Second Semester Prompt # 10

By: Rebecca Burkley

I am definitely going to miss this class. Im extremely glad I made the school switch me back from my one day in Tag LA. This class was definitely something I looked forward to each day. Everyone in the class was funny and awesome and made the class so interesting. Mrs. Weintraub, of course, was amazing, too, and the class would have been so incredible if she hadn’t been so easy going, and amiable, and fun! So thanks Mrs. Weintraub! This class has so many memories as well. I am going to miss clapping and cheering for Mr. Jackson, and that weird time when Jamie mysteriously disappeared and the unknown girl took her place. I also really enjoyed the Literature Circles and our food days. 🙂 I loved the skits we did for Romeo and Juliet, everyone made me laugh so much! I think I have laughed more in that class than in almost any other. Second semester was definitely amazing, and next year I will be so sad not to end my day with this class.

So, I guess I have to answer the questions…

I most certainly feel that I have improved as a writer. My summer essay was the worst grade I have ever gotten, and I was so afraid that all my essays would be the same. It turned out, however, that after asking for a little help, I clarified and focused my writing and my essays (and grades) definitely improves a ton. I also learned to make use of simple sentences and to hold back on my love of commas. Yay sentence variation and correct punctuation.

My understanding of media has definitely improved and made me realize just how messed up our world and business really are. I now notice myself catching advertisements in movies and underlying meanings in tv shows and commercials. My childhood dreams were almost burned to the ground, but I put the fire out. I hated watching all that stuff about Disney, yet I realized that, although some of those things may be a little true, it doesn’t mean I have to stop loving Disney… so yeah. Haha

Whilst reading difficult texts I learned to not focus on any one little part or line for too long. It was more important to understand the overall meaning and story in the text. Once I did that, it was easier to go back and understand the parts and line that I hadn’t understood before.

My favorite unit by far was Romeo and Juliet. It was partly that fact that the story was amazing and I love romance and love story. It was also all of the fun and interactive activities we did in class. Since we did more as a class and groups and less individual work, I think I gained a better understanding of the story. I also enjoyed the unit that much more.

I will miss this class so much and will probably be crying with Sanya! I can’t believe we only have 3 more years. Its so depressing 😦 So thanks for all the memories!  Love you all!

Second Semester Blog Prompt #9

By: Rebecca B.

For Literature Circle, my group decided to read Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie. We chose this novel because mystery was a genre that we all liked to read, and because in the past those of us who have read Agatha Christie’s books have really enjoyed them. Also, we chose the specific book because it has elephants in the title and we all know that Ashton loves elephants ;).  I am very excited to read Elephants Can Remember because it is a nice change of genre from what I usually read. I also think it will be fun to work with my group members because it will be like being in a book club, and I have always wanted to be in a book club.

I usually enjoy doing group work in class. I believe that it is most beneficial in a smaller sized groups because then you are not trying to coordinate with too many people. I also feel that group work can be a very productive and fun way to learn because you are working with other people. On the other hand I feel that group work is only fun and productive if the people with whom you are working work hard and finish their work. Otherwise the whole project just become stressful.

Second Semester Blog Prompt #8

By: Rebecca B.

I really enjoyed Romeo and Juliet. I thought it was a wonderful story and I am so glad I finally got the chance to read it. It was by far my favorite book that we have read this year. Shakespeare developed the characters really well and taught many valuable lessons. I do think that the events in the story moved a little too quickly and unrealistically, but it was still a great play, so that was okay. I loved reading the poetry in Romeo and Juliet. I also feel that Shakespeare’s writing taught me to use context more to figure out what something means, but to move on and just take in the over all meaning of a passage. This way I don’t get to hung up on a detail and am able to keep the story flowing. I am definitely tempted to read more Shakespeare. I loved his style of writing and I know many of his other plays are just as good as Romeo and Juliet. I also enjoyed finally knowing  the story behind references people sometimes make to Romeo and Juliet, and would love to learn the stories behind some of the other Shakespeare references.

 

Second Semester Blog Prompt #7

By: Rebecca B.

Its hard for me to say if I believe in love at first sight. If the question had been “do you believe in true love?” however, my answer would have been an easy yes. With deep thought I have to say that I do believe in love at first sight. I just think that people don’t always realize they are in love at first. The reason for this line on thinking is that every person sees their love for the first time at some point in their life. This person has to make a conscious effort to get to know his or her love, whether or not he or she realizes that the person is their love. Then later, after getting to know the other person, he or she realizes his or her feelings and the two people “fall in love.” I guess I also believe that, in rare instances, people can fall in love at first sight, the first glimpse they have of the other person. There really is no basis for this belief, except that I like to think that this can happen. Still, it doesn’t seem very realistic, and as it hasn’t happened to me, or anyone else that I know of, I guess I don’t really know. Only the future can tell if it really exists or not.

