Journal May 9

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

I really enjoyed reading A Raisin in the Sun, partly because it was a great book but more because we acted it out. I think that acting out the play really helped me to understand it much more than I would have if we had read it out of class.What was the most boring activity that you did this year? Why was it boring?

I can't really remember any times being bored in ELA.What was your favorite book this year? Why?

I loved reading Maus, The Great Gatsby, and A Raisin in the Sun. I enjoyed Maus because I thought that the story was great and the way the story was displayed was unique and engaging. I enjoyed The Great Gatsby because I loved the detail and the imagery found in the book. Finally, I enjoyed A Raisin in the Sun because it was a great play, which told a great story that was enhanced by the way we read it.What was your least favorite book this year? Why?

I think my least favorite book of the year was The Odyssey; this wasn't because the book was bad or not interesting. It was just because I had already read the book, so I knew what was going to happen throughout the book.What should I definitely keep the same for next year's ELA curriculum? Why?

I would keep the response projects open to student choice. I would also keep peer editing because that was helpful.What should I definitely change for next year's ELA curriculum? Why?

One time, we had our first draft of a paper edited through a meeting with you, Ms. Harrison. I really enjoyed that and found it extremely helpful. I would like to have that happen more, possibly every time we write a paper.Is there anything else that you would like to tell me about your experience in ELA? If so - please put it here

Nothing else, other than ELA class was great.

Journal May 3

I would like to talk about the plant that Mama seemingly obsessed over in A Raisin in the Sun. Although this plant was old and dilapidated, this plant traveled with the family when they moved houses. We see this as the play ends with Mama running back into their first house to grab the plant before they move. This plant symbolizes hope and persistence. Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, this plant is struggling to survive; however, it pulls through and stays alive. The same is for the family. Mama and her family are struggling to survive; however, they pull through and stay alive. I believe that this plant helps keep the family strong. The family looks at the plant and sees its struggle, yet how it persists. I believe that the family relates to the plant and sees how it stays alive through all the struggle. This encourages them to stay alive through their struggle.

Journal April 26

3. "There ain't no causes - there ain't nothing but taking in this world, and he who takes the most is smartest - and it don't make a damn bit of difference how," [A Raisin in the Sun 143]. I don't believe this to be true because having a lot of material items doesn't mean that you will be respected or well-off. I could rob a bank, and yes, I would have a lot, but I wouldn't be any smarter. In fact, I would be more stupid because I would have to deal with the repercussions for my actions. However, I feel like people living in different socio-economic class would see this statement differently. People living in poorer conditions, not having a lot of material items, would probably see the people who have a lot as smarter or somehow better. People living in higher socio-economic classes, however, would probably not see the people who have more as being smarter. This is because people living in higher socio-economic class wouldn't like to admit that "there ain't noting but taking in this world," [A Raisin in the Sun 143].

A Raisin in The Sun Journal April 18

2. I believe that Mama gives Walter the remaining money for one, main reason. This reason is Mama trusted Walter and believed that he would do the right thing. After seeing how broken up Walter was about not getting the money, Mama most likely assumed that if she were to give it to him, he would use it responsibly to prove the point that he can be reliable with money. Mama probably thought that because Walter was fighting so hard to try to get the money, once he did get it, he would be mature with it. Mama was also most likely giving Walter a chance to show responsibility, even though she knew that there was a possibility for mistake. It is just like giving a child money to buy something at the store. One knows that the child might make a mistake, but one wants to give that child a chance to prove that they are responsible. Mama wanted to give Walter this same chance.

Journal April 11, 2015

2. Although America claims to be founded on equality and justice, people still discriminate one another. This can easily be seen by looking at politicians, who are the "spokesmen/spokeswomen of the people." Politicians are supposed to promote equality and justice, the two cornerstones of America. Turning on the news, however, shows a different story about politicians. One politician is corrupt and is siphoning government money into personal accounts. How is that just? Another politician is pushing through laws that prohibit homosexual people from getting married. How is that equal? Another politician is encouraging police to hand out more tickets and incriminate more people to pull in more money for the city. How is that fair? Although it is easy to see that this contradiction is going on today, one has to ask themselves where it stems from. Is it the system, or are humans just engineered to discriminate?

Free Blog Post March 8

This week, we got to choose whatever we wanted to talk about. I had no clue what I wanted to talk about, so I decided that I would make my blog post about the first thing I saw when I looked away from my computer. Luckily, this happened to be something fairly interesting, my CAMH (Contemporary Art Museum of Houston) submission, which has taken over my whole room. You might be wondering why I am submitting an artwork to this prestigious museum. While if you didn't know, the CAMH is planning on having an exhibit about marginalization featuring teenage artists between the age of 15-19. I am about half way done with my piece, and the submission is due on March 13, a week from now, which means I will have to work really hard to get it done. My piece is going to be about teen suicide, posing the question 'Why do we push people so far to the edges of society that they feel as if their only choice is to accept death and kill themselves.' To convey this idea, I made a big, wooden frame with mesh stretching across the inside. From this mesh, I am hanging 400 fake roses at varying heights. I also plan to hang real roses spread throughout the fake ones. As time goes on, the real roses will wilt and fall to the ground, symbolizing the teens who choose to commit suicide. I chose to hang roses because in the Victorian Language of Flowers, roses mean love. Whereas wilted roses mean rejected love. I thought that these two meanings go perfectly with my message of this piece. What do you guys think about this piece? Do you guys have any suggestions?

