Thursday, May 10, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Summary of my Blogging Experience
When our English teacher, Mrs. Hayes, came into class and told us that we were going to be blogging for a major writing grade every quarter, I wasn't sure what to think. It was a new thing for me and I will admit I was kind of nervous thinking that I wasn't going to be to good at it or I wasn't going to finish all of them but sure enough I was mistaken. Blogging has turned out to be a really fun experience this past year and I am actually really happy we did them because it exposed me to a new type of writing and a hobby that I can take with me throughout college and the rest of my life. I already know a few people that blog all the time for college and others who do it just for the fun of it. Also, blogging let us connect to a completely different school and we were able to go to their own website and see the blogs that they had been posting. Another really cool thing that we got to do was have whole room to room Skype chats with the other school. But the difference between our blogs though are, they just have one big blog every month for the book that they read that month. We have six blogs about the same book that are due at the end of each quarter. Their blogs are also about random books that they have just found an interest in where ours are off of the Illinois Read for a Life Time List. But with the end of Junior year, comes the end of blogging for the school year, which is kind of sad to think a year just flew by but at the same time it is a relief to know that we are almost to summer!
Everyone's blogs from CCHS come from The Read for a Life Time list unless you were special and already read four books from the list before the fourth quarter and you got to make posts about the book you chose as long as you got it okayed by the teacher. This is a really good list if you want to read a good book but you are just not sure which books are the good ones. My Freshman year the hit book and now hit movie The Hunger Games, was on that list and now look how popular it is... I'm not saying it is popular because of the list but just that it contains good books! The four books I read this year were, Around the World in 80 Days, Ship Breaker, From Baghdad With Love, and A long Walk to Water. They were are really good books that caught my interest in some way and I don't regret choosing any of them. This is actually my first time participating in the Read for a Life Time program and that is because it was actually required. But without it I wouldn't have gotten more reading and writing experience, a certificate with my name on it, and a good college application booster. I consider this past year to be a very successful one when it comes to my blogs at least and definitely wouldn't mind doing it again in the future!
Everyone's blogs from CCHS come from The Read for a Life Time list unless you were special and already read four books from the list before the fourth quarter and you got to make posts about the book you chose as long as you got it okayed by the teacher. This is a really good list if you want to read a good book but you are just not sure which books are the good ones. My Freshman year the hit book and now hit movie The Hunger Games, was on that list and now look how popular it is... I'm not saying it is popular because of the list but just that it contains good books! The four books I read this year were, Around the World in 80 Days, Ship Breaker, From Baghdad With Love, and A long Walk to Water. They were are really good books that caught my interest in some way and I don't regret choosing any of them. This is actually my first time participating in the Read for a Life Time program and that is because it was actually required. But without it I wouldn't have gotten more reading and writing experience, a certificate with my name on it, and a good college application booster. I consider this past year to be a very successful one when it comes to my blogs at least and definitely wouldn't mind doing it again in the future!
Video of the Author and Main Character
While I was searching the web for ideas about the possible blogs I was lucky enough to come across an interview with the author and one of the main characters, Salva. This is a very good video that shows how Salva is doing now and how this book actually originated, which I found very interesting. It also goes into detail about how Salva is now helping his home country of Sudan, Africa by setting up fresh water lines in the towns where there has never been fresh water before. In my opinion I think that that is really cool and nice of Salva to do that for his old roots especially since he knew himself what it was like not to have fresh water. If you have read the book then i highly suggest watching this video because it gives you a nice amount of background information to the book. If you haven't read the book yet, you can still watch it to get an understanding of it!
Music Blog 4th Quarter
The song that I think of when I read this book is Wavin Flag by Knaan. This song became very popular during the 2010 World Cup which was held in Africa and was basically its theme song. It is very inspirational if you have never heard it before which would be kind of hard to believe if you say you haven't. It can be interpreted as a pump up song or just a song you listen to for the joy of it, my soccer team actually listens to it before everyone of our home games to pump us up.
