Dear Ms. Galang and 811,

I had pretty high expectations for the 8th grade in the beginning of the year, and I have to say it was just as amazing as I thought it would be. Although school is not always enjoyable, being in this amazing homeroom made it better. This has been one of the best years of my life and I have all of my classmates and teachers to thank for it. This has also been such a good year in ELA. We did so many fun units and I grew as a writer and reader so much.

One of my favorite units was poetry. I usually hate writing poetry, because I never know what to say, but writing in a response to a painting or photograph really helped. Coming up with a story to go along with a piece of art opened up a new door for me. It even helped when I wasn’t writing a poem in response to art. I could come up with a story for a poem and write it. I had never done that before this year, I always thought poetry was about expressing yourself, but now I realize it can be a creative outlet to write anything you can think of.

Another thing that I really liked doing was book clubs. I love being able to share ideas with other people, and working together to dive deep into the book and really figure out all the hidden topics. It helped to be able to bounce ideas off of each other in a small group. Reading To Kill a Mockingbird in book clubs for the banned books unit really stood out, because it has so many intertwined issues to discuss. Picking through and unraveling every little piece was really interesting and exciting.

I had fun all year in ELA and in all classes, thank you 811 for making this one of the best years of my life.

-Olivia

Sunset (Poetic response to photo below)

I come here every night

same place, to sit

on the same fence

yet there’s always a different sunset behind me

always beautifully breathtaking

So I go sit on the fence

at sunset

and make shadows

Reflection

This poem is about how nature is always changing, and always beautiful. The narrator is stuck in a routine sitting on the same fence in the same place every night, and she seeks comfort in knowing that the sunset is forever changing, and it will never be the same again.

Silence

Silence follows me

everywhere I go

I glance at people, mindlessly talking but

no noise comes out

words with no meaning

no thought
I don’t listen

to people who speak words of numbness

so silence surrounds me

everywhere

everywhere is silent

if you stop listening

Reflection

This poem is about the narrator, who doesn’t listen when people talk. They think that what other people say is insignificant, so they get lost in their own thoughts and their head in always in the clouds.

Sonnet

We sailed on the bay towards the island

The wind in our faces, blowing our hair

The boat began to scrape against the sand

No where I would’ve rather been but there

with you, in the best summer of my life

Loving every moment, but now its gone

Getting over you was my hardest strife

I think about you everyday at dawn,

and every sunset as I go to bed

Thoughts of the perfect summer and other

memories always in my head

Forevermore, one after another

I thought we were in love, but I guess not

Maybe I was wrong, now I’m overwrought

Reflection

I think the hardest part of the sonnet was making every line exactly ten syllables. I would think of a line, then realize it was only 8 or 11 syllables and have to change it. Having a specific rhyme scheme helped me a lot. I could find a word that had to do with my poem and then build the rest of the line around that. This also helped the story of the poem develope. Even after the first four lines, I had no idea what direction I was going in, but I kept writing and was able to make a story.

Heart Poem

Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends

and before the street begins,

and there the grass grows soft and white,

and there the sun burns crimson bright,

and there the moon-bird rests from his flight

to cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black

and the dark street winds and bends.

Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow

we shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow

and watch where the chalk-white arrows go

to the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

and we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,

for the children, they mark, and the children, they know,

the place where the sidewalk ends.

Reading Response

I chose this poem because when I was little I had the poem anthology from Shel Silverstein called “Where The Sidewalk Ends”, and I had it on audiobook. I used to listen to so many of his poems over and over again. I chose this one because I feel that I can relate to many of the themes he brings up in the poem.

One of the themes I relate to is the theme of pollution, and how dirty the world has become. The poem describes the place where the sidewalk ends as a very clean and fresh environment. Shel Silverstein uses phrases such as, “the grass grows soft and white,” and “peppermint wind” to paint the picture of the clean and fresh place. I hate how dirty the world has gotten, and how we have caused global warming and climate change, and lots of species to become extinct. It makes me sad that we as humans don’t clean up after ourselves, and most people don’t even care.

