Character Development

In the book Bronx Masquerade, there were many characters who made tremendous changes.  The character who I think was developed the most throughout the story was Tyrone. First we see this kid named Tyrone, he is this very judgmental person and has a worry that he may die one day. He has this friend named Wesley who also has fear of dying and they both just want to survive. He seemed to care a little less about school then Tyrone considering he said "school ain't nothin' but a joke," is evidence that he does not care about school. This was because of the setting of the story. Considering Bronx is a pretty rough neighborhood, this brings out Tyrone's bad side. His father was killed and everyone is the book has certain problems mostly because of the setting.

Tyrone's character before was also affected by certain characters. As we all know, every character has their own problem based on who they mainly "stick around with in the book." Like Tyrone, his mom used to be abused and his father was shot, and his friends, some  of these people effect Tyrone in different ways, and this is why he is influenced into doing certain things.

Tyrone's character before is also effected on plot. Like I said, based on the setting of this story (Bronx), plot encounter certain problems. If I were Tyrone, I would have every right to be scared of dying, considering my mother was abused and my father was killed, because of the the plot and I should also say the setting. Since these chain of events happened and since the setting in this story is so dangerous, that is what made Tyrone, Tyrone. Now, he has blossomed into a brand new character who has learned from his mistakes/actions because of the open mikes and has really changed.

Spine and Found Poems

Lines: The Girls Who Could
Born too short
Instead of three wishes
That was then, this is now
Hope was here

This first poem is called "The Girl Who Could Fly." The theme of this poems theme is that goals aren't something to wish for, it's something you earn. Some people need months or years worth of wishing and dreaming for hope or a goal. This girl, it all came to her without her doing anything. Instead of wishing for something or just hoping for it, that won't get you to your goal, this girl didn't do anything for her goal. There was nothing she learned along the way, and all of sudden, she was able to fly. That is not how life works. You need to work hard for dreams and learn things along the journey. I showed you this poem as a lesson, that dreams don't really come true when you dream them, you have to work for that dream.

I would basically say the main idea is work hard for your goals. You don't wish that you could make 500 shots in a whole basketball game, or wish you could go on the moon. You have to work hard for your goals. You don't just make a goal/wish and expect it to happen on they fly. That isn't how life work. Life is all about working hard, and meeting those goals by working for it and.

This poem is called "Confidence." It is about this ordinary guy who wants to take life more seriously. He wants to take things to the next level, but he just can't. He doesn't have the confidence to move on, and he has fear tat thing will get messed up. The theme is confidence. You need confidence in life at some point, not just to take things in life to the next level, but to make decisions for example. You need to have certainty and willingness to do certain things. That is how you get through life, so just have some confidence. You can't be on the side lines all the time or be nervous all the time, you need confidence in life to do certain things that everyone who is reading this will have to do. That is what the neon lights mean, that is the point where this guy feels uncertainty and the road is the pathway of life, and the lights are what is stoping him.

The main idea is basically confidence. You don't exceed or succeed in life if you always second guess yourself. Then that makes you seem unsure of yourself and then you can't make decisions. You need to make decisions in life and confidence is what gets you to that right decision. You can't let the neon lights stop you.

"Where are you From" Poem

2/15/16 Bronx Character Comparison

Bronx Masquerade is a book about all theses teenagers, probably close to our age. All these kids have a different back story. These backstories explain what the character is like and how they basically live in the Bronx and what's going with their lives living their. Once their backstory is told, they each express themselves more in a creative using poems, after these poems are finished, we then have Tyrone (one of the teenagers) give sort of feedback on the character that was just introduced.

One pair of characters I am going to compare and contrast is Tyrone and Wesley. These characters are somewhat similar, but are of course different. First, Wesley is referred to "the bad boy," but to me he does not seem all that bad. Both charters don't care about school, but Wesley seems to want to care, but just can't for some reason. Tyrone, doesn't really seem to care, and had no dream to care. Both characters seem to have a certainty that they are going to die, but Wesley maybe seems to be scared more then Wesley, Tyrone seems to just have a certainty that he is going to die, and doesn't seem to have any fear that he will die, he just rants on about. We haven't seen much of Wesley yet, but Tyrone is in every chapter, maybe their characters will change.

Another pair of charters that I am going to compare and contrast is Diondra and Raul. First both of these characters keep to themselves. They both seem like they need to keep their personality to themselves. Both characters seem shy and independent, but good hearted. What's different about them is that Diondra has less confidence then Raul. As we can see, Raul is a very bold person, bolder than Diondra by a lot. It seems that Raul has the confidence and Diondra doesn't.

I.Q. Book Talk

I.Q: Rolland Smith

Page: 1-293 (Finished)

Genre: Mystery 

The title of my book is I.Q. The author is Rolland Smith and the books' genre is mystery. We start the story at a wedding ceremony which is taken place in modern day on August 31st. At the wedding we meet Quest, a 13 year old boy who has a talent for magic and is very curious. He has a rock star mom who his now marrying a musician, who has a 15 year old daughter named Angela. She is very quite and is very mysterious. There parents go on an international tour and have to bring their children with them on their motor couch.