I think that this song relates to the book because no matter what Salva or Nya are going through they continue to find the inspiration to push through it. In Nya's case she has to walk for miles until she gets to the nearest water source and after the rebels attack Salva's camp he has to walk for days upon days until he and his group can get to a safer place. Just like the song says "When I get older, I will be stronger" Salva is now living in New York and is very healthy and much stronger then he was while he lived in Africa just as a boy. The way i see it is, both Nya and Salva found the drive to keep moving forward in their lives just like how I think this song makes a lot of people feel.
I think that this song relates to the book because no matter what Salva or Nya are going through they continue to find the inspiration to push through it. In Nya's case she has to walk for miles until she gets to the nearest water source and after the rebels attack Salva's camp he has to walk for days upon days until he and his group can get to a safer place. Just like the song says "When I get older, I will be stronger" Salva is now living in New York and is very healthy and much stronger then he was while he lived in Africa just as a boy. The way i see it is, both Nya and Salva found the drive to keep moving forward in their lives just like how I think this song makes a lot of people feel.
Third Quarter Reflection and Fourth Quarter Book
Last quarter was a pretty successful one in terms of my blogging. I was able to finish all the blogs that were due at the end of the quarter and get all of my ning posts done. It seemed a little more enjoyable to blog last quarter because we didn't have to do certain type of blogs but we got to be creative with them and do the type of blogs we wanted. The nice thing about that is you can show the reader of your blog how you see the book and really what you thought of it. Another good thing is that we get to do the same thing again this quarter and then we will be done with our read for a life time assignment and get a cool certificate! A pretty awesome thing about doing the Read for a Life time book list was that we got to miss school and go see the Hunger Games the day it came out and everything just because we had technically completed the list. To top it all off I did end up getting an A without rewriting them and all and was really happy.
For the 4th quarter blog assignment I decided to go with a book that looked interesting but looked like an easy read and short at the same time because it's the last quarter and I didn't want to have to try that hard to understand or finish my book. Anyway, I chose to read A long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park. The book is about a girl named Nya, based about 4 years ago, and a little boy named Salva, based about 27 years ago, living in a place called Sudan, Africa. I know this sounds weird but it is like two different stories going on at once. Park is able to pull this off by giving you a brief taste of what is going on in Nya's life at the beginning of every new chapter and then continues on with what Salva is doing. She is able to keep a constant story with both and if you can keep up, which you should be able to, it is actually very interesting. Like I said earlier about picking a shorter book for my fourth quarter, this book was only about 120 pages so it seems like it was over maybe a little to fast. All in all it was a very good book in my opinion especially since it was based off real life events! I suggest reading this book and also hope to keep my followers interested with my blogs seeing as how this is my last quarter blogging as a Junior and I want to show off my experience and go out with a bang!
For the 4th quarter blog assignment I decided to go with a book that looked interesting but looked like an easy read and short at the same time because it's the last quarter and I didn't want to have to try that hard to understand or finish my book. Anyway, I chose to read A long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park. The book is about a girl named Nya, based about 4 years ago, and a little boy named Salva, based about 27 years ago, living in a place called Sudan, Africa. I know this sounds weird but it is like two different stories going on at once. Park is able to pull this off by giving you a brief taste of what is going on in Nya's life at the beginning of every new chapter and then continues on with what Salva is doing. She is able to keep a constant story with both and if you can keep up, which you should be able to, it is actually very interesting. Like I said earlier about picking a shorter book for my fourth quarter, this book was only about 120 pages so it seems like it was over maybe a little to fast. All in all it was a very good book in my opinion especially since it was based off real life events! I suggest reading this book and also hope to keep my followers interested with my blogs seeing as how this is my last quarter blogging as a Junior and I want to show off my experience and go out with a bang!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Conclussion/ Summary Post
For my last post I would like to write about the things I like and disliked about this quarter of blogging which deals with everything and not just my book. First, although I was not one of the ones in the front row Skyping with the other school I still found it very interesting that we as a class were able to talk to a completely different class that was no where near us. Although this was really cool to me I was disappointed when Mrs. Hayes told us that we were only going to be able to do maybe a total of two or three times with that class because of a certain schedule that they have. Second... I really have to learn to not procrastinate. Although I might have been out of class one or two blog days, what I had to put my self through the past day or two was ridiculous. These blogs are a very big deal in Mrs. Hayes class because they count as a whole quarter writing assignment so they are worth a lot of points that would probably not be good to lose. So basically I have to start spending the time that I am given throughout the quarter in class on my blogs instead of messing around, for this last quarter.
