"Concert in the Old School Garrett" by: Anonymous Butterfly Project

 I commented on Athziry, Gustavo, Autumn, and Steven's Blogs.

Night Week of 3/23-3/27

 Pages: 43 out of 110
 Prompt: Describe the most important event. Give at least three reasons why you think it
is the most important event.


                                            The Event that Changed Young Elie's Life

     When reading the first few pages of the book I quickly realized that Elie lived a peaceful life in a calm community. He seems to be very religious by going everyday to the altar and praying. It is until one day when he goes to the altar and meets a man named Moshe the Beadle. On the first page of the novella he describes him as "being very poor and lived humbly...my fellow townspeople, though they helped the poor, were not particularly fond of him." When Elie starts to pray Moshe the Beadle starts to question his decisions by saying why does he pray. At first Elie starts to be a bit disturbed by this question, but it is until his time in Birkenau when he starts to lose faith in his religion. I feel like this encounter between Elie and Moshe the Beadle changed how he thought about the world. When he returns to Poland after escaping a concentration camp that is when life slowly starts to change for Elie. The ghetto didn't completely change Elie's life it was until on he boarded the train for Auschwitz when his role in society started to be revealed to Mr. Wiesel.



                                              Why was this event important?

    The encounter with Moshe the Beadle leads to future questioning about Elie's religion which has a major impact during his time in the concentration camp. The encounter in church is the last glimpse of his everyday life and he rapidly starts to lose his old life. The first things he loses is his cherished objects and I feel like this had a huge impact on young Elie. This is seen when he says "the cherished objects we had brought with us thus far were left behind in the train, and with them, at last, our illusions." It seems that the last items which represented his old life are gone and he has now started a new life at Auschwitz. The number one thing that is going on in Elie's life is his family and how he can quickly be separated from them during roll call. When can see that he is now becoming a more responsible young adult by putting others before himself especially during their arrival at the camp. He says "at all costs we must keep together." This shows that he no longer is the spoiled kid back at Sighet, he now cares for others during their time at the camp. We can now tell that the event made him more responsible.



                                             How has time at the camps affected Elie?

    We have so far learned in the book that he has been sent to three different places Birkenau, Auschwitz, and recently to Buna. In the book the reader can tell that the narrator and main character Elie Wiesel focuses more on his time in the famous concentration camp than his religious views from his previous conversation with Moshe the Beadle. We can tell that between chapters three and five Elie has changed when it comes to responsibility and religion. If we take for example when his father is hit in the face by a German officer. Elie says "I did not move. What had happened to me? Yesterday, I should have sunk my nails into the criminal's...Had I changed so much then?" He even realizes himself changing and Elie seems to be a bit surprised by this recent discovery. I think at this point in our lives we start to change and become more worthy of taking on responsibility. It seems that this is happening to young Elie he is going through the first stages of becoming a young-adult. I think that is why this event is so important to the main character.

This image above shows responsibility and how people can work together to make a positive impact on the world. In this part of the book we are starting to see Elie growing up and becoming a young-adult. He is leaving behind his old life in Sighet and learning more about the world around him during this time period. He at first thought that there wasn't any thing bad about the German people in his little community. It was when Ellie arrived at the camps that he started understanding how Moshe the Beadle felt in the world. 

This week I will comment on Jesus, Gustavo, and Jenna's Blogs.

AoW Impressions for 3/23

    The major news topic of this week was the Holocaust and how it still continues to impact people around the world. I wasn't able to see everyone's articles, but I did look at approximately 15 articles out of the 25. I noticed that most of them have to do with Holocaust survivors and most of them were from the Auschwitz concentration camp. The second most popular topic was medical experiments performed by the Nazis on Jewish prisoners. When the gallery walk ended I felt that gained more knowledge about the Holocaust and how much these people had to leave behind during World War II. I found Autumn's article really interesting because I knew never that the descendants of Holocaust survivors developed altered stress hormones. This topic hasn't been discussed recently in history classes and it was a surprise that even the descendents of Jewish people are still suffering from numerous diseases. The other major fact I found surprising was that these relatives also have anxiety which leaves us thinking whether the survivors also have this characteristic currently in the world. The other article topics included women in concentration camps, Curious George, museums, etc.


   I also forgot to mention that the other article topic was Holocaust Remembrance Day in which a lot of survivors are celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation. When I saw Marisa's article which was about Germany performing experiments on women during their time in numerous concentration camps. The surprising fact about this article is that they still suffered even after the liberation. The camps were liberated by Soviet troops, but they did something inappropriate to the women afterwards. In Ahziry's article I found out that the writers of Curious George were German Jews who escaped to America in order to avoid being sent to concentration camps. The buildings seen in the book are inspired by actual structures in Paris, France. I noticed that almost every article had to do with the life of a survivor during the war and after World War II. I did find another surprising fact which was that prisoners were only given a piece of bread per day. I found this out from Diego's article which talked about a Jewish boy who was sent to a labor camp. I think that overall I gained more knowledge about the Holocaust.

