Freshman Year.
See http://avatoledo.wix.com/home >> 9th grade
HUMANITIES (w/ Jill)
>> Literature
Book Club 1: Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Summary: A 17 year old girl, Novalee Nations, is pregnant. Her and her boyfriend, Willy Jack, are headed for a new life in California. On their way, Willy Jack abandons Novalee at a Wal-Mart with only $7.77[which is an unlucky number for her]. She is forced to live in the store and even have her baby there. Novalee raises her newborn, but isn't alone. She meets lots of good people that help her though her journey into motherhood.
Critique: I thought it was a really good book! I like how the story takes place in a small town and the story is kind of random. It's funny and inspirational in a way, I just didn't get to finish it ):
Book Club 2: A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Summary: A boy named Ishmael and his friends want to participate in a talent show in a town close by so they leave without telling anyone, but what
they didn't know was that they would never see their families again. This is a true story about a boy's journey to survive during the war going on in Africa. But he gets captured and is forced to become a child soldier. Ishmael Beah looses almost everything, but when all things seem bad, he finds hope. UNICEF takes him out of the war and into a rehabilitation center. They also found his actual uncle, and he learns to love again. The best things in life come to those who wait. And Ishmael is now living in New York, as a successful writer.
Critique: It's a very good book! There's so much detail and violence that you wouldn't think that this is going on as we speak, but it is. And this is only one boy's story. I can't imagine what horrible things other kids have gone through.
Book Club 3: Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
Summary: Cole Matthews picks fights and steals all the time. One day, Cole takes it too far with his classmate, Peter Driscal, because he smashed
his head on the sidewalk. He gets in big trouble, and he has two options. He can either go to juvenile hall or go to Alaska and participate in something called the Circle Justice (which is a Native American tradition). Cole picks the Circle Justice thinking he is just going to play along and wouldn't have to do anything. While in Alaska, he gets beat up by a mysterious, white bear (Spirit Bear) that is part of the Native American culture. He was so close to death. People come to save him, but the Spirit Bear is really the one that saves Coles life by teaching him a lesson.
Critique: At first, I didn't really like the book because I thought it was boring but when he gets attacked, I think the bear represents Cole and he is basically in the same situation as Peter Driscal. The bear pretty much beats Cole to death. And it all comes back around and he comes home changed.
Book Club 4: I Am Taxi by Deborah Ellis
Summary: A boy, Diego, his mother, and sister all live in the San Sebastian Women's Prison in Bolivia. Diego is what's known as a ''taxi" which is
a person who runs errands and delivers messages for the ladies in jail. Most of that money goes to the rent for their cell. One day, Diego looses his job as a taxi. His friend, Mando, offers him a job, so Diego takes it. But what they don't know is that they are doing illegal stuff and the job ends up not being
worth the money that they are getting paid.
Critique: I thought it was just okay. It's kind of slow to me and was not that interesting. What I didn't like about it was its predictability and how slow and time consuming it gets. I would say that it did seem to have an interesting story but the way it ended with him kind of having a new family was confusing. I wouldn't recommend this for book club.
Antigone by Sophocles
Summary: A man named Oedipus was abandoned by his parents. Years later, he finds and kills his dad and marries his mom not knowing about the twos significance. He has four children with his mother. Two boys and two girls named Antigone, Polyneices, Eteocles, and Ismene. They live happily, until he finds out his wife is his mother, and that he killed his father. So he goes and kills himself. Both of his sons want to be king. One son decides not to give up power son they fight for the thrown and end up dying. Creon, the new king, and uncle of the two sons, decided that only one brother dies with honor and the other gets left behind and nobody buries him. Their sister, Antigone, wants buries her brother even though the penalty is death. When her uncle figures this out, he puts her in jail. His son and Antigone's fiancé, Haemon, says that if he doesn't let Antigone go or you sentence her to death, I will kill myself. Creon ignores his son and Antigone dies in her cell. When he finally decides to let her go, she is already dead, so the son kills himself. Creon starts to feel bad. Then his wife kills herself, and he decides in the end that he was wrong, and he kills himself to.
Critique: It was an interesting play. I thought it was kind of rough to read since it's an older piece but I still liked it.
House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Summary: A girl by the name of Esperanza moves into a new house on Mango Street. Moving from house to house isn't new for her, but this house is old and looks embarrassing. This book is made up of short stories and vignettes that Esperanza tells about her neighborhood, friends, and just life in general.
