Reading Times

Lorien Legacies  2 hrs   121 pgs.       Free Short Story+annotations    30 mins.

"To Build A Fire"

         In "To Build A Fire", by Jack London, the man's travels and his ultimate death are pretty much all a result of his stubbornness and cool calculations (that were wrong). London uses great characterization throughout the story and even comes straight out and tells you when he says, "The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, and not in the significances." He goes on to explain how he doesn't care how cold it is and this is the main reason that he dies in the end.
        He thought that he could make it to the camp even though it was nearly 80 degrees below because he was ignorant and very, very stubborn. I also think that London uses good characterization when talking about the dog versus the man. He shows a theme through description of the dog and man of instinct against the man's stubbornness. Characterization is a major part of this story




Short Stories:   1 hr. 30 mins.

Lorien Legacies: 1 hr.     63 pgs.  

First Quarter Review

         I think that as a class we have done pretty well with coming to class prepared and following procedures. We could probably do better at not packing up early (especially me). It's hard to prevent yourself from just going when it's getting near the end of class. I think that i have also done a pretty good job of bringing my materials even though I forgot my free reading book a couple of days. I think I payed attention most days and took good notes as well. Every once in a while you're just out of it and that's really the only time that I slipped a little bit in class.
        As far as group work goes I think that I did a pretty good job. I stayed on topic and normally didn't allow my classmates to lead the group down the wrong discussion path. I have liked the group work so far this quarter and think that it was definitely beneficial to the class topic. Something that I should probably improve on in group work is taking the conversation deeper than just the assignment and make it more meaningful. I don't really have any suggestions for the class. It's about as good as an english class can be.

Reading Log

10/5   60 mins     10/7   1 hr 30 mins     10/8   30 mins             200 pgs.

Writing

        I am a writer who struggles with coming up with topics. I get writer's block a lot and unless a prompt is very specific I can't come up with a good topic. I wrote about this in my literacy narrative, but it is still true. This is probably my biggest weakness. I just can't get started. I think I have improved on this over the years though and now it isn't that big of a deal.
       I am a writer who describes things well. I have always found that I am very descriptive in my writing. I love to use similes and metaphors to show things. I liked the literacy narrative because description was a major component in our scenes. I always look for ways to make my writing more realistic and real. I think that this is definitely one of my strengths when it comes to writing.    

Reading Response

9/28  45 mins.   9/29   60 mins.   9/30    60 mins.        180 pgs.


        I continued reading The Serpent's Shadow this week and I thought that it had a very clear plot structure. I am literally on the last twenty pages and the story has really taken shape. It started out in the middle of an action scene, but calmed down after that and began the opening by filling in details as you went. It was a little bit like the short story that we read in that the rising action was pretty long, but it was also different because the falling action was full of much more excitement.
        I thought that Rick Riordan had a great structure and it made the story that much better. There was a great climax which really put everything in motion and led to the huge battle scene that was the major part of the falling action. Being a novel, there were many more subplots and other things going on that added another wrinkle to the structure. I am expecting a good resolution because this is the end of a series and Riordan has to tie up all the loose ends of the story. I think that the plot structure definitely worked well in this book.

Reading Response

9/20  60 min      9/23 45 min + 1 hour of lit narrative work      130 pgs.


          I continued The Serpent's Shadow this week and I think that is going well so far. I have nearly reached the climactic doomsday battle and I'm sure that that's to be exciting. This week though I have basically been convinced that Sadie and Carter will never win. They are up against impossible odds and  they have so little time I'm surprised that there are still one hundred pages left. I mean how do you fit two days into that huge space. I am excited to see how the ending goes.
          I noticed this week in my writing that Rick Riordan has a great writing style that is a lot different from many other authors. I guess every author has their own unique voice, but to me his stands out. I think it's because he tells the story from two different gender perspectives. He switches back and forth so smoothly that I can always tell who is saying something. I find this really cool about this series of books and it makes the story that much more interesting.