My Highschool Expectations

In highschool, I have practically the same expectations for my self as the teachers do. I want to turn in all my work, get A's and B's on my tests, and pay attention in class. But within the next four years of highschool, I want to do that, and more. During highschool, I hope to have my GPA be a 3.5 or above. I want to pass the WASL my freshman year, and pass the math and science WASL my sophmore year. I also really want to continue Spanish and take that class all four years.
By the time I am a senior, I hope to be in AP Physics, although I know I probably won't get there, but it's worth a shot, right?. I also want to be in a club too. Most of my goals revolve around acidemical succes but some do not. In the four years of highschool, I want to meet as many people as I can, and make a bunch of new friends. I also want to stay in band and marching band all throughout highschool.

Poetry Out Loud

I initially chose this poem because I thought the topic was really creative. I never would have thought about someone writing a poem about syrup, but know that I acually read it and think about the poem I have realized it is about racism. I don't really have a connection with this poem because I quess ive never been discriminated on besides being called a "usuall american." I belive this poem is really about how Aunt Jemima is always making the best of things all the time but she is not being recognized as doing it.
I feel pretty good about this poem when preparing for the class competition becuase it is a pretty short poem and the words are really well chosen so its also easy to memorize. I don't really expect myself to place in the top ten because ive never really done poetry before this year and I'm not all that great at reciting poems.

Poem

In the poem "The Road Not Taken" By Robert Frost I think that the true meaning is about what his life would have been like if he chose not to be a poet. I think this because in the poem, he said "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." I think he is talking about chosing a profession that not many other people choose and deciding on taking the that profession is what made all the difference.
I chose this poem to write about because it's meaning is pretty relavent to my life. I really want to be a professional photographer but that profession is definetly the road less taken compared to doctors and state workers and construction workers. I also chose this poem because I think it could be relavent to many other people who want to have a career that is slightly different.

Movie

The scene from the movie that standed out most to me was the seen were Atticus shot the dog with rabbies. During that scene, Calpurnia sees the dog and yells out and then brings Jem and Scout inside. Then she calls Atticus and tells him about the "mad dog" and then Atticus and Sheriff Tate arrive soon after. Then Sheriff Tate went to shoot the dog and then could not do it so he told Atticus that he would feel much safer with him doing it. Atticus then argued that he had not shot a gun in year but Sheriff Tate said that there was no time to play around. Atticus shot the dog and Jem was just bewildered that Atticus had done it.
I think that scene had the best acting because of how Atticus glasses were getting in the way and he just pushed them off to the ground and it looked just like something that anyone would do and didn't seem like it was script acting. Also after Atticus shot the dog, the camera went to Jem's face and he looked like he just beyond himself. When I read this scene from the book, I got a mental image that was very close to this. But I didn't think that Jem's face was like that at all. I think that the lighting in that scene was the best because everything was very detailed. The costumes and the houses were all very clear.

Change

I think that one thing about this book that has changed me is to not really judge people before you know them. Like when Atticus said "You don't really know them until you get into their skin and walk around in it." I think that, that is a really good like lesson that everyone should experience. I also find that important for being a freshman. You walk around a just get impressions of people on how they look or how they talk. I think that it is a good way to make friends too.
I think that it also changed me in the way that you should be respectful towards everyone and not take advantage because it will come back to you. Like in the book how Bob Ewell accused Tom Robinson of raping his daughter and Tom ended up dieing but so did Mr. Ewell. I think that it most definetly taught me to treat people with more respect and not take advantage of them. Mainly because a similar situation happend to me when I was in sixth grade. I traded my brother cell phones thinking his was all better knowing I was giving him an unfair deal but then a week later I droped the phone in the toilet and did not have a phone for about a month.

Life Lessons

In the book, I think that the life lesson that is taught to Scout and Jem is to not take advantage of people who are completely helpless. This occurs when Mr. Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of raping his daughter, Mayella. He knew that it wasn't true but still accused him because he knew that his word over an African Americans word would win a case in Maycomb any day. I think that Atticus taught this lesson to Scout and Jem because he had the same thing happen to him when he was younger. He was the best deadshot of Maycomb but stopped shooting because he knew he was taking a life who had no chance to defend itself. Atticus brought this up when he said, "I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her puting a man's life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt."
This relates very well to my life lessons growing up. My father has a mentally diasabled brother (my uncle) who was picked on a taken atvantage of when he was young. I was taught that it is wrong to take advantage of anyone who can't help themselves. I think that it is really wrong to take atvantege of people in those kinds of situations.