Critique: I liked this book because of the detail/descriptions and how Sandra Cisneros made Esperanza seem so real. This book was pretty easy to read and its a touching story about a girl who starts off initially insecure and later turns into a more confident young lady. I would recommend it to others!
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Summary: Romeo and Juliet are just two people who shouldn't be together but hey are too blinded by love and can't stand being apart. Their families have been in a nasty rivalry for a long time. Romeo gets banished from town, and Juliet is forced to marry Paris. Juliet appears to be dead, but little does everyone, including Romeo, know, that her and Friar Laurence had faked it. The letter does not get to Romeo on time and he ends up killing himself, but as Juliet awakens, she finds Romeo dead, so she kills herself too. The town and families discover their secret affair too late, and end their feud.
Critique: This was a very well written play and I now understand why its got so much recognition throughout the
years. It's kind of sad because nobody truly gets what the want.
Dear Zoe by Philip Beard
Summary: A fifteen year old girl, Tess DeNunzio, experiences the death of her little sister, Zoe, as she got hit by a car on the day September 11, 2001. Tess feels responsible for her sisters death and writes a letter to Zoe as a way to cope. She doesn't feel as connected to friends or family after the incident and later learns to forgive herself.
Critique: Philip Beard did a good job of telling this story through Tess' point of view, which is a fifteen year old girl. It was a good book that fit all the emotion and curiosity of a teenage girl. My favorite character was Em.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Summary: Two friends, George and Lennie, look for jobs in the city of Salinas after they get chased away from their last jobs. George is the brains between the two of them and he looks after Lennie even though it frustrates him sometimes. Lennie on the other hand, is a big, strong guy but on the inside, he isn't too smart and still seems like a little kid (the way he acts). They get jobs on the ranch and make a few friends and also some rivals. Their goal has always been to get a ranch of their own. Later, Candy hears about it and wants to join, so they try to raise enough money by the end of the month. Curley's wife, being the flirt that she is, came into the barn and tried talking to Lennie. Eventually she got through to him when they talked about soft things like rabbits. She let him stroke her hair and when she told him to stop, he got carried away and she died because he broke her neck. Lennie had done another bad thing and when Curley found out, he said he would shoot Lennie in the guts to kill him slow and painfully. But George couldn't let that happen. He didn't have many options if they ran away again and Lennie does another bad thing, so George shot Lennie only so that it would be pain-free and such a hassle.
Critique: I liked this book a lot. Steinbeck wanted to show the world, at the time, what they looked like through this book whether it was racial discrimination, gender equality, the American dream, and etc. I think it was well written. It was sad when Lennie died though because he was so innocent, but I think George had to do it, because it was like a reoccurring theme and nobody benefitted from that.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
Summary: In, The Alchemist, a boy named Santiago has a dream that he would find treasure at the Egyptian Pyramids. He informs a gypsy about his dream and she tells him that he should go out to fulfill his Personal Legend. He goes on most of his journey alone, but on his trip to the pyramids he meets a few people that help him along the way. A few of the main ones were the crystal merchant, the Englishman, Fatima, and the Alchemist. At the end, he finds what he was looking for.
Critique: This book was quite interesting. I read it in 7th grade but I didn't really get it. I think now that I'm a little more mature, I understand it better. There are a lot of life lessons that Santiago learns that the reader can take away too. For example, something that Melchizedek said was, When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it I think that is a good quote to live by that says to not give up. I would read this book again if I wanted to find good quotes or if I wanted inspiration. I think its one of those kinds of books (:
>> Essays
On this essay, I received an -A. The prompt was to find a theme that is in both Dear Zoe and Romeo and Juliet then describe their similarities and
differences. My thesis responded to the prompt. It was very organized and I used keywords throughout the whole essay. I cited work correctly and my ideas flowed together in transitions. I had complete sentence, but I did have some punctuation errors. The format though was correct with no errors.
HUMANITIES (w/ Jill)
>> Literature
Book Club 1: Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Summary: A 17 year old girl, Novalee Nations, is pregnant. Her and her boyfriend, Willy Jack, are headed for a new life in California. On their way, Willy Jack abandons Novalee at a Wal-Mart with only $7.77[which is an unlucky number for her]. She is forced to live in the store and even have her baby there. Novalee raises her newborn, but isn't alone. She meets lots of good people that help her though her journey into motherhood.
