My Blog :)

Group Norms

km1919 — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:03:45 +0000

What norms do you think your group should follow and why?

I think that we should try not to procrastinate. Also not waste time doing really stupid things. Another good thing would be to respect other’s ideas. But I really think procrastinating is the worst thing that a group could do.

What Makes a Good Trailer?

km1919 — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:58:39 +0000

In school we are going to make a trailer and we are asked what makes a good trailer. I think that suspense is a really good thing because it keeps the person hooked, and wanting more. Also putting quotes in the trailer is good. And making some of the characters and the story a mystery.

Rules!

km1919 — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:18:01 +0000

Are rules a good thing or a bad thing? Does your life work better because of the rules you have to follow, or are rules just annoying? Which rules in school do you think are not effective? What should be done instead?

Well first of all I think that rules are necessary because without rules the school, or any place would be complete chaos! Of course we will think some of the rules are stupid, because they ban us from doing things that we love, like texting for example. Rules are a good thing because they keep us somewhat in order, even if we do break some of them. Without rules the school would be a zoo. I think that some rules are important, but of course there is always a stupid rule that we don’t like. One rule that is ALWAYS broken is the cell phone rule. I always hear about people whose phone goes off during class, or it gets taken away for texting. They think they can get away with texting during class, so they break the rules. I think it’s because the rules are kinda too nice. Like there shouldn’t be a warning, their phones should be taken away the first time so they take the rule more seriously.

A rule that I don’t like is that we have to bring our laptops to all of our classes. This rule is annoying to me because we only use our laptop for like one class, so I don’t see the point of carrying it around everywhere. It’s not really so much a rule, but more of an expectation for teachers who randomly decide to let us use our laptops for one class. Another rule that is not effective is skipping class. I think it is kind of amusing to see someone wandering the halls and skipping class.. why would you come to school in the first place if your going to skip!? Well there isn’t much we can do to fix that problem though, unless we’re gonna lock the doors all the time, and I don’t know.. have people watching the school to see if people skip.

At the beginning of the year, one of the WORST rules was the ID cards. We had to wear them all the time and they got annoying. Especially because if we forgot to wear it or have it in school, we’d have to pick up garbage! Well that rule died VERY fast and I am glad. So in conclusion, I think that rules are very necessary everywhere.

The Giver vs. Harrison vs. Our Society

km1919 — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:18:55 +0000

Which society is better and why? What qualities make it desirable?

Honestly, I would have to say that I like our society the best right now, but if I had to choose between the other two, I would say The Giver. I really love the good sides to our society, like how we can dress however we want, and express ourselves. Lot’s of times though, that causes jealousy and greed and THAT causes people to steal, lie, cheat… I think our society is desirable because of how we can freely express ourselves in a way that the other societies (Giver, Harrison) cannot.
Lying, stealing and other stuff is the worst part about our society, but sometimes that is the cost to so much freedom. That is why I also REALLY like the Society from The Giver, because everyone is happy and so open about how they feel, and there isn’t all this drama and crap that our society has. The Harrison society is definitely NOT a society I would even consider because they take equality to the EXTREME and they “handicap” people who are unique or more beautiful then others. Although I like bits and parts of our society, I think that sometimes it’s annoying in school with all this drama and all and what clothes are “in” and stuff. I wish that we had the attitude of The Giver but with our society. I like having lot’s of freedoms but we take all of this for granted, it sucks but it’s reality.

What Aspect of the Community is the most Controversial To You?

km1919 — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:18:29 +0000

In my opinion, I believe that the Ceremony of Release is the most controversial. I think that death sentences are one of the biggest debates in this society, but they just go ahead and allow it in The Giver. But, in The Giver they make it seem like almost nothing, and calling “Release”, which makes it seem like they are just letting them go, but in reality it is much harsher. I also think that it is EXTREMELY unfair to release someone when they make a mistake, or are labeled ‘defective’.