All in all my book, From Baghdad, With Love, was a very enjoyable book. It was questionable at first whether i was going to like it or not but that changed quickly. Since I am a dog person and I actually have a soul my heart was warmed by the little puppy that was described in the book so I kept wanting to turn the page to find out was was going to happen to him next. Also I did enjoy the ending which I keep wanting to tell you about. But that wouldn't be any fun for you now would it? Anyway another thing that caught my interest in the book was all the fighting that would take place. I mean what guy does not like big guns and explosions? But there was one thing that I didn't necessarily like and that was that the book was kind of written like a journal. Now it might only seem that way because he was narrating in first person so there might not have been anything he could do about it. Anyway this was a very good read, I don't regret picking it up at the start of the quarter and choosing it, and recommend this book to anyone who likes war and puppies... but especially puppies...
All in all my book, From Baghdad, With Love, was a very enjoyable book. It was questionable at first whether i was going to like it or not but that changed quickly. Since I am a dog person and I actually have a soul my heart was warmed by the little puppy that was described in the book so I kept wanting to turn the page to find out was was going to happen to him next. Also I did enjoy the ending which I keep wanting to tell you about. But that wouldn't be any fun for you now would it? Anyway another thing that caught my interest in the book was all the fighting that would take place. I mean what guy does not like big guns and explosions? But there was one thing that I didn't necessarily like and that was that the book was kind of written like a journal. Now it might only seem that way because he was narrating in first person so there might not have been anything he could do about it. Anyway this was a very good read, I don't regret picking it up at the start of the quarter and choosing it, and recommend this book to anyone who likes war and puppies... but especially puppies...
Music link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2JSUXaY-tw&ob=av3n
The piece of music that I picked to go along with my book was "You're My Best Friend" by Queen. It seemed like a good song to relate to the book because of how Lava becomes Jay's best friend. I wasn't sure if I was going to use this song or not because it is about a guy being in love with a girl and how they are so in love that she is his best friend. But this song is also almost perfect in describing the Marine and his dog's relationship. In the book, From Baghdad, With Love, Lt. Jay Kopelman falls in love with this dog named Lava and wants to do what ever is necessary to get him back to the U.S.
A line in the song that I thought related to the book was actually the first line of the song "Ooh you make me live, whatever this world can give to me" It is Lava that gives the Lt. more hope to go on while fighting in the war and Lava gives all those soldiers something to look forward to doing and taking care of when they get back to there housing complex. Also it relates to "whatever this world can give to me" because when you are out in war you don't have much of anything so in this case you can say that the world gave the Lt. the dog. Another line that I thought could relate was "You're the first one,when things turn out bad, you know I'll never be lonely, you're my only one, and I love the things, I really love the things that you do, you're my best friend." This section of the song can relate to the relationship between the man and dog because when things get bad out at war the Lt. comes back and has Lava who is basically is best friend, and since he and the other troops have Lava they will never be lonely. In the song when it says I love the things you do, that can relate to the Marines loving the little cute things Lava did while he was still a pup.
The piece of music that I picked to go along with my book was "You're My Best Friend" by Queen. It seemed like a good song to relate to the book because of how Lava becomes Jay's best friend. I wasn't sure if I was going to use this song or not because it is about a guy being in love with a girl and how they are so in love that she is his best friend. But this song is also almost perfect in describing the Marine and his dog's relationship. In the book, From Baghdad, With Love, Lt. Jay Kopelman falls in love with this dog named Lava and wants to do what ever is necessary to get him back to the U.S.
A line in the song that I thought related to the book was actually the first line of the song "Ooh you make me live, whatever this world can give to me" It is Lava that gives the Lt. more hope to go on while fighting in the war and Lava gives all those soldiers something to look forward to doing and taking care of when they get back to there housing complex. Also it relates to "whatever this world can give to me" because when you are out in war you don't have much of anything so in this case you can say that the world gave the Lt. the dog. Another line that I thought could relate was "You're the first one,when things turn out bad, you know I'll never be lonely, you're my only one, and I love the things, I really love the things that you do, you're my best friend." This section of the song can relate to the relationship between the man and dog because when things get bad out at war the Lt. comes back and has Lava who is basically is best friend, and since he and the other troops have Lava they will never be lonely. In the song when it says I love the things you do, that can relate to the Marines loving the little cute things Lava did while he was still a pup.
