Serrano

This portfolio that includes my main projects for my 9th grade here at SLA represents how I, as a student, have changed during the year. As can be seen from my Odyssey essay, I was out-spoken and wrote only to get a point across. As time went on I changed and as it can be seen in my Kindred essay, I started to understand that it wasn’t only about getting a point across. It is also about using what you have read in the story or text to support whatever point you are trying to make. As one of my last project, The Macbeth project, I was able to put what I had learned to find music to support the quotes that I had found and explained.
 * Reflection for Final End of the Year Digital Portfolio**

In this assignment it was asked of me to think of a thesis statement that supported my opinions of the book. I then choose 3 supporting facts that went with my thesis statement.

**// __The Odyssey__ //** Benchmark Essay Quarter One

The manipulation of people has been around for thousands of years. The mortals in the book //__The Odyssey__// receive this form of treatment daily from the gods. As what soon will be seen the gods are not as selfless as they may seem. When someone is to delve deeper into their lives it can be seen that they are not who they make you think they are. They show no respect for the mortals. The gods live their lives playing a chess game with the mortals, influencing their actions , having the mortals give them food offerings to please them , and only helping a mortal if the actions of another mortal interrupts their chess game. The gods that live in the sky have nothing better to do than to play the mortal’s like a chess game ; Athena, as shown in the epic poem //__The Odyssey__// travels to the palace of Telemachus to calm the nerves of Queen Penelope. Athena explains to the sleeping form of Penelope that she should not alert the suitors on the voyage of Telemachus. The suitors plan to kill him because he stood up to them. Although he did this and acted like a man, it was only due to the fact that Athena helped him. She talks him through all the steps to try and take control from the suitors so he may live in his own palace again. Athena may be this because she has fallen in love with a mortal. Although she manipulating the feeling of a mortal, this is nothing compared to when the gods ask for offerings from the mortals. At the time that Telemachus is in the land of Pylos he sees an offering to the god Poseidon. They sacrificed bulls on his behalf. It is described in the book //__The Odyssey__//, “ Where the people lined the beaches , sacrificing sleek black bulls to Poseidon ,” (page 107, line 5 and 6). This means that the people of Pylos kill their animals for a god that never shows his person in flesh and blood. It is always in spirit. This would be more understandable if the mortals actually saw the gods they made offerings to, but they do not. It is true that they only show themselves when they want to play a main role in the life of the mortal. Athena, for example, plays a role in the life of Telemachus as she guides him through his struggle to find his father. They worship a being that they may or may not even truly exist. So the one thought crosses people’s mind is, “ Why do the gods help them? ” The gods must think that since they are all high and mighty that they could change a course of action because it interferes with their greater plan. Such as Hermes, the messenger of the gods and son of Zeus was told by his father to “ Announce to the nymph with the lovely braids our fixed decree: Odysseus journeys home – the exile must return ,” (page 80, line 101 to 103). This was told to the nymph because maybe Zeus thought that Athena had something terrible planned for Odysseus and it would keep him entertained. Although as it is soon could out, she had only wanted to help Odysseus. This may be a reason why the gods play the mortals like a chess game. They only want to be entertained. This does not tell in truth that the gods are selfless people. The mortals give offerings to the gods because they only want reassurance that they would not be hurt and have a good harvest. Sadly the chess game they play, is played only against themselves for is it not believed that the gods had created all of the mortals out of their own desires and for their own personal gain. The gods may rule over the land but it does not give them the right to influence the mortals actions, ask that they offer their finest animals to them , or only help a mortal if it interrupts their bigger plan for that said mortal. The gods in this book are shown to be narcissistic people that only care for their own well-being. They seem to not know what true feelings are. Do the gods feel anything, can they truly understand why it is that mortals respect them so? Do they really deserve to be worshiped by mortals? The lives they lead are selfish ones and if the mortals were ever to see the true face of the god and see that they hide behind a mask of power, will they still have the same respect for them? Since this trend of manipulating others is something that has happened for thousands of years, there seems to be no hope for our society today. Maybe Homer was ahead of his time and was he predicting what was soon to come.

