Banning Books?!/ Obama lengthening the school year

1.)   Do I agree with banning books? hmm..it really depends. I really don't think its fair to ban the whole Harry Potter series. I personally love the Harry Potter series and was surprised to find out that it got banned for teaching witchcraft. I feel that some books are trying to teach history. Books are also written because thats how people like to express themselves. Also, people who read certain books feel connections or maybe feel the same way the author did when writing the book. I can also see why some books are banned due to swearing and detailed explanations about certain events. I also agree with banning some books from elementary schools and middle schools for being a little too mature for them. Overall i don't like the idea of banning a good book series for some ridicules reason. I also think that the people who ban books should see what the kind of books teenagers think should be banned.


2.) What the heck?! Doesn't Obama know some kids already hate school?! This is unfair... when I heard that Obama wanted to lengthen the school year, I kind of got mad...I DO NOT think this will help kids learn more. This will only make them more irritated, which will make them want to get out of school even faster.  I believe a good learning environment is a really fun colorful classroom. The teacher also depends on a good learning environment. If the room is fun and more homey then the students will learn better. The more boring and cold the room is people will not learn as well. Thats my theory. I don't  think Obama gets how kids need a break to RELAX! there is so much pressure on the children of our generation these days. It's all about school, grades, college, and kids barely have enough time to sit down or even breathe!! I LOVVEEE looking forward to summer vacation with just chillen by the pool. I know for a fact that I'm not the only one. :)     

Lengthening the school year!!!!

I think that President Obama's idea to lengthen the school year is far from a good idea. Student's would not learn more from it teachers would run out of curriculum to teach. Also everyone would overheat. I do think that we should change to a four day school week. Even if it does mean lengthening the school day. Instead of a three day weekend though you have school Monday and Tuesday, but you have Wednesday off Thursday and Friday you have school and the Saturday and Sunday you still have off. I would love it if there was always a day off in the middle of the week.

HUNGER GAMES

 

 The Hunger Games by Suzanna Collins was a great book. It kept me wanting to keep reading. It was recommended to me by my sister and mom and they both said it was good. I found that the beginning was really slow but once I got into the actual games I couldn’t put the book down. The cover of the book caught my attention. The cover is black with gold designs on it and it has a gold bird on it.

The book is really about 12 districts and one boy and one girl have to compete in what is known as the hunger games. The games were thought of after the 13^th district tried to go against the capital which is the government. To punish the other districts they have the hunger games. When a boy or girl turns 12 they have to put their name in a drawing. The boy and girl that gets picked from every district is placed into and arena where they kill each other to stay alive. The last person standing wins the games and them and their family gets a life supply of food.

The book has many twists and is never boring I would recommend this book to everyone. It was adventurous and suspenseful. There are two other books in the series, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. I can’t wait to read them.

Banned Book/Longer School Year

Hello there!

Today we are thinking about Banned Books and a Longer School Year.

1) Look at ALA.ORG. See what books are banned and challenged. See why. Then write a personal response...do you agree? Disagree? Is there any time books should be banned? Should books ever be banned from public libraries or schools? Or should younger readers need special permission? Or do you have another plan?

2) President Obama has been discussing the idea of lengthen the school year. Research a news article or two and write a personal response on your thoughts about this. What do YOU think would help students learn more and better? What helps you to learn?

Enjoy!

Banned Books/ Extended School Year

1.) I am very surprised about what books made the banned books list. When I went to a website, I was surprised when I saw that The Bible was number one. I don’t agree with the lists for many reasons. First, most of these books are classics and tell us what life was like back when they were written. I think people wanted to ban these books because they exposed the truth, which involved using bad language and sometimes gruesome events. I don’t believe that books should be banned from public libraries or schools. I think this because we have the freedoms and authors should be able to write about whatever they want to and we should be able to read it. I don’t think young readers should need special permission to read these books because they should have the right to be able to read whatever they want.

2.) I don’t agree with Obama’s plan to extend the school year. I understand that if we do school work during the summer, it will keep our brains functioning and we wouldn’t have to spend as much time catching up on what we learned the year before. But I think that if they want us to remember what we learned the previous year, the school should give us some kind of assignment to do over the summer in each subject, so we cannot forget things. I know that when I got back to school after summer vacation, I can barely remember some math that I learned in eighth grade, so I think that summer assignments would help us to remember things. I have heard that students are more focused later in the day, so I think that the schools should probably start and end the school day later. the only problem with this is that a lot of students do school sports and by the time they get home, they are up until late at night to finish homework. So if they move the school hours later, it could create an even bigger problem and students wouldn’t get enough sleep. Basically, what I’m saying is that Obama shouldn’t do anything to the school year and that it is just about right as it is.

The best story I ever read was a story about a kid he ran away from home. He found a puppet and he stayed with the puppet while he traveled to all the cities and had all these adventures. It was comical and sad story at the same time.

Banning Books?????

I think that the thought of banning books is absoulutley awful. Although I can see why people may want to. Parents may find books inappropriate and that they should not be available to their children. The books could just be put in a sections where one must have permission to read them. I think that banning is a little harsh though. People want to ban books for beinng historically accurate. If people want to ban historically accurate books what is the point even having history calass the content in that may not be "appropriate" in some parents eyes. I think that books should not be banned but something must be done just have resrictions.

