Thanks!

Mr.  Thompson,

      I would like to direct my very last blog post towards you. You are the best teacher I have ever had! I am not just saying that. I have honestly learned more this year in English than ever before. I am happy I was able to take this Honors English class because it pushed me to do things I would not normally do on my own, like reading all those assigned books. I actually liked most of those books pretty well, except for that one…

       I didn’t think I would like any of the books we read this year, but I ended up really liking them all! Some of them were hard, like A Tale of Two Cities, but I felt like I grew while reading them. I learned that if I really try, I can read difficult books. The only book that was truly the hardest was The Chosen. Don’t worry!  I read the whole thing, but at parts I questioned if I could go any further! I usually like most books I read, but for some reason that one just got me! In the end, I was happy I read the whole thing because it taught me a lot about the Jewish culture and religion. It was really cool to learn more about all of that.

      I have probably written more this year than in any other school year. I have noticed that I don’t hate writing as much as I thought I did! I actually kind of enjoy it :) I think my writing has improved this year too. My mother often looks over some of my essays and writings to see if she can correct anything for me. A lot of the time I am there with her so as she revises it, I am able to learn from my mistakes. At the beginning of the year, it would take us a REALLY long time to get through each piece of writing because I had so many errors. Now that it is closer to the end of the year, it doesn’t take as long and sometimes there is almost nothing she has to fix! This is how I know that your class has helped me improve.

      I hope that as I go onto high school,  I will find more English teachers like you! I am so grateful that I had you as a teacher this year. I have decided that your class is one of my favorites. You are always so relaxed and you really seem to understand junior high students. I always get a good laugh when I go to your class, so I will come back to visit you often.  Look out!  Tell your son, James, congrats for the nomination for First Falcon! I don’t really know him that well, but he seems like a great kid! Just wanted to say thanks for a great year Thompson!

          

              Goodbye blog!  I may never see you again :( Thanks everyone!

Analysis of Bradbury's Style (first draft)

This is the very last assignment due for honors english! I would just like to take a minute and reflect on honors english. In the end, I am very happy that I took this class! It has made me improve so much this year! It forced me to read books that I would have never read and I am happy for that becuase they ended up being good books, even though some of them were harder to get through than others.  So now...without further waiting... here is just the first draft of the Analysis of Bradby's style.

Have you ever read any of Ray Bradbury’s books? If not, then I strongly encourage you to pick one up and give it a try because the writing in his books is fantastic. Many of his books have similar traits because of how he writes. Even though he keeps his writing techniques the same within his books, compared to other types of writing, his diction is very unique. That’s just the first thing about them though. The tone of Bradbury’s writing is also intense in many parts of his books. The last thing is that Bradbury creates a sort of questioning mood by always making you wonder what will happen next in the story.

                Bradbury’s diction is unique because of how he writes his books. They are all so unique compared to other books, but compared to his own books, they are quite similar. In Fahrenheit 451, it has a perfect example of how his diction is sometimes a little different than other books. It says “one drop of rain. Clarisse. Another drop. Mildred. A Third. The uncle. A fourth. The fire tonight. One, Clarisse. Two, Mildred. Three, uncle. Four, fire.  Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire, sleeping tablets, men, disposable tissue, coattails, blow, wad, flush, Clarisse, Mildred…” (Fahrenheit 451, 17) This quote from the book really spoke to me because when you think about it, we don’t always think in whole thoughts. Sometimes our thoughts really come out it just bits and pieces of words and sentences. Even though Bradbury does not talk like this during the whole book, it shows that sometimes his diction is very unique. In Something Wicked This Way Comes, it says “…Welcome…..Well….cumm…mmmm” ( Something Wicked This way Comes 84) I like this one because he sometimes changes the way things are so that the reader can better understand how the words are actually sounding coming out of the characters mouths.  Even though these are completely different books, they are still very similar. They are also similar with the tone of Bradbury’s writing too.

The tone of Bradbury’s writing is intense at many points in his books. The other book I chose to read, if you haven’t guessed by now, was Something Wicked This way Comes. If you have ever read this book, you know how creepy and scary it can be at times. Even Fahrenheit 451 has many intense moments.  “My hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest.” (Fahrenheit 451 37) When Montag was lighting fires and talking about books, things could get really intense. In Something Wicked This Way Comes, it says, ” Not that anyone would believe their gibbering’s, in fact it’s good advertisement for our shows, people titillate, night-sweat, then come prowling down to look us over, lick their lips, and wonder about investing in our special securities.” This book was very intense and creepy at parts. All of these quotes just make you really wonder what will happen next.

                In all of Ray’s writing, he creates sort of a questioning mood by always making you question what will happen next in the story. A good example of this is one of the first lines in each of his books. In Something Wicked this Way comes, it reads, “The seller of lightning rods arrived just ahead of the storm.” My initial reaction to this line was, “What is this story about?” Montag says, in Fahrenheit 451, “it was a pleasure to burn.” This line is one of the most famous lines in the book. When I first read that line, I had many questions as well, such as, “what is he burning?” and “Why does he like to burn so much?” This is the mood that Bradbury creates with all of his writing.

