Thankful For a Classmate

The classmate I am thankful for is nobody because I am thankful for anyone in our class. I am thankful for every single person in my class because they all make our class fun and exciting. Every single one of them contributes to the class and make it into what it is. It is also because of everybody that I like this class and can pay attention, learn, and have fun at the same time. I am also especially thankful for Jaleel, Miles, and Sam because they help me a lot in class. When I can't see something clearly Miles tells me what it is and Jaleel lets me use his glasses to see. Also when we have the group work they all help to make the answers the best they can be and help me when I do not understand how to answer it or when I do not understand the question they explain it to me. I would also like to thank Mr. McCarthy because he is a great teacher to have and he makes the class interesting. He also makes jokes and keep the class lively and fun while also teaching us. He is a the best teacher to have for this class.

I am a Plow

I am a plow and so is everybody else. A plow is something that was used by farmers to help them loose up the soil to let them plant things. I say was because it had been really useful to farmers until the tractor came along and that help the farmers sow the field in less time and can sow more so the plow was considered useless because it wasn't as useful. We are like this too because we are helping people and the world in our own ways. We all help other people and make all the lives of all the people we helped easier. We are also helping the world because we are changing the future and making it better for the future generations to come. A plow also paves the way for the seeds to be planted and grown. We are all like this because we are creating our future by what we do. We are all changing our future by going to school when we do this we are learning things that we will use in the future in this way we are paving our way into our future and creating paths so we can reach our goals no matter what it is.

A Direction the Class Needs

The first quarter has ended and there has been negative and positive this about this class. The positive things about this class is that it was really fun. I liked how Mr. McCarthy is a really fun teacher. I liked the days when we had a vocabulary review and we spent the whole day review the vocabulary we learned. I also really like the silent reading days when we just read our book for the whole period. I also like the blogs and where we could write what we felt about the topic that week. Some negatives are that sometimes the blogs were a little hard to write and sometimes I forgot about them because I wasn't reminded that there was a blog that week. I think a good idea would to put the homework on Edline and maybe tell us what to write on the blogs. We should not be made to take notes on everything. Like our books, when reading I didn't really like it when I had to take notes because that got me distracted and I couldn't really get into the story. Also like the House of the Seven Gables, it was already hard enough trying to understand what they were talking about and actually get into the story without having to take notes about what I was reading.

House of the Seven Gables

When I hear the word Salem, I think of Puritans. When I hear the word Puritans I think of the witch trails. Salem is related to Puritans because the were a big religion there and because they are really important. They are important because they were the cause of the Salem witch trails. They were the ones that accused people of being witches causing them to die. And because so many people were accused and when they said they were not witches the judges didn't believe them they still got killed. Also if they use evidence like other people's word those people would get accused of being a witch too. In The House of the Seven Gables there is a reference to the witch trails when he says Colonel Pyncheon accused Matthew Maule of witchcraft to get his piece of land. That means Nathaniel Hawthorne had based that part of the book on real life.Nathaniel Hawthorne also had an experience with the witch trails. His great-great-great grandfather and great-great grandfather were judges during the Salem witch trails and because he probably didn't want to be associated with them he changed his name from Nathaniel Hathorne to Nathaniel Hawthorne adding a w in his name.

The Moment I Knew I was an American

First of all we need to know the meaning of an American. To me an American is somebody that has American thoughts and beliefs and acts like an American. I wasn't born in America but in China, but I moved here when I was three so I think I am more American than Chinese because I was affect by my surroundings making me an American. My parents were the typical Chinese parents trying to make me into a more Chinese person. The moment I became an American I think was when I started going to school. I think that because I started getting affected because my surroundings all had American ways. Even though at home my parents would be teaching me Chinese ways I would get taught American way at school and ever time I went out I would be affected by all the American thoughts and beliefs so in the end I still had became an American. I think that even if I had tried to not become an American I still would have because I believe a person is affected by their surroundings and everything that I have seen has contributed to making me into the person I am now.

Us vs. Them ... Us and Them

There is always going to us vs. them because there is always going to be conflict in the world. But I don't know if some conflicts really need people dying. Most conflicts can be solved but some cannot. Even now there are conflicts causing deaths like how wars are started. It is usually because people's opinion or thoughts on something don't quite match. But wars still end either by making a treaty that fulfills everybody's wants or one side looses which is like the winning side of the war wins the argument. Some times conflicts can be solved by voting which is majority over minority. In The Crucible it is like that most of Salem believes there are witches and only a few people don't believe in them but they are outmatch by the people that believe in them. Most of the people that are accused are not accused because they were thought to be witches but because people didn't like them or they had something people wanted. Like how some people got accused as witches because they had land or money. Even now things are like this people still accuse other people because they want more power, money, etc. This shows how some people are greedy and all they want is to benefit themselves.

John Proctor, Hero or Stooge

In the beginning I though he was a stooge because he had a affair with Abigal then his wife found out and he treid to hid it from everybody else in the town because he wanted to save his name and reputation. But I changed my mind and now think John Proctor is a hero. He is a hero because he tried to save his wife because Abigal accused her of being a witch. He also told the town that he had a affair with Abigal which I think is really brave because that would ruin his name and reputation. He might have cause Abigal to accuse his wife by having the affair in the first place but him telling about his affair makes up for him having the affair in the first place because I know it is really hard to admit to something that you did when it could hurt you and even the people around you. Also he didn't believe in witchcraft in the beginning and in the end. Maybe he didn't believe in witchcraft to save his wife but I still think he is a hero because he had to sacrifice himself to save his wife.