Lois Lowry

km1919 — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:35:31 +0000

In class,we are currently reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. She was born on March 20th, 1937. Lois was an imaginative middle child, who liked to bury herself in the world of books and imagination. Lois expressed herself by scribbling down things, or writing poetry. She lived with her two parents, her older sister Helen, and her younger brother Jon. Since her father was in the military, she moved around a lot, and has been to a lot of cool places like Tokyo, or her birthplace in Hawaii. She married early, only nineteen, and had four children (and their dog) in Maine where they grew up. While living there, she went back to the University of Maine and got her degree and began to write professionally. Sadly, when she was 40, she and her husband split up, and later her eldest son had a tragic death.

Lois’ first book was called A Summer To Die, which was about the sad death of her sister, and the effect of her family afterwards. She wrote other books, which all vary in content, attitude and style. Happily, she has accepted awards for her books like the Newberry medal, or Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, as well as many honors. Lois has written over thirty children’s books, and other young adult novels. Currently, Lois Lowry is living in a farm house atop a hill, enjoying reading, writing, and her grandchildren.

Summer Holidays Debate

km1919 — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:36:30 +0000

Hello. Recently, school boards have been debating about school holidays. They are debating whether we should keep our summer holiday or have random holidays that are like two weeks long each. Personally, I think that we should keep our summer holiday because I think that it is more fun to have a really long break in between grades. I like having it when we have a big chunk of school, and then a big chunk of holiday to relax. Plus, during the summer holidays people our age like to get summer jobs. I really don’t understand why people would want to have random spurts of holidays here and there. I would just want to get school over with and then have a long time to relax and NOT go to school. Also, I like getting a long time to prepare and buy supplies and new clothes and junk like that. Another thing that would bother me about school in the summer would be that this school has almost no air conditioning and that is annoying and uncomfortable. I think that it was also be weird to break the habit of a free summer by randomly going to school. School during the summer would also interfere with holidays that we can only plan during the summer, because they are long.

My Spring Break

km1919 — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:45:52 +0000

So for spring break I got to go on a cruise . But we had some extra days before we actually went so we went to Disneyland, and Jana happened to be there too. So for 3 days I went on rides and hung out with Jana. Then we got to go on our cruise which was Mariner of the Seas and was a smaller version of the ship of our first cruise. The ships are sooo huge and it is so fun because all the food is pre-paid for so it is pretty much all you can eat. There was SO much to do, plus the 3 places we stopped, which were all in Mexico. They were Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. It was SO hot and I pretty much burned everywhere. I think the highs of my trip were the all you can eat food. The lows were how scary and in-your-face the Mexicans were when they tried to sell us things. They were frightening. But overall it was pretty fun.

Skype-ing with Daniel Tysdal

km1919 — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:29:57 +0000

Today in class we got to skype (practically webcam) with Daniel Scott Tysdal the poet. Some students had some questions prepared so we could ask him in person (almost). I learned that JUST being a poet doesn’t pay well enough to make a living, and that most poets start writing novels. Some highlights of the conversation that I thought was interesting was when he recited his poem. It sounded like a really deep poem and he seemed really into it when he was reading it. Another interesting part was hearing about his teaching job and that his one class has 200 students! It was kind of cool to hear how he got inspired and how he started writing. It was also kind of cool that he looked like a poet/younger version of Mr. Nichol. Something that I can relate to with him is reading a book over and over because that’s the only book I had at the time. So overall it was pretty nifty to chat with him, and see him answer our questions.

Daniel Tysdal Poetry

km1919 — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:27:23 +0000

I think this kind of poetry is unique and unlike anything I have ever seen before. I think it’s creative and fun to deface books or to change text to make your own poetry. It’s kind of hard to explain his poetry; it is basically taking certain words out of either quotes or books or text ect.. and making it into your own poetry. The poem of his that stands out the most is the First Remarks poem. I don’t know why it stood out to me but I thought it sounded cool. I dont know.