                As you can see, Bradbury’s style of writing is quite unique in many ways. Whether it is the unique diction, intense tone, or questioning mood, he carries it with him whenever he writes a different book.  I really enjoy his writing, even though sometimes it is a little hard to understand. He uses so much detail that I can always picture exactly what he is trying to show me. This is one of the aspects of his writing that I really like. I will always be able to tell if I am reading a Bradbury book, even if it doesn’t say his name on it. His style of writing is just so distinct, but very fun to read!

What Nature Means to Me

I have always been a fan of nature. It is so beautiful and has so many wonderful aspects to it. There are animals, plants and weather, all of which make up our beautiful world. One of the definitions of nature is “The beautiful elements of the natural world.” I find this statement to be very true. Nature is beautiful and everything in it is really a work of art.

        There are so many species of animals, reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, etc. in the world. There are also many endangered species that many of our children will never be able to see. We need to do our best to keep these animals alive so that our children can one day see them and so they keep the environment stable. When an animal is lost from an ecosystem, it can change the whole thing, which is not good and can potentially kill the environment.

        Plants are a very valuable asset to our world. They provide oxygen, food, and shelter. Plants can also be used to heal, like burns and diseases. Plants work right alongside humans. We breathe out carbon dioxide. Plants then breathe in the carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which we need to survive. We use plants to help us make our homes but it also can be a bad thing. The more trees we cut down, the less plants we have to help our ecosystem and the environment we live in. We need to be very careful so we don’t let any plant species go extinct.

        Weather is a very influential piece of our lives. I am not just talking about if it is cold we wear a jacket, and if it is hot we wear shorts.  I t is more than that. The weather is what keeps us alive, or kills us. We are very fortunate to have our mild weather. If the weather was too hot we would die.  If the weather was too cold we would die also. The weather changes our lives dramatically and if we don’t treat our nature better, then the weather could go to extremes and kill us all. We all have heard of global warming, and if we don’t start taking better care of nature, it could become a reality.

        Nature is very important in our lives and is very important to me.  Hopefully, it is also important to a lot of others. If we take time out of our busy lives to see how wonderful nature is, then we can help the world have a better future. Sometimes we think of nature as scary and gross, but it is all those parts that make nature what it is.  Animals, plants, and weather are just some of the important parts of our world. There are so many more yet to be explored and figured out, all we can do is just keep trying to help out in any way possible way we can.

thoughts on Fahrenheit 451 :)

As with many other books I am assigned to read, I went into by Ray Bradbury, with sort of a bad attitude. Most books I am assigned to read aren’t my favorite. Sometimes they are not that bad but I must admit that at first, I did judge this book by its cover. On the cover there is this man made out of books and he is on fire. I really had no idea what it was about. It always concerns me when I have to read a book that I haven’t heard much about, because the books that are really talked about are usually the best and most exciting ones.  I didn’t think it would be that great of a book so I started it with the intentions of just getting it done as soon as I possibly could. I had a really hard time trying to get myself to actually pick up the book and read it, but once I did I found out something that I hadn’t expected. The book was pretty interesting!

                When I first started to read the book, I was sort of confused because of the setting.   As I continued with the book, I realized that it was actually really good. In this book, it foreshadows what may be to come in even our world. The things that were going on made it almost seem possible.  It was really interesting. The main character, Guy Montag, is a fireman.  Montag does not put fires out though, he starts them.

                Montag has been starting fires all his life, but in the book he starts to question what he does. When he starts fires, they aren’t just for any reason, but he burns books and the houses they were in. In the world that Montag lives in they try to make everyone happy, and to do that, they don’t really let you have much freedom.  They pretty much tell you what you can and can’t do. I can’t imagine living in a world like that! There are only certain books that you are allowed to be read, and if you are caught with any different books, your house and your books are burned, and you are either sent off to jail or to a mental institute.

 Montag starts to question why they burn the books and why they are so bad. This causes a problem for him and his wife. People start to get mad when they find out that Montag is actually hiding and reading books. After his wife leaves him, he is forced to flee the city and just in time too, because he meets others along the river and then the city blows up. He learns a lot about fire when he is there with virtually nothing. He learned that the fire is there to really keep him warm, and can be used in good ways.

I really enjoyed this book and I really like Ray Bradbury’s style of writing. I can really picture everything in my head well because of all the description he gives. I love how he compares things. It makes me look at things in a whole new way, and that is one of the reasons I really liked it. In the end, I was happy I was assigned to read this book because I may never have read it otherwise.

Moving on to high school...continued:)

 I just wanted to add onto this week’s discussion because I think that it is a very important subject that I had a lot to say about ad I didn’t want to take up a ton of space on the discussion board, so here it is!

