1. Yes I do think that they could happen realistically because a class project that has something to do with something that the movie is based on could end up just as bad as those things. Once you get everybody following what you believe than anything can happen. Good or bad.

2. Group pressure is once lots of people are doing something, you might want to do it too because you will feel left out but it’s good to not get involved with that stuff it you know it’s bad. That’s what Karo did.

3. I think the larger message is not to do something if you aren’t sure of what the outcome is, that could be bad. Also to not always follow what the group is doing. The theme could be life.

4. I was surprised at the end when that guy got shot and Tim killed himself. I enjoyed it. Connection to school shootings and gangs.

5. I thought the whole film was done good but the thing I didn’t like was that it was all in German but I followed along well.

I am doing responses to student espouses about Nelson Mandela and heroes. People love Nelson Mandela for what he did in the world.

 

1. Jazmyne- I don’t have a hero but I think that Nelson Mandela was a hero for everyone in Africa. He helped inspire many people and made changes in Africa for the better. I think that Nelson lived a very meaningful life and left footsteps that everyone could look up.

Response: I agree that Nelson Mandela was a hero for everyone in Africa. He inspired people by standing up for black freedom. He did live a very meaningful life and I betcha some people are wanting to follow in his footsteps but can’t because they are busy doing work. They can still believe in those things but not do anything about them.

2.  Jhiana M- My hero is Nelson Mandela because he stood up for something he believed in.

Response: That’s true, he believed in freedom for blacks. He stood by it until he died. He lived for a pretty long time so that means he stood by that for long. Things happened to him while he stood up for that. He got put in jail but he was still standing by that black freedom. Good for him. Now that he is gone someone else should stand by it and take his place.

 

Something that makes someone a hero is that they are selfless and they put others before themselves. Something that makes someone a coward is that they do bad things to others, are intimidated easily, and blame other people for what they did. I watched the movie Four Feathers and there were characters that were heroes and cowards. Someone can be a coward and change into a hero, and someone can be a hero and change into a coward. People can be called a coward but actually aren’t one, and some people can be called a hero but actually aren’t.

Some characters in Four Feathers that are heroes are Harry and Abu. Harry is a hero because he gets called a coward and then travels through the Sudan to help his fellow soldiers from the bad guys. He helps his fellow soldiers fighting and then helps Jack when he is blind. Helps him by cleaning him up. His feathers keep him going. Abu is a hero because he saves Harry when he finds him half dead in the middle of the desert. If he wouldn’t have found Harry, then Harry would’ve died. He also keeps Harry safe throughout the whole movie.

There isn’t really a coward in the movie. Harry is a coward at the beginning but he changes his ways. He resigns from the army because he is afraid. At first he only gets 3 feathers from his fellow soldiers and then gets one more from Ethany to add up to four. He decides that he can’t live with himself knowing that people think he is a coward and knowing that he did something to make these think that. So he heads off on his quest to help his friends and he becomes a hero.

1. What was your response to the techniques and style of the film?

My response to the techniques and style of the film is that I would highly recommend anyone to watch it even if you aren’t watching for camera angles and stuff like that. The techniques were that they wouldn’t show the whole creepy thing and I thought it was really cool.

2. How do you feel this type of “creepy” film fits in with the horror genre of films? Is there a need for these types of intellectually strange/uncomfortable types of films?

I don’t think it fits with horror films but it’s just a scary movie. There isn’t a need for those types of films but people make them for entertainment of the viewer. Really anybody who wants a little bit of a scare should watch it.

3. What types of viewers would gravitate towards this film?

I think anyone would gravitate towards the film.

4. Slasher films don’t have a real message for the viewer to walk away with, other than “never go outside” or “never leave the vehicle when you’re out of gas in the woods”. Do you think this film has a message to viewers? If so, what is it?

It kind of has a message to not go out alone at night because you never know what can happen. Also to not go too far out of your boundaries because there can be scary things and you never know what you will find.

For my current event I did disability selective abortion. It is when people abort their baby just because they have a disability. If the doctor finds out that they have a disability or Down syndrome they tell them that they might want to abort the baby because of the way it is. Many people do listen to their doctor and abort their baby. Every kid deserves to live.  This means that there won’t be many people with disabilities but there will be less people in the world. I think it is stupid because I don’t see what is wrong with disabled people. There is nothing wrong with them.