The second theme that I found in this poem that I relate to is described in the third stanza when She Silverstein says that the children will lead the way to the land with no pollution or and problems at all. He is implying that childhood is a very simple and happy time in a person’s life, because children are oblivious to a lot of the world”s problems.This lets them lead lives that are happy and free of responsibilities.

All in all, I chose this poem because I love Shel Silverstein and I can relate to it on many levels. I connect with theme of pollution and the idea that children live in a different world than the rest of us.

Teamwork and friendship is important in anyone's life, especially Percy Jackson's. In "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan, Percy relies on his friends and teamwork to keep him alive through multiple battles. Rick Riordan tries to help us imagine people working together as opposed to in competition with one another. 

Percy is a demigod. This means that he is half mortal, and half Greek God. He goes to camp in the summer for you trains to fight monsters, and goes to regular school during the year. He has to be very careful about monsters in the mortal world, and he hasn't had an encounter until the last day of school. He is in PE playing dodgeball, when all of a sudden the kids on the other team grow to 8 feet tall and start throwing have a bronze falls and encased fire. His friend to Tyson who is a cyclops even though Percy doesn't realize, diverts the attack while Percy runs to get his sword. Without Tyson Percy would've died. This tells us that you figuratively and literally shouldn't fight all your battles alone, and it's always good to have friends by your side. 

When Percy gets back to camp after this, he finds that the magical borders keeping monsters out have weakened, and there's only a few kids who stayed year-round to fight monsters. One of them is Clarisse, someone who doesn't like Percy, and he doesn't like her either. In spite of this, when Clarisse was knocked down in battle, instead of fighting the other monster, Percy dashes over to her and gets her out of the way before she is trampled. Clarisse would've died without Percy there to help. This shows teamwork is important even if you don't like your teammates. In the end, you all have one common goal, and you need each other to accomplish it. 

Percy has another friend, Grover, who is on a quest to find the missing God, Pan. Before he left, Grover made an empathy link between him and Percy, which means they can communicate through dreams. In a dream, Grover told Percy that he was is big trouble. He was completely trapped and probably going to die. Percy didn't hesitate to say that he would go save him as soon as he could. In that moment, Percy cared about Grover more than the weakened borders at camp. All he wanted to do was help his friend, even though he knew it would be nearly impossible. This shows how strong their friendship is and how much they mean to each other. 

This whole book is all about teamwork and helping each other out. Percy needs his friends, and his friends need him. Percy is the hero of the story, but he couldn't have done it with out help. 

Author’s Note

First Draft

There are millions of kids getting bullied in schools all across America, and other countries, too. Severe bullying can lead to depression, decrease in grades and concentration, self isolation, self harm, anxiety, suicide, and more. Lots of kids are bullied due to differences from other students, such as race, religion, or different disabilities. Some children get harassed because of disabilities, meaning they get threats, physically and verbally assaulted. This is a really big problem thats still goes on daily, and something needs to be done about it.

Banned Books Essay

“To Kill a Mockingbird” is no doubt a classic. British librarians compared it to The Bible, saying “every adult should read [it] before they die.” Despite all this, parents have continuously been upset and have wanted to ban this book from school libraries and classrooms. Lots of books have been challenged or banned due to parents wanting to protect their children from reading these “inappropriate” texts. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is no exception. The story is about two young siblings, Jem and Scout, whose father, Atticus, is defending an African American, Tom Robinson, in court. Tom was falsely accused of rape, but him and Atticus loose the trial because he is black. Parents complain that “To Kill a Mockingbird” is racist, is inappropriate because of rape, and has too many curse words.