President Obama is proposing a longer school year. I disagree with this for many reasons. First of all what about the cost of extending the school year? We have had to make cuts on everything including teachers, if we can barely make it by now how are we going to do this for another month on the school year. Another reason is because adding more time on to the school year is just going to make kids hate school even more. You have to get up at 6 a.m. and go to school for 6 hours and then come home and do hours and hours of homework. If the school years is extending we are going to have more homework. I know I come home right after school and work on homework and then go to practice at 6 and stay there until 8:30 and then by the time I get home it is close to 9 o'clock and I am still not even finished with my homework. I still have other things to do before I go to bed and by the time I am finished with everything it is past midnight and I will be so tired for the next day of school. Doing this for another month of school would definitely not be very fun. I enjoy having summer, it's your time to relax and have fun and for half of it to be taken away is horrible. Yes I forgot somethings over the summer but in a couple weeks I was fine all I needed was a little refreshing. The only part of Obama's plan that does sound good is getting better teachers. How are kids suppose to learn anything when their teacher doesn't even know anything about the subject? Classes are a lot more fun with teachers that like to do a lot of more hands on things. The school year is fine just the length it is and the time school starts and ends.

Obama cutting summer?!?!

Apparently, President Obama wants to cut summer vacation for students. I can see why he would think that this would help improve student’s education, but I think that his idea may backfire. Summer vacation is very important to students. It is times to relax, have fun, and spend time with family. Many teachers spend the summer taking classes and prepping to better teach incoming students. Without summer vacation students would begin to get burned out lowering their will and energy to learn. Student’s grades would quickly drop and standards would be lowered.

I think more important then the time spent on education is the quality of education. I think too many tests are given by the educational system. Teacher end up having to spend lots of valuable time on test prep. That time could be better spent teaching new concepts. Students aren’t learning anything from tests yet many hours a week are spent on testing. Testing puts unnecessary stress on both teachers and students. Good teachers are able to identify students needing assistance; so less emphasis should be put on testing and scores.

So I personally believe that more days to the school year is not the answer but using the time we have in school more effectively is.

A Common Simplification of President Obama's Education Reform Plan

In the discussion of President Obama's plan for education reform, most people immediately jump to the hot topic of lengthening the school year, which, while it may be the most controversial, is not the only matter that Obama's plan includes. In addition to lengthening the school year, Obama also proposed:

• Lengthening the school day
• Beginning a process to rid schools of unproductive or unsuccessful teachers
• Increasing the number of charter schools

which are productive and smart beginning steps for education reform. The first two matters: lengthening the school day and year seem to be almost a cop out of a solution when read by themselves, and are a quanitity opposed to quality solution. Basically, lengthening amount of time that students are in school doesn't matter if students aren't receiving quality education while they are there. However, Obama's plan redeems its self with its next to main goals, to rid schools of unproductive or unsuccessful teachers and to increase the number of charter schools.

Firing teachers who are unsuccessful opens up teaching positions for teachers who are successful. Key word being unsuccessful, as it is nearly impossible to express who are bad teachers as more than a euphemism. Therefore, to base around the firing and hiring cycle of teachers has to hinge on an appraisal of success. However much teachers hate to teach to tests, and however much students hate standardized testing, it appears that at least at first, we're going to have to base our education system around standardized testing and test scores. Once this has been accomplished, teachers' creativity can be allowed to function as it should. Unfortunately, that method just hasn't worked so far.

The last order of business in Obama's plan is increasing the number of charter schools in the United States. For those who do not know, Charter Schools are schools that recieve money from the government though taxes like public schools, but are allowed to function more freely than public schools, without statues such as state or standardized testing. Most likely, the Obama administration is attempting to steer money and enrollment towards Charter Schools because they are effective and successful, otherwise, they would be completely obsolete and extinct at this point. I mentioned in the above paragraph and idealized method of using creative teachers who are not required to teach to standardized testing. Charter Schools are the kind of idealized environment which I was eluding to.

In conclusion, I would have to admit, that while rather haltingly, I do have to support Obama's Plan for Education Reform. There seems to be a sort of repulsion and fear of change in reference to education, and more specifically school year and day length. The first step of reform is change, without changing anything, we would not be able to reform our education system. Will this be a warm-welcomed change? No, probably not, but as of right now our education system is not producing the results that we need it to for it to succeed for America to competitive in the World Market. Without reforming at all, we can't hope to change our influence in the World Market.

L0NG3R $CH00L Y34R$?

Please take a moment to appreciate my use of both numbers and letters in the title. Thank you. Now to the blog.

President Obama is proposing an idea to make school years longer. Most kids don't agree with this. I, however, am not quite sure. What Obama is proposing is to make the summer shorter. I don't agree with that. I think that summer break is pointless. Kids are happy about it for about 3.7549305868392756810573957693 days, but then they start complaining about how there is nothing to do and about how bored they are. Also, kids forget a lot of what they learned in school. I remembered about four Spanish words when I started school this year. Exaggeration? Yes. But you know what I mean. I propose to have no summer. Wait, wait,wait. Don't get angry yet. We should have 4 or 5 more one-week breaks spread out throughout the school year. Teachers should only be able to give us a small amount of homework on these breaks. That way kids can actually enjoy it. As for Obama's proposition to get better teachers in school: APHS has good teachers, but from what I've heard about other schools- lost cause.

Always keep it delicious.

Longer School Year

Longer School Year?

Presidnet Barrack Obama is pushing for a longer school year. None of us want that, but it could benefit students in the long run. If there was a longer school year, students wouldnt forget as much over the shorter summer. This would mean less time for reviewing the things you learned the year before, because if you already remember how to do them, you dont have to waste any more time doing them in the beginnning of the new school year. President Obama also wants better teachers for schools around the United States. Better teachers means students learning better, and possibly quicker and easier. i don't think the school year should be any longer, because if it is, students most likely wouldnt focus on what they were learning about, they'd be bored and ready for summer. The school year is long enough as it is, and students can barely focus when the end comes near. If Obama makes the school year even longer than it is, students most definitely wouldnt be able to focus or learn anything, especially with the heat and no air conditioning in most schools. Longer school years have both pros and cons. The pros being students wouldnt forget as much over the summer, and cons being that students wouldnt be able to focus that well. Right now, we only have Summer Reading Homework, and if President Obama wants us to not forget other things like math and science, maybe teachers should assing summer math & science homework as well as summer reading homework.

