I would like to answer Ms. Lahaise’s general questions for our reflection blog post.

1.What kind of reader were you when you entered this class? What kind of reader are you now? Have you changed? How have you changed? What conditions are responsible for the changes in your reading?

When I entered this class I was a very picky reader. I usely only read books that I thought I would like, and often had trouble finding new ones to read. I am still the same type of reader, but Ms. Lahaise’s extensive book library has helped me find books that I liked to read. Sometimes I would carry 2 or 3 books in my backpack at a time so that I could read them. This year, thanks to our American author project, I discovered one of my favorite books; “Tortilla Flat” written by Jon Steinbeck. I also found another amazing book called “The Stories of Eva Luna.”

2.What kind of writer were you when you entered this class? What kind of writer are you now? Have you changed? How have you changed? What conditions are responsible for the changes in your writing?

When I entered this class, I thought that I was a pretty good writer. I was good at incorporating quotes and outside sources into my writing. Now I’m an even better writer, and now I have some experience at writing essays that are in excess of 1500 words. I always thought that I was a good writer with a distinct style and having gone through this class I think I have become a better writer with the same distinct style. The long essays which required use of documents to support help me become a better writer.

3. What have been some of your favorite (or least favorite) learning units this year (or two)? Describe your favorite assignments/books/etc. What did you like, and why?

My favorite learning unit was the one that involved doing work in the literature book because I didn’t pay attention to it, and instead read a book of my choosing all day long which at that moment was “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” and “Youth In Revolt.” I also enjoyed the project we did on cyber-bullying as it was short and simple. I disliked all the essays we were assigned to write. Even though my period never got to read it, I hated Grapes of Wrath, a book I actually read all the way through for my summer reading assignment which was an assignment that ended up not mattering anyways.

4. As you prepare to leave, what kind of student do you perceive yourself to be? What kind of person do you perceive yourself to be? How have you grown and what have you learned about yourself as a result of taking being in this class?

I have become a lazier student than I was last year. When it comes to school work, the second semester of my junior year was the worst and it had nothing to do with hard classes, because I had none. I have developed a greater like for reading. In this class I learned that reading is a valid form of entertainment.

5.What advice would you give next year’s students who will be taking an English class in room 503?

I’m not sure since this year was so different from all the other year’s. Be ready to take a hard class?

Anyone looking for a light, casual, happy and whimsical read is sure to be surpised by Jon Steinbeck’s tortilla flat. Unlike The Pearl or The Grapes of Wrath, this book reads fast and is entertaining all the way through. The characters are all well written and each chapter is a different story concerning the “Paisanos” of Monterey who live in Tortilla Flat. A Paisano, as John STeinbeck said hin his book, “is a mixture of Spanish, Indian, Mexican and assorted Caucasian bloods. His ancestors have lived in California for a hundred years or two.” (pg 2).

The book takes place after World War I as Danny and his paisano friends slowly make their way back to tortilla flat one by one after their service in the war. Danny is left with 2 house that belonged to his late uncle, houses which he uses to shelter his friends from the cold night air. After one house is burned, only one remains to shelter Pilon, Pablo, Jesus Maria, Big Joe, The Pirate and his dogs. These 6 friends spend their time together in the small town of Tortilla Flat stealing, drinking wine, begging, and committing righteous deeds for each other. The book ends in glorious tragedy, and all the friends disband.

I love this book because of the memorable characters, language, and stories. This book has shown me the sweetness of camaraderie and the innocence and good in even the most grown of men.

In the movie “5 People You Meet In Heaven”, theme park repairman Eddie is killed violently in a freak amusement park accident. Eddie had lived a long life as a lover, soldier, and worker at the amusement park Ruby Pier, yet was not convinced that he had made anything important of his life. When his life finally comes to an end at the bottom of an amusement park ride trying to save a little girl, he finds himself back in Ruby Pier. Only this is not the Ruby Pier of earth, but a heavenly Ruby Pier. He finds himself able to jump and run like he could when he was a child, yet unable to speak like a new born babe. This place he finds himself in is actually heaven, though not his own heaven. Through his own death, Eddie will now meet five people in heaven that were somehow connected to his life, each person with a new lesson to teach him.

As Eddie wanders around Ruby Pier, a voice calls him into one of the “Freak show” tents. He meets a blue, Arabic-looking man. The man claims Eddie had watched him before when he was young, explaining that Eddie feels like a child because his only memories of the blue-colored-man were when he was a child. The blue man explains that he loved his life at Ruby Pier even though he was looked upon as strange. He then takes Eddie back to the day of his own death, a day when Eddie was young boy playing ball on the streets. The blue man died from a heart attack he experienced after narrowly missing a young Eddie in his car. The blue man teaches Eddie that all lives are interconnected, such as Eddie and the blue man, despite Eddie not knowing what he had caused.