Critique: I thought it was a really good book! I like how the story takes place in a small town and the story is kind of random. It's funny and inspirational in a way, I just didn't get to finish it ):
Book Club 2: A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Summary: A boy named Ishmael and his friends want to participate in a talent show in a town close by so they leave without telling anyone, but what
they didn't know was that they would never see their families again. This is a true story about a boy's journey to survive during the war going on in Africa. But he gets captured and is forced to become a child soldier. Ishmael Beah looses almost everything, but when all things seem bad, he finds hope. UNICEF takes him out of the war and into a rehabilitation center. They also found his actual uncle, and he learns to love again. The best things in life come to those who wait. And Ishmael is now living in New York, as a successful writer.
Critique: It's a very good book! There's so much detail and violence that you wouldn't think that this is going on as we speak, but it is. And this is only one boy's story. I can't imagine what horrible things other kids have gone through.
Book Club 3: Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
Summary: Cole Matthews picks fights and steals all the time. One day, Cole takes it too far with his classmate, Peter Driscal, because he smashed
his head on the sidewalk. He gets in big trouble, and he has two options. He can either go to juvenile hall or go to Alaska and participate in something called the Circle Justice (which is a Native American tradition). Cole picks the Circle Justice thinking he is just going to play along and wouldn't have to do anything. While in Alaska, he gets beat up by a mysterious, white bear (Spirit Bear) that is part of the Native American culture. He was so close to death. People come to save him, but the Spirit Bear is really the one that saves Coles life by teaching him a lesson.
Critique: At first, I didn't really like the book because I thought it was boring but when he gets attacked, I think the bear represents Cole and he is basically in the same situation as Peter Driscal. The bear pretty much beats Cole to death. And it all comes back around and he comes home changed.
Book Club 4: I Am Taxi by Deborah Ellis
Summary: A boy, Diego, his mother, and sister all live in the San Sebastian Women's Prison in Bolivia. Diego is what's known as a ''taxi" which is
a person who runs errands and delivers messages for the ladies in jail. Most of that money goes to the rent for their cell. One day, Diego looses his job as a taxi. His friend, Mando, offers him a job, so Diego takes it. But what they don't know is that they are doing illegal stuff and the job ends up not being
worth the money that they are getting paid.
Critique: I thought it was just okay. It's kind of slow to me and was not that interesting. What I didn't like about it was its predictability and how slow and time consuming it gets. I would say that it did seem to have an interesting story but the way it ended with him kind of having a new family was confusing. I wouldn't recommend this for book club.
Antigone by Sophocles
Summary: A man named Oedipus was abandoned by his parents. Years later, he finds and kills his dad and marries his mom not knowing about the twos significance. He has four children with his mother. Two boys and two girls named Antigone, Polyneices, Eteocles, and Ismene. They live happily, until he finds out his wife is his mother, and that he killed his father. So he goes and kills himself. Both of his sons want to be king. One son decides not to give up power son they fight for the thrown and end up dying. Creon, the new king, and uncle of the two sons, decided that only one brother dies with honor and the other gets left behind and nobody buries him. Their sister, Antigone, wants buries her brother even though the penalty is death. When her uncle figures this out, he puts her in jail. His son and Antigone's fiancé, Haemon, says that if he doesn't let Antigone go or you sentence her to death, I will kill myself. Creon ignores his son and Antigone dies in her cell. When he finally decides to let her go, she is already dead, so the son kills himself. Creon starts to feel bad. Then his wife kills herself, and he decides in the end that he was wrong, and he kills himself to.
Critique: It was an interesting play. I thought it was kind of rough to read since it's an older piece but I still liked it.
House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Summary: A girl by the name of Esperanza moves into a new house on Mango Street. Moving from house to house isn't new for her, but this house is old and looks embarrassing. This book is made up of short stories and vignettes that Esperanza tells about her neighborhood, friends, and just life in general.
Critique: I liked this book because of the detail/descriptions and how Sandra Cisneros made Esperanza seem so real. This book was pretty easy to read and its a touching story about a girl who starts off initially insecure and later turns into a more confident young lady. I would recommend it to others!
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Summary: Romeo and Juliet are just two people who shouldn't be together but hey are too blinded by love and can't stand being apart. Their families have been in a nasty rivalry for a long time. Romeo gets banished from town, and Juliet is forced to marry Paris. Juliet appears to be dead, but little does everyone, including Romeo, know, that her and Friar Laurence had faked it. The letter does not get to Romeo on time and he ends up killing himself, but as Juliet awakens, she finds Romeo dead, so she kills herself too. The town and families discover their secret affair too late, and end their feud.