Many parents complain that “To Kill a Mockingbird” promotes racism, but the opposite is true. The author, Harper Lee, is trying to teach people not to be racist by putting in racist characters and have them be the “villain” of the story. When Atticus defended Tom in court and lost, Scout and Jem were really upset. Specifically, a line that shows this is, “His [Jem] face was streaked with angry tears . . . “‘it ain’t right,’” he muttered.” Furthermore, Harper Lee is just being historically accurate with racism in this book. The article “Banned Books Awareness: To Kill a Mockingbird” the author states, “unless you’ve never read even a basic history book, you’re well aware the social status and public treatment of most blacks was dismal at best.” This shows that Harper Lee is not trying to promote racism, she is just accurately portraying a Southern town in the 1930s. If you are going to ban this book because of racism you might as well ban any history textbooks, too.

Another thing parents were upset about in the book is the theme of rape. Parents are trying to protect their children, but its better for teens to be aware of topics such as rape. Rape is a real world issue. In the article, “Banned Book: To Kill a Mockingbird” by Brian M, he states, “ . . .it doesn’t prepare our children for facing these dangers when they arrive.” This illustrates that isolating kids from topics such as rape will have a more negative than positive effect. While some might argue that rape is inappropriate for young kids, anyone who is reading this book is most likely not so young that rape would  be something to know about. When asked if banning books because of rape is something she would ever do, a school librarian said, “No, because once you ban a book on one particular subject matter, you open the door to banning books on all other subject matters. The library has an obligation to provide access to information regardless of its subject matter.” If one parent is upset by a book, the school shouldn’t be able to ban it for the whole school. No one is forcing anyone to read something they don’t want to read. Moreover, Harper Lee is not trying to promote rape in the book, she is just raising awareness.

The last thing that upsets parents and teachers about “To Kill a Mockingbird” is the profanity. Parents and teachers think that the language used in “To Kill a Mockingbird” is inappropriate for kids. The school librarian at PS 15 said, “As a librarian, I must provide access to all information to everyone and that includes not censoring books because of curse words or upsetting topics.” The school/teachers should not be able to regulate what every student in the school is reading. If one student/parent feels uncomfortable about a certain book, that does not mean it should be banned for the whole school.

In conclusion, schools and teachers should not have the authority to censor what students are reading. If a student’s parent doesn’t want them reading a certain book, they can choose to not let their child read it. Just because a book is not okay for one student, doesn’t mean that all students shouldn’t read it. Everyone is different and books can be right for one person but not the other.

Social Awareness Project

Overview

Ask.fm Response - Description of the social media ask.fm, why its a problem, and how                                                      we can solve it.

Smoking Reading Response - Response to an article desricibing why smoking was popular, why it went out of style, and how the tobacco companies responded to all of it.

Words poem - An original poem about someone getting harshly bullied

Ask.fm Response

There is a social media called ask.fm that a lot of people at MS 51 have. How it works is people ask you questions, and you answer them. When you ask people questions, you have a choice if you want the person to be able to see who asked, or you can ask anonymously. The fact that you can set it so people don’t see who you are has causes a lot of hate and bullying. A lot of people hear rumors at school and then accuse people of them on ask anonymously. Lots of people get questions saying stuff like ‘It’s funny how you like someone one day and the next day you forget about them, no wonder no one likes you’.

Teenagers can get really hurt by this cyberbullying. When people spread rumors about you, its never a good feeling, but its even worse when someone asks you about it. Especially when you don’t know who it is. Theres just some random person out there who knows these lies about you and you have no idea who it is. When teens get cyber bullied like this, often times people say the same mean things to you. After hearing it so much, they could start to believe it themselves.

Some solutions to this problem would be if people stopped spreading rumors and saying hurtful things about others, but that most likely won’t happen. People could stop using ask, but for some reason a lot of people love it. The last thing is that ask could take away the option of asking things anonymously. As a result, people would stop saying mean things that they would never say face to face.

Smoking Reading Response

Smoking has been around for a long time, and in the 1950s, it was extremely popular to always have a cigarette dangling from your mouth. The article “Kicking The Habit” by Robert K. Elder explains when it went out of style, why, and how tobacco companies responded. Based on the information the author gives in this article, I think that he’s against smoking.