1. Reflecting on the fact that you studied and did some online research to learn about Shakespeare and specifically the play of Romeo and Juliet before we started reading it together, what are your thoughts on that process or method of beginning this text study?
It kind of helped me understand the things in it but some of the things I could not understand at all. I just wanted to get done the play but it was good that we did that. It made me understand the characters and who was on who’s side and if they are good or bad.

2. How do you think it changed your experience of Romeo and Juliet, having studied it and learned so much about it before reading it together? Give one specific example to help support your perspective.

It made me know a bit better about the characters and what goes on but other than that, nothing.

3. Would you recommend for other students in the future to go through the step of studying Shakespeare and the play elements before reading it? Explain the reasoning for your answer. Pick one – yes you’d recommend it or no you wouldn’t.

Yes I would recommend it because it helps understand what goes on and the characters.

4. You journaled as Romeo immediately after he killed Tybalt and lost his friend Mercutio. Explain how you felt completing that journalling, first person writing: challenging, easy enough, a breeze? Explain what about it made it this way for you?
It was easy enough writing in first person but how much we had to write was a bit too much. I didn’t really know what to write because we had to put so much. There wasn’t much we could write about at that part but there was still enough.

5. Our debates: You’ve completed many other debates before, you’d shared. How was this debate any different from the others you’ve done previously, or was it different? If it was, in what way was it different? What parts of the planning work helped prepare you for the actual exchange of the debate?

I didn’t like this debate because we didn’t practice enough and I don’t like doing debates. I did most of the work. I’m not really a debate person but maybe if I practiced and tried harder it would make a difference.

6. How do you feel your performance of your debate related to your preparation of the debate?
(Ex: I prepared a lot but performed poorly; it might have been because….. )
(Ex: I didn’t prepare much, but performed really well; it might have been because….)
I prepared good but I did not perform good. I didn’t know what to say.

7. What new elements of developing a presentation have you learned from preparing your Comparison Project? List two specific elements you tried that were different from what you’ve done before and how you felt they worked for you in the end.
You can do different things and not just keep it basic.
Making the text bigger and making pictures match the text.

8. Are you becoming more comfortable with speaking projects and activities? Explain.
Not really because I’m not used to talking in front of these people. Maybe if I really tried to then I could.

Dearest Diary,

today was one of the worst days of my entire life. mercutio and benvolio dont know that i am married to the love of my life juliet. when should i tell everyone about my marriage? i just lost my bestfriend mercutio so he didnt even get to know that i was married. i shouldnt have gotten in the way of tybalt and mercutio. mercutios wound was bad but i just had to tell him it wasnt. it wouldnt have mattered if i said that anyway because he knew it was bad and he knew he was going to die. tybalt is the one who killed him. he slipped his sword under my arm and STAB. tybalt fought me but i was lightning fast with my sword. tybalt must have been pretty mad if he fought me. tybalt is actually a really good sword fighter but i killed tybalt. when i came to the town centre i wasnt sure which side to go on, the capulets or montagues, because i am now connected to both by blood. oh i am a murderer! i shouldve known what was going to happen. its all my fault! what if i get sent away to jail or somewhere far away from my wife. when my family hears of the fight they will be so mad. what if i get sent far away from verona? i just want to go see my wife juliet and have peace between our families. i wish i could kiss her and be happy the rest of my life. all i want is peace between the montagues and capulets. i fear that juliets family will hate me even more and not even want me near her. i guess they already want that but i have found my ways. tonight i am planning to go to juliets room and complete our marriage. i shouldnt have gone to that party and fell in love with her. i shouldve stayed back and not have let mercutio and benvolio convince me to go. maybe if i didnt go then i wouldnt have to worry about seeing juliet and being sad. but i love her. i dont see why i was ever in love with rosaline because my wife is perfect. what does my wife think about me? does she think that im going to jail and that im a murderer? i cannot have her thinking that… i want her to be happy with me and we can live a happy life. what will our future be like? i want to live a life as husband and wife. what is there left in life? if i lose juliet what will happen? when my parents find out about this hopefully they are not mad. i bet they will be. if my parents find out what will they do to me?

