First Quarter Reflection

Prompt: Where are you in your 40 Book Challenge? How have your blogs been progressing since August? What strategies have benefited you? What have you learned about the world? How have your research skills improved?

          I have progressed a lot since the quarter started. Over the summer I kind of forgot everything I learned but throughout this quarter I gained my skills back and improved. I lost my vocabulary skills and my writing skills too. I forgot my vocabulary words over the summer and now I'm improving on that so I can become better. My writing skills dropped over the summer too because I didn't write much over the summer besides my blogs. The narrative that we wrote helped me improve a lot in my writing skills. With the articles of the week I have caught up on what's going on in the world right now, since over the summer I didn't watch the news as often. I've also improved on my blogs a lot. In the summer my blogs weren't as good as they are now due to the fact that I lost my blogging skills. I have improved a lot since the beginning of August. 

          The articles of the week (aow) have helped me a lot on what has been happening around the world. For example, I never knew that in the next year people would be able the travel to space. That was really surprising to me and I never expected that to happen anytime soon. I've also learned how many of the Syrian Refugees suffer. They have many decisions to make and they determine if in the end they will die or survive their journey. I never knew that they could go through such harsh things such as watching their loved ones die, being stranded on an island, no money, no food, etc. The aow's have caught me up on everything that has been going on and the stories of other people's lives.

          

          Over the summer since I only did two blogs, my blogging skills kind of dropped. My blogs weren't as good as the ones I did during the school year. They weren't good enough cause I didn't use a topic sentence and support it. Now I've remembered to do that and the quality of my blogs have increased, or I think they have. Also, my blogs weren't as good because people didn't comment on them. I say this because when people comment on my blogs saying that I made a mistake somewhere I try to my make blog better by fixing that error. Since people didn't comment on then I didn't really know where I had made a mistake. Though, I think my blogs have progressed a lot since August.

Blog of 10/12/15

The Kill Order by James Dashner

Pages read: 0-40

Prompt: Describe the main characters.

            In the book The Kill Order by James Dashner up to where I have read, there are four main characters. They are Mark, Alec, Trina, and Darnell. The book tells everything from Mark's point of view, so he's like number one main character. Mark is a young teenage boy who can be rough and sweet at the same time. Though the book doesn't say much about his physical, it talks a lot about his emotions.  For example, Mark has a lot of affection towards Alec and Trina. He feels safe and protected when he's by Alec, but when he's by Trina he feels a different kind of affection. Alec has a crush on Trina. In the book it talks about how he thinks she's pretty and how he wouldn't be able to live without her. The book says a lot about Mark's feelings but not his physical.

            The second main character is Alec. Alec is a retired soldier, who is now pretty old and gruff. In the book it describes him with busy grey eyebrows and pretty old. The book says how when Alec was younger he did a lot of military training and was now used to waking up early every morning. It also talks about how even though he is older he still has the ability to shoot and the speed. Lastly, in the book it mentions that when Alec was trying to get on into the berg (kind of like an airplane) he suddenly looked 20 years younger cause of all of his military abilities. 

             The third main character is Trina. Trina is a young teenage girls who loves to read and has a free spirit. She has blonde hair and green eyes. In the book it says that she is wearing a black T-shirt, a pair of worn jeans, and sneakers. In the book it says how she never had a good day after her 16th birthday. Meaning that her life has been bad ever since then. In the book it talks about Mark having a crush on her but Trina doesn't feel the same towards him. She kind of rejects him and ruins his day. Those are so far the three main characters of The Kill Order by James Dashner.

Blog of 10/9/15 (Life Line Poem)

My Inspiration

I remember every since I was born.

I doubted my birth...

Does God hate me? 

Did he curse me before birth? 

Though, me and my family 

Were living in a desperate time

Among desperate people

Among wars

Among famine 

Among epidemics

I still remember my father telling me

If you have enough desire to

outwork all other students

and you never give up, 

you will win the race

one day

My father had gotten 

The 2nd highest score 

Out of everyone...

He wasn't a full pledged doctor 

But he did everything a full pledged 

doctor would do.

So I did my best to follow in his footsteps

I never could imagine where those footsteps

Would lead me

My father used to tell me

It is painful for you now, 

but believe me, 

the day will come when you will thank me.

And I do father,

Thank you

Blog of 9/21/15 (Mawi Blog)

Prompt: In your blog you will analyze how Of Beetles and Angels and your AoW make connections or distinctions between individuals, ideas and/or events. 

How does war affect individuals and societies?' 

Pages Read: 0-120

   My article and book mostly connect through individuals. In my article "A Frontline Solution to Europe's Refugee Crisis" by Sohrab Ahmari said  "...and maybe 10 out of every 100 would die." Then in the book it said "Can three young children and their mother the scorching wilderness? Can I survive?" Both of those quotes talk about survival. In my article that quote was talking about how some immigrants wouldn't survive when they tried going over to Europe, and only 10 out of every 100 would die somehow. In the book, the quote was talking about how Haileab, Mawi's father, was doubting if he would even survive the trip to Sudan. Haileab was doubting if he could actually make it or if he would die along the way. These two relate because they both talk about surviving.