For my second benchmark i did an MP3 on my past experiances. My vignette was about my experiance in the 8th grade. media type="file" key="English.m4a"

Kindred Benchmark Quarter 3 Quotes are in red For this assignment I was asked to find quotes in the book that support a statement that I came up with about the book. __Kindred__ In the story __Kindred,__ by Octavia Butler, Dana was able to change somewhat how Rufus felt on slavery. He defied his father and kept a ‘slave’ (Dana) by his side when he was hurt. Soon, over time, Tom Weylin was able to partially overcome how he felt when he realized that Dana could read better than him. No matter how he had felt before it seemed it would not changed much over time. The relationship between a father and son were changed by the actions of a single woman. Tom Weylin had said to Dana “You were reading to him! Pg. 90, ” when he caught her reading to Rufus. He was not happy when he saw that Dana could read better than him. This had made Tom more wary and wanted to keep her away from his son. He became more protective over his son because he couldn’t understand Dana’s motive for being attached to Rufus. Dana had tried to retaliate by saying “He asked me to do it. I think he was bored lying in there with nothing to do. Pg. 90 . ” Tom must not have liked the fact that Dana was answering back because in turn he had yelled at her. This sort of marked the beginning of a shaky relationship between Rufus and his father. Although Tom didn’t much of this when soon he asked Dana a simple question.

Then the most unsuspecting thing happened to Dana. She was asked, “How’d you like to be the one to do the teaching? Pg. 91” by Weylin himself. She was trying to say that it was Kevin’s job but he would hear nothing of it. It seems as if he was just putting on an act for his son to hear. He may have a certain respect for Dana because she is a slave so she doesn’t need to get paid but can still teach his son how to read. When she had denied the offer many times and said that she would rather have Kevin teach Rufus and her stay with Kevin as well, Tom gave Dana a look of pity and told her, “If you do, girl, you'll live to regret it. (Page 91)” It also seems as if he values her more than he is leading on. Also it could be that he notices some of the changes that Rufus has been going through, although it is just a guess. It seems as if the more time between each of Dana’s trip between time, the stuff she had taught to him is all forgotten. The more time Dana had spent in this time period the more she understood that she didn’t want Rufus to turn into his father. She had said “Let’s see what we do to keep him from growing up into a red-haired version of his father. Pg 81” She had said this to Kevin. She wants to persuade Rufus to not keep slaves when she had said this. Later on in the book, Rufus had yelled at his mother, “Go away and stop bothering me” (Page 103). Even though this was said to the mother, I think it shows how he was beginning to absorb some characteristics that his father possesses. It could have been worse for Margret. She could have gotten hit if Dana wasn’t there to teach Rufus that he shouldn’t follow his father’s footsteps and correct him. This is what Dana fears the most. She tries to teach Rufus what right and wrong but its based on the time that she comes from. It seems as if the actions of a single really can change the relationship between a father and a son. At first Tom was always pestering Rufus and the inevitable would seem that Rufus would follow in the footsteps of his father. Once Dana had come into their lives, she told Rufus to be his own person. She taught how to be his own person and how to know what is right from wrong. It seems as if at the same time Rufus was teaching his father that not all slaves are bad. Over the course of the book, Tom had begun to understand that even though slaves were taught to be lower than whites, some were still bale to read and write. He had stated to worry about his son as a child and not someone who was destined to take care of slaves.

** __Journals__ ** I choose four of my journals that best represented my journey through the 9th grade. For the first journal we had been reading the book __Fences__. Very often in the story it is found that the main character, Troy, uses baseball metaphors. For the second journal, we had been talking about what the environment does to affect how we grew up. Again for the third journal we were talking about how our childhood changes our outlook at life as we grow up. For the final journal, I wrote in the voice of Bob Ewell from the story To Kill a Mockingbird. It was our opinion on the death of Tom Robinson. __English Journal #1__ -Why does Troy speak in baseball metaphor? --He speaks in baseball metaphor because it is the only thing he truly understands. He wants to show that he is good at something and he may even be doing it unintentionally. He may not realize that he does this. Either way I think it still shows that he cares about what his son does because he always compares his son’s actions with the sport he loves, baseball.