Critique: This was a very well written play and I now understand why its got so much recognition throughout the
years. It's kind of sad because nobody truly gets what the want.
Dear Zoe by Philip Beard
Summary: A fifteen year old girl, Tess DeNunzio, experiences the death of her little sister, Zoe, as she got hit by a car on the day September 11, 2001. Tess feels responsible for her sisters death and writes a letter to Zoe as a way to cope. She doesn't feel as connected to friends or family after the incident and later learns to forgive herself.
Critique: Philip Beard did a good job of telling this story through Tess' point of view, which is a fifteen year old girl. It was a good book that fit all the emotion and curiosity of a teenage girl. My favorite character was Em.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Summary: Two friends, George and Lennie, look for jobs in the city of Salinas after they get chased away from their last jobs. George is the brains between the two of them and he looks after Lennie even though it frustrates him sometimes. Lennie on the other hand, is a big, strong guy but on the inside, he isn't too smart and still seems like a little kid (the way he acts). They get jobs on the ranch and make a few friends and also some rivals. Their goal has always been to get a ranch of their own. Later, Candy hears about it and wants to join, so they try to raise enough money by the end of the month. Curley's wife, being the flirt that she is, came into the barn and tried talking to Lennie. Eventually she got through to him when they talked about soft things like rabbits. She let him stroke her hair and when she told him to stop, he got carried away and she died because he broke her neck. Lennie had done another bad thing and when Curley found out, he said he would shoot Lennie in the guts to kill him slow and painfully. But George couldn't let that happen. He didn't have many options if they ran away again and Lennie does another bad thing, so George shot Lennie only so that it would be pain-free and such a hassle.
Critique: I liked this book a lot. Steinbeck wanted to show the world, at the time, what they looked like through this book whether it was racial discrimination, gender equality, the American dream, and etc. I think it was well written. It was sad when Lennie died though because he was so innocent, but I think George had to do it, because it was like a reoccurring theme and nobody benefitted from that.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
Summary: In, The Alchemist, a boy named Santiago has a dream that he would find treasure at the Egyptian Pyramids. He informs a gypsy about his dream and she tells him that he should go out to fulfill his Personal Legend. He goes on most of his journey alone, but on his trip to the pyramids he meets a few people that help him along the way. A few of the main ones were the crystal merchant, the Englishman, Fatima, and the Alchemist. At the end, he finds what he was looking for.
Critique: This book was quite interesting. I read it in 7th grade but I didn't really get it. I think now that I'm a little more mature, I understand it better. There are a lot of life lessons that Santiago learns that the reader can take away too. For example, something that Melchizedek said was, When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it I think that is a good quote to live by that says to not give up. I would read this book again if I wanted to find good quotes or if I wanted inspiration. I think its one of those kinds of books (:
>> Essays
On this essay, I received an -A. The prompt was to find a theme that is in both Dear Zoe and Romeo and Juliet then describe their similarities and
differences. My thesis responded to the prompt. It was very organized and I used keywords throughout the whole essay. I cited work correctly and my ideas flowed together in transitions. I had complete sentence, but I did have some punctuation errors. The format though was correct with no errors.
rj-dzessay.docx | |
File Size: | 12 kb |
File Type: | docx |
MATH & PHYSICS (w/ Mr. Major)
-Semester 1-
Struggles: I've always done good in math, but now that I'm in high school, things are getting a little bit harder. The only problems I'm having so far is just remembering all the correct terms for things. Sometimes, when I learn new things, I could be really good at it, but then I forget how to do it, if I'm not doing it consistently. I need to work on that. It might help if I took time to study.
Successes: On ALEKS, I've been doing okay. I think it's because its just a review of all the math I've learned in the past few years mixed with new math.
Even if I don't remember it too well, when you click on 'explain' it shows you how to do it. I like it because its easy and user-friendly. Generally, I'm good at math, but there are areas that I do need to keep practicing.
Where I am: Currently, I've been doing well. I think that even though I'm good at ALEKS, the thing that gets to me is when it gives me tests on what
I learned. Like I was talking about in my struggles, forget sometimes how to do things after I learn them, even when I am doing well.
