1st Quarter Reflection

     This quarter I have learned a lot more about writing. To be honest, the first draft of my memoir was just horrible. The second draft was a whole different story. At first when we started the memoir I didn't know about passive and active voice. Now I know that using a lot of passive voice isn't good in your writing it makes it sound awkward. I had lots of passive voice in my writing, now I changed it too active voice. I also didn't know how to correctly put dialuge in a story. I would put it like a quote in an article, now I know that for every new person that is speaking you must start on a new line and indent. The first draft wasn't descriptive at all, there was a bunch of "small images." Instead of saying "the sky was really clear" I put "The sky was really clear that night you could see the stars, which was strange because it was Christmas Eve, everyone would have thought there be a white blanket across it." A huge difference between those two. Just these little tequinecs have made my writing better in many ways.

     I think that my research skills has changed a lt. I used to just put a bunch of information in a page, now I know how to organize it. If I'm reseaching something, there is diffferent parts of that huge big idea. Every infromation has its own catagory. Under each catogory is bullet points and interpretations.  I also know how to show which information is coming from which source, the website link goes above the infromation from that site. From specific websites there may be false infrmation, I have learned how to identify if a website is worthy or not based off the format, publisher, url, and etc. My researching has improved drastically from previous researches. 

     I have benefited from many strategies. One major strategy includes time managment. If it is a regular week with vocabulary words, AoW, and a blog then I do eaach a acertain day. I start the aow on Mnday then finish it Tuesday. I do my blog on Wednesday oor Thursday, depending what I have that day. I study my vocabulary on Thursday night and Friday morning. Then Saturday morining I do my vocabulary for the next week. I usually get all my work done with a good grade with this strategy. 

     Another strategy I have benefitted from is brainstorming for any work I would have to do. For blogs I brainstorm ideas of what I can write about, from there I build up on my ideas and make paragraphs.  For my AoW I write down words or phrases that are important for the reader to know, and just said that in my objective summary. I have improved a lot becuae of the little things I do now.

        

40 Book Challenge 10.14.15

A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer
Prompt:

- If you could talk to the author, what questions would you ask? Why?

- How have your feelings changed as you’ve been reading?
Pages: 1-51

     If I could talk to the author one question I would ask is how did you overcome your mother, especially at a very young age? I would ask that question because The obstacles he faced with his mother were devastating and surprising. I would never expect mother would hit their own child so I wanted to see his viewpoint on the obstacles you face against his mother. In the book it says that David's mother would slam his head against the mirror when he didn't do his chores, which were also a lot for a child. I am very surprised that he survived the brutal beatings by his mother and that is why I asked the question how did you overcome your mother especially at a very young age?

     Another question I would ask the author is what was the trigger for the brutal beatings that your mother has given you? I would ask that question because I do not understand how a mother would hit or hurt their children for no apparent reason. In the book it says that she would make him look for a lot of things she has lost for months. She also did not allow him to eat dinner or breakfast sometimes, The only breakfast he got was leftover cereal from his brothers the day before, so he never really got his own plate. I was very surprised how his mother could brutally beat him like it said in the book so that is why ask what was the trigger for the brutal beatings that your mother has given you?

     My feelings have changed dramatically why I was reading the book. In the first section of the book the author explained how his mother gave them brutal beatings from not doing his chores, not behaving, and she just hit him for the heck of it. I personally felt that the mother was a horrible person because of how the author described her in the book, but as I kept on reading there was a section in the book which stated his mother before the brutal beatings. That that section had showed me that the mother was not a bad person before, she would take her kids out to vacation and do a lot for them and really care for all her children. My feelings have changed dramatically because he went from horrible mother to mother that everyone would want. As I continue reading I want to figure out what was the trigger for the mound doing the brutal beatings her son.

"My Hero"

My father was a hero

to everyone he met.

He knew about life.

He said If you outwork the 

other students and never 

give up, you will win

the race one day.

He said work hard in 

school, and maybe

someday you can

help yourself and 

your family.

He said that the good

thing about words is they 

can also bring life into

our spirits.

He said the poor and ill

are described as beetles, 

but they are heaven's angels.

I have showed him that I 

am a success, his success.

He might still be a hero

tragic and flawed,

but a hero, my hero.