How Do You Find Your Personal Identity

Their Eyes Were Watching God
      As mentioned before I began reading Their Eyes Were Watching God, the dialogue is often difficult to read initially. I think the way Hurston writes is improper. She doesn't care about how she is writing, the way she talks or hears is what she writes. She doesn't want to take the character dialogue of place of who or where they are from. She keeps the way the characters actually talk so the reader gets a feeling of the character or the setting. It keeps the context of the novel good.

The Search for Personal Identity
      The title of Module 6 is The Search for Personal Identity. Evidence from the text, Their Eyes Were Watching God so far that fits this theme is in chapter 3 when Janie is talking to her Nanny. Janie was telling her Nanny about how she didn't want to be with her husband. The reason was not because he had done something wrong. It was that she didn't have feelings for him. This shows that she doesn't know what she wants. She thought she loved and had feelings for this man she called her husband, but she has to find what she wants.

Harlem Renaissance
      I've learned from the group presentations that the Harlem Renaissance was a focus on African American art. African Americans in Harlem, New York focused on music, poetry, African American stories. The Harlem Renaissance started after the World War I. African Americans were now free from being slaves and wanted to identify themselves. They used art to do so.

Background and Historical Context
      Our first two lessons in this module have focused greatly on understanding the author's background and the historical context. This is helping me gain deeper meaning to the text by understanding the setting. It helps put and understanding of why this or that is happening during the text. It puts a better content of the book together.

Class period on Tuesday
      We had intense class period on Tuesday, with many people sharing personal stories of events that have significantly changed their perspective of life in general. Although this was unplanned, I feel it was a good use of our time. I think because most of the people telling their stories, as you can see was keeping that all bottled in. It was a great opportunity for people to let it all out. Ms. Bianchi gave the scholars a chance to speak about it. They had a chance to let go. Mostly everyone cried and they were being comforted by other scholars. And maybe that's all what most of the scholars needed was to have a shoulder to cry on and someone to listen to them.

What It Takes to Have Your American Dream... ?

Harlem Renaissance:
      The Harlem Renaissance was during the 1900's in Harlem, New York City. Renaissance means rebirth. After the war African Americans were free, so they had to find their identities. Many African Americans started using art; such as poems, essays, music, drama and etc.

Mama's Plant in A Raisin in the Sun
      In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry Mama's plant symbolizes Mama's hope for life and their future. Mama takes care of that plant and nurtures it like it is one of her children. She wants the plant to go with the family to the new house. She thinks it will survive with its poor soil and will become better soil. At the end of the play the family moves into a beautiful house. So Mama believes it was the plant, it was her hope.

The American Dream
      The theme the American Dream relates to A Raisin in the Sun because in the story many of the characters had different American Dreams they wanted to achieve. Things in the beginning were falling a part and weren't going as planned. They had to go through some struggles and obstacles but in the end the ended up with their American Dream. They moved into a better house together as a family. Another text that relates to the American Dream is Of Mice and Men. The two main characters Lennie and George American Dream is to own their own land and have their own farm. During that process they had some struggles, conflicts with others and some deaths. They had to do things they didn't want to, but they wanted to own their own so they stuck by it. By the end even though one of the characters, Lennie was caught in some mess and was killed. George continued with what he needed to do for the both of them, even though he was dead.

Short Term Goal
      One short term goal I can set myself up by the end of this marking period is to pick up my school work slack. I want to get my grades up so I am able to be one honor roll or higher again.

Connection of Loneliness & Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck

1st Quote: “His ear heard more than what was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.” 

This quote is

2nd Quote: “Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” 

This quote is important because it is the fear of the character Slim. 

3rd Quote: “A guy needs somebody to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.” 

This quote is important because it describes the theme of the book, which is loneliness. This quote means doesn't matter if you are physically alone or not alone you can always feel lonely. It teaches me that the characters Lennie and George 

What is the most interesting or thought-provoking idea that was discussed in your SLD this week? What was said about it?
The most interesting or thought-provoking idea that was discussed in my SLD this week was the irony of the ending. The eneding

What Does it Mean to be Lonely to You...

What are the most interesting or surprising ideas you've had as result of the readings for this week?

      The most interesting ideas I've had as result of this week is the change in my idea of loneliness. We had to write in our own word what we thought loneliness meant. After reading the article on Loneliness in the Modern Age my idea changed a little. I knew that being lonely is physically and also mentally, but in the article it went deeper with mentally. One of the paragraphs described how holidays can make one feel lonely. When others are with their loved ones and your by yourself you feel isolated. "To feel lonely is to be overwhelmed by an unbearable feeling of separateness, at a very deep level" quoted by the UK mental health charity. That quote goes with the novel Of Mice and Men pages 1 through 16. The character Lennie has showed me another side of loneliness. He has a partner George that he is with, but they think and act differently. Lennie does not comprehend like others, he doesn't process everything. He can forget things, events, stories etc. quickly, he has Alzheimer's. These disorders separates him from the crowd. As in the story George gets frustrated and don't understand him. This makes me think that Lennie is lonely.

                      Learning About Yourself by Completing The Personal Mandala

       While completing the Mandala i have learned a lot about myself. To identify what animal i am more like i took a quiz and it said i was more like an otter. Then I also found out that i can be like a goat, they have the ability to climb higher than they are, they are surefooted and flexible. I have also learned that the opposite of my animal I am also most like, which is a puma. Puma's are described as procrastinators, I can be described as a procrastinator. I have learned about a lot of objects that can symbolize my personality. Their were multiple and different objects that can symbolize many people in a more deeper meaning then the way the object looks. Such as like a number, the number doesn't have to symbolize you but the way its curved or how straight the line is and etc. During this process you can learn about yourself in a creative way. Especially for me I figured out what colors, numbers, shapes, elements and animals can be described as my personality.