Where I want to be: Continuing on with where I am in math, in order to fix my memorization skills, I think one of the best things for me is to take notes on what ALEKS is teaching me, so that I can study and look back on it, then practice because I would like to have the best understanding of math that I
could possibly get so that I don't get lost or fall behind. To do so, I'll also try going to tutoring when I do need some extra help or just ask someone.
What I've learned this semester: I've learned how to solve quadratic equations. There are five different ways to do so. Square roots, simple
factoring, factoring (FOIL), completing the square, and using the quadratic formula. Out of all of these, my favorite one to use is the quadratic formula.
-Semester 2-
Struggles: My current math challenges are simplifying rational exponents.
Successes: I think I am doing better at factoring binomials; not so much trinomials.
(Physics)
Struggles: My biggest struggle in physics is written descriptions and converting x vs. t into v vs. t graphs. I can't really explain what's going on in a
graph and I've been having a little trouble converting one graph to another [currently, I've gotten much better!].
Successes: I think I'm really good at motion maps and finding slope and plotting points[on a graph]. For some reason, I like how the motion maps are
simple. Vectors are equal to seconds [see examples of physics work] and the arrows represent the type of graph. Then finding and plotting points are
also fairly easy because you use the y=mx+b formula is called 'slope-intercept'. Its used to form a line. The Y2-Y1/X2-X1 formula to find slope.
Where I Am: Truthfully, I can do way better at physics. I'm still making a lot of mistakes but I think I've really been doing better. My problem is that sometimes I get confused with the different formulas and when I describe a graph.
Where I Want To Be: I want to eventually understand physics as well as I do math. Right now, I'm not at that point and there's lots more to learn. To achieve this goal, I plan to go to tutoring when I need help or when I can. I also will try to improve on the things I said I struggle with[which is written
descriptions and converting graphs].
Examples of my class work:
Math
1. Here, we had to solving quadratic equations by factoring. Once you factor the problem [by using the FOIL method], you get answers like a = -1 & a = -2 or k = 5 / 2. This is also solving quadratics by factoring / 3. Now we have the solving equations by completing the square worksheet. For these problems, takes a slightly difficult process [it's not as hard as it seems]. The formula its formatted in is Ax2+Bx+C=0. Then you solve for the variable by 'completing the square' / 4. This is a sample of my simple factoring quiz results. I actually didn't do too well. Most of the ones I got wrong were either little mistakes or I had unfinished problems. The only one I got complete right was the last problem [says +4].
Math
1. Here, we had to solving quadratic equations by factoring. Once you factor the problem [by using the FOIL method], you get answers like a = -1 & a = -2 or k = 5 / 2. This is also solving quadratics by factoring / 3. Now we have the solving equations by completing the square worksheet. For these problems, takes a slightly difficult process [it's not as hard as it seems]. The formula its formatted in is Ax2+Bx+C=0. Then you solve for the variable by 'completing the square' / 4. This is a sample of my simple factoring quiz results. I actually didn't do too well. Most of the ones I got wrong were either little mistakes or I had unfinished problems. The only one I got complete right was the last problem [says +4].
Physics
1. Unit III: Worksheet 1; for this worksheet, we had to look for the different actions[velocity] of the ball when it acts upon the given ramps. We
had to find qualitative representations of x vs.t, v vs. t, and a vs. t graphs plus a motion map and mathematical expressions for each of the
graphs / 2. Here's a sample of my constant velocity test. I made some revisions on it while we were correcting[with pen and crayon] / 3. Another acceleration worksheet / 4. This shows the Set 1 of the Acceleration: Kinematic curves quiz[pink paper: my test/lined paper: my revisions].
1. Unit III: Worksheet 1; for this worksheet, we had to look for the different actions[velocity] of the ball when it acts upon the given ramps. We
had to find qualitative representations of x vs.t, v vs. t, and a vs. t graphs plus a motion map and mathematical expressions for each of the
graphs / 2. Here's a sample of my constant velocity test. I made some revisions on it while we were correcting[with pen and crayon] / 3. Another acceleration worksheet / 4. This shows the Set 1 of the Acceleration: Kinematic curves quiz[pink paper: my test/lined paper: my revisions].
The pie chart on the left is my initial ALEKS chart. This is where I started in the beginning of the year. I started off with 71 out of 257 and for the whole left side of the chart it is practically empty. But by the end of the semester I had 227 topics out of 257, which is shown by the pie chart on the right. I think I grew significantly. ALEKS has really helped me grow through math.