Longer School Days

I do not agree on Obama's decision of extending school days. I know that when I get up in the morning at 6:00 A.M, I am not a happy camper. I am exhausted as it is with 6 hrs of school, I could not imagine school being even longer! After school I always have my sports practice that ends at 5:00P.M. I only wish for a half hour to relax, but even that is not possible, I must do my homework. Then off to my next practice. I know that for many people that is not their case, but for others it is. I know that Obama's intentions are well, but it is to hard for students as it is, Trying to improve the US's education system is a nice thought, but this is not the way to do it. By making school a relaxing time where students can work hands on with projects and really listen to what each teacher is trying to teach, the students will look forward to school and will be eager to learn. But, by making school longer, students will dread school and most likely do worst. Extending homework and giving out long packets for homework will just discourage students and they will do poorly on the homework. But giving out small bits of work at a time the students will be encouraged to succeed. My concluding thought is, what is Obama thinking?!

By, Megan Regan

Banned books... Why?

The book, A Light In The Attic by Shel Silverstein was banned! My only question is, WHY? This book was banned in the mid-80's in schools across the US. They say that the book encourages selfish and disrespectful behavior, it discusses suicide, sexuality and has suggestive illustrations. My opinion of these reasons of banning this book are that they are stupid and pathetic! Ever since I was little I have grown up on this creative, fun loving poetry book, and not once have I been influenced to the extensive thoughts of suicide, immature behavior or anything bad for that matter. I believe that it expands the minds of young kids and broadens their imagination. Seeing this book on the banned book list makes me mad and questions what thoughts are going through the minds who banned the book in the first place. I believe that even having a banned book list at all goes against the First Amendment, freedom of speech. It should be the author's decision on what they wish to publish and the readers choice whether they read it or not, no matter what the age. If a parent says that they cannot read a certain genre of book, then so be it, but that is not the school or any other person's decision for that matter. Depending on the kids maturity level also will support a parent or guardian's decision. Not only is a banned book list not fair to the reader but also to the author. What the author writes about may be very important to them, and they may wish to enlighten readers with their knowledge to everyone and everywhere. It is not one person's decision to tell them they are not allowed to express themselves through books. My conclusion to the banning of The Light In The Attic by Shel Silverstein is still a mystery to me personally, but I know one thing for sure, I will never stop a kid from wanting to read this book.

By, Megan Regan

Longer School Year

I for one do not support the longer school year. I enjoy my two months of summer, when most days I can wake up whenever I want, do anything I want, and not be stressed to the point of grey hairs with extracurricular activities, sports, and the burgeoning burdens of my academic career. Two months seems to me like a fair amount of time for summer vacation. What I really detest is doing any sort of school-related work over the summer. The summer is my time to chill out and relax and instead I'm stuck inside writing a four-page paper. This is usually why all my summer projects are done in the first week of September. But now there are going to be more days of school? That hardly seems fair. I for one read enough over the summer, and write, and I find that the extra reading and writing for school is a drag. I think that the first one or two days of actual class should be a quick recap on the subject, and I think that would solve most problems. While China, Japan, and South Korea may be out-performing American children in standardized tests, they actually go to school for fewer total hours a year than Americans, even though they have a longer school year. What Americans lack as a whole is enthusiasm. Most of these Asian children have been raised from a young age to believe that school is their future, they must succeed, et cetera, et cetera. They study for hours on end and throw themselves into their schoolwork. When this behavior is seen in America, we call it "Asian Syndrome" or "Asianitis" and call its "sufferers" nerds. How this enthusiasm will come about in America I have no idea. But this is how the global power shifts; in ten years when our generation enters the workplace, we'll be out-competed by the "Asian Syndrome Nerds" and some other Asian nation will become the dominant world power. If you ask me, I think it's already too late.

What is Obama Thinking

The proposal of having a longer school year is very inexplicable to me. Not very many people in my English class agree with it. I will not mention any names but somebody said a very strong statement, that i will not mention because of not wanting the FBI after me, obviously disagreeing with the statement of longer school years very strongly. There are good reasons to this statement, like being able to keep up with China and their technologies but with all the work, it will put too much stress on the student body. I feel that we do not even get enough time on summer vacation to chill with family and friends and go on vacation. The summer is usually over before I know it and I feel like i miss out on alot of fun. A good idea is to give the students little assignments for each topic so we do not forget the work and keep up on our studies. There is no need to have to go into school early every morning for longer than we already have to. The conclusion to the statement of longer school years is,"I wish i voted for McCain."

Banned Books

The subject of banned books is an extremely controversial subject and every time I think of it I immediately associate it with Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I am of the opinion that "a good library has something in it to offend everyone" and if people keep banning books because of religious or political bias, then we mind as well call in Beatty and the firemen to burn down our houses. People should be able to have access to all sorts of different information, even if it is not approved by a political wing, culture, or other groups. Our right, as stated in the first amendment of the Constitution, is to have freedoms of speech and press. Also, some of these books deal with realistic topics, such as drug use, homosexuality, racism, and sex. People will be exposed to this sort of content at some point in their lives and these things exist in the real world. This is reality, whatever people might tell us when we are younger. Do we ignore these topics? Are we to ban books about this? Admittedly, there is an age limit for appropriate content, and I think that should be up to parents to determine when their child is able to view/read about certain topics. They should be able to decide, but should they decide their child should not read a book, they should not freak out about it, sue the school for teaching their students "inappropriate things," and then rally people via Facebook to do the same, and subsequently ban the book.

