Last Blog Post of the Year :,(

What was the most fun/engaging activity that you did in ELA this year? Why was it fun/engaging?

The most fun and engaging activity that I did in ELA this year was reading A Raisin in the Sun out loud due to the reason that we got to play it out, and we got understand the story behind the author which made me feel closer to the book.

What was the most boring activity that you did this year? Why was it boring?

The least fun and engaging activity that I did this year was the response project to Maus and this was due to the reason that I had to do a research paper. Overall, even though it was boring, I learned a lot about writing a proper research paper. 

What was your favorite book this year? Why?

My favorite book this year was The Great Gatsby because the entire book made me rethink several things in our American society today. Also, the book is beautifully written, even though it was a bit confusing at first, I still l learned a lot. 

What was your least favorite book this year? Why?

My least favorite book this year was Maus due to the reason that I felt as though the seminars were repetitive, but I did learn a lot about the Holocaust.

What should I definitely keep the same for next year's ELA curriculum? Why?

You should keep the Response Project for next year because doing those projects are really fun and creative yet we learned a lot about the topic we choose. Also, the presentations allowed us to see the perspectives of our peers.

What should I definitely change for next year's ELA curriculum? Why?

I believe that you should, if possible, increase the amount of seminars we have in class because this way we could practice our seminar skills. Practicing our seminar skills would allow us to become better young adults and be ready to communicate in the world. 

Is there anything else that you would like to tell me about your experience in ELA? If so - please put it here.

I would like to say thank you so much Ms. Harrison because both my writing skills and communicating skills have improved due to the exercises we have done in ELA. This year was amazing! (:

Dreams - Free Blog Post

Something that I wondered when beginning to read the poem, in the first section of the play, is whether one can really forget a dream. Everyone has a dream, but I believe that a dream can really never be forgotten. I think it can never be forgotten because when I really want something, or I have a goal, I always try to achieve it. Like in the poem, Harlem, I think a dream has the possibility of "sags like a heavy load."  Whenever, I don't achieve my goals, I always remember it. I think of how much I would have achieved if I had completed the goal. Personally, I believe dreams are really never forgotten, and they sag like a heavy load. 

A Raisin in the Sun has more stage directions than a typical play (these are in italics). How do these directions add to your understanding of the play. Give specific examples from the text.

Throughout the play, A Raisin in the Sun, there is more stage directions than a typical play. I believe there is many reason as to why. One of them being, in the stage directions I can tell a lot about the person by their body language and there is things stated in the stage directions that I wouldn't be able to know if they weren't written. This example can be shown in page 51, "MAMA absorbs this speech, studies her daughter and rises slowly and crosses to BENEATHEA and slaps her powerfully across the face. After, there is only silence and the daughter drops her eyes from her mother's face, and MAMA is very tall before her." In these stage directions, I can tell that even though Beneathea is a grown woman, her mother still can correct her mistakes. The fact that Mama is very tall before her, helps us understand that Beneathea still listens to her mother and accepts the way she corrected her. Even though the stage directions in the example were short compared to the others in the book, the screenwriter still got that point across. She needed stage directions to show this because it would be very confusing and the reader wouldn't be able to understand the way the characters are. Finally, the stage directions allow for us, as the readers, to image the characters and understand how they react to certain things. In this play the extra stage directions were very helpful and necessary.

                 

In Act II, Scene 2, Mama puts Walter in charge of all of the money. Why do you think that she does that?

I believe that Mama puts Walter in charge of all the money for a lot of different reasons. One of them being that Walter is the main character that wants to show everyone his manhood. Also, Mama thinks that giving Walter the money will allow Walter to feel in charge at least once. Another thing, she may want to show Walter that she respects him as the man of the house. Mama trusted Walter as well. She raised Walter so she thought that he would do the right thing with the money. Hopefully, even though Walter broke Mama's trust, he could repair his trust with Mama.     

Put yourself into the shoes of the Younger family. What do you think it would be like to live in a tiny, three-room apartment with three generations of your family, without the choice or resources to move elsewhere?

If I were to put myself in the shoes of the Younger family, and I had to live in a tiny, three-room apartment with three generations of my family, I would be very grateful for the meals on my table. I would be grateful because I would know that I my family works very hard for the things I have. I think it would be very difficult to have a small house with many people because I would not have a lot of privacy to do school assignments. I would also have to share my stuff with everyone including cloth, food and etc. I feel as though I it would be very hard to enjoy school or have education due to the reason that I may have to work for money to support my family. Also, I think it would be very frustrating as the family grows or more obstacles come into living. I would feel hopeless because I wouldn't be able to get out of that situation. In short words, I believe this would be very hard. 

"Love is Blindness" by Jack White

Since I am a huge lover of this book and music, I decided for my free blog post that I would write about how in the death scene of Myrtle they use the song known as "Love is Blindness" by Jack White.

Personally, I found it very interesting how the whole scene played out, but the thing that I focused on the most was the song, and it's lyrics. I noticed how the song can connect to how Myrtle ran towards the car. The fact that Myrtle is under the impression that its Tom she thinks that he will stop at that speed. I know it wasn't Tom, and most people would think that if it were Tom that he would stop because they are in love. However, I strongly disagree because at that speed it is very hard and difficult to stop your car. Just because they are in love doesn't mean that it will magically make them be together and stop the car. Somehow, I believe that this is how everyone is blinded when it comes to love. 

Also, how Gatsby believed he could repeat the past simply because he was in love with Daisy. It shows how Gatsby is so blinded by the thought of his love for Daisy that he misses the fact that he can't really repeat those moments in his life. 

The song strongly related to the scene and even though it's not jazz music, or music from the 20s, they use the appropriate type of music for this scene.   

Choose any topic of interest that we have discussed in class (or not discussed, if you have a new one) in relation to The Great Gatsby and explore it further. Use textual evidence to support your ideas.

An idea/discussion that really interests me is the idea of whether if someone can repeat the past. In page 85, it says "I wouldn’t ask too much of her,” I ventured. “You can’t re-peat the past.” “Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!” Gatsby believes that you can repeat the past, and I agree with him. I just disagree with that situation; I think that he couldn't repeat that part of his past. I think that if an event is very vague and without a lot of detail, it is possible to repeat that event. In the book towards the end, it states something similar which is the last sentence of the book, "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back cease-lessly into the past." It states that we will always be reminded about our past.