The Great Gatsby Journal March 1

During our time studying the Great Gatsby, I made many connections between IHSS and the book. The largest one, was between differences in the living conditions of different  socioeconomic classes. The Great Gatsby showed these by comparing the extravagant parties of the rich to the "Valley of Ashes."We also saw these differences during our trips out to the different food shops. One group went to a Kroger stocked with food and in a good neighborhood, while the other group went to food stores that were just a few miles away from this Kroger and filled with no fresh food. Personally, I believe that there is an even bigger difference between the socioeconomic class of today, than there was in the 1920s.

The Great Gatsby Journal Feb. 21

3. Last Thursday, we watched two movies about migrant workers in the United States. These movies, and the discussions that followed, didn't really change my views on the idea of the American Dream; they actually solidified my ideas. Before the movie, I thought that the American Dream was not really possible because our society is set up in such a way that it is extremely hard to move from the lower class to the middle class or to the upper class. I believe that the reason it is so hard to move from one social class to another is because the differences in the social classes are so grand. This movie, as I said before, solidified my beliefs about the American Dream. It showed me that the life of poor worker families is cyclical. For example, the parents will work long days and make little money. When they have children, they will promise that the children's generation will be the one to break the chain of farm working by going to school and getting an education. However, the children are usually not able to get a proper education because their family is constantly moving around. Because of this, the children tend to become farm workers just like their parents, and the cycle repeats. It is extremely hard to escape from poverty because many of the things that one might need to escape from poverty are things that are only available to the rich.

The Great Gatsby Journal Feb. 14

1. Gatsby's story and Jordan's story both are very different even though both of the stories revolve around the same character, Jay Gatsby. These contrasts can be seen in the way that the stories are told. Gatsby rushed his story as if he doesn't want to talk about it or he is ashamed of it. "He [Gatsby] hurried the phrase 'educated at Oxford,' or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him before," (The Great Gatsby 65). Whereas Jordan Baker made Gatsby seem as though he was a hero. "The officer [Gatsby] looked at Daisy while she was speaking, in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time, and because it seemed romantic to me I have remembered the incident ever since. His name was Jay Gatsby, and I didn't lay eyes on him again for over four years," (The Great Gatsby 75). I think that the reasons that their two stories vary is because Gatsby is being modest. He doesn't want to make himself seem like he is some great hero for one of two reasons: he doesn't want Nick to feel bad or unaccomplished; or Gatsby knows all the bad things about himself/thinks of all his mistakes he's made and, on the inside, doesn't think he is a great man. Jordan, on the other hand, only knows about the good things that Gatsby has done. For this reason, she tells his life story as though he is a great man.

The Great Gatsby Journal February 5.

2. Personally, I do not believe that Nick is reserved from making judgements like he says on page 1. "In consequence, I'm inclined to reserve all judgements," (The Great Gatsby 1). I don't believe that he holds back judgments because when Tom and him go to visit Tom's mistress in the "valley of ashes", Nick seems to make multiple judgmental statements against the conditions in the "valley of ashes." For example, on page 25, Nick states, "The interior was unprosperous and bare; the only car visible was the dust-covered wreck of a Ford which crouched in a dim corner. ...When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes." To me, this statement seems very judgmental because not only does Nick critique the interior of this shop by saying that it is unprosperous, but he also implies that this certain man is so poor, he becomes hopeful when he sees well-off individuals walk into his shop. Yet this could be an example of him just being honest and not judgmental, as he claims to be one of the only honest people that he has ever met. I don't believe that we know enough about Nick to tell if he really is honest or not. We've seen, so far, that Nick has been honest, but we've only just met him.

Income Inequality Blog (1/31/15)

3. The thing that most surprised me about income inequality in America is what people thought about it. Specifically, the differences between how people believed income was spread among the population versus how income is actually spread among the American population. I was surprised that so many people, including me, were oblivious to the actual amount of income inequality in America. Why is there such a great range in the differences of incomes between the richest rich and the poorest poor? Another thing that I was surprised by was the amount of people that still believed that the American Dream was a real thing that could happen to anyone. I, frankly, don't believe that the American Dream is a very real thing. I think when America was starting out it might have been easier to move from class to class; now, however, it would be very hard to move from one social class to another because the social classes are so different from one another. I believe that the majority of the people, who work hard to try to be successful in life, are not given the opportunity to be successful. For example, a child, who is born into a very poor family that lives in a bad neighborhood, will end up going to a bad school. This child will either not get a very good education or will work hard to learn and make themselves smarter. Even if they work hard and are very smart, they will not have many opportunities to push themselves out of their neighborhood and class that they live in. However, I believe that some hard-working people get lucky and are able to move to a higher-up social class, yet this is only a very small percentage of all the hard-working, poor people. I believe the reason that many people believe the American Dream is a real thing is because we only here about the success stories of these few people; we don't hear about all the other hard-working people, who never go far in life because of the unfairness of our country.