Smoking became popular in the 17th century, and by World War Ⅰ, cigarettes were even in soldiers’ rations. In the 1960s, 42% of American adults were addicted. Tobacco companies used television to advertise with jingles and slogans, and they used celebrities to make smoking seem cool. There had been a few studies of a connection between smoking and some diseases, so many tobacco companies dressed up actors as doctors for their commercials to try to contro\adict this information. As soon as it was official that smoking can kill you, tobacco companies were instructed by Congress that they needed to put “warning labels” on cigarette packs, saying things such as, “Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous To Your Health”. As more knowledge about the dangers of smoking was obtained, these warnings turned into thing like this: “Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and May Complicate Pregnancy.” Tobacco companies knew they were losing their adult customers, so they started to target children. They did things like create logos that were directed towards kids. Camel made Joe Camel, a cartoon camel mascot from their company.

Now that people know smoking cigarettes is unhealthy, companies have made a new product to solve this problem: electronic cigarettes. Even though e-cigarettes are not a bad as real ones, they still contain nicotine, which is what make cigarettes addictive. Companies are targeting children again with this new product, by developing different flavors.

Overall, the author is giving mostly negative information about smoking, which is making me think his views on it are negative as well. After reading this article, I understand the history of cigarettes and smoking. I knew that people smoked a lot more in the 1950s and 60s, but I didn’t know why until now.  They had no idea how bad it was for them. I also think that its very unethical for companies to target children when they’re advertising cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

WORDS

their words cut through me

right past the bone

into my heart

my insecurities’ home

why do I even try

they say those words and

it kills me inside

their words spoken with rage

fill me up and shut me

inside a cage

i scream for someone, anyone

but no one comes

their words make me feel

like im being held down

with a gun

they just say more words

i can’t listen anymore

it hurts, it burns

i shut myself out

but their words cling on

i open my eyes, and see a finger on the trigger

“do it” i dare them

theres no reason to go on

their words just keep pushing

i see the trigger, pulled

and then

they’re gone

Nonfiction Reading Response

Kicking The Bad Habit

By Robert K. Elder

Smoking has been around for a long time, and in the 1950s, it was extremely popular to always have a cigarette dangling from your mouth. The article “Kicking The Habit” by Robert K. Elder explains when it went out of style, why, and how tobacco companies responded. Based on the information the author gives in this article, I think that he’s against smoking.

Smoking became popular in the 17th century, and by World War Ⅰ, cigarettes were even in soldiers’ rations. In the 1960s, 42% of American adults were addicted. Tobacco companies used television to advertise with jingles and slogans, and they used celebrities to make smoking seem cool. There had been a few studies of a connection between smoking and some diseases, so many tobacco companies dressed up actors as doctors for their commercials to try to contro\adict this information. As soon as it was official that smoking can kill you, tobacco companies were instructed by Congress that they needed to put “warning labels” on cigarette packs, saying things such as, “Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous To Your Health”. As more knowledge about the dangers of smokng was obtained, these warnings turned into thing like this: “Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and May Complicate Pregnancy.” Tobacco companies knew they were losing their adult customers, so they started to target children. They did things like create logos that were directed towards kids. The company Camel made Joe Camel, a cartoon camel mascot that they used to advertise.

Now that people know smoking cigarettes is unhealthy, companies have made a new product to solve this problem: electronic cigarettes. Even though e-cigarettes are not a bad as real ones, they still contain nicotine, which is what makes regular cigarettes addictive. Companies are targeting children again with this new product, by developing different fun flavors, such as cotton candy and banana cream pie.

Overall, the author is giving mostly negative information about smoking, which is making me think his views on it are negative as well. After reading this article, I understand the history of cigarettes and smoking. I knew that people smoked a lot more in the 1950s and 60s, but I didn’t know why until now. They had no idea how bad it was for them. I also think that its very unethical for companies to target children when they’re advertising cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

On this trip I learned many things about activists all throughout different times in New York. One of the most interesting things was how they used humor as a form of activism. The activists for bicycle safety used humor by dressing up as clowns and falling over on their bikes. I thought it was interesting how they would think of using humor to protest, but it got the attention they wanted.