   

Berlin Memorial Reflection

     The activity we did today in class was very informational and I actually learned a lot during this time period. I did have a bit of background knowledge when it came to the restrictions that Germany put on the Jewish community. I've felt that over the last two days I have gained more knowledge on how the government functioned in Germany and the laws they passed. The Nuremberg Laws which was task four of the web quest did give me a bit of information on how the Jewish people lived prior to the construction of the concentration camps.  The major thing I learned is that there is over 400 Jewish decrees and how the Nazis hid their plans during the Olympic Games. I find it surprising that history doesn't go into detail when it came to the Berlin Winter Olympic Games. The detail and fact I learned over the course of this activity is that almost all European Jews were in concentration camps in 1944. When I first learned about World War II which was last year it seems as if I only knew how the Jewish people suffered in labor camps, concentration camps, etc. This activity helped me gain knowledge on how Jews in the city also suffered, in which the government restricted human rights.


    The monument in Berlin was built to show the world how much the Jewish community suffered even when they weren't in concentration camps. In the pictures that were shown in class I noticed that each one had a different image. If we look back at the images it shows a bread and one displays musical notes. The German government wants to show local residents and even tourists that we must feel gratitude for the amount of accessories we have at home. The laws with the pictures were possibly built to provide people with historical facts that can reveal even more horrors prior to the Holocaust. In my opinion I think that the majority of people in the world do know about the horrors of the camps, but I'm thinking only thirty to fifty percent know about the Jewish laws. This memorial is there to teach people more about the topic and how it impacted the world. The major thing I noticed about the laws is that at first the government was only taking away jobs, education, and public places from the Jews. Then after the Olympic Games the government started to take away basic things such as milk, pets, etc. The other thing that I noticed was that in 1944 no law was passed.

   
    When looking at the timeline from 1933 to 1945 it seems that the violence in Germany started in 1938 when Kristallnacht occurred which was the "Night of Broken Glass". It was also when Germany started to invade smaller countries in which it eventually led to the beginning of World War II. The violence continued for the next 7 years until May 1945 when the Allies won the war in Europe. The restrictions that I would have the most trouble dealing with is not being able to go to school and being banned from public places. In every country of the world you need education in order to get a job and if this is taken away from you the job options started to slowly change. The reason I enjoy going to school is because it gives a person the opportunity to meet new people. A student is exposed to numerous topics which can shape their interests and have an impact in their education. If I were banned from public places such as restaurants and movie theaters it would seem boring just stay at home everyday. We as humans need entertainment even if it comes from movies, books, or television.
I myself like reading and watching movies, so that is why I couldn't deal with these restrictions.

This photo represent post-World War I Germany in which every citizen was either unemployed or didn't have enough money. The picture shows that Germans and Jews suffered together during this time period and that they helped each other. The detail that I can't understand is why didn't the country think before they went into action. I don't comprehend why citizens didn't think back to the days in which they helped each other. 

This week I will comment on Jenna, Autumn, and Steven's Blogs. 

 

3rd Quarter Reflection

     The time here at Heritage has gone by so fast, it's surprising to think that we are already at the end of 8th grade 3rd quarter. When I take a time to reflect from the beginning now to the end of the quarter, I feel like I have grown as a writer and as a reader. If we take for example what was my favorite books this quarter I would say Alabama Moon. The reason I enjoyed Alabama Moon so much is because it shows people how to survive on their own and take responsibility for themselves. This book filled with so much action, emotions, and it also shows how we must feel grateful for the life we have. It also overlaps when it comes to themes by including friendship, determination, and a To Kill a Mockingbird theme coming of age. The biggest improvement I've made so far in my english language arts class is that it seems I have been improving in my writing. In the beginning of the quarter I struggled a lot when it came to writing objective summaries, stating my thesis statement, and providing textual evidence in my writing. I was doing great in my AoW's, but the thing that always brought down my grade was the objective summary. In these couple of weeks I have improved by writing less details and less evidence in the actual summary. When it comes to writing essays I've noticed that I haven't been verbose in my writing and that I have less grammar errors. The only major thing I have to prove on is taking myself out of thematic and argumentative essays.