The Maze Runner by: James Dashner

There is a boy named Thomas who gets sent to some place with a maze that they are trying to get out of. Everyone loses their memories before they come. There are other people at the camp. There are 2 runners. The runners go run in the maze and try to figure how to get out. There are walls around the maze and around the camp. There are doors on the wall that open every morning and close every night so the runners can get out and in. Out in the maze there are some Grievers. They are trying to kill them and if you get injected by them you get some memories back. They give you a grief serum to take the stuff out of you. You go through something called the changing. On Thomas’s first night there, the two runners aren’t getting back at the right time. The doors start to close and Thomas sees them coming up the hill. They won’t make it in time so Thomas jumps out and goes and helps them for the night. It is against the rules to go out there at night if you are not a runner. No one has ever survived the night but they survive the night. A few days later a girl named Teresa comes. She is in a coma and she has a note that says she is the last one. She can talk to Thomas through her head. A couple days after she wakes up bad things start happening like the delivery of food doesn’t come, the sky gets all cloudy with no sunlight, the doors won’t close and a few other things. People are blaming everything on Thomas and Teresa. At night when the doors are open the Grievers can get in. They kill a few of the people. Teresa tells Thomas through her mind that the maze is some type of code that they have to figure out.

 

I think this book was a really good book. There are more books after it, so it has a series. I am going to read the next books when I can and when I have time and am not reading other books. My favorite part of this book is the end which I can’t say anything about. I read into the next book a bit and I think it is going to be just as good or else better than this book. I would rate this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

 

James Dashner’s writing is quite different from other books I have read. I haven’t read too many action books so I don’t know what a lot of them are like. Most books are just about people and their life and what they are trying to do in their life like relationships and such. Most of them are good books but I like action books maybe a bit better. I guess it depends on who the writer is. He made stuff like the grievers and the maze. How he explained everything was good and I really liked his style of writing. I am going to read the rest of the series but if he has any other books I will read them too.

Collage of I am Sam

Forrest Gump is similar to I am Sam because two people fight against the odds to get their loved ones. Sam and Rita fight against the law to get Lucy back to Sam. Forrest Gump doesn’t seem mentally disabled . He talks kind of different but I think people with mental disabilities are worse than they made him seem. I’m pretty sure someone with a mental disability wouldn’t run that far.

Charly is similar to I am Sam because Charly recovers from his mental disability and gains the right to live normally and Sam wins to be with his daughter and goes back to living his normal life. So after Charly recovers from his mental disability he turns normal and this movie relates to I am Sam because Charly loses the love of his life and then gets her back. Sam loses Lucy and then gets her back.

Mozart and the Whale is similar because two people are suffering from Asperger Syndrome and they meet each other. They have trouble communicating. They fall in love with understanding and love. In I am Sam, Sam falls in friendship love with Rita. He has a disability and he loses the girl he loves but then gets her back. I think that he is like the same as Sam with his disability. Not too bad and not too good.

Rain Man is similar because an autistic man inherits a lot of money. His younger brother ignored him until he got the money. They take a route they will never forget. His younger brother will love him and fight to gain his brothers custody. In I am Sam, Sam has a disability and Lucy, Rita, Randy, and Annie care for Sam. I think he might be a little over exaggerating but Sam and him sometimes lie and zone out.

 

I am Sam Viewing By: Olivia

Listen to the music played during the film. How is it used in the movie to help develop the mood for the viewing? Give examples.

Some examples of the music are slow, fast, jumpy or else no music. At sometimes there was no music because it was sad and serious. Slow music because it is sad and heartbreaking. There was fast music because Sam was happy. When he was happy, there was jumpy music. The music was playing fast when Becca had the baby when they are waiting for the bus, and then Becca runs away because he was scared and not sure what to do. Music plays a useful role because if there was no music than it would not be as emotional. Viewers need to watch for the music in movies because if you don’t, then it might not seem as cool.

Dynamic Characters are the ones who grow/learn and understand new things because of their experiences through the story. Is there evidence of any characters growing in the movie? Examples.

