Thursday, February 20, 2014

Blog Reflection (Hon English 1A)

Worst post
Who is the book thief? (Hon English 1A)
I just started reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. So far, I have found out that the book is narrated by Death. He begins to tell the story of the times he has seen the book thief. The first is when the thief’s brother dies. Death comes to pick his soul up from a train, but does something he usually doesn’t do; he stays with her and her mother. The second time is when her mother and she bury the boy. This is where the girl steals her first book. Then, Death tells how the mother takes the daughter to a foster home on Himmel Street. The mother has some kind of condition that she has to keep paying to get better, and she can no longer support her children. This book is interesting to me and I am excited to continue reading. I want to learn what happens to the book thief at the foster home. Will she ever see her mother again? When will Death next see her? I also want to see the movie, but only after I finish the book.

Best post
Wonder (Hon English 1A)
Wonder is about a 5th grade boy named August (or Auggie by his family). He was born with a facial deformity and has been homeschooled and lived a very sheltered life until now. He is starting middle school this year, and has been accepted into a competitive school- Beecher Prep.
Text-to-self connection...
August's English teacher, Mr. Browne has monthly precepts, or mottos to live by for that month. "You can't blend in when you were born to stand out" has been my favorite. I think it not only goes with Auggie, who was treated by family as if he were "normal" when he obviously isn't; but can connect with everyone. Everyone is different, so why act as if we are all the same? Being different is okay, and I don't think enough people know that. Auggie is only in 5th grade, and isn't struggling with the comments, the stares, the things that people do when they don't think he can't see, because he grew up always being used to it. So many people care what other people think of them. Who cares? What other people look like only effects them. I can identify with Auggie in a way that I know some other people can, that what people think isn't a big deal. I don't let it change who I am, because at the end of the day, I am here to please me and not everyone else, like Auggie.

Blogging Reflection
Experience:
What was one strength you had with blogging?
Reading and writing has always come pretty easy to me. I think blogging kept me on top of getting my reading done.  I can’t quite find the time at home to read, but I read a lot in Best Sellers. I think after this tri is over, I’m going to have to set aside reading time at home. I think blogging helped me understand the books I was reading better. I usually don’t write about them, and I liked blogging overall. The hardest thing for me was figuring out what I wanted to write about in my blog. Overall, I had a good blogging experience.
Growth:
How has the quality of your writing improved over the course of the trimester?

The quality of my writing has improved. In my Who is the book thief? post, it was no more than a summary. I got bored as I was re-reading it. One thing that was a bit of a struggle was making connections outside of the text. I never knew how to connect with the writing.  It makes it a lot easier to connect if you can identify with qualities of a character. In my worst post I stated, “I just started reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. So far, I have found out that the book is narrated by Death.” That is a boring piece to me. If I was to re-word that, it would be “I just started The Book Thief (Markus Zusak). The most interesting piece so far is that it is narrated by Death.” That sentence makes me want to read more. It’s more exciting. Instead of it being just another piece of information, I want to know more. I want to know how Death narrates, what he is like; I want to know specifics. In my Wonder post, I worked to get a real world connection. In Wonder, I can identify in some way with Auggie. That helped me whenever I was making a connection to myself. I definitely don’t struggle with the same kind of problems that Auggie does, but I think that it still comes together. I like how I gave a very short summary and then explained more in my connection; I didn't give a long summary and then explain it all when it wasn't necessary. I also thought my connection was strong, and can identify with lots of people. I gave a short summary here and then explained it, “Being different is okay, and I don't think enough people know that. Auggie is only in 5th grade, and isn't struggling with the comments, the stares, the things that people do when they don't think he can't see, because he grew up always being used to it.” I took an example from the book and then put it into my own words. I think that makes it an easier concept to understand if you can’t identify with this certain situation. 

No comments:

Post a Comment