Which part(s) of the writing process for Paper 1 were most helpful or informative?

      The discussion part of the writing process for Paper 1 was most informative. In the beginning of the writing process it was difficult to write the paper. We knew the book had many examples of the themes, but it was difficult to find the examples or explain them. It was more informative because during the discussion we took parts of the book & took out important parts. We discussed parts that didn't seem important, come out and mean something. The discussion helped the people who were doing hypocrisy and ideology. The teacher help us discuss and find parts that describe those themes. It made the process of the paper easier to identify the point of the paper.

What have you enjoyed most from the activities from this week? Why?

       This week the activities i enjoyed were reading the article Loneliness in the Modern Age and making the Loneliness posters and group discussion. I liked reading the Loneliness in the Modern Age and answering the definition of loneliness because it made me think what the definition was. After reading the article, it gave you examples of loneliness and definitions. Once i read it my definition changed, it made me think deeper about the word. I also enjoyed making the loneliness posters because our group came together and used each of our definitions to make one. Then we also used examples to draw out picture and find a lonely quote.Before we did the poster we had to read our context and our question. That help discuss questions that can be answered without reading our book. This could be a good skill builder that's why I like the discussions.

                                              What challenges have you faced?

      The challenges I have faced is the Mandala and finding the correct object to fit my personality. Sometimes its difficult to find an object and find the deeper meaning. Then to find the adjective of the object meaning, and find the antonym , then find an object that can fit that antonym. It's difficult searching for those things.

What is at least one short-term goal you have for yourself for the next week?

       One short-term goal i have for myself tor the next week is to have completed the book and get ready for the next essay. I want to be able to read the book and understand it in a deeper meaning. So when that essay comes up I'm prepared and ready for the challenge.

Ideas and Understanding of The Text

                                       Most profound idea you have had as a result of your reading...
      The most profound idea i have had as a result of my reading is the strict guidelines and punishments that the Puritans community has to live by. Their guidelines basically make the community not have a voice to decide on other ways to live their lives. They live their life through the bible, so they lives are very religious and has their mind set on living all the same way. Then their punishments for going against the way the live are harsh. They can put you in a life or death situation, they get privileges for lying, which they think is the truth and a harsh punishment for telling the truth which is lying.  For an example in the book The Crucible the girls were accused of the witch craft. If they were to tell that they we're doing witch craft they had a chance to change and be with god, but if they were to say they were not doing witch craft they would be hung. Their way of punishing or getting the answers are unusual.

                  What's changing in terms of your understanding of your topic?
      When the girls were shouting out all the names changed in terms of my understanding of the topic.During the discussion we had the teacher has approached us with the names they called and how it important they were.  The names that the students were yelling out were names of poor, non educated, homeless people; people who could not defend themselves. The understanding is that if they named a judge, a priest or someone with high power they would easily defend themselves. In the beginning I thought they were naming names of people they didn't like or just random names.

                                                                                

                                                                                           Enjoying...

      I am enjoying when you read the book it doesn't make sense. Then as you keep reading you can make an inference on what you didn't understand. Also having the group discussions helped understand the things that had you confused. The discussion was a chance to listen to other people understanding of the book and putting the puzzle pieces together.



                                                                 Challenges
      My challenges were how everything in the book got shifted real quick. It started with young girls supposedly doing witch craft, then were brought with a great offer. They were offered to admitting to doing witch craft and to be helped or to say they didn't and be killed. They chose to be helped but yet cause a lot of trouble and death in the end. They made the conflict bigger than what is was suppose to be.  

                                       

                        What are you wondering ?
       I am wondering how all in the end of the book people are being punished for nothing. They caught a few girls dancing naked, to putting a ton of people in jail for not admitting to something they did not do. The judges would listen to these young ladies and not get the truth. They would accept you for a lie and kill you for the truth. It does not make since, because if they want the truth you get the truth and bring evidence along with it and when you lie then you are punished.

Looking Forward to English III Course

                                                                                        Expectations for this course

My expectations for this course is for this class to be a challenge. During the course scholars will investigate a variety of perspectives that interpret and define the themes of Personal Identity and American Dream. This course is preparation of reviewing themes and understanding them. I expect to view a variety of different informational and non-fiction texts, primary source documents, supplementary videos, films and websites. I expect to write and discuss my understanding of the different themes we cover through the course. My expectations is that the course will be a strict grading system. It will be hard if you do not try your hardest at the work , put full effort in the work not only accomplish but express through info picked up through research.

What are your concerns ?

 My concerns for the English III Honors course is that it may be difficult to have an understanding of the themes we review or an understanding of the course.I am concerned about my writing skills not being at a sophisticated. I'm concerned I will try to make my writing at a sophisticated level but I put to much information or put too much of whats suppose to be their. I'm concerned of not being able to get the work done because my ability to not understanding the research of the themes.

  
What are you looking forward to ?

In the English III Honors course I look forward to the different books we will be reading. I'm looking forward to doing more with the personal identity theme. I think the personal identity is for the scholars to learn and teach about their identity. It will give scholars the chance to identify their selves. I'm looking forward to the personal identity writing and research.

What are you unsure about ?

I am unsure about the the other themes we will be researching , besides Personal Identity and American Dream. I'm unsure about how to research those themes and not being able to discuss because lack of information or understanding.