I also thought it was interesting how the gay rights activists used violence against the police. I would’ve thought they would do something more peaceful, like give a speech like Martin Luther KIng Jr. They did get some results, but I was just surprised.

Reading Response

To Kill A Mockingbird

“Boy’s don’t cook.” Phrases like this and many others are loosely tossed around, especially in the 30s. The main character of Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Scout, is a girl, (a bit of a tomboy), and often gets told by various people that she can’t wear pants or be tough. Sexism is one of the main themes in this book. Even though she gets told these things, she still believes some gender roles, as did most people back when the book was written.

Every Christmas, Scout and her family go to visit Aunt Alexandra and her grandson, Francis. Aunt Alexandra forces Scout to wear a dress instead of pants every year. When Scout argues that it is difficult for her to play wearing a dress, Aunt Alexandra says that the kind of playing she should be doing should not have need for pants. She thinks that Scout should be playing with tea sets and dolls, instead of outside, with her brother. Aunt Alexandra believed that girls and boys each have specific clothes they need to wear and games they need to play. She says that Scout “could not possibly hope to be a lady if [she] wore breeches” Aunt Alexandra doesn’t respect Scout’s tomboyish personality, she judges people based on gender.

Also during Christmas, Francis told Scout that Aunt Alexandra was going to teach him how to cook. To this she replied, “Boy’s don’t cook.” This shows that back in the 30s there were defined gender roles for people. Everyone might not have believed in all of them, but everyone believed in some, whether they realized it or not. Scout didn’t agree with Aunt Alexandra saying that girls have to wear dresses and play with tea sets, but she still thinks that girls should be doing the cooking.

Before Scout and her family go to visit Aunt Alexandra and Francis, Scout’s Uncle Jack comes to visit them. Around this time, Scout begins to curse, saying things like damn and hell. Uncle Jack noticed this, and told Scout to stop. “You want to grow up to be a lady, don’t you?” he asked her. Uncle Jack thinks thinks that Scout should stop cursing because she’s a girl, and is supposed to be a ‘lady’ and have perfect manners. this shows that Uncle Jack doesn’t think she should be allowed to be tough, just because she’s a girl.

All of these unfair stereotypes prove that its important to respect everyone and their personality. Don’t just assume they are one way because they are a boy or a girl. Aunt Alexandra told Scout what type of games she was supposed to be playing and what she should be wearing, all based on her gender. Uncle Jack told Scout that she had to have nice manners because she was a girl. Scout told Francis he couldn’t cook because he was a boy. A lot of these stereotypes are part of the time period of the book and not modern day. We have made so much progress in terms of stereotypes and sexism from the 30s, and hopefully we can make more until there are no more left.

Archetypes Synthesis Page

To Kill A Mockingbird

The Tricksters - Jem and Dill

Jem and Dill are tricksters because they cause trouble. They played the game where they pretended to be the Radley’s, and they gave the note to Boo Radley on the end of a fishing pole.

Outcast - Boo Radley

Boo Radley is rumored to have stabbed his father in the leg with scissors, and to look into people’s windows at night when they are sleeping. No one knows if these rumors are true, but everyone assumes they are. Boo Radley also never comes out of his house, and no one knows if he is dead or alive.

Female Hero - Scout

Scout is a female hero because she doesn’t think that all the things that Jam and Dill are doing are right. For example, when they were playing the game where they pretend to be Radley’s, she was reluctant to take part in it, and said that they should stop when Atticus almost caught them.

Mentor - Calpurnia

Calpurnia teaches Jem and Scout how to have manners and be a good person. For example, when Walter Cunningham was at their house for dinner, and Scout asked what he was doing when he put syrup all over his food, Calpurnia scolded him for being rude, and told him to respect everyones “ways” of how they do things, whether they seem strange or not. Calpurnia also taught Scout how to write.

