Expectations

From Olympia High School, i expect to get a solid education that i can use to go to collage and to later find a career that i enjoy. I expect that my next four years at OHS will be fun and more interesting than my life before. my next four years in high school will be more fun because i will be able to choose classes that i would like to take and every year will bring me new abilities and challenges. By the time i have graduated i hope that i have done well enough in school to go to a good collage and further my education.

Although others have expectations of me, mainly i feel that i must succeed at my own goals. I have expectations inside and outside of school for myself. One example, outside of school, of an expectation that i have of myself is that i must get exercise and further my abilities to skateboard and snowboard as much as possible. Academically i want to challenge myself and at the same time get good grades. Setting goals of my own is more important to me than any expectation someone else has of me.

Poetry Out Loud

The Daring One by Edwin Markham is great poem. I liked this poem when i first read it because it rhymes and because i wanted to learn more about it. In the poem Markham tells how he wishes he had the blue bird's unrestricted bravery. The bird can stand on the bough without fear for he knows that if it brakes his wings would bring him upward. The theme of this poem is that we all wish at some times that we were more brave and we had the bravery to take some risks. 

I can relate this poem to my own life. There are many times that i need to take risks and many times i wish i could but don't. I understand how Markham wanted to be like the bird. the bird can live where others do not dare and still it will be safe. I don't always have a plan B like the bird has, when it take a risk. I too envy the bird.

The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost explains  the forks in the road of your life decisions. Robert frost uses two roads in a yellow wood as an extended metaphor to describe the times that you must make a decision that will affect you in the future. In this poem Frost describes how sometime there's no turning back and, "Yet knowing how way leads on to way, i doubted if i should ever come back." Frost explains in his poem that the road more taken by is easer and less risky. however he also explains that the road less taken by is more beautiful and that taking it, "has made all the difference."

I picked this poem because i understood it the first time i heard it and can compare it to my own life. The thing that i thought most about after reading this poem was one of the biggest decisions that anyone has to make, what do i want to have as my career? There are some paths that i could take that i would enjoy and be satisfied with such as becoming an architect or a lobbyist but these are not my dreams. My dreams would be the road less taken by and would be fare harder more risky. If i followed my dreams i would have to work hard at them and never give up but be prepared for failure. I still don't know what path i will take but i will always remember this poem and the last stanza from it, "i took the one less traveled by, and it has made all the difference."

The Movie

My favorite seen in the movie and the book was Tom Robinson's trial. For the most part i think that the director of the movie did a good job at portraying the characters and the setting. There are some things that i saw differently while reading the book. Also there are some things that i didn't imagine or put into place while reading the book such as Mayella Ewell's cross examination. In the book i never imagined Mayella shouting as much as she did. After thinking about this however it does make some sense. The Ewells are the least respectful people in Maycome and because it is a small town everyone accepts this. 

For the most part the movie's setting and characters matched the image that i had created while reading the book. The court house was roughly how i saw it although it was hard for me to imagine while reading. I feel that the author didn't give enough detail but i was impressed to see in the movie, a court house that really fit in. The actors and actresses  were very good at portraying the characters and i especially appreciated the actor who played Atticus. Everything about this man matched the way i saw Atticus from his voice to his hair cut. Although reading the book is always more fun than watching the movie i enjoyed it and was impressed at how well it reflected the book.

To Kill a Mockingbird Changed me

After reading To Kill a Mockingbird i have thought more about what it would be like to be in someone else's shoes. Atticus thought me, while teaching Scout that you should always try thinking from other people's points of views. Atticus says in chapter 3 (page 30 ) "You never really understand a person until you consider things form his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." After reading this book and whenever i have any sort of conflict with anyone i try to think about it from there side. I try to understand how and why they feel this way.

Another aspect of this book that has made me realize how lucky i am is the racism. In the book racism is one of the main themes and it is shown throughout the book. This book shows how racism affects everyone. Today we are very lucky to have far less racism and prejudice although it still exists. Reading this book made me realize how hard it would be to be black in the 1930's or white.

Life Lessons

After the court case Jem learns an important life lesson. You shouldn't ever take advantage of anyone. After Tom Robinson is convicted of rape Atticus has a talk with Jem who is very upset. Atticus explains to Jem "you'll will see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it-whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash." Bob Erwell is trash. Jem learns that anyone who takes advantage of anyone is wrong.

This is a very important lesson and should always be followed.  From a very young i was taught that it is wrong to be mean or take advantage of anyone. Taking advantage of someone can only bring disrespect and even hate back to yourself. It's important not to take advantage of others so that you don't hurt anyone or yourself. 

Extra Credit

I've enjoyed the last 6 weeks of high school and 9th grade English. I've enjoyed Reading To kill a Mockingbird and Blogging about the book. The tests have been reasonable and i haven't felt to worried about them. I am excited for the rest of the year and for the rest of my high school career. 

There were a few times that i felt i may not do well in English but i feel now that i will do fine. The first time i wondered if I was going to have trouble in this class was when we took our first test. I failed because i didn't think enough about what happened in the story and i didn't study. the second time happened when i didn't turn in my journal entrees. I had a C+ on my progress report. Latter it was fixed and i now have an A. I have found that if i pay attention and study for tests that i can do well in english class.