This picture represents my favorite Jewish Holiday, Hannukah. Hannukah is basically the poor man’s Christmas. Although instead of one day of presents, we get 8 crazy nights. Presents are the only reason I look forward to Hannukah. Also, the only reason kids get presents for Hannukah is so the Jewish kids don’t feel bad when everyone else gets Christmas presents. It’s still sort of fun, though.
One new idea from book club is that because of the setting the entire conflict was changed.
The most interesting part of my book is when they talked about the only 2 children policy.
In discussion next time I can grow as a collaborator by making sure everybody talks.
Title and hosts: Linsey and Marshall
Genre: Science
Summary of the Podcast’s Focus: We don’t actually need sleep
Summary of your episode: It talks about the science of sleep and talks about how they have a camp for kids where they collect data and put weird headgear on them to figure out how tired they are.
Assessment of Credibility: I think it’s credible because it was put on the list of recommended podcasts.
Why you like or don’t like it with evidence: I do not like it because it is really boring to me. I found the topics uninteresting.
Who you would recommend the podcast to: People who really love science and things that involve science.
Any details about the experience of listening to something and if you did or did not like it and why: I’d already listened to several podcasts and am still a regular follower of many so this was not the first time for me. Since I’ve continued to listen to podcasts you can assume I enjoy it.
Final rating out of 5 with 5 being the best: 2
Subject of Biography: Bill Russell
Why I chose this subject: He’s an interesting sports figure and I was desperate for ideas.
Sneak peak of Introduction: If we made a list of the 1,000 most influential people in the past century, Russell would have to be at least top 300. That may sound crazy but think about it. Basketball is currently one of the most popular sports in America. Bill Russell helped. A lot. He evolved the game into what we see now. It’s hard to believe now, but before Bill Russell came into the league, players didn’t jump to defend. They kept their feet on the ground and didn’t try to block shots. Blocks hadn’t even been invented yet. We haven’t even mentioned that he was one of the first successful blacks in the NBA. Still aren’t buying it? Well, you will by the end of this story.
Element of biography I want to make sure I include and why: Precise language because I would like to give the reader an accurate sense of what’s going on.
What book are you currently reading?
Steelheart
Why did you choose this book?
ygaines recommended it.
Thinking about your book, who were the main characters?
David and his group.
What smaller problems happened in the book?
A bunch of people died.
Have you reached the climax of your book? What was the big moment of tension?
I’m not sure yet.
Have you reached the resolution? If yes, is it what you thought would happen? If not, how do you think the problem will be resolved?
I think the problem will be resolved by them killing steelheart.
What type of conflict occurs in your book?
Character vs Character.
Think about a book you’re reading now or one you’ve read recently. What type of conflict occurred in the story? Describe it using specific details from the text.
My book is the first Harry Potter book (SPOILERS AHEAD!). The conflict was that there was an artifact called the sorcerers (not philosophers!) stone. Voldemort was trying to steal it.
How did it move the rest of the story along?
It gave the story a plotline. It gave Harry and his friends a role in the story where they needed to find out what was the artifact.
Was the conflict resolved? How? If not, how do you think it will be resolved?
The conflict was resolved. Harry stopped Voldemort from taking the stone and then the stone was destroyed.
We’ve been working on writing memoirs in ELA for the past few weeks. Here is an update on what I’ve accomplished/learned at each stage of the writing process.
The part of the writing process that has been the most comfortable for me has always been…because…
The part of the writing process that has been the most comfortable for me has always been the drafting stage because once I have an idea I pretty much know exactly what I’m going to write even before I start.
The part of the writing process that has been the most challenging for me has always been….because…
The part of the writing process that has been the most challenging for me has always been Generating Ideas because I’m not very good at coming up with things that actually happened in my life that I’m willing to write about.
Immersion
I’ve learned the characteristics of a memoir include:
-A true story or narrative that often focuses on a memorable experience of particular time in the author’s life.
-Written in chronological order so events unfold naturally.
-Includes descriptive details, dialogue, and pacing to develop experiences.
-Often includes a reflection on why the event is important to the writer.
-The writer is in the story. He or she tells the story from his or her point of view.
-Many memoirs include the writer’s family or friends or someone who made a difference in his/her life.
-Memoirs are written to make the reader feel something: happy, sad, mad, etc.
I think the characteristic I really want to focus on in my writing is…because…
I think the characteristic I really want to focus on in my writing is using descriptive details because I want the reader to be able to visualize it.
My favorite memoir mentor text was….because the author…
I didn’t like any of the mentor texts because most of them were kinda boring and none of them had anything I was interested in.
Generating Ideas/Selecting
Why do you want to share this idea/story with others?
Deductive Reasoning. There was nothing else that I’d be willing to write about.
What emotions do you want your reader to feel as they read your memoir?
My memoir is not meant to make the reader feel an emotion.
Drafting
Here is my first draft:
One thing I think I did really well is….because…
One thing I think I did really well is use descriptive details because Gev. Kimmel said I use good descriptive details.
As I head into editing and revising, one thing I want to focus on is…because…
As I head into editing and revising, one thing I want to focus on is using good SHE feedback when helping others because I want to be aware of other people’s feelings.
Stay tuned for another post soon as I work on revising my first draft. If you have any SHE (specific, helpful, empathetic) feedback, please leave it as a comment!
So today in class we were told to make a list of 10 things we would like to accomplish by the time we’re 100.
Below is a guess of what I might look like when I’m 100. Brace yourselves (I put it really far down so you aren’t forced to look at it).
Which of the 10 exhibits we visited was your favorite? Why?
Personally, my favorite was the streets of old Milwaukee. It’s so cool all the details they put in. They take such care to make it seem realistic. We even saw a cat in between two buildings once!
What is one new thing you learned at the museum yesterday?
I learned that a leaf was not an animal in the Butterfly exhibit. There was a table with buttons and depending on which button you pressed (each button was attached to an animal) it would either say yes this is an animal or no this is not an animal. The leaf was not an animal.
Which exhibit do you think you’ll highlight in your poem? Why?
Possibly Hell Creek. The sound of lightning gave me some inspiration. I think that I could make my best work from that exhibit.