I don’t think that it is right to banned books because people should be allowed to choose what books they want to read. I think that if a school library doesn’t want young kids to read a book they just shouldn’t buy it, and I think that is parents don’t want their kids reading a book they just shouldn’t let them read it, but they shouldn’t try to ban it. I think that people who ban books come up with lots of reasons to ban books that aren’t actually true or as bad as they seem. People have even banned/challenged books for little kids such as Charlotte’s Web and Winnie-the-Pooh, which aren’t inappropriate. I think that if lots of books get banned then people won’t be able to read good books or classics that are very important to learn about.

I also don’t like Obama’s plan to make the school year longer. He says that kids lose what they learned over the summer, when in reality kids do have to work over the summer because they have things like summer reading. It would also make the schools need more money, when our country is already in debt. Some people have said that maybe making the school day longer would be better, but I don’t think this would be good either. Kids are encouraged to do extracurricular activities such as clubs or sports, but if the school day was longer children would not be able to do things after school or wouldn’t get home until late. Also, kids get tired or bored by the end of the day so at the end of the day they wouldn’t pay as much attention if the day was long. If the school week was longer, like if kids had to go to school one day of the weekend, they would be more stressed out because they wouldn't have as much time to work on homework or projects or do things for fun.

Longer School Years?!?!?!

I disagree with the proposal of a longer school year because, if we did have a longer school year students could become very stressed by the extra work, they can become even more stressed because of the heat and for other reason. Another reason this isn't a good idea in my opinion is because if there is a longer school year then the school would have to spend more money, to pay the teachers and staff, to power the school, and to air condition the school. If we don't have enough money to buy new supplies within the school then why use the money we do have to extend the school year?I also believe like many of my classmates that it would cause the rate of high school dropouts to increase because of the stress and frustration caused by going to school for a longer time. If Obama wants to start a longer school year for competition reasons I'm sure their are other ways to get students to preform better academically. If parents helped and interacted with their kids and helped them ad urged them on they would be doing better. There are different ways to better the academics grades of a student.

who wants an 8 week summer?

With the issue of obama extending the scool year i feel slightly intimidated because of the possibility of having an additional month of school, obama argues the point that the extra month would be invaluable ,and that the rapidly developing countries such as india and china are rivaling our education levels .. there are also many valid arguments againsed the prospect.. in contrast im just waiting to see what happenes.

Education is good, but summer is better

President Obama recently had a press confrence about childrens education. He talked about how important it is to get a quality education and getting a college degree. But what if some people dont want to go to college? i mean people can still not to go to college and a fair paying job. But due to the economy college is less affordable for people. Obama did pass a bill to reduce the cost of tution. If obama is so concerned about other countries surpassing us in education he needs to chill! We have the nukes and the best military were fine, Finland is not going to surpass us. Also most kids in other countries come to america to learn and to go to college. Then they work here. If obama takes away summer vacation hes gonna ruin americas education. Everyone has so many memories of summer vacation and if he takes that away many are going to be upset. But what can i do aobut it....

Extended school year? Good luck with that.

As much as American children need to thrive in education, I seriously doubt that extending the American school year will make work properly. Many of America's public schools barely have the money to run as is, let alone for another 80 or so days (Sand Lake Elementary School closed this year, along with George Washington Elementary, and that's just within our small town). Also, I feel that the high school dropout rate would increase very much if this plan were to be put in effect. Perhaps a better solution would be to get better teachers to teach, and to take action and do something about the lack of kids attending school, and stop worrying about how to make it longer.

More school? I think not.

President Obama made an announcement, that he wants us in school year round. His reasoning was that we need to be able to be at South Korea's academic level. Well I've got news; more school won't make us learn more. South Korea has a strict discipline level when it comes to school work, they push their children to work harder than we can even comprehend. And if they think that putting us in a dull, boring, dungeon year round will make us learn more, they are dead wrong. There are students that go to school 180 days a year that don't listen to given imformation, so why do they think that they'll listen more if there's more school. Information wont get through to us and there will be even more drop outs than before.

blog 1

The best story i ever heard was accually at the start of this year. This story was told by Mrs. Gaboury. This story was about her daughter at the gas station. It started out as a simple gas station visit, but then i t turned horrific. Her daughter, along with everyone else in the car saw a rather large male come out of his car. The man stood beside their car. The story then goes bad. Her daugter shouted, "Mamma!!!!, Look at his BOOBIES!!!!!!" That was the best story i ecer heard, ever.

Longer School Year!?

I agree with only one reason why to make school years longer because it happens to me. During summer vacation I forget a lot of what I learned the past year because I am not using what I learned as much during the summer. But on the downside kids are really busy with sports and other things outside of school and making school days longer will add a lot of stress. Also having longer school days or a longer school year will increase the amount of dropouts. We should be doing better academically than Japan, South Korea, and Germany but I don’t think making the school days or the school year longer will help. If I had to choose though, I would rather have longer school years because I think longer school days would be WAY too much in a day. Plus students wouldn’t get as much sleep, which would start affecting their work.

Obamas prepesition to make the school year longer will just make things worse. As it is, there are already too many dropouts in america. By obama putting this law into order it will just increase the number of student dropouts do to the high level of stress put on students with the extra school hours. This stress unfortunally might cause more suicides. This would be tragic. This is why this law should not be passed.

blog 1

The best story I have ever heard was told at the begining of 9th grade. This story was told by mrs Gaboury, about her daughter. This story took place at gas station, and her daughter in the car along with everyone else saw a rather large man pumping gas. As the man was pumping gas mrs gabourys daughter looked at him and said " mama!!! look at his Boobies!!! That is one of the best storys I have ever heard.

