Books, Books and Books

Title: Kick Authors: Walter Dean Myers and Ross Workman

1. This book made me think about ...
This book made me think about a lot of things but mainly genuine kindness of different people. I thought about this because Sergeant Brown decided to help Kevin by clearing up things with other police after Kevin had committed a crime. Kevin was also very nice because he helped his friend when she was depressed even if it was illegal. The authors of this book is Walter Dean Myers and Ross Workman. The book started when Workman sent an e-mail to Myers saying how much he loved his writing. Then Myers sent back an e-mail giving Workman a chance to write a book with him. So Myers wrote chapters in the point of view as Sergeant Brown and Ross did as Kevin. I think this was an extreme act of kindness and from the acknowledgements Ross seemed super happy. The other thing I thought about was how lucky I am because in the book, Kevin's dad is dead, so that reminds me how happy I am with my dad. I could also tell that Kevin's lifestyle is a lot different from mine maybe because he lost his father or other things. Overall those were the two main things I thought about when reading this book.

2. This book challenged me as a reader by ...
This book challenged me because the book was changing perspectives between Sergeant Brown and Kevin. At first I didn't realize so I was very confused at why Kevin started to have very different opinions. Also at the beginning of the book there was so many new people added into the story and I didn't know if I was supposed to remember them from earlier or if they had just started in the book. Those were the most challenging things for me in 'Kick'.

3. Don't read this book if ...

There isn't very many things in this book that could upset someone because it is a really good book but if you don't like the idea of the loss of your dad or crime investigations I wouldn't read it. In conclusion I really like this book and I hope you do to.

White Mountains-Chapter 4

"The bitter thing was all the spirit, all the gallantry, was wasted. For even more than inferiors, they accepted and looked forward to being Capped. It was a part of becoming a knight, or of turning from a girl to lady. Thinking of this, I saw how good things could be meaningless in isolation. What value did courage have, without a free and challenging mind to direct it?" (p. 111)

In White Mountains freedom is a really important thing-since the whole novel is based on the subject of freedom. 'It was a part of becoming a knight, or of turning from a girl to lady.' I think this sentence shows the difference between child and adult and it shows the great distinction between them. In the particular case of White Mountains, a child is more 'free' than an adult because a child's mind is free, where a adult's mind is capped and held back forever. Since children are free, they have the the privilege and ability to travel to the White Mountains in order to be free forever.

White Mountains~Chapter 6

1. How were the Tripods able to control the people?

2. Find evidence (quotations from the novel) to show that even though Will is comfortable living at the castle, he is frustrated that the Comte, Comtesse, and Eloise have been capped.

3. Find evidence (quotes) to show how Will feels about being capped.

Before the book even started, there was gargantuan cities that held thousands and thousands of people, these cities and the people in them were going through what you might call the black age. In this black age, there was famine, murdering, sickness and many other despicable things going around. Because of the food shortage everyone was fighting and scrambling over food, by this the tripods were able to take advantage of these people and take over. When the tripods passed through these massive cities, they trampled on many people shortening the population by many, and fixing the food and other problems. Even though there are thought to be saviors for saving people, but really they weren't. I think this because while they fixed a lot of problems, they killed thousands of people while they were at it. After they took over they were able to keep rule by capping people, so they were able to control people's minds. There is still one place they haven't taken over, THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.

As the question says, Will is comfortable at the castle, but is annoyed and frustrated about the royal family being capped at the same time. When Will found out that Eloise was capped he said, 'My feelings about Eloise herself were also jumbled and uncertain.' Will is confused, mad small of and overwhelmed at the same time, it was new to him that Eloise was capped, he was confused because he had said 'Being stature, I had the habit of assuming that anyone older than myself must be taller, and she was an inch or two shorter than I.' He was confused because he had assumed that 'anyone older that myself must be taller'

White Mountains-How Is Will Just Like Me?

How Is Will Just Like Me?

