Final Reflection

The three most important things I've learned this year from this class is to learn time management, be open with your writing, and to just think creatively.

I think I will definitely remember those speeches we had done for the rest of my life. It was the greatest part of this class. Everyone had trust in everyone to share something close to their hearts. They shared their beliefs. That is what a class family looked like, being able to be so comfortable that we shared a little part of our memory.

The nicest thing someone in our class did for me was simply help me with what I was confused on. It may be small or big, but they helped me get a good grade. Without those people who've helped me, I would probably be struggling with my grades at the moment.

I'm not sure I taught my teacher or my classmates anything this year. I want to believe that I taught them that everything does get better. I want to believe that I taught them to just care for one another even if we don't know them that well.

The area that I feel I made the biggest improvement would have to be putting my thoughts really into my writing. I'm sure my writing has progressed with my words and actual thoughts without tweaking it. I'm proud of that mostly.

The most challenging part was to write about something without including with my own opinions.

The best piece of writing I've done all year was my speech. It's the best because it was real. All my writing were real, but my speech was full of emotions and what I went through. To me and possibly others, my speech was sometinhg special. It was the best because it had a moral to it. It had something that people should remember. My classmates and my teachers now knows what I've been through and see how I am now. It truly does get better. I got better.

My favorite I've read was probably Mockingbird (mok'ing-bûrd) because I related to it. This little girl, Caitlin, had lost her older brother to a school shooter. She's a ten year old with Asperger syndrome (AD). Caitlin wants to help herself and her father but she can't do that if she doesn't know what to do. After the shooting, she now has therapy to help her talk about it. Well, to help her talk at all. It doesn't work though. She wants to help herself, she just wants guidance. Later on, she finds her answer and helps her father also. Her answer was closure.

The advice I would give to the students that are coming next year would be to just be yourself and do not lie Mrs. Larson. Also, to just do your best. It is the last year of middle school, don't give up on it. You'll end up regretting it.

This I Believe

“Everything will be okay”
By Kiana Perez

I believe that obstacles in our life help us grow into better people. The obstacles that seem impossible to overcome are the most important, I would think. They're the ones that help you grow especially.

One summer ago, I had a very bad time with my depression. I’ve had depression ever since I was about eight years old. I’ve had traumatic experiences with my family and then my own issues. They may not seem severe to most people but to me, it was as if it was never going to end. When I got into middle school, it had gotten worse, I’m not sure why. It had gotten to the point where I wouldn’t eat, I would harm myself, I would do all these things that caused harm to me, mentally and physically. I didn’t make it noticeable though. No one knew what was going on with me, not even my family because it didn't affect my schoolwork. That was everyone’s excuse as to why they didn’t realize. Although, I’m sure they were lying. Reason as to why I didn’t show it was because I didn’t want to be more of a disappointment. To me, in my eyes, I wasn't good at anything. I always felt as if no one loved me. I always felt as if no one cared about me. At that time, I had learned to hate myself because there was no way someone could help me. I hated myself because I felt that I wasn't worth anything to get help.

That was before coming to school here started. Ever since I came to a realization, I learned that I needed to be independent. I had to do things on my own. I had to be there that for myself. If no one was going to help me, I had to do it for myself. I still have trouble doing that but I'm trying. It changed me quite a lot. My mindset has grown to the point where someone can tell me anything and I'll be able to adapt to it. All I want to do is to help others because I don't want them to feel the way I do. I wouldn't want my family, friends, even strangers to feel that way because that's the worst feeling possible.

I am grateful that I went through that otherwise I wouldn't be who I am today. We go through things everyday. Some small, some big, we learn and grow from it. Everything will be okay at the end. It always is.

Literature Circles/Nonfiction Article Blog

My essential question: Will Jeffery change if he were to become closer with Lindsey?

In After Ever After, the beginning, Jeffrey had cancer. After his cancer, he sought out to have a normal eighth grade life but with still side effects of no more cancer. He wasn't doing good in school. He was barely even focusing on himself. He would space out a lot. Then, Jeffrey met Lindsey. They hit it off, began dating, but she was just another distraction to his schoolwork. He wasn’t concentrating, he would skip studying just to see her, he wasn’t doing the things he needed in order to pass eighth grade. He was focused on Lindsey, and Tad. He was focused on the important things in life but not the important things that’ll actually help him create another life.

