Team Discussion and Blog Post 1/28

*** to later be posted on the class blog

C. Describe Jem. Give at least 2 character traits and support with examples and page numbers.

Curious- Many of Jem's and Dill's conversations are about trying to get Boo Radley out of the Radley house, or what he does inside of it.

Quote: (p. 69) "Dill and Jem were simply going to peep in the window with the loose shutter to see if they could get a look at Boo Radley, and if I didn't want to go with them I could go straight home and keep my fat flopping mouth shut, that was all."

(p.61) "Jem said placidly, 'We are going to give a note to Boo Radley."

"Jem was merely going to put the note on the end of a fishing pole and stick it through the shutters."

Caring- Even though Jem doesn't always say the nicest things to Scout, we can see, by his actions, that he still cares for her.

Quote: (p. 137) {*note: in this quote Jem cares for Scout by giving her an apologetic look and helped her up from the ground}

"By that time I was shrieking. Jem yanked my hair, said he didn't care, he'd do it again if he got a chance, and if I didn't shut up he'd pull every hair out of my head. I didn't shut up and he kicked me. I lost my balance and fell on my face. Jem picked me up roughly but looked like he was sorry. There was nothing to say."

Journal #25-"My Vocabulary History"

Assess your own vocabulary. What are your strong points; what are your weak points when it comes to the trait of Word Choice in your writing and reading?

My strong points in vocabulary would have to be finding the right word to put into my paper. Most of the time I can find words that fit the audience level and make sense in the work. However, my weak points are using words I don't already know. I also don't like looking words up in the dictionary because I don't practice it frequently enough.

Describe how you have studied vocabulary in the past. What kinds of class activities and assignments have you experienced to work on your word choice?

In my seventh and eighth grade English classes, we worked on word choice by receiving about 10 vocabulary words per week. Throughout the week we would spend sometime in class using the words in sentences. When the week was done we would take a short quiz- but the words would have been familiar to most of us as we had read them through our literature piece within that same week.

Describe how you, personally, learn new words. Give a specific example of how you have learned a new word recently.

I learn new words spontaneously. I don't usually go out to find new words to expand my vocabulary, on my own. New words come up in reading material or just in conversations. After I have read or heard the word, I would ask someone or "Google" it on a site, like Merriam-Webster online dictionary. Recently I have learned the word 'decimate'. I heard in on the news when they were describing the damage that was caused by the destruction in Haiti. I asked my mom- who is a fifth grade school teacher. She said it was the magnitude of damage- the huge scale on what was destroyed. I figured out the spelling, and checked on an online dictionary afterwards.

What are your specific vocabulary/word choice goals? How many new words would you like to learn this semester? What will be your evidence that you “own them” and can use them in your speaking and writing?

My specific word choice goal is to use at least one third of the words, that we learn in our English class this quarter, in my everyday conversations. This semester I would like to learn at least 20 new vocabulary words- words that I actually understand. My evidence of using the new vocabulary word is that there will be more 'higher thinking' words popping up into my essays and everyday life. I'll use them in my speaking- because using big word correctly make me feel smart. :)

Looking Past the Pyrotechnics

New Year's Eve! This is an event I look forward to all year because is a time for my family to get together and catch up on what's been happening in each other's lives. More importantly, I look forward to lighting a fuse, then scampering behind the wall to watch the half blinding red, blue, and green bursts of light that come from the tiny upright cylinder. The little rushes I get from being able to play with fire excite me the most. Fireworks. They end the old year with a 'BANG', while- according to Chinese traditions- scare away the evil spirits for the New Year.

At about five o'clock, we drive to Kaimuki, to begin the celebration with my mom's side of the family. At five o'clock this New Year's Eve I was nowhere near the car ride to my aunty's house. Instead, I had been sitting on this cushy motor coach seat, complete with an emergency bathroom, for four hours (and counting). I wouldn't be getting off for another three hours, when it was planned for us to arrive in Phoenix. Yes that's right, you heard me, Phoenix, Arizona.

Moanalua High School's marching band was chosen to prestigiously represent the State of Hawaii in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl Parade. We left Hawaii on Christmas Day- a pretty epic start to our trip- with plans to go sightseeing on the days leading up to the Fiesta Bowl Parade. Its purpose was more for fun, but also to get our bodies adapted to the colder environment we were going to marching in. The bus ride started from Anaheim, California, where we had marched in Disneyland.

Looking out of the bus window, I see the long stretch of road in front and behind us, with the occasional green mile marker signs on the side. Back in the bus almost everyone was knocked out in sleep, as no one had ever ridden a vehicle for nearly that long. Looking back outside of the window I didn’t really notice the lack of natural scenery anymore. My mind shifted as I though of flashbacks of the past year.

The day at Magic Island Beach Park when they called my intermediate school’s name for first place in the research category was exciting. Two of my friends and I had worked on the poster board until three A.M. the night before the actual competition due to our lack of time management. I remember the first day at summer school. I didn’t know any one there, but eventually I was able to make a couple new friends to make my transition into high school easier. When school started I enrolled in a program called ‘Mene Mac’, which suited to my interests in technology. I joined marching band and, through all the sweat and hard work, made it through the long instructions of learning the basics during rookie week.

It was incredible. I hadn't really had the chance to look back on all the great experiences I went through in the past year. It just seemed to have left me as quickly as it came. Even though this year I would be over 2,000 miles away from home, I knew that I would be able to still celebrate the ending of the new year, and coming of the new. New Year's isn't just about the displays of neon colored fireworks- it's about reminiscing and learning from all the events that have happened, making your life special.