Eddie then leaves the blue man and finds himself in a battlefield located in the pacific sometime during World War II. He wanders into a group of trees and meets his old war Capitan, a man he served under for the entirety of his military service. They both reminisce on happenings during the war, such as the time Eddie defended one of his fellow soldiers from teasing. They then talk about how they were captured by Japanese forces in the Philippines and sent to an army base to help with the enemy’s grueling manual labor. After losing a dear friend, the company of American soldiers escapes their clutches after Eddie distracts the foreign guards with a juggling act. Before leaving, Eddie decides to burn down the enemy buildings with a flamethrower, only to realize that there was someone inside one of the structures he was burning. He tries to rescue them, but is shot in the leg and carried out alive, eventually making it back home. The Capitan tells Eddie that he was the one that shot him in the leg, but did it out of sacrifice. If he had not, Eddie would have been lost in the flames he himself created. He teaches Eddie the value of sacrifice.

Eddie leaves and arrives at a new place in Heaven; a diner. Inside the diner he meets a woman working at the diner named Ruby. Ruby explains that Ruby Pier was named after her, and that her husband was the owner of the amusement park. She tells Eddie about how much she hated the pier because it burnt down and killed her true love. Then she shows Eddie scenes of his house and his parents from long ago, before his father’s untimely death. His father’s best friend, Mickey, hurts his wife and then is chased to a pier. Mickey falls into the ocean and starts drowning, so Eddie’s father jumps in after him and saves his life by taking him back to the pier. Unfortunately, this caused him to contract pneumonia, killing him. Eddie finally learned how his father died and was able to let go of his hate for him. Ruby teaches Eddie that hate brings only harm, especially to yourself. He then confronts his father at the diner and confesses his feelings to him.

Eddie then finds himself in a large garden full of dancers, performers, feasting guests, and laughing children. He is in the middle of an everlasting wedding, the place his wife, Marguerite, chose to be her Heaven. Marguerite explains to Eddie her love of weddings and how she feels when two people are joined in marriage. They reminisce on their previous lives, sharing regrets of Marguerites death at a young age from terrible sickness. Marguerite teaches Eddie that even though life ends, love doesn’t. Eddie realizes that even though his wife was gone, he still loved her and basked in the warm rays of his memories of her. They then shared a dance at the location of their own wedding before his departure.

Eddie arrives at a river located somewhere in the pacific islands, a river that is full of oriental children frolicking in the water and playing with each other. Eddie realizes that this is the 5^th and final person he will meet before his journey is over. He meets a small Asian girl who barely speaks any English, yet is able to get the message across to Eddie. She is the girl that was in the building that Eddie burned. This comes as a shock to Eddie because his Captain had told him that he was going crazy and that his imagination tricked him to believe there was someone in the building. The girl shows Eddie her terrible burn marks and Eddie helps her wash them away with water and a stone. The girl teaches Eddie that his purpose in life was to keep the children at Ruby Pier safe. They then dive into the river and swim in a magical ocean until they appear at Ruby Pier again. This time Ruby Pier is full of people, people that Eddie saved through his repairman skills. Eddie finally finds his heaven and waits to give other people lessons.

In the end we learn that Eddie’s life and death were both meaningful, and that all human life is interconnect and meaningful. Although I do not agree with all these lessons, or even like the movie that much, I can appreciate the meaningfulness of the lessons as Eddie learns them. Although this portrayal of heaven seemed boring, materialistic, and completely unrealistic, it served its purpose in relaying the lessons.

Imagine a test that can frustrate students, waste school time, anger teachers, and use up tax money all at the same time. If you can do it, you probably thought of standardized testing. For some reason, our school district insists that everbody in grade school take pointless standardized tests that only display the most superficial forms of learning such as memorizing, almost completely ignoring reasoning abilities. They seem to only be good for classifying schools through test scores and allowing the district to manage the way schools operate. At SOCES, we have one of the highest standardized test scores in the district. Other schools with lower schools aren’t as lucky as us as sometimes low test scores could mean reduced funding for schools.

Some states, however, have a clause that allows parents to decide to let their children not take it. There is one thing I like about standardized testing though, and that’s the hour of free time we get after we finish the day’s test. Mr. Shchultz asked Jacob Borcover, our future student body president, to eliminate this wasted time. I did’t like this so I cleverly pointed out to Mr. Scshultz that Jacob would represents students and not teachers.

http://www.standardizedtesting.net/

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