In the beginning of September, when the family is on their way to Philadelphia which is mostly where and when this story takes place, they meet a mysterious and surprisingly intellectual man named Boone who ends up helping the two kids find the truth about Angela's mom who was a former Secret Service agent and her death which supposedly happened at independence hall by a terrorist group. They face a lot of problems during their journey, there main problem is having to deal with an Israeli terrorist group who is supposedly been following them for some time. The mood/tone of this story at some times is very joyful because even though these two kids come from totally different backgrounds they form a great friendship. The theme of this book is bonding because you can really see the healthy friendship between these two characters in the story, they act more as  best friends then step-siblings.

I liked this book because I really like the mystery genre in general and mystery to me is always interesting. The thing I remember most about the book was the good friendship between Quest and Angela and I always like to see good friendships, they make the book really fun to read and give it a light tone. I would recommend this book to my mom because one, she has a real passion for reading, and two, she really loves a book with mystery. Whenever I see her pick up a book I always ask her what the genre is and she always says mystery, she usually reads sad books that always put her down, but maybe she can change that if I show her this book since it does not have a dark story. Which is why I think she would go out and get this book.

Poetry Response Blog 1/28/16

Poem: Don’t Give Up

By: PoetryPad.com

Don’t let today’s troubles

Bring you down,

Or allow you to question

Your ability

Don’t let life’s little obstacles

Keep you from trying,

Or become the reason

For defeat

Don’t let your fears

Keep you from dreaming,

Or from chasing

your dream

Don’t give up for any reason

Believe in yourself,

And in yourself

You’ll find strength

This poem really caught my eye because whenever I read it, it always reminds me of determination. It reminds me that in life that your going to have to face some obstacles, obstacles that you don't think your going to get past. The only thing you can't do during those obstacles is give up, that will let the obstacle know that it beat you and in life you can't let that happen.

Like me for example, sometimes I have problems that put me down, or make me give up. After looking at this poem it has really opened my eyes. It tells me that a problem or obstacle can't put me down or create the way I feel/decide. The only thing I can do is be determined and beat that obstacle.

Those obstacles may bring you down at some points in life or may take over your emotions. Your going to feel the need to give up, but you can not let that happen. Life obstacles can't bring you down, obstacles are only problems and there is always a solution to that problem. One thing that is not a solution to a problem is giving up. That only makes the problem sick with you or that can maybe even worsen the problem. This is why you can't give up. Problems or obstacles do not control you, and if they do you can't let that happen.

When I was looking for pictures relating to this poem, I thought this was a great photo to sum up the whole poem. As you can see, tis guy is climbing up a mountain, now I don't know what obstacles he had to face, but I know he must have had a few. Like this picture, some thing some things in life are like climbing a mountain. In the photo, this man's goal is to get to the top of the mountain. He may have to climb tough spots or may get tired, but his goal is to get to the top of that mountain and problems like that can't effect his goal. Now you just have to apply that to life, you want to accomplish a goal, it may be hard at sometimes, but that can't stop you from accomplishing that goal. You have to be determined and just face whatever you have to face. If you treat your goals like that, they will most likely be accomplished. 

I commented on: 

Amilee's blog

Marcos's blog

Sam's blog

2nd Quarter Reflection

Something that I accomplished since the new year that I am proud of is finishing and then revising the comparative analysis for "A Christmas Carol." Unfortunately I had gotten sick and was absent for a while, so I had to do it during break. The hardest and longest part of the whole project was doing the table. I had to watch the movie over break and I had to keep pausing it and rewinding it just to get little notes. The notes weren't' so easy either, I had to pay attention to the characters voices, appearances and others thing too. The questions were a little challenging at first, but when I saw that the grade I got on it wasn't that great, I knew what I had to do and what I messed up on, so I just basically edited my answers. It was easier editing then doing it the first time. Once I fixed it, I felt real proud of myself.

A strategy that has really benefited me the most was using the TIQA format. I have been using for most of my assignments and once you keep using the format it just gets easier. It also makes it easier to form paragraphs, especially when you need to answer a question. You may not know what your going to write in a paragraph, but when you at least have a plan on what your going to be writing in the paragraph, it makes it easier forming the paragraph once you know what your going to write about.

The area that I think I have made the biggest improvement in was the vocab/roots tests. I used to think that these tests were complete torture, now it seems easier. About a month ago I changed the way I studied. Instead of going over every word and root over and over, I started to look at one word and kept repeating it's meaning a bunch of times for repetition, I did this for each. After I studied for a while I would look over a random word that I studied and was able to remember the spelling, part of speech, and meaning. When it comes to taking the test I am able to remember more words. I know my test aren't perfect, but I noticed that I have made a big improvement since last quarter.