Cindy's Blog

Social Issue: Smoking

2009-05-08T06:25:00.000-07:00

The message I want to give out from my documentary about smoking would be the effects to your body from it, and how it has affected millions of people. I will interview one or two people about there smoking habit and a doctor that deals with people that have cancer from smoking. Also I will have small clips of effects of there body, some have lost fingers and some have wholes in there throat. I want people to show the bad in smoking, and show them it can kill.

poerty response B.M

2009-02-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

Chankara Troupe

In this poem Chankara speaks about her sister, how she always has a lie to say when her boyfriend beats her. When she says, "She sparkles like sugar" it's because maybe her eyes got teary and looked sparkly under the the kitchen light. You can tell that Chankara's sister wants to get away but is afraid of being alone and maybe he might hit her even more if she leaves him. She must feel helpless of her life from what hes putting her though, and Chankara knows all the lies her sister says, she knows the truth. The message in the story is to not let you're self be abused and taken over by some one because "bruised love" is not real love.

poerty response B.M

2009-02-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

Open Mike
Attendance
by: Tyrone Bittings

The character in the poem feels like theres no hope for him, and thinks he has no future and is lucky enough to live to age twenty-one. I've learned that I shouldn't put myself down, because if i have something good going for me i should continue working on it until it gets better.
What inferences can you make about this poem? In the poem it tells about how the area where they live in is, and it tells about how people don't think about death and how his father was killed from all the violence in the street. Tyrone tries to fight from admitting he has a future but wants to stay in the hood. The word that can describe Tyrone's feelings is fearless because in the poem he says is too late to worry about innocence.
I can connect with this poem because of the way he describes where he lives, and it's similar to how people act now in the street. Sometimes kids feel like they don't have a future but then we realize there is hope for us even though theres so much discrimination and violence.

Richmond Leake, 53 Newstand Dealer

2009-02-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

This poem is about a man that no one listened to, his teachers and wife didn't have time to listen because they were always too busy with they're own lives. I can infer that he was a black man because he worked for a white man and the white man was rich so he made sure Richmond didn't steal anything. Richmond must feel like he's isolated from people because no one listens to him and even though people think that hes crazy for talking to himself, but he thinks thats just fine. I think this poem means that it's o.k to ask you're self questions and find the answer you're self.

"We Thought"

2009-01-26T06:35:00.000-08:00

He lived with nothing,
now has everything.
We thought it was unreal, it made no sense to hear.
A dream became reality, with many things to do.
We thought world's problem was to hard to fix,
but Obama rose and pledged "yes we can".
It can be done, we thought the possibilities,
now we accept
we know he can.

Test Prep Action Plan

2008-12-15T06:38:00.000-08:00

My goal for test prep is to get a good score, I will do this by doing reading practice test to understand passage questions. To make sure I get a 3 on the test I'll use schema when I read and I'll also reread until I understand what I'm reading to answer the question. The type of questions on the ELA Exam are, main ideas, inference, vocabulary, passage questions. The hardest thing on the test for me is the essay, I think it's hard because it's hard to write a good long essay in a short amount of time.

To My Parent

2008-12-11T06:36:00.000-08:00

Dear Parent,

My biggest accomplishment in ELA so far this year is how well I read, also I've learned to understand big words by reading the surrounding text. The unit so far that has been my best is the Freda Kahlo essay, it made me learn a lot about her life because I like doing research on famous people that effect another persons life. We've used technology this year in many ways, we use it to write essays and classwork assignments, we also use Blogging and Ning after reading a book or passage. Technology helps me learn and improve my reading and writing in away of doing research and knowing grammar. My goals this year are having a good average and learning more on understanding what i read, reading and writing is important to my future so i can have a good job, and also helps me in daily everyday life.

Character Unit Intro

2008-11-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

Do people ever really change?

Some people change because they think it's for the better. For example, if a person is always around bad influence that might want to get out of that habit for their own good and change. Usually people change at one point, some don't have a reason and others do. People in general have their own personal reasons why they change their actions towards anything.

Election Reflection

2008-11-05T09:07:00.000-08:00

The 2008 Election was won by Barack Obama. It came down to 349 electoral votes and McCain with 164, in the history of the United States Obama is the first African American to become president. The "racial barrier" fell on Nov. 4th meaning the race of being a white president only of the United States has changed because in the history of the United States Obama was elected the first black president. "Yes we can" he says, for we Americans can do anything we set our mind to. He encouraged people all around the world and proved that color and race does not matter.

Readers Response 4. Questioning

2008-10-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

Policy Before Politics.

Skinny Question:

What does Obama plan to do with the health issue?

Fat Question:

Why would it be better for public health insurance?

Obama's plan from the health issue will be to expand the number of options for young adults to get coverage. He will expand eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs and ensure that these programs continue to serve their critical safety net function.

"RAFT: This Land Is Your Land"

2008-10-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Question:
How does the information in the box "A Day in the Life (of me!)" help the reader understand the article?

The information in the box helps the reader understand better because it gives you a better image in your head of how they lived. For example, in the text it says "Our way of life is also our job." So in the information box of there daily routine gives us details of how there life is like there job.

Readers Response 3.

2008-10-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson

"They want me to speak” -Melinda (pg 113)

This book is about a girl named Melinda Sordino. shes a student with good grades and great friends, but has made some mistakes. At the end of a summer party she called the cops, but when the cops got there she didn't tell them anything. When the new school year began, her friends didn't speak to her, and people in school that she didn't know hate her because she messed up the party when she called the cops, and wrecked everybody’s party. Her grades start dropping. Her relationship with her parents got weaker and weaker quickly. Her parents know something is wrong but cannot get her to open up. Her only hope is her art teacher; he realizes something is very wrong and through the classwork, and the art work that helps her express her emotions. Melinda had a secret, you only get to find out about it until towards the end, but its easy to take a guess. This secret has caused her to fall apart, and isolate herself.. She deals with her seceret by mainly by not talking to anyone. She struggles with the truth.

Readers Response 2.

2008-10-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

The Night The Bell Rang
Natalie Kinsey-Warnock

This story takes place in 1918 Vermont, a bully named Aden makes a boy named Mason's life miserable. Then one night, when Mason was in need of help, the bully helped Mason out. Mason was speechless because he never thought Aden would ever do such kindness. Mason does not thank Aden, neither does he tell anybody what happened.
A few days later, Aden goes to fight in the war that's going on in Europe. When it is announced that the war has ended, the people of this small Vermont town rejoice by taking turns ringing the church bell. When Mason notices Aden’s mother standing alone mourning, he realized that Aden had been killed during the war. Most people acted like Aden's death didn't matter because he was a bad kid. Mason gos up to his mother and assures her that her son Aden had once done a good thing for him.

Readers Response 1.

2008-10-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

A Child Called It.
David Pelazar

I read the book A Child Called It about two years ago. This life story about a boy named David was very sad, he was beaten by his mother every day. His mother isolated him from the family and starved him. She nearly killed him with all her abuse, but David stayed strong.

This story helps me in life because not everyone has a good mother, or gets treated right. It makes me realize how grateful i am for how my mother is with me. I think David is brave to talk about his life with such detail. I disagree with his mother of course for blaming him David in everything that happened between her husband and her. She referred to David as an "it". This book shows an example of how the human spirit can provide strength in the toughest situations.