Plot Diagram

Short Stories

I have really been enjoying reading short stories in class and annotating for different things. Before we began this unit I had never annotated for a specific theory or idea. I had always just annotated to help me understand the story or novel. I'm beginning to understand more what the parts of a story are and what is needed to have a developed short story. I am also beginning to add on ideas to my short story as we read more and more stories. I am still, though, having a little bit of trouble coming up with exposition, climax, ect for my story, and I am not sure that I have a stable plot. I think taking notes in class on each literary element and annotating for that element has been really helpful. It has really helped me realize what needs to be in my story. I don't think anything we have done has had no rhyme or reason to it. 

My favorite short story that we have read so far is A&P. I liked it a lot because its a very real story and just something that could easily happen, unlike Harrison Bergeron or A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings. A&P was one that we annotated for character in. The characters in the story were all very developed, especially Sammy. You could tell what he acted like and how he thought through the way "he" wrote. The looks and attitudes of the girls in the bathing suits were also very developed from the way Sammy described them. I think A&P was also easy for me to understand unlike some of the other stories. 

Reading Log:

Insurgent By Veronica Roth 

Pages 363-403

Time: 50 mins

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings- 40 mins

Dry September- 30 mins

Total Time- 120 mins

Falling asleep as my character

I had a really good day today. My family got along really well, we always do anyway. I love being close to them. I wish I was closer to my friends though. I don't have many of those. Maybe tomorrow at school I'll talk to someone. Try to make some friends. Ugh no they wont like me anyways. Maybe another day. ] I should get some sleep. Oh gosh what if I go to school and the one friend I have doesn't talk to me? I gotta sleep. School tomorrow. Im.. so scared.

Reading Response- Insurgent and Short Stories

This past week I have read 3 short stories and a bit more of Insurgent. I am really really enjoying Insurgent so far. The story is very choppy, but in a way that flows (i know that makes no sense just bear with me). Basically what will happen is there will be a huge problem and it will get fixed. Once its fixed someone (TRIS) will do something stupid and screw everything up again. Everything, though, has its resolution. This past week I have gone back to my reading question which is "How do peoples experiences change the way they live and function?" This has really been hit well with what I read this week. A lot of the decisions Tris made came from grief or a need to pay back for decisions she previously made. Some of the stupid decisions she made came from guilt or grief of previous decisions. For my short stories I read Harrison Bergeron, To Da- duh, and A&P. I really enjoyed Harrison Bergeron. It was a wierd story that made me think about what things may be like in the future. I didnt enjoy To Da- Duh as much. It didnt make much sense to me and I just didnt enjoy the story line. I liked A&P because it was sort of a funny story. All come together I really enjoyed my reading this week.

Reading Log:

Insurgent by Veronica Roth'
80 mins- Pages 293-363
70 pages

Short Stories-
30 mins- Harrison Bergeron
35 mins- To Da- Duh
20 mins- A&P

Reading Response- Chanler Turnley's Literacy Narrative

This past week I read a ton of Literacy Narratives and enjoyed every single one I read. One that sticks out in my mind, though, is Chanler Turnley's. Her story was about how in 3rd grade her teacher made her start AND finish a book, a skill she never had before. The vivid detail in Chanler's story was amazing. I still remember the part when she talked about the red book cover of Ramona and Beezus. Another thing that stuck out to me in her paper was her dialogue and the vivid detail she used to show how she reacted to it. In one part of her story she talked about how her teacher said that once they started a book they had to finish. Chanler talked about how her jaw dropped and she was shocked. I could really visualize the way she looked.

I think Chanler did a very amazing job on her paper and with the peer help she was able to develop her conclusion, which seemed to be the only part faulting in her first draft. I really enjoyed helping Chanler with her paper and I'm really glad I got to see the stages of the paper!

Reading Log:

Insurgent by Veronica Roth-
9/11/13- 65 minutes- 69 pages- 224-293

Writing Log:

Literacy Narrative-
9/9/13- 30 minutes
9/10/13- 45 minutes
9/11/13- 35 minutes

Total time- 175 minutes

69 pages and one literacy narrative :)

Idea book for E-book

First of all I would like to say that I absolutely loved writing my literacy narrative. It taught me a lot about writing stories, which is my favorite thing to write. Fortunately, I don't have to make any changes to my paper for the e-book. The only names that were mentioned are my mom and Mrs. Milligan, and they are both mentioned in positive ways. I do, though, have some ideas for the e-book. I am thinking that maybe a good picture of the book cover, maybe in the coffee shop i read at, would help my reading come to life! As for formatting I am hoping to maybe make it more of a poem type format. Especially in the coffee shop scene. I think the cover should definitely have a little something from each persons story in it. I really like the title [Insert Title Here]. I know it seems kind of weird, but I like how it kind of symbolizes how everyone story is its own and you can interoperate it how you want. As for audio and video I feel that we should steer clear of that. I only think this because I think it would serve as a pretty good distraction from the stories!

