Analyzing Author's Craft

          So far, I have found this novel very intriguing. Scout's point of view makes it really easy to understand the scenes because she is just a child, but when Atticus starts talking, you half to breakdown the paragraphs to understand what he is saying. Thats the only challenge that I have in this book, rather than that, this book has been very easy to read and understand.
          Almost everything Atticus does has a in-depth meaning to it. For example, when Atticus says its a sin to kill a mockingbird, the meaning behind that is that its a sin to kill or do bad to something that hasn't done any harm, and even though Atticus said that earlier in the book, its pretty much the moral of the whole book because it applies to the Tom Robinson trial. Tom Robinson is the mockingbird that hasn't done any harm, but the jury and the Ewells convict him for a crime he didn't do. I can relate to Scout a little in these situations, because sometimes she doesn't understand what is happening or she falls asleep during the trial. I used to do that when I was younger whenever adults were having an in-depth conversation about politics because half the time I wouldn't understand it.

Something We Missed

          One major thing that I noticed in the book that we haven't discussed in class, is the maturity of both Jem and Scout. Jem is 10 and Scout is 6, but throughout the book, their decision making and speech is much more advanced than it should be for their age. You would think, when talking to a 6 year old they wouldn't have much to contribute rather than their imagination, and that they wouldn't understand much, but when talking to Scout, you don't see a 6 year old, but more like a 9 or 10 year old. For eample, when she was talking to Miss Maudie she understands slmost everything that Miss Maudie says, and knows that based upon that information, Jem's decision to sneak into the Radley house wasn't the right one.
          In the same way, Jem doesn't act like a regular 10 year old. He has a lot of guts for a 10 year old. Sneaking into a scary house and trying to get a note to a scary guy are not things normal 10 year olds would do, even if they did have a lot of guts. He acts more like a 13-14 year old, and you can see this in both his actions and his words. 

My Big Idea

          The big idea that I chose to track throughout the book was "Out of Control". I chose this big idea because this idea is represented in many ways throughout this book and other books I have read. For example, in The Fault in Our Stars  Hazel had some moments when she felt like she was out of control and felt like blowing up. In Romeo and Juliet pretty much the whole book is filled with sections where some characters are out of control. This lead to bad decisions, which in the end, caused many people to die. In Romeo and Juliet, both Romeo and Juliet try to kill themselves multiple times when they don't get what they want immediately. For example, when Romeo finds out that he is banished from Verona, he goes to Friar Lawerence, and instead of thinking of somekind of solution so that he can see Juliet, he almost commits suicide. This idea of "Out of Control" is represented throught this book.
          This idea adds to many aspects of the play including suspence, grief, and many more. The "out of control" behavior represented by mostly Romeo keeps you on the edge of your seat because you never know what he's going to do next. He might kill someone, he might try to kill himself, you never know. Even though this idea is mainly represented by Romeo, it is also represented by Capulet when he is mad at Juliet, and Juliet when she is forced to marry Paris. I think that Shakespeare added this aspect into the story because it made it much more interesting and unexpected. Modern stories always end in a 'happy ever after' tone because that's what is appealing to the audience, but Shakespeare added in this "Out of Control" quality which lead to bad decisions and a different ending to a story where lives are sacrificed to unite peace between two families.

First Impressions of Romeo and Juliet

          Romeo and Juliet. I never thought I would actually read this book, but here I am sitting in my honors english 9th grade class reading this book. This book is actually very hard to understand due to Shakespeare's word structure in which he puts the verb in from of the noun and mixes up parts of the sentence to make each line have a poetic flow with the other lines, but the more I read this book, the better I get better at understanding Shakespeare's language. Reading each scene out loud in class and pausing at parts to talk about what it means really helps me understand each scene. So far, most of the characters seem really weird, especially the nurse. When reading the book, the characters don't seem too weird, but when watching scenes of the movie, the characters seem really weird.
          Overall, the story is actually pretty fast paced and, again, the characters are really weird. I think that one of the only parts of the story in which I relate to a character in this book is when Benvolio goes to make Romeo happy and to stop him from being so depressed about Rosaline. I can relate to that scene because I have helped lots of friends when they are feeling sad or depressed. Rather than that, I don't really relate to any of the characters from Romeo and Juliet.

6 weeks done! Only 30 more weeks to go! Wait 30 more weeks???

          Wow, 6 weeks of school already over. Most of my classes have gone by very quickly, but Honors English, not one of those. Pretty much all of the classes I've ever had have been very easy, so even with miminal effort I could get a grade above 97%. Currently my grades in all my classes are above 97%, but the class that I've had to work the most to get this grade in is Honors English. In this class, I have to put in lots of effort to get a good grade on an assignment. So far I don't think we have been overwhelmed by the amount of homework, but I think going farther into the school year, we will be required to finish larger amounts of homework in a shorter amount of time, and I'm ready to step up to that challenge. I think Nova has set me up for a quick and easy transition into high school classes because my English class at Nova was very similar to this class and required me to finish large amounts of homework in a very short amount of time. So studying Word Power and writing the blog every week with ongoing homework isn't too overwhelming for me.
          Over the course of this semester, and my year as a freshman, I plan to maintain an A grade in Honors English. I will continue to work hard, and not only put quantity, but also quality into my work. I plan to throughly read the books we plan to read, and understand the new material we study. My goal for this year is to improve my vocabulary in preperation for upcoming highschool tests, and I think by studying Word Power I can acheive this goal.