A dynamic character is a character that starts out one way and then grows and changes for the better. The dynamic characters are Lucy, Rita, Randy, and Sam. Lucy is because at first, she hates her dad because people say that he did different things than what he does. She grows to learn that her dad loves her no matter what and she wants to be with him more. At first, Rita hates Sam because he is getting in her way and wanting her as a lawyer but he can’t pay. She is his lawyer pro bono. After a while, Rita realizes that Sam is going through the same things as her even though he has a disability. She grows to respect that. Randy is the foster mom. She was mean at first because Sam hurt Lucy’s feelings by not coming to visit and she really wants the best for Lucy. She doesn’t like it when Sam brings Lucy home because she ran over to Sam’s for the night. Randy grows to realize that Lucy loves Sam really much and that she wants to be with him even though he has a disability. She grows to know that Lucy is still his daughter but she can help out because he still needs help. Sam himself is one too because he grows to learn that he needs help taking care of Lucy and he lets Randy be the foster mother. Dynamic characters play a significant role because if they weren’t there, there would be no use for the movie.

The movie is told in Three Acts. Watch to see if you can distinguish when one act ends, and another begins. Give evidence that supports there are three separate parts to the storyline.

They use this in the movie, so then people can understand about Lucy a bit more and understand what is going on in her life. The first act is when he has Lucy. The second act is will he get Lucy back? The third act is he loses her but at the same time not. I don’t think this plays a significant role, but that’s just my idea. You don’t need to watch for this because sometimes you can’t even realize that it changes acts. All movies usually just have a storyline from start to finish, and you don’t need the three different acts.

The movie centers around questions of Sam’s abilities and mental capacities, but there are times when Sam proves to be more insightful than other mature characters. What examples can you identify of this while watching?

They use this in movies to show that people with mental disabilities can still do things that normal people can do. One example is that Sam knows that people treat him different because of his disability like when his boss says that he might give him a promotion he says that maybe means that they won’t. Sam and his friends know a lot about the Beatles like what happened in their lives, when and how. He knows right from wrong even though he can’t explain it. Viewers don’t really need to watch hard for this because it just shows up and you should be able to notice it right away.

Rita’s life parallels Sam’s – this means his lawyer’s life has many similarities to his own. Can you identify these similarities?

Rita is Sam’s lawyer pro bono. At first, Rita wasn’t going to be his lawyer because he couldn’t afford it but then she let him have her as a lawyer for free. One of the similarities is that they both have a kid but Sam spends lots of time with Lucy and Rita doesn’t spend too much time with her boy. When they were in Rita’s car heading to his interview about if he can take care of his daughter, they said they both don’t like to go to shrinks, and when they were younger their mom made them go. After Lucy gets taken away, Rita and Sam both want her back. After a while, Sam goes and sits in his apartment for long and make paper cranes. Then Rita comes and busts in, and Rita says that they have to keep trying to get Lucy back and then Rita opens up about her life and then they hug and cry. They both have big issues in their life, and they are both trying to get through it.

Camera angles can influence the way a scene is interpreted by a viewer. Watch for any particular angles of the camera that are used to sway your perspective. Write down examples/times when the angles were purposefully different.

They do different angles because they make the movie cooler than if it was just one angle the full time, it would be so boring and it changes your feelings so if someone was feeling worthless than they could put the camera upside down because their world is upside-down. In the diner is shows Lucy from the back and Sam from the front because Lucy is testing Sam’s fathering skills and she wants Sam to have a good life. When the camera is zoomed in on them, it moves, and that changes the mood because it shows their emotions and what their face looks likes. It zooms into their face when they are at IHOP because it is sad and serious and Lucy says it is fine that Sam is different than other dads. At Lucy’s

Halloween celebration at the school, Sam is being a good dad and then everyone starts laughing at him and Lucy is just sitting there watching. The angle is going around him and showing everyone’s faces around to show the emotion of that part. Sam is thinking he is having a good time, but everyone isn’t laughing with him, they are laughing at him, and they think he is someone stupid, but Lucy thinks that is my dad and he is humiliating me in front of all my friends.