Monday, May 23, 2016

This I Believe Speech


"Everything Happens for a Reason"

        “What you do now will affect your life later. Even the little things like taking out the garbage, so go take it out.” That is what my dad says. He has always loved to say little snippets of life lessons now and then. One saying I never understood is a belief I still carry today: Everything happens for a reason.

        When I was six years old I had this one dog named Bebe. She was a handful. She always chewed on our shoes, used the bathroom everywhere, and barked at just random times.  I don’t remember a lot about her except the day she ran away.

        My cousins Jackie, Ricky and Alex were walking with me to my house after school. When we got to the street my house was on, Alex and I ran the rest of the way home. I called for Bebe to come and I saw the front door wide open. She had ran away since Jackie didn’t close it.

        Then a couple months later I got a new dog, Husky. He didn't pee and chew on everything.

        Even though this was long time ago and a very small event I still remember it because this was the day when I knew that everything happened for a reason.  This has changed me because I needed to know that after something horrible, there is always hope for something better. I know not to always be sad but to accept it because God has a plan for us, even if it means we lose our dog and get a better one.



Sunday, May 22, 2016

Final Reflection Blog



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          Throughout the year I have learned three main important things. The first one is that Mrs. Larson is always right. She has a reason for doing the things she does. She has a reason for having expectations and explicit directions. I had to learn this the hard way however, I did learn it. I might've learned it a little too late in the school year, but at least I learned it. The second one is that presentation is key. This can be seen in writing. You might have the best essay completed, but if the formatting is sloppy then nobody is going to want to read it. If nobody wants to read it then no one is going to know how great it was. This can be applied to other things in life besides writing. It can be important to know for future college and job applications. This I know I will remember continuing into high school. The third one is to manage your time. Without time management your life will be a mess. Especially with this class because you will get a lot of homework. No time management can lead to procrastination which will then lead to stress. I have gone through this experience, and I am telling you that it is not fun.


     This year we did Socratic Seminars. These were times when we would ask any questions we had about the book. The Socratic Seminars we had about Morrie is what I will remember for the rest of my life. Thinking about his way of thinking opened a new door to a mindset I never knew I had. We talked about the way Morrie thinks and wondered if we should be thinking the same way. We wondered if we have purpose and meaning in our lives and wondered if we are living our lives to the fullest. We questioned whether or not we give out and receive love. The thoughts, wonders, and questioned from these Socratic Seminars will continue to affect my mindset for the rest of my life.

     The nicest thing someone in our class has done for me this year was to help me embrace my ideas about my writing. I was struggling in my writing when starting on the topic of 8th grade speeches. One classmate helped me a lot by brainstorming with me. She helped me brainstorm ideas, topics, and values. My speech has, so far in my opinion, turned out to be pretty good. I appreciate the fact that my classmate took the time to help me.

     Something that I have taught my classmates is that sometimes it's necessary to step back a little in order to step toward again. I knew someone in this class that was trying too hard to do perfect in this class. While trying to do so it became hard for them to do simple assignments because they would go too overboard with it. This resulted in a non-so-perfect grade. I told them that they needed to back off a little. They listened and took a step back. After taking a step back they took that step forward again and did great in the class. I'm proud to have been able to teach that to somebody.

     I feel that I made my biggest accomplishment in vocabulary. This year I really started to use the vocabulary we were tested on each week more often. Not just in my writing, but I've noticed it has started to fall into my speech as well. This vocabulary has also been trickier than last year. This was better in a way because it challenged me more. I am proud of accomplishing my good grades on my vocabulary tests. I hope to do good on any test so getting a good grade on these felt good.

     The most challenging part of this year for me was time management. I really struggled in this. Between school sports, traveling softball, and accelerated classes I was booked. I had no time for time. I had too many things to do and way too little hours. I would have to leave right after school for softball practice far away and not come back until 9:00 in the night. Even in trying to rush through my homework I couldn't finish it all. This continued for a while. The fact the the homework is no longer as much helps with this. However, I might still slightly struggle with time management in the future.

     I think the best piece of writing I have done this year is the explanation for my butterfly project. I think this is my best because I was really specific in my explanation. I talked about what each part of my butterfly represented and in what way. I also made connections that made it easier for the audience to understand my poem and butterfly. I put a lot of work into the explanation along with the butterfly itself. I think that my hard work was also a factor that contributed to the explanation.