Second Semester Blog Prompt #6

By: Rebecca B

I have been really excited to read Romeo and Juliet. I have always heard or read references to it, but i never really quite understood them except for the general idea. I  believe that it will be challenging to read and understand because of the way it is written as well. In seventh grade we had done some work with Shakespeare’s sonnets and those by themselves took a lot of analyzing; Romeo and Juliet is more than fourteen lines- its a whole play! I am also very excited to read the play because it is supposedly one of the greatest romances of all time, and I am a sucker for love stories. However, I can’t stand unhappy endings, but I think it will be ok because I already know what happens. It just doesn’t seem fair that they don’t get to live happily ever after, but not everyone can I guess. The fact that Romeo and Juliet is play is also something that makes me look forward to reading it because we have to read it aloud in class. I find that when reading a play out loud I usually enjoy and understand the story more than reading a book for school all alone in my house. So all and all bring on Romeo and Juliet!

Second Semester Prompt #4

By: Rebecca B

I was extremely excited to go see the Romeo and Juliet play. I have always heard references to the play, but I never quite knew what was being referenced. Since we are going to read the play in class soon, I felt that this performance was a good introduction. However, I feel that if we had seen the play after we had read and translated the story, it would have been more enjoyable. The play was in old english, so half the time I didn’t really know what was going on except for my previous knowledge of the play.

I also felt that the performance was hard to follow because there were only four actors for the many parts. I sometimes became confused on who was what character at what time. The time period was also hard to follow. I suspected at the begining that it was going to be a modern adaption to the play, but later I felt that it was taking place in the past. Despite this, I really enjoyed watching the actors perform, and I especially enjoyed the Juliet’s nurse’s character, who I thought was very funny.

Second Semester Blog Prompt #3

By: Rebecca B.

Just the other day I watched the movie Airplane. While I was watching I noticed a few stereotypes in the movie. Although, I also noticed that many people in the movie were characterized as the opposite of what one would imagine the stereotype to be. Both the stereotyping and opposite stereotyping, however, were taking to the extreme. Even though stereotyping is offensive to some, when taken to the extreme it can also be used for comedy. The movie Airplane uses extreme stereotyping, which can in no way be taken seriously, and opposite stereotyping to produce a comedic effect on the movie.

I think that stereotyping in movies can be offensive and lead people to believe certain groups of people only act in a particular way. In real life however the majority of people are not always how their group is portrayed, and stereotyping can be offensive. In Airplane however, I believed that some of the stereotyping, such as the two African Americans on the plane speaking in jive that no one could understand, was so obviously unrealistic that it was funny.  Airplane also made characters that were the complete opposite of what their stereotypes were. One example of this was the two girl scouts who broke out into a fight with each other over poker in a tough bar. This is the complete opposite of what a person would expect because girl scouts are usually thought of a sweet, peaceful, and helpful, so it made that scene funny.

Second Semester Blog Prompt #2

By: Rebecca B.

If I could have my own news program, I would first make sure it shows a quick weather forecast for the day and the week. This way teens can make plans around the weather and can know how to dress accordingly. This is important to me because I know that Georgia weather is weird and so it could be 15 degrees one day and 60 the next. I don’t want to be wearing a sweater and ski jacket on the 60 degree day. Next, I would show a quick local news of events that are happening specifically in the community. I would show this next because it is good to know whats going on right where you live. It would be in the immediate community though, because it is annoying when “local news” has nothing to do with where you live. After I would show state, national, and international current events. Teens need to be aware with what is going on in the world and their country. I feel that sometimes I am not aware of some of these major events and elections and I know I should be. Finally, I would wrap up the news program with sports scores and statistics to end the show on a lighthearted note. News can sometimes be serious and grave, but sports, although a teen’s team might have lost, are fun to watch and are usually something that teens like to keep updated about. This would wrap up the show and hopefully teens would know some useful information of the weather, some general knowledge of the world they live in, and be able to check up on the teams they love.

Second Semester Blog Prompt #1

By: Rebecca B.

My Goal: My goal for this semester is to have a 97 average (without the 7 points) in this class at the end of the year.

My Strategies: I plan to accomplish my goal by working on my writing and finishing it before the due date. This way i can have Mrs. Weintraub review my essays for me and give me some pointers before I turn it in. I also plan on really studying the vocabulary for the novels we read as well as the SAT words for the test and, of course, turning in all my work on time.

 

Prompt #10 11/21/2010

By: Rebecca B.

To me propaganda is advertising or spreading information with the deliberate purpose to help or harm someone or something.  So I believe that, from certain points of view, propaganda can be used for good purposes if the propaganda is used to promote good ideas or people and harm bad idea or people. For example during World War II the U.S. used propaganda such as posters and movies to portray the enemy, the Japanese and Germans, as inhuman so that they could recruit more men to fight. The addition of men helped us defeat them and win the war, so in effect the propaganda was used for good purposes.