A great book:)

The best book I've ever read would be a toss up between The Shack by W.M. Paul Young, and Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. Both of these books were written by fantastic authors who have an incredible talent for what they do. Both of these incredibly inspirational stories are a great read for anyone who's looking for a great story. The Shack is a tad complicated, but very much worth it, and Tuesdays With Morrie is short.

i dissagre with baning book accept for the teachers of young kids to pick books for them. once you are in the high school you should be able to pick your own book and not be told it is acceptable. books are a great way to learn and know what is going on in the real world. books should never be baned from public librarys because all ages of people go and want sertaint books.

banned books

For classics such as of mice and men,harry potter and even captain underpants to be challenged and attempted to be banned, in general, is slightly over exaggerating. However I wouldn't want my 9 year old sister reading a book about some serial killer slaughtering people, so i do support "restrictions" of certain books to younger childern that could interpret some of the books the wrong way, or if the books are just innapropriate... so to sum it up i think that all books should be in open circulation, but i thinks that its ultimately up to the parents to choose whether thier child can read a certain book or not.

Bannned Books?

I don’t think books should be banned, maybe some in middle school and elementary schools but not in any high schools or public libraries. High school students and adults can choose books for themselves and shouldn’t have books banned. Middle school students should have their parents approve of the book first if it is banned. And the majority of elementary kids don’t even like books in my opinion, they like picture books. I also am shocked at some of the books that are banned. I am especially confused on why in the world Charlottes Web could possibly be banned because I remember my elementary teacher reading it to me in third grade. What has the world come to, kids are starving in some places and people are more worried about what books kids are reading or should be aloud to read.

Banned book and longer school year!!

1.) There are many books that are banned in the world, such as the book called "the bluest eyes". It was the most challanged book in 2006, for its profanity,sexual refences and unsuitble for students to read.

2.) President Obama see that in the united state schools are profoming or are learning at an unsteady rate, while oversea Obama sees that there preformence is much greater and thinks that there should be more school time so that children in the united state's preformance increases. Obama's agenda is to add more money to schools for more school time. even though Obama has had resistance from teachers from the Nea and some people think this could be a problem for the future election.

Banned Books and Longer School Year

1. Some of the banned books should be banned, but some other books like Charlotte's Web by E. B. White shouldn't. Half of the banned books have reasons that they're banned and the other half doesn't have reasons. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne didn't have reasons why it's banned. I don't see what's wrong with a bear who likes honey. That book teaches the value of friendship. I think that books that are banned have inappropriate content and language, so children's books like Winnie-the-Pooh shouldn't be banned.

2. I think that making the school year longer is a good and bad idea. Students will improve, but at the same time do worser. It depends on what kind of student you are. Some people actually like school, but not going to school all year long. So, I don't think any of us students would like going to school all year or for more hours. There are already a lot of people who hate school, but they still go. Others drop out. We have a lot of people dropping out of school and if President Obama extends the school year, there will be more people dropping out. Maybe teachers should hand out more summer assignments, but extending the school year isn't a good idea.

There are many books that are banned these days and the line keeps getting longer and longer. One of the books I am mad that has been banned is called Uncle Toms Cabin. I am mad about this because this book teaches more than early raism in america, it teaches what a real friendship should be like. Even if you are facing hard times like the characters are in this book. That is why I believe that Uncle Toms Cabin should be un banned.

crazy people.

if you make the school year longer, expect waaay more dropouts.
we go to school 180 days a year. that good enough, and if we do have to have school go on forever... then we should make it start at like 12 in the afternoon, not 7 in the morning. if you want a better generation then you should let us get enough sleep to let us be awake in class. uhm, the average number of school days in other countries is 187 days. seriously, thats not much of a difference. the first 7 countries on the smartest countries in the world...ive never even heard of. if these countries are so smart then why hasnt anyone heard of them? because theyre not very successful! were the richest country in the world so we dont have anything to worry about.

Banned Books: Winnie the Pooh?

There ton of books that are banned and for good reasons, with one exception, Winnie the Pooh by A.A Milne, why is that challenged? I can understand that people probably don't want people going up to bears and think they're all friendly and what not. But I grew up with Winnie the Pooh, as did many others and we turned out okay. But to lump this book in with books like Catcher and The Rye and other inappropriate books is simply idiotic. This book deserves to be taken off of this list, because there is nothing wrong with a friendly bear that hangs around with a donkey, kangaroo, tiger, rabbit, and a pig. People should have a choice to let their child read this book, even if they want to risk giving their child psychological issues later in life, but that's their problem.

blog 2 banned books

Some books that are banned are ridiculous. For example, the book Huckleberry Fin, was banned for being "suitabke for the slums". This is a bad reason for banning a book because this book tells a story and is not only "for the slums". also the book Animal Farm was banned. i read this book and i dont see why this book is banned because it is really good and is not affending to any people i think. i think that people should be able to chose what books they want to read in school. If people think that the book is offending they should just stop reading.

No, i dont think that President Obama should be aloud to lengthen the school year. This would make many people upset because for one reason if the school year is longer parents who have kids in cathlic schools they will have to pay for an extra month of school which would cost a lot of money. Also, i think that kids desirve a 2 month break from school. If our school year got any longer i believe they many kids would get stressed staying in school for so long. The president wants to extend it because he says thay many advanced countries have longer school years then we do. i think that this is ridiculous because the US has always had a 10 month school year and we are doing just fine.