 Another way my article and my blog connect is through Ideas. In my article it said "As Vali Khougani, a 50-something Afgan, tells me, the refugees would still come if the Balkan corridor were closed." Nothing would stop the refugees from coming. In the book it said, "You need to get used to working hard." These two quotes have something in common... They both talk about never giving up. The quote from the article shows that no matter what the refugees would still go. The quote from the book shows that you have to work hard and never give up. 

War affects individuals a lot. For example it affects the life of many individuals because they can't live their normal life anymore. They can't even walk down the street without being worried. They can live in constant fear because maybe if they leave their house they can get shot and no one will know. War affects society a lot too. For example if a country is having a war it would affect all the people who live there. It would affect all the states there because they could bomb a place in their state at any time and no one can be safe. 

 

Blog of 7/27/15 (Summer Reading Project)

The Death Cure By James Dashner

Prompt: List the reasons why another person should or should not read this.

Pages Read: 162- End

One of the reasons why I think people should read this, is because it really teaches you on which people to trust in. For example, in the beginning of the book they told Thomas that the trials were over and that they were safe now. After that they put him through another test just to see how his brain would react. Then it went on... they kept saying that it was all over just so that they could put him and his friends through more and more tests. This book really shows that you can't trust a lot of people.

Another reason I would recommend this book is because if you've read The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials then get ready to find out everything that happens in the The Death Cure. In this book you really find out everything WICKED (World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department) is doing and has done. It gets really interesting and you find out a lot of things out in this book that you won't believe. People who haven't read The Maze Runner should really read it cause they're missing out on a great series.

         My last reason of why people should read this is because this book has a lot of ups and downs. For example, as soon as they get out of the Scorch Trials a bunch of problems happen after that. Once they actually get out of something another horrible things awaits them. It's a never ending cycle. Though, it is very interesting thing to read. I would really recommend this book for someone to read.

Blog of 7/20/15 (Summer Reading Project)

The Death Cure By James Dashner (Maze Runner Series)

Prompt: Describe the main characters.

Pages Read: 0-162

(INCLUDES SPOILER)

In The Death Cure by James Dashner, there are 3 main characters. The first main character is Thomas. He is the main character throughout the Maze Runner Series. Thomas isn't that tall nor that short, he has dark brown hair, brown eyes, and kind of muscular. All Thomas wants to do is end with any plans that WICKED(World.In.Catastrophe.Killzone.Experiment.Department)has planned or is planning. Thomas used to work with them before he got his memories taken away. After he saw what Wicked did to him and all his friends he regrets helping WICKED so now he wants revenge. Though he can't trust many people anymore since some of them have back stabbed him.

The second main character in this book is Minho. He is Thomas's 2nd most trusted friend. Minho is a tall, brown-haired, muscular, brown-eyed guy. Minho was in the maze two years before Thomas got in. He has a tough attitude. He doesn't think before he acts. Mostly when he is angry. He has a short temper too. Most of the in the maze he was the leader until Thomas got there, after that he became the 2nd in charge. He, like Thomas, hates everything about WICKED. All he wants to do is destroy WICKED cause of all they have done to him.

The third and last main character in this book is Newt. He is kind of short, has blonde hair but is not as muscular. Newt was in the maze two years before Thomas was. He and Minho had spent those two years together fighting for their lives. When Thomas arrived, Newt became Thomas's number one most trusted friend. The thing is that Newt never liked his life in the Maze and he hates it even more now that he knows that he has the Flare inside him. He doesn't even care what WICKED does anymore he just wants everything to be over.

Blog of 6/29/15 (Summer Reading Project)

Stung by Bethany Wiggins

Prompt: Pick out 2-4 words from what you are reading that you had difficulty

understanding. Interpret what you think each word means based on context

clues (other words around that word that might help you interpret what the

author means).

Pages Read: 147-end

This book has some complicated words which are hard to understand and make the book kind of discombobulating for me to understand. This prompt will help me with that. Though, the word choice of this author does make the book seem more interesting than it already is.

The first word I didn't really comprehend was remnant. I figured remnant could be some old objects left behind since the the main characters in the book were entering an old hotel. The text said "He nods toward the remnants of the revolving door, presses his finger against his lips again, and tiptoes into the hotel." By using textual evidence it shows that remnant are like the remains of an object that is old. I found this on page 164.

The second word I didn't really decipher was intently. In the book it says "He's gnawing on the meat so intently he doesn't even notice me." I found this on page 201. By using textual evidence from the book, it appears intently means that you are doing something with so much eager. So I figured out it means something like eager attention.

 The last word that was a little perplexing for me was heap. In the text it says "Then he slides the plate under, dumping a heap of greasy meat and mostly onions on the grease-stained floor." By using the text from the book, I think that heap means an amount of something. I figured this out since in the textual evidence it says "dumping a heap of greasy meat" which means it a portion or amount of something. I found this on page 234.