__English Journal #2__ -How does your environment shape you? -- If I didn’t have my friends and family I don’t know how I would have turned out. If I’m not with my friends at the mall, in school or just outside, I’m with my family. They are the ones that tell me what’s right and wrong. My family helps me with life decisions and my friends help me cheer up if I’m sad or they calm me down if I’m mad. Without them who know where I might be or how I would be. For all I know I could be a completely different person. I would be a quiet person who doesn’t want to talk to anyone. My friends are the ones who make me the crazy, weird and energetic person I am now. My family is the ones that help me stay in control of my weirdness and energy. So without them, who knows who I’ll be?

__English Journal #3__ -How does childhood shape your outlook on the world? (Idealistic) “ “ your childhood “ ” “ ” (realistic) --Someone’s childhood could determine if he/she would grow up to follow in his or her parent’s footsteps or venture into the path unknown. It is most likely that if a child was babied by their parents and taught the business they would follow in their parent’s footsteps. If the child doesn’t want to then they would either be forced to or rebel against their parents. . The ones that rebel are the ones that choose to venture into the path unknown. These children usually become successful as well. They do because they are living the life they want to. From my childhood I have learned that I should learn how to live for myself at a young age. My dad wasn’t around often and my mom was always at work. Even though I spent most of childhood in a childcare center and had to make friends, I still not a very social person.

__English journal #4__ -React to Tom’s death as one of the character. - Bob Ewell --They actually did it. I'm surprised. Never thought them guards would actually shoot him and place his body near the fence. Maybe 17 shots was a bit much but the story makes up for it. Running faster than lighting, HA!! They make me laugh. Now to get ride of Helen. She is one who I have to be careful with, seeing as she got some whites on her side. Atticus being one of them. I will get him and end his life, but his death will be harder to plan. Too many people in Maycomb County are on his side. If he gets killed people will surely blame me and if I send him to court for something people will side with him. This is going to be harder than I thought.

Quotes on Macbeth

__Macbeth__

//__All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!__// --Second Witch, Act I, scene III Macbeth and Banquo are walking back to the palace when 3 witches confront them. They tell both men of things that are to come in the near future and are sure to happen. Macbeth has been told that he will be the new Thane of Cawdor. What this means for Macbeth is that he has a new title to withhold but doesn’t know it’s true until he receives word from a messenger. He is over come with many feelings so he sends a letter to his wife and tells Banquo that his fortunes may come true as well.

//__Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be, What thou art promised.__// --Lady Macbeth, Act I, scene IV Here is when Lady Macbeth is reassuring Macbeth that he will become everything that he is promised. She knows to be true because he has become Thane of Cawdor. They are currently in their room and Macbeth is doubtful that it would happen. So Lady Macbeth tells him of a plan to murder Duncan. This means that if he is dead than Macbeth will become king. Lady Macbeth wants to make sure that this will happen.

//__Methought I heard a voice cry "Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep"__// --Macbeth, Act II scene II Here is when Macbeth has already killed Duncan but no one has found out yet. He has run back to Lady Macbeth to tell her that the deed has been done. He says that he thought a voice say this. I think this means that he had heard a voice in his head tell him that he was to never sleep again because he had murdered someone. This may mean for him is that he wont act normally because his sleep is taken away. His guilt may start to eat away at him to the point where he can’t sleep anymore.

//__Take any shape but that…__// --Macbeth, Act III, scene IIII Macbeth is at a dinner party that is being done for the death of Duncan. During the dinner, a ghost makes himself apparent and scares Macbeth. He soon finds out that he is the only one that can see it. He can also see that the ghost is Banquo; who was killed right before the feast. Not meaning to draw attention his wife tells that guest that Macbeth is acting like that because of the death of Duncan. What this means for him is that now everyone will start thinking something is wrong with him and may want to figure out what's wrong with him and get closer to the truth.

//__Cure her of that__// --Macbeth, Act V, III At this moment, Macbeth is talking to a doctor about his wife. When the doctor tells Macbeth of what is wrong with his wife, he dismisses it. Although the doctor says that it’s not something that can be cured easily, he still asks him to cure it. What this for Macbeth is that he is becoming somewhat heartless. The love he once had for his wife is only for her ideas. If it weren’t for her, he would not be king or have such power. It seems that he doesn’t want her to stay alive but he wants her alive because she can help him to succeed in getting more power. Even when he hears she is dead it does not bother him much at all either.

For this assignment, we had to find qoutes from the play, Macbeth and describe what each quotes menat to us. Then we had to make it into a creative piece. I choose to do an iMovie.