Reflective Reading Blog Post

http://nikkisreadingblog102.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-scorch-trials-by-james-dashner.html

In this blog post I analyzed the situation at hand of where I was reading. Using quotes from the book I talked about what was happening and added my personal thoughts and feelings to show how I reacted to the situation in the book. The first quote shows how they described the feel of what was happening and to give a visual as well as a hearing of what that character did and what the result was because of it.

Goals I have for myself is to get a deeper understanding of what the author tries to convey and
instead of reading for fun and skimming the book actually focus on what word order or diction and syntax is included. What figurative language is used to present the information given in the book to get a better meaning and understanding of why the author chose to put that specific piece of text into that area. My goals as far as continuing to read is always. I love reading. I've read since i was in Kindergarten, very night every day. My goal of reading is to read every book that was written by certain authors by the end of high school. In writing I would like to improve on my overall skills. Adding figurative language, diction, syntax more and to better give a better understanding of what I am writing about. Learning more about what I can do to improve my writing will help me broaden my skills and abilities to write papers, essays and other assignments. With my reading I want to expand and reach into different hats and pick out new genres/ books to read and try something new instead of reading the same genre and books over and over and over again.

Adventures of Hucleberry Finn by: Mark Twain

Hey guess what? I'm Back! As from the title you can tell this this post isn't on TST. I took a break on that book. I'm now reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Its a classic I know. Its a good book though. I saw the cartoon movie version and thought it was a good concept and well played out. 

I haven't gotten into the book yet but so far the book is good, except for Twain's grammar. Don't get me started with it........ The book and the movie i saw so far is very similar. Basically its about a boy, Huck Finn who is a mischievous boy caught between a confining life with his legal guardian and an abusive life under his drunkard father. He fakes his own death, teams up with a runaway slave named Jim, and take off on a raft down the Mississippi River. Now don't get confused with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Tom Sawyer and Huck are in way over their heads when they witness a murder in a graveyard... see two different yet similar books both by the same author. The movie i saw was both ideas combined. It was well done and hope to say about the book as well!

As for TST I am still at the same place as before. Nothing much has happened. I am trying to long out the book till a month or so before the movie comes out to still have it fresh in my mind when i go to see it.










    Count down for school: 5 more weeks

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

How was y'all spring break? This week i will be talking about The Scorch Trials.. again. Last week we talked about the book itself this week i am going to talk about what is going on...

"Before anyone could move he fired, an explosion that rocked the narrow alley with a thunderous boom."
"Pure pain ripped through Thomas' left shoulder." You may be wondering what this means well.... THOMAS GETS SHOT.... that is where i am right now in the book. He gets shot, WICKED comes to his rescue (yay! not really) and he meets back with Minho and Newt and his friends who got separated from him and Brenda. Thomas still can't get a hold of Teresa and doesn't know if she is okay. He saw her once- she was alive but was acting strange. Enough of Teresa.... After Thomas got shot WICKED came and took him to the berg which is really a hospital. They fixed him up. Wondering how a loaded gun ended up in the Scorch and how Thomas being shot and all was not part of the plan. I was reading that and i was like: "WELL PLANS CHANGE.. deal with it."

They still are talking about the safe haven and that beneficial thing for them. Brenda weirdly still crushing on Thomas and he told her that she could never be Teresa. OUCH! He feels so sorry, Brenda really doesn't care.... i think she does... The last thing i read and the weird thing is that Thomas was in the berg and the lady there said "It's what you would've wanted us to do" What does that mean... I have no idea.




                                                      HAPPY EASTER!

The Scorch Trials : James Dashner

Hey I'm back! This week I will be talking about "The Scorch Trials" by James Dashner. I am about halfway into the book and its interesting but not as intriguing as "The Maze Runner". It had a slow beginning and not much "cool" things happening. Thomas lies to the Cranks which are like people badly infected by 'The Flare' and hopes not to get killed on their way to the safe haven where something is that is beneficial to them all. Won't get into more or i will spoil it.

Apparently WICKED was testing 2 maze groups. one with all boys and one girl and the other all girls with one boy. Meeting with them, Thomas, Newt, Minho and others face challenges and try to get to the safe haven. Teresa is blitz, Thomas is separated from his friends, some girl who is a crank (hasn't fully gone bonkers) is crushing on Thomas, he feels like he is betraying Teresa. Nothing seems to be making sense. The most scariest part- Thomas kills someone. Not saying who or why but he does and feels guilty. A problem though. Thomas can't get through to Teresa telepathically. When he does she makes no sense. Talks like she is crazy. Maybe she is. I don't know... yet... Hopefully they reunite and things go to how they were before.

          That's all y'all get for this week. Stay tuned for more on the scoop for "The Scorch Trials"

Satire

My satire example is of Burlesque because it is talking about how everything now is advanced by technology and the fact that when we try to use something that isn't advanced or one of the things we used before we think about the new advanced versions. This example shows that the student thought there would be icons to press for things to appear like on a computer or smart board but actually it was only a chalk board where they have to write out everything instead of projecting it on the screen.

 







TBH: this is probably not accurate so don't kill me for it.....

Krista Ramsey column

The column I read about was on bullying and how a songwriter encouraged students to stop bullies. It talked about people who were bullied and how they dealt with it in their life and how they got over it. The songwriter, Keenan West, described the different kinds of bullying and how they should avoid it but stand up for someone who is going through it. Here is the hyperlink to the column: Songwriter helps kids summon courage to stop Bullying

"What I'm asking you today is, if someone is being excluded, if rumors are going around about someone, what would it look like if you put yourself in his shoes? What would it feel like if you made sure everyone around you is having a good high school experience?" 

This line impacts the whole column because it is telling you to be in someone else's shoes and see what they see. It may seem good on the outside but if you were in there position then you would get to see how they feel and their emotions to the situation. Diction was used, no one usually uses the word excluded people usually use words like rule out, deny, eliminate but this writer used exclude to give a more important feel and emphasis to the point they were trying to make.

Ramsey's writing style in all three columns is that she uses diction and syntax at certain parts in her columns to emphasize that specific point in that story. She uses diction to show that she took the effort to make the story and give it a meaning and the use for syntax was to prove a point and narrow down to one topic or subject. The point of her using diction and syntax is to demonstrate to her viewers that something is actually going on in people's lives and that it is important to be open minded and not just worry about your life but the lives of others.

If i had to ask the writer three questions they would be:

1. How long does it usually take to find a story, write a draft, edit the draft, type it all up, get it approved then get it published in a magazine or newspaper?

2. Is finding the story and writing something about it hard or easy? Does it come naturally or do you struggle?

3. Do people actually read to your work and act upon it or do they read it and leave it? How do you tell or know?