   When looking back at blog posts from last year and my narrative writing I noticed that I was extremely bad when it came to narratives. The thing that I have accomplished since the beginning of this new year is that my narrative writing has improved so much, especially during the third section of PARCC ELA test. The major thing I'm proud of that I have accomplished is that I finally got an A on an essay, this has never been done before. I'm currently in my 24th book in the 40 book challenge, I fee like that my reading is going faster than last year. I clearly remember that last year in May I was barely in my 32nd book, so I have also improved in my 40 book challenge. The most challenging part of the 3rd quarter was the amount of writing we have done over the past couple of months. I do enjoy writing, but when it comes to argumentative essays for me it is a bit difficult. I find easier writing thematic, biography, or informative essays. It seems that argumentative writing I put myself by using words such as I or me. That was the difficult part of the third quarter.


    The last couple of questions took some time to think, but when looking back at my blogs from the beginning of August they were not too good. I noticed that I was extremely verbose when describing the specific prompt of my book and details such as the plot or setting. The mini-lessons we have had in class did make a difference in my blog writing. The lessons of textual evidence and embedding quotes truly helped explain my book in a more advanced tone. The narrative story we wrote for "the Cask of Amontillado" showed that all the lessons we had about imagery, dialogue, and characters helped my story become fantastic. I mentioned before that the strategies that helped were the mini-lessons and the comments of my peers. The AoW gallery walks we've had over the past couple of weeks has helped me learn more about the world around me. I've learned more about the terrorist group ISIS, ebola can be cured, lost WWII battleship, and the big one of course was immigration in other foreign countries. The research skills I gained in this class have not only helped me in here, but also in other classes such as social studies. My research skills have improved because I now gather numerous sources to support my claim, not just one. I also know the benefits of MLA citation and how it can be sophisticated that just copying and pasting web links. That is how I have improved during this quarter.

Bio-Poem for Chris McCandless

Chris McCandless

Adventure-seeker, stubborn, generous, and a survivor of nature

A main character in Jon Krakauer's story

Lover of the wild, Alaska, his shiny '69 Datsun, and enjoying the wonders of life

Who notices the wrong-doings of his father, the cold yet wonderful Alaskan landscapes, and regular boring lives of the American people
Who feels people should be free, that college is a waste of money, and that Alaskan state troopers are not clever enough
Who learns how to survive with only a bag of rice and a book for over a month , and find hidden message within famous novels
Who says "if you want something life, reach out and grab it"
Who used to think that the Mexican river was completely save, but now knows you need a bigger boat to sail
Major Character in Into the Wild 
A book that shows passion, dreams, kindness, and determination
A book that made Westerberg cry. 

AoW Impressions for 3/2-3/6

    I was actually surprised in our most recent AoW gallery walk, the topics of these articles were all very different. The topic I choose was completely different than my last two articles which were about immigration, but this time I choose to do ISIS. This is the most-talked about thing in the world currently because this terrorist group has had a huge negative impact on almost every nation. The only difficult detail about this gallery walk was the wide selection of articles. It was almost like a food tasting a little bit of everything. The only theme I did notice is that most of the articles took place in the United States, and in some places in the Middle East.  The number one topic is again ISIS, but the difference is that only about four articles were about this terrorist group compared to the twenty articles from last week. The thing I found great about this week's gallery walk was that I could easily connect to about 50% of my peer's articles. The speech made by Prime Minister Netanyahu against the nuclear Iranian program, previous to the gallery walk I learned a lot about this topic in my social studies class. This first few articles were interesting to learn about.



    The other most talked about news topic was Ebola and I was bit surprised since it hasn’t been that huge in the news lately. I think about two people from my class choose to do their article on this disease, and I’m happy to say that I’m not that scared anymore. My peers Diego and Nadrian mentioned that more patients have been saved from Ebola and they are currently testing out a vaccine that will hopefully work in the future. I’m actually they brought up this topic because now it can show the world that we should not worry anymore, for a cure has been found. After reviewing my gallery walk sheet I noticed that disease was the second most talked about topic. The articles talked about of course Ebola, deadly bacteria, and cystic fibrosis. The deadly bacteria article that Autumn choose was very interesting because another deadly disease which was Ebola was recently cured. Is it possible that this deadly bacteria will have an impact on the world, such as Ebola? The other topics discussed were North Korea, social media suicides, first lagoon power plant, and a sunken Japanese WWII was found. I found all these articles quite surprising such as the suicide article by Athziry, which explains how social media has led to many suicides committed by teens. The North Korea article by Gustavo was a bit shocking since a US ambassador was knifed in this country. The sunken WWII ship was very interesting since it was the biggest warship in the world during the time and it just seems amazing that the co-founder of Microsoft discovered it. The last article by Gabe which was about the first lagoon power plant, I found interesting because it shows how we are coming closer to ending pollution. This week I did enjoy the gallery walk filled with numerous interesting news topics.

This week I will comment on Stanley, Carlos, and Autumn's Blogs.