Will is just like me in many ways. He has a sense of curiosity. 'There are questions in my mind.' This is one of the first statements Will produces when talking to Ozymandias in a safe, unseen and unheard place. By this you can tell that Will is filled up with questions and has no way to find an answer. I am like Will in that way because I am very curious. For example when Mr.Sheflin is explaining a new concept in Math I will think out of the box to find questions that will be extremely useful for a test.

I am also like will in the way that he doesn't want to be held back or caged in. While Will really doesn't want to be capped he still has too. And when there is a rule or assignment that I think is stupid I will probably wait until last minute to complete or I will break the rule. In that sense, we are both sort of rebels because not being capped is definitely against the tripod's law and still Will wishes to do so, and breaking rules is also definitely against the rules.

Pharaoh imovie Reflection

Evaluate your iMovie in regards to the given rubric. In addition, reflect on the collaborative production of your movie; what worked and what didn't?


This post will include a peer reflection in regards to the rubric, MLA citation, and personal specific opinion of someone not associated in the creation of your movie.
Shivank and Jung Hun's imovie

I think that there imovie had good info, but Rosee and I did King Tut as well as them. Some of our information was quite different. For example they said King Tut was killed at 19 and was assassinated, and we said that he died at 18 from brain disease and other medical problems.

They had very entertaining videos. They explained the assassination of King Tut-if he was assassinated. It was quite amusing and made everyone laugh. There videos explained most things about the assassination. I learned that the prime minister killed Tut because if the Pharaoh died the Prime Minister would take charge.

One problem was that they did not have any MLA citations in their video. Their imovie had some mumble and inappropriate pauses but overall I think they did pretty good. I would give them a 9/10.

City Connections Reflections

1) What did you do well on the project?
I think that I did my facts well. I knew the historical factors quite well and explained them properly. I also knew the tourist attractions at Marina Bay and could explain things about Pulau Ubin well because I have been there many times.

2) What would you improve for future presentations/projects?
I think I could improve on looking around the room more and making eye contact. I also think I could have found a few more environmental factors and put more info about the factors I already had.

3) What did you learn from your preparation in addition to the presentations of others?
I learnt that a lot people have different styles of making power points and presenting them. Some people always have their eyes glued to the screen while presenting but they have really good information whereas other people have amazing presenting skills but their information could be better and more interesting info.

4) What did you learn from the city presentations of others?

I learned that the population of Ueda-Mao's presentation-is less than 1,000,000 people. I also learned that Melbourne female to male ratio is 50-50. One of the main rivers in Soul, Korea is called the Han River. Guam has a population a little over 1,000. And much more!

5) How did you meet each of the requirements on the rubric?
I couldn't find the rubric on my google docs. I don't think it got shared with me for some reason.

6) What is your analysis of your performance?

I think that I had good info but my power point was a bit short. I could have made my project more enjoyable for my peers like Dylan and Ayaka because they had little prizes to give away. Overall I still think my slide show was pretty good.

Learner Profiles

1. I learn best when......

2. I need to .....

3. The strategies that would help me in my learning....

4. I would like my teachers to know this about me.....

I learn best when I am alone and when I am not under stress. If I am under stress I will most likely shut down and not be able to work. If even under a little bit of stress I will only use my preferred brain side-gestalt side-and completely not use the left side of my brain. If I am alone, there is no distractions. If there is something-a noise or movement-going on around me I will have to figure out what the sound is and where it is coming from. I am also a good learner when I am moving or even tilting my chair. This makes me a profile L and a kinesthetic learner.

I need to be relaxed when I work and to have a clean work space. If I am not relaxed I will not want to work and will try to get as far away to what's bothering me as possible, because then I will be able to concentrate better when I am not thinking about what is bothering me. If my desk is crowded or messy, I will not be as concentrated on my work-or what I am doing. I always need a clear place to put down my sheet of paper or I will not want to work.

Strategies that help me in learning is a break every once in a while so I can stretch and get my mind of work then start again. Something like a stress ball will help me because it gives me a way to move around and not dangerously tilt my chair or walk around and distract people. So I think that would be a good alternative.

Something I would like my teachers to know about me is that when I go to the bathroom about once a class I am just having a break so I can start fresh again and have new ideas to add to m work.