Anticipating "Spear Shaking"

          I'm really looking forward to Shakespeare because I've never really read or watched any of his writings. I've literally had 0 experiences with Shakespeare and Spear Shaking. In class, I hope that we get to act out scenes in groups about what we read, and actually get graded about how we act.......actually now that I think about it, I would rather have it as we act out scenes in class, but don't get graded on it. I'm actually very excited to learn the old English language, or in other terms, "Shakespearian" language.
          The only things I know about Shakespeare is that he writes poems and plays, and that he was alive in about the 15th century. As I said before, I have pretty much no experience with Shakespeare. The only thing I know about, that is affiliated with Shakespeare in some way, is Romeo and Juliet. I think that the most exciting thing about this unit will be acting out the scenes. I also look forward to actually reading Romeo and Juliet and understanding what the play is about. So far, I can see that this unit is going to be very fun!

Inferences

          What is an Inference? In my words, I think of an inference as a conclusion drawn by the reader based upon facts and other evidence from the book. When I'm making an inference based upon a quote from a book, I use the facts and events happening in that quote to make an inference. If I was explaining or summarizing the quote instead of making an inference, the "inference" that I would be making wouldn't contain any new thinking or any educated guesses, but instead it would have what happened in that quote and why it happened.
          For example in "The Fault in Our Stars", John Green wrote, "Without Pain, how could we know Joy?" (pg 35). Now, I will explain the the steps I use to make an inference about a quote in my book.
 
     First, I explain the sentence to myself and the major things the quote expresses.
          The quote is showing that joy isn't free, it always comes with some type of pain and hard work. This quote is expressing abstract diction because all the concepts in the quote are very abstract, such as pain and joy.
     Then, I think why is this quote important.
          This quote is important because throughout the book, both Hazel and Gus go through a lot of pain, like cancer, to meet each other and be happy.
     Now I make my final inference based off the other 2 steps.
          From this quote, we can infer that Hazel has gone through a lot to understand that Joy comes with Pain at such a young age.

Diction, Point of View, and Charcterization

          Learning diction, point of view, and characterization were each relatively new to me, and changed my perception of my book, "The Fault in Our Stars". I've never really thought about why a book is written in the point of view it was written in, and how the whole book would be different if it was told in a different point of view. Or, about the differences it makes to the reader from writing in neutral, formal, or informal diction. After learning about these literary elements, it has really changed the way I think about and understand each paragraph of the book. To me, the literary element that stands out the most in "The Fault in Our Stars" is the point of view.
          In "The Fault in Our Stars" the point of view was first-person, major character. This allows the reader to understand all of Hazel's thoughts and what she observes. A lot of the time Hazel thinks about something but never actually does it. Because the book is written in first-person, we know what she is thinking, but if the book was written in third-person, we wouldn't be able to find out about all of Hazel's thoughts. If the book was written in third-person, omniscient or selective, this book wouldn't be all that great because then we would know what both Hazel and Augustus were thinking and observing which thus ruins the big element of surprise in this book. Therefore, the point of view the author has selected for this book is perfect because the reader doesn't know too much nor does he/she know too little.
          Overall, this book was phenomenal. It was filled with humor and had huge surprises. Not only was this a great book to read, but it also allowed me to think about the different ways the book could have been written in, and how that would have changed the book. After reading this book, I have really got a deep understanding of friendship. This book was very funny and also very sad, but this allowed the story to have multiple different elements which made the story phenomenal.
         

1st Blog Post!

          Who am I? Why am I here? What do I do? Do you want to know about the life of a really cool teenage guy? Well, I guess you do. I live with my 2 parents and my little sister. I've lived in the Northwest my whole life, starting down in Salem, Oregon and moving up into Olympia, Washington. My family has an Indian backround, my parents and some of their siblings moved to the US in the 1990's, and since then they've been living here.
          I went to Nova Middle School for 7th and 8th grade, and the English teacher there, Mrs.Hubbard, was great! The essays, books, and assignments we did really improved my reading and writing. Before coming to Nova, I wasn't the greatest reader or writer, but after, I feel that my reading and writing has improved a lot! I chose to take honors english over regular english because I think that honors english is a better fit for me. It will be faster paced, more challenging, and overall I would learn a lot more than opposed to regular english. As a student, I aim to get A's on every assignment, and I try to learn as much as I can from an assignment. I like to set goals for myself because that motivates me to work hard to achieve that goal. I also like to joke around, but I can be serious when needed.
          I like to joke around, hang out with friends, and play sports. I define myself as a studious person who likes to play sports and have fun. Whenever I have free time, I'm usually at the gym playing basketball or hanging out with friends. I always try to improve, whether its school or basketball. I always look for ways to improve. Thats what motivates me to continue. You can always improve, there is no end.