Mother Figure - Miss Maudie

Miss Maudie was a mother figure for Scout. She is also very close to Scout’s father and uncle. Scout and Jem can go over whenever they want to play in her yard as long as they don’t go in her flowers. When Jem and Dill started to exclude Scout a lot because she’s a girl, Scout goes over to Miss Maudie’s quite often. Miss Maudie is also very smart and wise, for example, when Scout asked her about Boo Radley, she said that she knew he wasn’t dead because she hadn’t seen him being carried out yet. She also told him that the idea that Mr. and Mrs. Radley stuffed Boo up the chimney when he died is ridiculous, and she shouldn’t believe it just because her brother said so.

Reading Response

Eleanor and Park

In the book “Eleanor and Park’ by Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor and Park’s emotions change constantly throughout the book as their relationship develops. In the beginning, Eleanor and Park don’t talk to each other. In the middle, they talk a little, but they get nervous around each other when they do, and in the end, they are really comfortable in each other’s company.

Eleanor and Park first met when Eleanor was new at Park’s school and all the seats on the bus were taken. Park was reluctant to let Eleanor sit down, but no one else was giving her a seat. “ ‘ Sit down...Just sit down.’ ” They never talked. One day Eleanor was glancing around, and started reading Park’s comic book along with him. Park noticed, and moved it closer so she could see it better. Park started bring comic books to the bus to give to Eleanor to read when she got home. This is how is how their relationship bagn to blossom.

The first time they talked on the bus was the day when Park overslept and forgot to bring Eleanor the comics he was going to give her that day. He was looking at the doodles all over her school books and noticed the title of a song, and started a conversation about music. Eleanor said that she’d never heard the Smiths, but she wanted to. That night, Park made her a mix tape of his favorite songs by the Smiths. She said she didn’t have a walkman to listen to it on, so he let her borrow his. This indicates that Park is really starting to like her. He let her borrow his walkman no matter how many times she refused. He practically forced her to take it to listen to the tape he made her. During school, Eleanor counted down the periods until English, when she saw him in class. This tells us that Eleanor is excited to see him, so she started to like him too.

At the end of the book, Eleanor and Park are really comfortable together. It started when one day on the bus, Park held Eleanor’s hand. This is the first time they both realize the other likes them. Eleanor goes over to Park’s house and starts going over there almost everyday after school. Eleanor even feels comfortable enough with him to tell him about her stepdad who beats her mom, which she had never told anyone before. At the end of the book Park helps Eleanor run away from home to her uncles house, driving her far away from where they live. Once Eleanor and Park get more comfortable with each other, they open up to each other a lot more, and spend all the time they’re apart missing one another.

Reading Response

Looking For Alaska

By John Green

In the book Looking For Alaska by John Green one of the main themes is death. In the story, Miles (the main character) goes to boarding school and meets a girl named Alaska. When they first met, Alaska brought up something she read in a book: “‘Damn it, … How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!’” Throughout the rest of the book the author mentions this a lot. Miles and Alaska become good friends, and in the middle on the book, Alaska gets in a car crash and dies. When Alaska dies, they Miles and his friend find a note in her room that says ‘Straight and fast’. This leads Miles to think that the car crash was a suicide and not an accident at all. This effects Miles in many ways. He and his friends are now determined to figure out what lead her to commit suicide, or why she rushed off drunk in the middle of the night to go for a drive.

After Alaska died and Miles and his friends figured out that it was a suicide and why, it changed the way Miles viewed the world. Alaska realized she had forgotten her mother’s death, and she started crying and screaming and left her room drunk to visit her mother’s grave. On the way, there was an accident on the road and a police car with it’s sirens blaring and it’s lights flashing. Alaska drove past it and decided that forgetting her mom’s death was too much guilt to live with, so she drove straight and fast right into the police car, dying on impact. Miles thought a lot about the labyrinth. This was Alaska’s way of getting out - straight and fast.

Miles and his friends needed closure, they had to figure out Alaska’s motives to kill herself in a car crash. Once they did, they realized that life goes on for the rest of them, and they all still need to find a way out of the labyrinth.