I have heard a lot of people saying how they are just so ready to go onto high school. I have heard this for about the last three years and I really haven’t felt the same way until recently.  I must admit, seventh and eighth grade were not the best.  I have really enjoyed this year a lot better though! It almost makes me not want to leave the school because I am just now starting to meet new people from our school. To get put into a brand new school sounds frightening! The high schools are so big and filled with so many people that I don’t know! Luckily for me, my older brother will still be in high school so I will know a few people.  Ninth grade is the very top of junior high and I think it will be hard to go right to the bottom again! I guess you could say that high school in general is the top though. I am just hoping it won’t be a repeat of seventh grade.  Even though we will be at the bottom, someone once told me that “the bottom of the top is better than the top of the bottom.”

                Regardless of all of my fears of high school, I really am excited to go. Like I said earlier, I didn’t think I was ready to move on but recently I have decided that I am sooooooooo ready to get into high school. I am excited to meet new people, try new things, and have a big variety of classes to choose from.  I am going to try and be more outgoing and more involved in the school next year. Hopefully being on the cheer squad will help with that! I think by doing that it will make my whole entire high school experience better. I don’t think that the fact that we are really “moving on” has set in yet. It will probably hit me closer to the end of the year when I realize that I am really almost done with junior high. The last day of school will be the hardest I think, because not everyone is even going to the same high school :( I think that that is one of the worst parts. I am really excited to me “movie on” to high school though!

                A funny thing happened this morning in fact that made me really decide that I was excited for high school. This morning, at 5:00 am I was woken up by two of the senior cheer leader at Layton high by being yanked out of my bed and put into a car. At first I was way confused but then they told me that we were going to wake up other girls that made the squad and then go get breakfast. I thought it sounded way fun except for the part was I was in my pajamas with a high pony and no make-up. The idea of being seen like this at all was scary but then I saw all the other girls and we all were in the same boat so I wasn’t too embarrassed. The cheer leaders told us to be happy we were going to breakfast because in previous years they would wake the girls up and then make them go to school! For the rest of the day at school they were in their pajamas, right out of bed. I would be so embarrassed! In the end, I had a way fun time and was just happy they didn’t make us go to school after. This was one of the things that made me so excited to get out of junior high and into high school because all the people I was with were so fun to be around. I hope that is how high school will be, just one big party:)

Walt Disney

I was recently watching a Disney show and I was realizing how much I really like Walt Disney. I was thinking about what the world would be like without him and I really could not picture a world without Disney land, Disney world, and Disney movies. We don’t usually realize how famous Walt Disney is but who does not know who that is? Who has never heard and watched Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beating, and many other classics! I decided in this week’s blog to tell you a little more about Walt Disney. You may learn things!

             Walt Disney is a famous director. He made many classics such as, Mickey Mouse, snow white, and many more. We all know of him as Walt Disney, but his real name is Walter Elias Disney. He was born the 5^th of December 1901, Chicago, Illinois, USA. At a very young age, Walter was recognized as a great artist. Davis Low, the late British political cartoonist called Disney “The most significant figure in graphic arts since Leonardo DaVinci.” In his lifetime, Disney and his staff received more than 950 honors and citations from every nation in the world, including 48 academy awards and 7 Emmys in his lifetime. Walt Disney’s personal awards included honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, the university of southern California and UCLA; the presidential medal of freedom; France’s Legion of honor and officer d’academie decoration; Thailand’s order of the crown; Brazil’s order of the southern cross; Mexico’s order of the Aztec Eagle; and the showman of the world award from the national association of theatre owners. Walt Disney was also the founder of Disneyland and Disney World.

            Walt Disney was one of five children, four boys and a girl. He was raised on a farm near Marceline, Missouri, Walt became interested in drawing at an early age, and he started selling his first sketches to his neighbors when he was only 7 years old. At McKinley high school, Walt also took place in making the school newspaper, he would comics and take pictures for the paper. At night he would attend the academy of Fine Arts.

            Walt Disney went on to perfect his skills. He has won many awards and produced many films. He Died December 15 1996 at the age of 65. Even though he has passed on, his hopes, dreams, and imagination are still with us almost everywhere we go!

Electronics

Electronics can be very frustrating sometimes!

Today when I walked into my computer room, I had every intention to get my blog post done and still have enough time to clean my room and get my chores done before I had to go to this party. When I came in, the Facebook login was up on the screen so I instinctively logged in. I was on for a little bit when I decided I wanted to change my cover. I tried putting different photos in that I liked and every time it told me that it had to be 399 pixels wide. What the heck does that mean?!?!? Well, an hour and a half later I realized that I was getting nowhere. I gave up on that Idea. I was very frustrated! I then decided it would be simple enough to just change my profile picture. This took a long time also. I finally just gave up on it all after spending a really long time trying to figure it out. So here I am trying to write this blog post as fast as I can so I can have as much time as possible to get ready for what I still have to do! That is where I got the inspiration for this blog post. I know that a lot of you have the same problem.

                Electronics are sometimes very helpful, but in some cases they make me want to pick them up and throw them when they do not work. If I work on trying to get something to work for a long time and in the end it works I usually don’t get too frustrated. It’s when I work that long and then in the end it does not even work! So I spent that much time working on something that was absolutely a waste of time. What makes me even madder is when I work so long, and then I finally ask for help and it works right away for someone else! It makes me want to scream! Ugh. Electronics can be so frustrating to deal with, but they are good too sometimes.