Breaking Friendships

"Hey! I haven't seen you in like a week! I missed you!" Samantha said, her face jumping with excitement.
"A week really isn't that long... but yeah I missed you too." Ariana mumbled
"Oh... um, well what store do you want to go to first?" Samantha asked,  looking around at all the stores around her.
"I don't know. You pick." Ariana said, her tone soft
"Okay. How about Urban Outfitters?" Samantha added
"I guess. There clothes are kinda weird though. I don't know why anyone would wear them." Ariana said.
"I love their clothes... Whats wrong with you Ariana? All you have is insults for me. If you don't want to be here then leave. You aren't forced to be here." Samantha mentioned, choking in her tears.
"Wow, don't be such a baby. I'm leaving. I can't stand to be seen with someone as stupid as you." Ariana replied.
"Why did I ever trust you. I though we were friends?" Samantha cried
"You thought wrong." Ariana said as she stomped away

My literacy narrative

This week as I was writing my literacy narrative I realized a lot about myself as a reader and writer. I used a lot of the reading as a reader and writing as a reader skills. I am still struggling on my conclusion though. I cannot seem to come up with a way to transition from my story to my conclusion without saying "That went on until ____". Another thing I'm struggling with is helping the reader understand things that really only I would understand. Its hard for me to imagine that someone else couldn't understand, but I have to step back and think, they weren't there. They aren't me.

On the other hand, there are many things that I'm excited about! I'm really happy with the vivid detail that I used in the story. I am also happy with the way my paragraphs flow, al but the conclusion. I really like my story too. The questions I have are..
Should I make my conclusion short or long?
Is it okay to have a pretty long story?

Writing log:
9-3-13- 30 mins
9-4-13- 1 hour and 15 mins
9-5-13- 30 mins
Total-2 hours and 15 mins

Reading Response- Literacy Behind Bars

Literacy Behind Bars was one of the literacy narratives I read in NORTON. I really liked this literacy narrative. It really helped me understand the format and idea of a literacy narrative. For those of you who didn't read it, it is a story about a man who basically taught himself how to read and write when he was in jail. He went to school up until 8th grade, but when he went to prison he decided that he wanted to improve his reading, writing, and penmanship. He began to write words from the dictionary page by page. To me, its really inspirational how he didn't just mope around in prison or spend his time being mad or sad, but instead he spent it learning and thriving.

I noticed a lot of things about this piece while I was reading it. The first thing I noticed was that the first paragraph was very strong and pulled the reader in. It talked about how people who read his works may think he learned it all from school, but instead it was all from his prison studies. The next thing I noticed was that it was his choice and he really WANTED to improve his reading and writing. He had to request a dictionary in order to do what he did and he came up with an argument and got the supplies he needed because he WANTED to learn. The next note I have is that even though the piece was written about a story that happened in the past there are still present tense references for example when he talks about how he remembers "aardvark"from the first page of the dictionary. The last thing I noticed was that the way he wrote the story was very vivid and gave me a good image in my head. I really liked this piece.

Literacy Behind Bars, NORTON
8-27-13-  20 minutes

Insurgent

This week I continued to read Insurgent. The more I read this book the more I fall in love with it. Every chapter has a new problem and you never know whats coming next. While I was reading this week I noticed that Tris and Tobias's relationship is going down rather than up and that worries me because they are perfect together and their relationship adds a lot to the story. At this point I can't really tell if they are in love or not. I have also noticed mixed messages about Jeanine's plan. It seems like everyone has their own interpretation of who was involved in it and why she did it. I personally think that she wanted to ruin Abnegation just for the sake of it. I don't think she really had to much reasoning behind it. I do wonder, though, why if she had given up her time to make a simulation that worked on the Divergent why wouldn't she just use that on everyone to prevent any Divergent from "ruining" her plan.

I really liked the attack scene and the way everything played out. I really liked how they injected them with the big needle, but no one knows how or what that was. It leaves you with a sense of mystery and makes you infer a lot about what it could be. I also have noticed that Uriah has been a part of this book a lot more than Divergent. Overall, I'm REALLY enjoying Insurgent so far!

Insugent, Veronica Roth
8-27-13- 15 minutes- 130-149- 19 pages
8-27-13- 15 minutes- 149-165- 16 pages
8-28-13- 10 minutes- 165-178- 13 pages
8-29-13- 15 minutes- 178-195- 17 pages
8-30-13- 10 minutes- 195-205- 10 pages
9-1-13- 15 mins- 205-224- 19 pages
Total Pages- 94 pages
Total time: 80 minutes
Rebel Music, NORTON
8-27-13- 35 minutes (hard to understand so I had to read it twice)
Literacy Behind Bars, NORTON
8-27-13-  20 minutes
Total time: 135 minutes aka 2 hrs and 15 minutes