In the article, “More children than thought got cancer from Fukushima disaster, study says”, it talks about how radiation is in the air due to a large wave and all these children are becoming infected with the thyroid cancer. This connects with After Ever After by kids rarely having chronic myeloid cancer (CML); that’s what Tad had gotten. Thyroid cancer and CML is rare in children. In the article it says, “The Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan was destroyed by a large wave in 2011. Radioactive material was released into the air and soil.” This is the only reason as to why so many kids have thyroid cancer in the article while in the book, my group does not know how Tad had gotten CML or cancer again in general. Thyroid and Myeloid is basically the same thing. CML is a slowly progressing and uncommon type of blood cells that start at the bone marrow. Thyroid is when cells grow abnormally in the thyroid gland. They both include cells somewhere that causes damage.
In my book, Tad has cancer again, CML. It is rare in kids and mostly rare in kids who've survived cancer. It is only cured with a bone marrow transplant and Gleevec - he may possibly take it for his entire treatment and/or after. Also, radiation from his past treatments may have caused it or him being inactive with his health. In the article it says, “Thyroid cancer among children is definitely linked to radiation, the study said. If treated, thyroid cancer is rarely deadly. However, patients have to take medicine for the rest of their lives.” - just like Tad. But now, he's gone.

The way they both, article and book, transfer the same information is how they talk about a specific cancer caused by radiation. They include separate ways because in the article it is caused by wave. In the book, cancer has been brought back due to whatever had happened to Tad. It is almost the same information just said differently.

"More children than thought got cancer from Fukushima disaster, study says." Newsela | More children than thought got cancer from Fukushima disaster, study says. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2017.

Sonnenblick, Jordan, and Marijka Kostiw. After ever after. New York: Scholastic, 2014. Print.

After Ever After

After Ever After is about an 8th grader, Jeffrey, that had cancer. Tad, his best friend also had cancer. They both are in 8th grade, getting used to things. They’re both trying to be normal. Jeffrey then meets the new girl, Lindsey, and he turns out to like her. Jeffrey’s 8th grade year for him is both good and bad. Due to the cancer, he fidgets and spaces out a lot. His brother, Steven, has gone to Africa. His parents don't believe he’ll pass 8th grade because of his grades - although it isn't his fault. All of that changes when Jeffrey actually wants to try so he could go to highschool with Lindsey. He begins to be tutored by Tad, he begins to work out with Tad, and he begins to be open with Lindsey.

After reading, I wonder what will Jeffrey do next. I wonder how he’ll feel when a specific thing happens to him, his family, and his friends. I wonder what will happen if he were to leave Tad for Lindsey. I wonder if Steven will contact him or even to go see Jeffrey. I always wonder how Jeffrey will end up when he becomes so used to this “normal” routine. Although, I really only worry about his and Tads friendship because I would feel so bad not only because they're their only friends but because how can they just forget about each other? I truly believe that this book will make me cry just a little bit.

This book is so realistic, which is why I enjoy it. Anyone can actually relate to it somehow. It's about an 8th grader who has a crush and cancer but everyone has to know someone who's had cancer or has read about it somewhere. Anyone can look back to 8th grade and their crush, it's simple and it's just like life. It's explains many things - family, friends, self, and school.  It's all very complicated and simple.

I commented on Dena's

Third Quarter Reflection

Third quarter was much better, in my eyes. I had learned a lot. I may not be good as I used to be because it had gotten somewhat harder, I still achieved it.

The biggest improvements I made in ELA, I would say that I know how to keep things locked in my brain. I know the vocabulary words very well and the definitions. I made a big improvement of taking evidence and citing it. I made an improvement of improving my work if it had to be done.

I accomplished the art of perseverance through my work during this quarter for ELA. I am proud of accomplishing the IXLs. I am proud of accomplishing writing decent blogs ever since August. I am proud of accomplishing/creating my butterfly in 2 days.

The most challenging part about third quarter was keeping up with everything at once. Everything was on top of each other at one point that I couldn't sleep for 48 hours, I still got it done though. What I did to overcome it was to do as much as I can at school, I didn't have much to do once I got home. What I still can do to overcome, it would be to keeping doing what I’m doing.

Overall, this was a great quarter, I’m proud of myself.

Life Is Beautiful

Life Is Beautiful and Night had similar events like, the men and women were separated. The rules were explained to the men. The men went straight to work. Also, no food was served, no drinks. The women were sent to their side and they had to get the clothes. They basically had to clean. The men and women, whether friends, family, or anything. They couldn't see each other.