Banned Books

There have been may different banned classics from schools all over the US. The Catcher and the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a major example of a book that has banned all over. Schools have been removing this book from library shelves for a number of reasons. From excessive vulgar language to sexual scenes, Its been banned from Tulsa, OK. to Columbus OH. to Pittsgrove NJ. I have never read the book or have never heard of what it's about so I can't agree or disagree with this book being banned. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was also banned from many schools due to the fact that the book says the lord's name in vain many times and the book was at many different catholic schools. Other books that were banned surprised me such as Charlotte's Web by E.B.White and Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Miline. I have happened to read both in earlier years of school. I disagree that books should not be banned because everybody should have a chance to read a classic and having them removed is a shame. Most of the time for small reasons. I think they should put "banned" books in the older grades section in the library so younger kids don't read them and get the wrong idea about something.


President Obama wants to extend the school year by one month. He says that this on month will make a difference. He says the amount of money to extend to school would be money well spent. Obama is paying $31,000 to $32,000 a year for the private school his 2 daughters are in. He says D.C. schools are struggling and President Obama wants to help those schools out.

Greg Meyers Block 7

obamas perposal to promote a longer school year is in major thought in many states who have low test grades and attendence. in washington DC the public school system is lacking in many importaint subjects. obama is going to recrute 10,000 teacher who are specilized in math science english and tectology.

The idea of banning books, is epically idiotic.

Who's crazy idea was it to ban books? Many of the classic stories I loved as a child and still love are being questioned. Winnie the Pooh. Really? Winnie the Pooh? What is so terribly corrupt and damaging about Winnie the Pooh that they feel the need to strip it from libraries and schools? Also, I question the reasoning for banning books. I understand the right for parental discrepancy, but authors have the absolute right to express themselves within the text they create. Just because a book has "foul language", or "explicit sexual content" it should be removed? Apparently none of these people have ever watched a common television program. So, for those who think books should be banned, you can prevent your children from reading them, I'll just read them anyway, and thank you for your unwanted opinion.

Blog 2

I dont think books should be banened from schools or public libraries. When you check a book out, it is at your own opinion of what you would like to read. If you like to be challenged, you should be able to pick out a book that fit your reading level. A good example of a banned book woulld be the Bible, because it has many different views from many different religions and beliefs. Adults and students should able to read any book they choose, and if they find that the book is offending or insulting, they should just stop reading it.

I do not think that presdent Obama should extend the school year becuase students work hard for 9 straight months. Students should atleast get 2 and a half months off for a break and relaxing.The downside to a summer vacation is the students forget how to do everything, and parents with students that are young have to pay for a day care or baby sitter. these are my views on banning books and Obamas debate to extend the school year.

Catcher in the rye , Ban or not ban

The ALA has every reason to ban books innapropriate for children. But some books like harry potter and others that i read as a child are being challenged. Catcher in the rye is a great example. It has been challenged many times and has been banned for many years now. I can see why they banned that book back then becasue the man who shot john lenon was upsesseed with this book due to its violence. The main character says god damn alot. I think there should be an age limit on some of these banned books and that high school students should have the choice to choose what books they read and learn about.

banned books/ obama

there are many books that are banned for multiple reasons every year. i disagree no matter why the book is banned. for example the book uncle toms cabin should never be banned cuz it is a book and every book teaches a lesson and tells a different story about the same thing some can be more graphic than others but it teaches a lesson and the lesson can be more powerful. the book uncle toms cabin made people realize the lesson of segregation all the way back then in the 1800's. I dont think any book should ever be banned there should just be an age that people can read some books. So if there is an age that people have to be. it makes it better so kids will be at the right maturity level to read some books/ novels.
I do not think you should make school longer. if u make school long people will get lazy and do do their work because everyone needs a break. also their wil be more drop outs. i think the school program right now is pretty good i wuldn't change anything

uhh.no.

goosebumps is banned? thats stupid. books shouldnt be banned. the person buying the book should be responsible enough to see what theyre reading and if they dont think theyre "ready for it" then they shouldnt get it. also books shouldnt be banned from little kids because theyre parents should be watching what theyre kids are reading. list of books that are or were but shouldnt be banned
goosebumps series
little red riding hood
a wrinkle in time
bridge to terabithia
harry potter
how to eat fried worms
huckleberry finn
james and the giant peach
tom sawyer
and lots more i never heard of.

America vs. The World: Education

I fully support what Obama wants to do. America needs an education reform. Because we are behind other countries, American companies and businesses are repeatedly hiring non-American workers. Which is because they have more education than Americans. Which is because school is too short (blasphemy!). However instead of changing the length of the year, we could lengthen the day, or possibly just get the other states that are behind, such as Arizona, Texas, etc. up to speed with the other states such as Connecticut or Vermont. At the end of the day America needs to wake up and get ahead.

Banned Books

Many books have been banned over the years. One book that has been banned is the classic book, Huckleberry Finn, which if you ask me, I think is rediculous. It has been said that this book is "trash and suitable only for slums." That is a very stupid statement and is mainly an opinion. They also said that "Huck not only itched but scratched," and that he said "sweat" when he should have said "perspiration." Although i think that these are obsurred statements to ban a book, i guess they are ok reasons for other people. The conclusion of banning books is probably the dumbest thing someone could do because of the freedom of speech that we are allowed to have.

Will Our Summer Be Gone?

