the main difference was that there was less interactions with Boo Radley in the movie. Honestly, I think the book had more significance towards Boo much more than the movie. In the book, Boo demonstrated that he had more of an impact on the kids, and wasn't just a kind neighbor like they showed him in the move. The movie mostly showed him as a minor character that Jem and Scout never met until the end of the movie.

          The few interactions with Boo Radley did really affect the movie. In the book, they first showed him as a scary and creepy character. In the book it said,"There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time". Then throughout the book we learned that in reality he's a gentile and loving character. In the book it said,"Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough". In the movie though, they showed him as a minor character who only was spoken of in the beginning and in the end. They barely even mentioned him. Those few interactions with Boo did really change the movie though. For example, something that was missing in the movie was when Scout heard that laugh when she bumped into the Radley's house while in the tire. I thought this was important because it's when Scout was sure there was someone is the Radley's house watching them. In that moment the readers got the idea that Boo was in that house, and he was interested in the kids. In the book, the children were more focused on Boo in the beginning then the actual trial, that was a big effect on the movie.

          The book was more affective to deliver it's message than the movie. The book was able to go into much more detail about Boo, the Finch family, events happening around Maycomb, things that happened after the trail, etc.  For example when Scout is upset with her teacher talking bad about Hitler. It never mentioned anything about that in the movie. In the book it said,"Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an' then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home". On the other hand, the movie seemed to only be focused on the Tom Robinson trial. The book showed Boo trying to interact with the kids by giving them gifts and yet the movie it barely showed that. In the book it goes more into depth about Boo and the gifts but the movie doesn't deliver that message. For example, the gifts were an important part of the book, because Boo was being kind and trying interact with Jem and Scout to show them he wanted to be their friend. The movie barely mentioned the gifts and what they actually signified. These kind of things showed the readers that Boo was misunderstood for who he really was, and it was very touching to see his real character as a friendly, brave, shy, and caring person. The movie failed to show that message, people are sometimes misunderstood for who they really are.