Animotoooo
http://animoto.com/play/A7Pm98Qp6NoqLvvCZF8lgg
This is a vlog i made with the pictures i already had or just took recently. It summarizes the book a little bit and tells what might have to happen but there is only so much you can do with 30 seconds while trying to make a trailer for a movie that seemed like a journal. But I had fun making it and there were some misspellings but that was because you can only use a limited amount of characters on Animoto so I had to put a couple words together, but oh well I hope you enjoy it!
This is a vlog i made with the pictures i already had or just took recently. It summarizes the book a little bit and tells what might have to happen but there is only so much you can do with 30 seconds while trying to make a trailer for a movie that seemed like a journal. But I had fun making it and there were some misspellings but that was because you can only use a limited amount of characters on Animoto so I had to put a couple words together, but oh well I hope you enjoy it!
Video of Author and Lava
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLIzyAM5qrQ
This is a very good video if you want to find out about what the author and the dog are doing post-war. I will warn you it spoils the book, just encase you were wanting to read it. But I feel like it is possible to understand the author's point of view better now and I also really enjoyed finding out about what they were doing post war. It's not a very recent video because it was posted in 2006 and the book takes place during 2004 and 2005 so I am not very sure what this dynamic duo are up to now but I'm sure Lava is happy! But if you haven't read the book already and you don't care about finding out what happens to Lava and Jay through the book then this is an excellent video to watch!
This is a very good video if you want to find out about what the author and the dog are doing post-war. I will warn you it spoils the book, just encase you were wanting to read it. But I feel like it is possible to understand the author's point of view better now and I also really enjoyed finding out about what they were doing post war. It's not a very recent video because it was posted in 2006 and the book takes place during 2004 and 2005 so I am not very sure what this dynamic duo are up to now but I'm sure Lava is happy! But if you haven't read the book already and you don't care about finding out what happens to Lava and Jay through the book then this is an excellent video to watch!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
From Baghdad, With Love
This quarter my Read for a Life Time book of choice was From Baghdad with Love by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth. I wasn't so sure about getting this book at first because I could see how it might be boring or not as cool as some of the other books. But I have enjoyed it a lot since I have started reading it because I myself am a dog person. I have both a dog and a cat at home and I like both of them but I really couldn't see there being a book about a cat in the military... anyway. I highly suggest reading this book because it has been very intriguing and actually kind of funny what the dog does. There are some sad parts in this book of course but it does have a happy ending.
This book is about a dog named Lava and a Lieutenant named Jay Kopelman and his military team. As they walk down a hall way in a housing facilities where the U.S. Marines are staying they hear an unusual noise, when they go and check it out they are still a little wired from there day of fighting and patrolling and all of the sudden they see this little ball of fur that is a little puppy. They name the puppy Lava off of the military group in Hawaii named the Lava Dogs. As time goes on and they continue to break the rules of having a pet in the facility, Jay and everyone else becomes really attached to Lava and wants to make sure he gets back to the U.S. This mission is a very hard one because it is a dog they have found in Iraq that they are not even supposed to have in the first place. Does Lava get to return home with Jay or will they be forced to part when Jay goes home? You will just have to read the book and find out!
This book is about a dog named Lava and a Lieutenant named Jay Kopelman and his military team. As they walk down a hall way in a housing facilities where the U.S. Marines are staying they hear an unusual noise, when they go and check it out they are still a little wired from there day of fighting and patrolling and all of the sudden they see this little ball of fur that is a little puppy. They name the puppy Lava off of the military group in Hawaii named the Lava Dogs. As time goes on and they continue to break the rules of having a pet in the facility, Jay and everyone else becomes really attached to Lava and wants to make sure he gets back to the U.S. This mission is a very hard one because it is a dog they have found in Iraq that they are not even supposed to have in the first place. Does Lava get to return home with Jay or will they be forced to part when Jay goes home? You will just have to read the book and find out!
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