The school year last for 180 days, from September to June. Will it go to 110, cutting our summer in half? Why is this even considered a possibility for the kids of the U.S.A.? That's because our President claims that the only way to compete with foreign kids for jobs and paychecks, is longing our school year out through July, or longing the school hours. This is just not right to kids here. What will happen to our sports if our day in school goes longer? Will after school activities be a possibility if school goes to 4, or 5, or even 6 o'clock? Our summer will be gone soon if he longs the school year. We work 180 days and change in school just to find ourselves in summer, freedom. We will have less to time to spend with friends and family. Less time to do sports or other clubs. Won't this cost more in our country for every school in the country to go on for another month? There are issues of longing the school year, including for the students themselves. It's just not a good idea.

Mixed Feelings About Obama's Reasoning

When I first heard about Obama's idea of lengthening the school year, I reacted just as any other American student would. Ten months of school is long enough, so why make it even longer? However, I can see his reasoning. America is filled with smart people, but our there are other countries that receive longer amounts of education, such as China. China is in school a month longer than we are. This is proven, as a study shows that there are more honor students in China than America has students. This is an alarming fact, in my opinion. Sure, jokes are made about how everything is "Made in China", but if so, China is pretty successful in my eyes. If American were to receives just a bit more education, who knows? Maybe that is best for our country.

Just because the length of our school year is extended, that doesn't neccessarily mean that we would be receiving any more education than what we already are. I think the quality of teachers has a big impact on the intelligence of our nation's students. It's one thing to be in school for a longer period of time, but if we aren't receiving any more education, then there really is no point. You also have to consider the feelings of teachers. Teachers spend a lot of their personal time helping students out, and I can only imagine how stressful it must be to work with a student who is not willing to learn. That is also a problem. We are lucky enough to live in a country where we are allowed an education. However, there are many students who take this for granted and don't try their personal best. Can you imagine what it would be like if everyone tried a little harder in school? It would pay off.

I am not saying that I totally agree with Obama's proposal to extend our education, but I understand why he feels this way. But, in reality, it is up to us, as the students, to absorb the education we are being given and to be willing to learn. We are the future of America, and I think it would be helpful if we we continued to be show our intelligence.

Personally, I don't think that books should be banned. People should be able to read what they want to when they want to. Books should never be banned from public libraries or schools because communities and schools should be able to choose what they would like to read. Banning books from younger readers is mostly an effort to shield young readers from the real world but kids need to know about the real world so that they can find out how the world works. Young readers should need permission from their parents to read certain books but other than that young readers should be able to choose what they want to read.

Hypersensitive People Want to Take Over Your Mind

As I read the list of banned books, on thought repeatedly comes to mind: get a life people!

Okay, I understand, you wouldn't want a six-year-old reading just anything, but other accusations are really out there, like Winnie-the-Pooh. Winnie-the-Pooh? What is so mentally corrupting to the point of affecting children forever about Winnie-the-Pooh?

'The Lord of the Rings' is banned because it is supposedly Satanic. If you think that 'The Lord of the Rings' is supporting Satan-worship, you missed the point.

The best accusations are those on foul language. These self righteous people obviously haven't heard a conversation between average teenagers in the past 50 years.

If a book is blatantly advocating violence, go ahead, ban it. Otherwise, stop trying to be the thought police.

Longer School Year?

When I first heard that Obama wanted the school year/day extended, I wasn't happy. Who would want to spend their summer doing homework and learning? And isn't 7:45 to 2:16 long enough? However, if you really think about it, he's got to have a reason to make such a big a decision. Although I don't like it, he might be right. The United States is supposed to be a leader to the rest of the world. And we are in many aspects...except for our education system. Sadly, we actually rank at about 24th in the world.While countries like China and India continue to advance, US students are dropping out left and right, ignoring assignments, and sleeping through their classes. This is scary. These countries could take over the world with the amount of power they are gaining.
As a student, I can say that actually doing ativities helps me learn better. Labs in science class help me to remember information, and understand certain concepts more easily. I think that when a class is fun, but under control, most students (myself included), will leave knowing more, liking school, and in a good mood.
However, I'd really like it if Obama makes the change in 2015....

I completely disagree with banning books. Why should other people be able to choose what other people are allowed to read. It should be the persons choice. Many of the classic books do have some language that wouldn't be considered right in this time. But that was just the time period and that is what happened. If they were rewritten to be considered proper that would be changing the facts. They are kept like this to not change history people should be able to know what went on with out it being a problems.

Longer School Year

The extending of the school year is a really bad idea. I do not think that putting kids in school for an extra month would help to learn at all. At fist everyone would be really upset about it and just give up. Kids want to relax during the hot summer months and their attention would be easily lost by sitting in school. Another problem with this idea is that it would cost a lot of money to keep schools around the country running for an extra month and we really can not afford to spend money right now. There have to be other solutions to getting a better education. Schools could stay open for an extra hour a day, but this would also cost more money and kids would still lose their concentration. I think that a way to help children learn more is to make sure that the best teachers are teaching. More extensive tests could be set up to challenge teachers and to see if they really are capable of teaching well. Personally, I learn a lot more if I really like the teacher and the way that they teach.

Books Should Not Be Banned

Books should not be banned. If an author wants to express their feelings, contreversial or not, they should be able to. What happened to freedom of speech? Huckleberry Finn is banned because it shows that blacks are equal to whites. This is unacceptable. Authors should be able to show the injustices of racism or other problems of the world. I disagree with books being banned. Books should never be banned. Not in libraries, not in schools. People have a right to read books on any topics, whenever and wherever they want to. I think younger readers should be steered away from banned books, but if their reading levels are high enough, they should be able to read books like To Kill a Mockingbird and Tom Sawyer. Books should not be banned for anyone, not young kids, not adults, nobody. People should have access to any books they want, even if they are on contreversial topics.