The differences were that the movie was based on Italian Jews while the book had German Jews. In the movie, Guido was married to Dora, a German. She sacrificed her place as a German to be with her small family. In the book, Wiesel had no choice. His family didn't have choice because they were all Jewish. In the movie, Guido had taken his son with him into the camp, to be with him. While in the book, women and children had to be together to be killed instantly, looked as “useless.”  In the movie, no one lied about their age. In the book, Wiesel had to lie in order to survive. In the movie, Guido had to lie to his son, Giosué, in order for him to not be scared as to what may happen to them.

The similarity between the mood and tone of both, book and movie is that it gives off sorrow. It is truly heartbreaking to see and read. The tone of the book was so sharp. The book had real experiences, of course it wouldn’t have any humor, for it was serious. The tone of the movie was completely different. Guido had so much humor just for his son. He kept going so his son can see that nothing had changed. He also still had love. He did not give up on that for he still had determination to find his wife. The different point of view in characters creates suspense in the book because Wiesel isn't a character. He’s a real person. He had actually experienced it. In the book it had humor because that's how the character is portrayed. Guido had to be humorous in the case of his son and himself. In order for him to not lose himself in the process. Guido was always humorous with himself, his wife, and son. Their family was very happy.

Life is shown as beautiful throughout the movie because even though they're going through the Holocaust, they still have hope and love within themselves. Guido risked getting caught to let his wife know that he is alive and so is their son. It was truly beautiful. Love is shown even when there is sorrow in the world. Guido’s love for his son and his wife, Dora, helped him to go with such happiness in his heart. He risked his own life, he had his own life taken away to save his son.

Night

Elie’s experiences during the Holocaust change him as a person by the way things were for him. At first, Elie was into his religion and a family person. He looked for a mentor for himself because he wanted to know more. Elie was very pious. Unfortunately, that was taken away when Elie, a little boy, was rushed to a place where people of all ages shouldn't be.

The very first reason as to why he had changed was how everything was falling apart, left to right, for him and others. They weren't ready for anything so severe. They really did think that they were going to work in brick factories. Their temple was gone, their shops were trashed, Jews were being shot, and Jews were basically digging their own graves right when they went to “work.” Once Elie and his family got into the reception center for Auschwitz, they were separated. He only had his father now. People who have already been there told them what was up with it. Those prisoners first hand told them what they needed to say in order to stay “safe”, while others threatened them and actually told them the truth. Little by little, it got worse.

Wiesel had started to change the more it got worse. His father had also gotten worse, to the point where he was very weak. Wiesel had changed his mindset to survive. He was close to losing his humanity. His father had gotten beat right by his side and he was moving away so he won't get hit also. Wiesel then looked after his father when they did their march to Gleiwitz - Buchenwald. His father was dying, Wiesel’s father had told him to leave him at one point, “He half opened his eyes. ‘No advice,’ he said in a faint voice. “I’m tired. Leave me alone. Leave me.” (Wiesel 85). He then realized that his father was dying and there was nothing he could do about it. Any prisoner that came upon him had told him to leave his father, to take his rations, that there is no point. Wiesel knew there was no point, that he should take his rations, that he should leave his father but he didn’t. He didn't because his father was all he had left, time had caught up with his father either way. He was without his father now, “I awoke on January 29 at dawn. In my father's place lay another invalid. They must have taken him away before dawn and carried him to the crematory...There were no prayers at his grave. No candles were lit to his memory. His last word was my name. A summons, to which I did not respond.” (Wiesel 106).
Wiesel had to change his values to survive. After his father’s death, he felt nothing. “I might perhaps have found something like-free at last!” (106).

In the beginning, Wiesel was pious. He believed deeply in Him. When arriving at the camps, his faith had begun to decrease. Moshe the Beadle was willing to teach him but he was taken away for being a foreign Jew. That was the first sign of the Nazis taking over. When they finally did take over Sighet, he was confused. He didn't know what was going to happen but he had hoped that God would do something about it. Going to the reception center of Auschwitz, Madame, a woman who didn't know where they were going was screaming, “Look! Look at it! Fire! A terrible fire! Mercy! Oh, that fire!” (Wiesel 22).

Buna was when he actually was doubting his God. Buna was absolute hell for him. He really struggled with his faith. He would question himself. He would scream at his God. Someone had said behind him, “Where is God now?” - “And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows…” (Wiesel 62)

Wiesel had given up on his God when he realized that he would not step in to save him and his people. That was his big transformation from his old life. That is what had changed the most, his faith in God.

Wiesel, Elie . Night. New York: Bantam , 1960. Print.