Reflection

Reflection

This school year of English, was a difficult, interesting and full of creativity and a life long experience for me. It was the opposite of all my other years of high school English. My teacher Mr. Gallagher was one of the hardest teachers that I have ever had. In fact I think he was the only hardest teacher I ever had. However, He made class interesting and fun to be in. He allowed me to challenge myself and taught me how to bring out my abilities and creativity in my writing skills.
At the beginning of the year I thought I would have this class in my hands but as time went by I thought I was fooling myself. I thought that I was not as talented in writing as I thought I was. I never explicated a novel or image or did blog entries. I loved writing poems and reading novels on my own. But I never hated it when teachers forced me to read because I would be the first one done with the story! I felt as reading was a way for me to escape from my stressful world. But once I started reading novels for Mr. Gallagher, my emotions and concept on reading changed. Reading and writing became more difficult to me. I saw once that I never knew even existed to me or was never in my vocabulary. I felt as though I did not be long in an honor English class. Other kids seemed a lot more smarted than I was. But finally I decided not to focus on other people achievements but to focus more on my abilities and what I had to offer to not only to my class but to myself.
I had a lot of difficulties expressing my self through my writings. I loved to read and to write but I could not keep up with Mr. Gallagher’s standards. So I decided to challenge my self even more. I paid more attention in class and I took more detailed notes. So when I went to go write my essay, it became easier and easier for me with my notes and my guideline for my writing process.
I remember my biggest challenges were writing more than three page essays. I was used to writing three to five paragraphs but I was not used to writing any essay close to four or even ten page essay. I stayed up nights after nights writing and reading quotes and passages and then later on explicating each passage.
I remember when one of the assignments took place when we read the Stranger and had to write a six page essay about comparing two passages and telling how they are alike. I never did this before. I thought to myself that I was going to fail but in fact I got a decent grade. It was not the best but it helped me realize that I could do this and that I should challenge myself even more.
As time went by and each essay page limit increased and increased, my ability to write more professional essays that a college student would write increased. I started to fall in love with English again. Class was more entertaining and more enjoyable now that I had more confidence in myself and my writing.
I want to thank Mr. Gallagher for challenging me and improving my writing ability. You helped me gain confidence in my writing and most of you helped me learn things about myself that I never thought I had or could do. Now I know that I am prepared for school next year. While everyone else in my class next year might struggle with finding their strengths and weaknesses in their writing but I will only be improving my strengths and would know where my weaknesses are. My writing will be better than it already was. So thank you for every thing.

The Stranger Blogspot

I found the discussion on The Stanger quite interesting. I was foud on how everyone's opinion matter even though each person contained a variety of concepts and ideas of translating the message of The Stranger.However i respect and agree with Christine's comment on the similarities of behavior between Meursault and Raymond's personalities. Both share agreession and hatered in core their hearts and soul. This is proven through the passage of Raymond and Mersault disscussion on punishing Raymond's girlfriend. "he asked if i thought she ways cheating on him, and it seemed to me she was, if i thought she should be punished and what i would do in his place, and i said you cant ever be sure, but i understood his wanting to punish her" (page 31).They both agree on revenge against those who dissappoint you and go against your wishes. they both also are emothionaless spirits. this is proven through the following passages " He'd beaten her till she bled. He'd never beaten her before.i'd smack her aorund a little, but nice-like, you might say. she'd scream a litte. I'd close the shutters and it always ended the same way. But this time it's for real. And if you ask me, she still hasn't gotten what she coming."( page 31) and through theni fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness" (page59). It's as though even when they accomplish their act of punishing their enemies they fuse for revenge is not completed until thier enemy has lost everything they once cherish, their will to live.

The Perfect Storm Inspired By

I created a booklet that indicates the event of the “Perfect Storm” that took place in October of 1991. The storm is also nicknamed the Halloween Storm. The storm was located in Gloucester, Massachusetts that came from off the coast of Nova Scotia. This storm was later then publicized through writing and a Hollywood movie named the perfect Storm. The storm was created through the energy of three storms that combined to create one enormous storm that would later fall into a historical event. A week before the storm took place a ship named the Andrea Gail left the cost of Gloucester to explore the seas and headed for the fishing grounds off the North Atlantic. Little did the know that 6 of their man wearing sailing in to their death. The Perfect Storm was filmed in 2000 and directed by Wolfgang Peterson and sponsored by Warner Bros. the movie was inspired by the book written by Sebastian Junger and later translated through the words of William D. Wittliff. The concept of the movie was influenced through the lives of those who lived in Gloucester and the tragedy that took place upon their lives. The movie stared the actors and actresses, George Clooney- Captain Billy Tyne, Mark Wahlberg- Bobby Shatford, Diane Lane- Christina Cotter, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio- Linda Greenlaw. Captain Billy Tyne was the captain of the Andrea Gail. He was a divorced father of two daughters who is determined to make one last fishing trip before the end of the season to make up for a poor catch. He was in desperation for money. Bobby Shatford was the youngest and most inexperienced of the crew. Christina 'Chris' Cotter is the girlfriend of Bobby Shatford. She did not want Bobby to go based on her instincts of fear. Dale Murphy was a veteran fisherman who was divorced who had an on going antagonism with David Sullivan, who signed for the trip on short notice. The film is a true account of the courageous men and women who risk their lives every working day, pitting their fishing boats and rescue vessels against the forces of nature. Through out the booklet I placed pictures that symbolized the characters and the important characterizes that make up Gloucester. On the first page is an image of the movie and the ship going in the waves of the storm. The image indicates the struggling of the ship to survive against the strong currents of the storm. This gives the viewer a visual of how strong the storm was and how powerful it came to the sea. In the booklet I show a map that will indicates the location of Gloucester and the size that it contains. I also give an image of how the storm looked like in a weather reporter. This gives an intense emotion of how much the storm was impacted by its size. I did my research based on the storm and the main characters of those six who died on the Andrea Gail who is also nicknamed the Lady Grace. Gloucester’s culture is influenced through their survival of being a fisher man. Their history contains commercial fishing. This is displayed through the last image of the booklet.