     Of the book I have read this year, my favorite was Tuesdays With Morrie. I really enjoyed this book because it taught me to think in different ways. It taught me to really think about my life and wonder if I am taking advantage of it. This book taught me to reflect upon everything single little thought in my head, regret from the past, and any future decision. It also taught me the true value of friendship and how we shouldn't take friends, nor family for granted. Most importantly, this book has to me to be a better person.

     To all of the future students of this class. The first piece of advice is to manage your school work with your everyday life. Don't get too caught up in one over the other. Otherwise you will either end up doing more school work than doing extracurriculars that you enjoy, or end up doing more extracurricular activities then work. You have to find the balance. The second piece of advice is to try your hardest to not fall behind. Once you fall behind in this class it is very hard to come back. It get homework almost every single day and if you continually fall behind, you will end up having to do more than necessary. The last thing that I can tell you is good luck.




Thursday, May 12, 2016

Morris's Aphorisms - Final Project

Prompt:

- Explain the aphorism in detail. what was Morrie's main message?

- Relate the aphorism to a movie, song, historical event, current event, personal experience, etc. and explain in detail how the example you have chosen relates to the aphorism.

- Evaluate the aphorism by explaining why you agree/disagree with it. Give specific reasons for your position and specific evidence from the text to support your position.

- Include your own aphorism regarding life.

       Morrie’s main message in this aphorism is to keep your family close. The aphorism states that there isn't a secure foundation to base yourself off of and to always have that isn't family. Family is what shapes you into the basics of the kind of person you are. Whether or not you notice it, you have a little bit of every family member in you. Without this basic foundation, some people might go about life without purpose or meaning. Family, when keeping it close, is also what you will always have in life. People come and go, friends come and go, but family will always be there for you. Some friends might even become family, if you keep them close enough.

        This aphorism can be related to the book ‘Night’ by Wiesel. In the book, the main character, Wiesel, was in a concentration camp. During His time in the camp, he looked into the face of death a few times. However, Wiesel got motivation to stay alive from his family, his father. He valued the family he had left. Wiesel also had to go on a death march A death march was a very dangerous because if you stopped running you would get killed. During the death march Wiesel would also think of his father. He thought how if he gave up he would leave his father alone.

        I agree with this aphorism because family often will keep you grounded in life and will always be there for you. What I mean by saying that it keeps you grounded is that they will keep you from making the big mistakes in life. They will tell you when you are messing your life up. They will tell you when you need to get your mind straight. That is what will maintain you in the secure ground. Family will also be there for you when you need it. Like I had mentioned earlier friends come and go. Friends also can turn out to be fake. Family, on the other hand, will never leave you.

You can kill a man, but not an idea.



Thursday, May 5, 2016

Morrie Socratic Seminar Reflections

Prompts:

- Explain how the past four Socratic Seminars have influenced your thinking about Tuesdays with Morrie and life in general.

- What trends did you notice with yourself and your personal goals for each seminar? How did your personal goal(s) change and what did you actively do to change throughout our last four discussions?

- What trends did you notice with the class for each seminar? What did you notice that helped or hindered a specific seminar?  

        The past four Socratic Seminars have influenced my thinking about Tuesday's with Morrie and life in general in many ways. Someone mentioned that Morrie was okay with the tape recorder. Before I thought that Morrie was wasn't okay with it at first because it reminds him on how he is going to leave. Then someone brought up how Morrie has said before that he wanted his thoughts and beliefs to be remembered, even after his death. That evidence persuaded me to thinking that Morrie was okay with the tape recorder. I also listened closer to what Morrie meant in his life lessons. One aphorism was, "Don't cling to things, because everything is impermanent," (Pg. 103). In one of the discussions we really elaborated on that. We focused on the examples he gave such as loneliness. We thought about how it must be easier said that done. Like Morrie said though, it would really improve life.

        Trends I noticed with my personal goals with each seminar was to involve people. One of my goals was to include someone that hasn't contributed to the conversation. Another one was to elaborate on what someone said. I felt like I did improve on those areas. I actively changed throughout our last four seminars because I was more focused and I would always bring someone in. I would also elaborate on what another person said.

       I noticed that in each seminar we brought up aphorisms, and our thoughts on it. One of the aphorisms, "Don't hold on too long, but don't let go too early," (Pg. 103). We thought about what it actually meant. For this one we concluded that if you hold on too long there is no point, but if you leave to early there was so much more you could have done. Another trend is that we usually laugh a lot at the humor in the book. Like how Morrie talks about the Ted Turner message he wouldn't want on his grave. I found it funny that Morrie could joke about it and then he became serious.