Mrs. Gilmans English Class

I find Mrs. Gilmans English class to be very fun but although can be boring at times. I think the class is a lot like Winter. During Winter there can be days were it snows and the day is filled with fun and excitment but somedays its really rainy and your stuck inside bored, watching TV re-runs. It is, in my thoughts a lot like class. During class there is somedays were we have fun discussions or reading dialogue from To Kill A Mockingbird. But somedays we will just take journals and take tests which can be very tedious.
I also think that class is alot like being on the chairlift for your first run of the season, your nervous but you know your going to have fun. Wondering what the snow will be like, and hoping you not to sketchy from a whole summer of not riding. It is just like walking into class being slightly nervous about what will be going on that day but knowing it will be fine.

Theme

The theme that I thought was most noticiable in the book is racism. Characters like Mrs. Dubose and Mr. Cunningham were both characters that really revealed this theme. For example, Mrs. Dubose called Atticus no better then the N-words he defended in court. And Mr. Cunningham was with the mob the one night at the jail trying to break out Tom Robinson and beat him down, just becuase he is black and blamed for a crime that there is no evedince he even commited.
Racism has occured many times throughout the novel so far.One time, racism was shown when Scout gets made fun of because a boy at school is calling her father an N-lover. I think the boy said this because he probably heard one of his parents say it about Atticus. Also Aunt Alexandra's son made fun of Scout for the same reason when the Finche's were at there house on Christmas. And Mrs. Dobuse said "Your father's no better than the N's and trash he works for." I think that she means Atticus has stooped down the social level of African Americans in Maycomb.

Atticus As a Father

I think that Atticus is a good father but he is very detached from his kids. He never plays much with them and he is not up front with them at all. When Atticus was talking to uncle Jack about what he said to Scout earlier that day to her and meant for Scout to hear everyword of it made me think his parenting is really weird. I think it would be terrible to have a father like that. I also think it would be frusterating becuase if he was trying to get the message accross to you through a conversation with someone else it would eventually get really annoying. The main lesson that Atticus is trying to teach Scout is to be more of a lady. So he is trying to get her out of the habit of swearing and fighting. Atticus is also trying to teach Scout not to judge people by there first impressions when he said "until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
Atticus is not at all like my father. My dad is really straight forward and if he wants to teach me a lesson he will just tell me instead of go out of the way and try to secreatly put the message in my head. I think that the only similarities about my father and Atticus is that they are both really knowlegable. I would hate to have a father like Atticus because I think that his parenting style is very annoying because I personally like to be told straight up and having a father who would told you want he wanted of you instead of making it a riddle. Which was, in my opinion, what Atticus was doing when he made Jem go and read for Mrs. Dobuse. He did not tell Jem why he had to and he made him figure it out on his own.

Perception Changes Of Boo Radley

My perception of Boo really changed after reading chapters 4-8. At first I thought that Boo Radley was crazy, and creepy but now it seems that he is acually pretty nice. Some occurences that show Boo Radley is acually a nice person were the tree occurences. Jem and Scout were always finding things of value to them like gum, an small sculptures of themselves and Boo Radley was most likley the one to put those items in the tree. I believe that these occurences give clues towards Boo Radley's real personality because in the first four chapters Boo Radley was appering as a pretty creepy guy but now in chapters 4-8 the author seems to be introducing Boo's true nature.

When Scout had the duscussion with Miss Maudie and she said, "Aurther Radley just stays in the house, thats all." I got the feeling that Boo is worried of being able to fit in with the rest of the town. Also I believe he stays in the house because he is scared of all the people who believe the rumors that were going around about him. I do also think that Boo might be a little bit crazy because when Atticus told Scout, Jem, and Dill to stop playing the game and leave Boo alone I think Atticus might be concerned about there saftey.

My first impression of Boo Radley was not a very good one. Boo, in my eyes, seems to be very emotionally challenged. "As Mr. Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent's leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities." Page 12. It seems like Boo does not know how to controll his emotions. I also think that Boo did not quite fit in with the people of Maycomb and that is why he decided to start and little gang so he could feel like he had friends.

I do not think the rumors are true about Boo. I think that the people of Maycomb make up rumors because they do not know anything about him or what he does so the people of Maycomb choose to believe what they want to believe. If I had to choose one of the characters who I am most similar to, it would be Scout because we both have a younger sibling. Also he lost his mom when he was seven and I lost my Uncle Bill when I was ten and me and my Uncle were pretty close.

Favorite Thing About English

I think that the best thing about English so far is the five paragraph letter we wrote to Mrs. Gilman. I found that a lot of fun. I think it was a really good idea to write the letters so Mrs. Gilman gets to know us better. Although the letter was five paragraphs it was really easy to write since it was all about yourself. The best part about the letter was writing about the most fun thing we did this summer.