Journal EntrY- The Curious Incident Of The Dog

What's The Story About?

Written by Mark Haddon's , The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night is a murder mystery of fifteen-year-old, Christopher John Francis Boone who is mathematically gifted and socially hopeless and does not believe in the human race. He is being raised by his single father and was abandoned by his mother. However late one night, Christopher comes across his neighbor's poodle, Wellington who was st abed with a garden fork. Wellington's owner finds him cradling her dead dog in his arms, and has him arrested. After spending a night in jail, Christopher wants to discover who has murdered Wellington. He is encouraged by Siobhan, a social worker at his school, to write a book about his investigations. For any one in class that loves to read about mysteries should definitely read this novel.



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" 4 Red cars in a row made it a Good Day and 3 red cars in a row made it a quite Good day 5 red cars in a row made it a Super Good Day and why 4 yellows cars in a row made it a Black Day, which is a day when i don't speak to any one and sit on my own reading books and don't eat my lunch and take no ricks"( Hadden 24).



This quote has the description to refer Christopher as a superstitious character. He based the outcome of a day on what colors car that he sees and the amount of each color car that he passes by on the way to school. he compares his theory to why others predict their day based on the wheather in the morning. when the sun is shining it made them feel happy and when they saw that it was raining it made them feel sad. he considers their theory to insane because the wheat her they has a good day or a bad day.







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" There wasn't any thing outside the universe and there wasn't another kind of place all together. And if heaven was on the other side of a black hole, dead people would have to be fired in to space on rockets to get there and they aren't or people would notice"( Hadden 32).





Christopher shows less faith in God through this passage. He has no knowledge of God or the heavens. His disbelief in the after life is strange. He thinks that people make up this fiction life based on their fear of dying. They want to carry on living and don't approach the idea of ending life only on the Earth's Surface. He questions the idea of where the after spirits would live and where does God come from. Christopher believes that the only destination that the human race has is being broken down in to molecules of the ground.


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" All the other children at my school are stupid. I'm meant to say that they have learning difficulties or that they have special needs. But that is stupid because every one has learning difficulties because learning to speak French or understanding relativity is diffulcult and also everyone has special needs" ( Hadden 43).





Christopher seems as he has high intelligence through this quote. He is caring when it comes to those who attend his special school. He looks at each person as an equal. Every one has special needs even if they are not in a special need class. Each person in the world has a certain characteristic that makes them in a special need category. There are those who need special glasses based on their eyesight. There are also those who need hearing- aids based on their special needs of hearing due to their age or hearing rage.


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" Loving someone is helping them when they get in to trouble and looking after them and telling them the truth and father looks after me when i get in to trouble and he looks after me by cooking meals for me and always tell me the truth which mean he loves me" ( Hadden 87).





Even though Christopher doesn't contain many beliefs in the human race, he strongly knows the definition of love. Through this quote, Christopher describes the passionate affectionate relationship that his father and him share. He knows that his father loves him dearly due to his actions and behavior to his son. He knows and understands what happens when someone loves another person. Christopher explains that one must never lie and treat the other with respect.


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" People who believe on God thinks God put humans beings on the Earth because they think human beings are the best animal but human beings are just another animal and that animals will be cleaver and it will put human beings into a zoo, like we put Chimpanzees and gorillas into a zoo"( Hadden 165).





Christopher uses this passage to view his thoughts on how humans think they are the best creatures on Earth. However Christopher finds the theory of humans will not last long and they will evolve and they will be put into zoos such as elephants and so on. He insults the intelligence of the human race and their work of mind. He does not think highly of them, rather more a disgrace.


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On Demand Writing

In the quote " Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall." spoken by Confucius the idea illustrates ambition and courage of strength. its stating that even though one may reach their destination of accomplishment, its not the result of their success however its the progress of their effort to reach their destination. Even though one may not experience the feeling of success but they will receive the priceless gift of respectful.

My experience of being in foster care is being illustrated through this quote. I have gone through events that have brought me to unsuccessful achievements. I begin to fail in a social life and my academics status was low. others begin to wonder if i would become a success in life. once i began to get my act together, my success begin to increased. i was less stressed and full of happiness. i put in more effort and less laziness. my attitude changed in to a more positive rather than a negative perceptive on life. Being in foster care, others assume that I'm a problem child however because of my situation. i am equally or more successful than a "normal" child.

One's success is reflected through the steps and effort that they choose to make. even though one might fall into a situation that they may become discourage, they should at least try yo put the puzzle pieces back together. a person should try to overcome their circumstances rather than to give up without a try.

There will always be competition in the real world. One can have advantages over another. However, it is up to the disadvantage to strive to achieve their goals. The importance is not the outcome of the success but the courage and dignity that one contains throughout the progress over another however its the attitude and potential that will gain the respect of others.