Always keep it delicious.

Banned books...

I personally dont agree with books being banned. People are banning books like the Holy Bible. I think that this is completely rediculous that a religious book is banned. I know that the Bible contains death and other dark topics but the bible is very important to many peoples lifestyle. Also, many classic books such as Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are banned. This is comletely illogical in my mind. People have been reading these books for many many years and no one has had a problem with them until now. I think that people who are trying to ban books are causing problems where there aren't any. I also think that books should not be banned for language. The language in the books can't be worse than what is heard on the streets.

Banned Books

Wow... some of these books that have been banned this week are absurd. Whinnie The Pooh? I disagree with this whole idea of banning books. It has no point, and I don't get it. Bringing back the subject of Whinnie The Pooh, I don't undestand why that has to be banned. Is it because Eeore is depressed and it will encourage little kids to become depressed? If that's the reason, then why wasn't it ever banned before, and permanently? I also just read that the Cat in the Hat is banned because his hat is supporting communism. Again, absurd. In conclusion, I disagree with this altogether, because I believe that pretty much no one cares if the Cat in the Hat is a Communist, or Whinnie The Pooh wants small children to run away from home. People enjoy all stories, fantasy and completely unrealistic or just nonfiction and interesting. So people should be free to read whatever they like, and think what they want about the story. It is after all, a free country. Speaking of country, this brings me to the next subject: president Obama wants to extend the school year to another month.
I'm not sure how I feel about this subject. I mean, of course as a student, I love my summer vacation to be as long as it possibly can be, but I realize that the United States is falling behind educationally. Obama has been meeting with other country leaders and theyhave noticed as well about our country's continuous dumbing down. If anything, I wouldn't mind an extension to the school day in the afternoon. We get up plenty early, so if we add an extra hour to each day, at the end of a regular school year we'll have completed one extra month. However I also realize that because of sports, it's nearly impossible to do so. Eleven months if you ask me, is a little long for a school year. If we absolutely need to add that time, then I suppose I can't fight back. The government will never listen to children anyway, which is bull.

Why Should Books be Banned?

Its a wrong thing to ban books for there are so many great ones out there! I know there is many banned books on those lists that I read myself, I mean Winnie the pooh being banned, everyone reads that when they're little, that ridiculous! In these books, I know there are innapropiate languge or violence, but to take them away from peoples hands and ban them, thats not right. I mean, everyone has read the book like Harry Potter. There is withchcraft in there, but it gives kids an imagination in life and its really enertaining. I feel banning books, and even going to the point of burning books in public, thats terrible. We all know its a very dark series, so parents should let their children read them at an older age, not when their 6. Even Clifford the Big Red Dog is banned for Clifford is red supporting communism, are you serious? There so many stupid reasons the AlA bans books, and I feel its just stupid. Cat in the Hat because disrespect of authority? I feel banning books is just wrong.

Banned Books

I do not think it is right that some books are banned. People can not be forced to read a book so if someone does not want to read the book they do not have to. Most of the books on the list are banned or challenged because of profane language, but some of them were written a long time ago when the language was more appropriate. I do not think that books should ever be banned, even in public libraries and schools. People should be allowed to read anything they want and if the book is inapproriate for children their parents should keep them from reading them. If libraries are really concerened about children reading something that is inapproriate they can put a sticker on the book, marking it as a banned book.

banned books

books that are banned are usually harmful or digressing to the public and could possibly show opinions, and banned for many possible reasons. many of the books are usually banned because it was written about a particular race, controversial event or topic that is of debate. like about gay marriage. these books are liked by many people, and there was a many oppisitions some of the people brought out the dark side of the books like winnie the pooh for example, they thought of the book as influencing juvenile deliquency, because they ran away ? i think that some of the books were correct about being banned. books like how to commit suicide. thats just messed up.
banning books should be a process of thinking about the real meaning of the book and if its influencing opinions that are harmful, and not just banning things because they think it going to do something...

Banned Books... To Be Banned or Not To Be Banned

Authors use books to express their thoughts and feelings on a certain topic or whatever is on their mind. It sometimes be seen as offensive to others, the books and their messages. However, books are examples of freedom of speech, which is a first amendment right. While looking through the list of banned and challenged books, I realized how ridiculous it was to have some of the listed titles either be banned or challenged. What does it even mean? "To be banned." Who's right is it to say what is or isn't banned? Basically, some people got together and came up with a list of stories that express or promote feelings or ideas that may not be agreed with by all. They can be considered offensive or not appropriate to be read. But you know what? Everyone has the right to read what they choose to. In a way, that's a reason why people read. The freedom to read what they want. Reading books allows people to escape from their troubles and get lost in another world. So the fact that classic books, such as Winnie-The-Pooh, are banned, this makes you think if their is any freedom left to write what you believe in. Overall, I think banning books because of their content is ridiculous. If the people who don't like these stories ban them, then they should just go out and write their own stories.

Banning Books.
This week in National Banned Book Week. Some of the Banned Books are To Kill Mockingbird, The Cacther in the Rye, the Twilight S is series, and the notorious Harry Potter Series. The Harry potter Series is on the top of the ALA Banned Book List. The main reason for this is because of the witchcraft and wizardy in the story. Some of the books on the list, I can sort of understand why they would be put there. One of the books that was banned is The Giverby Lois Lowery. I can understand why this book might be banned. I found this book very twisted and really strange. They killed babies in it..yeah. Just a bit wrong, I know. Whinnie The Pooh is also banned. I think that is ridiculous. Pooh is a classic book and it's just awesome. They don't do anything bad or wrong in the books. He's a stuffed bear of Christopher Robbins. Harry Potter is also banned, as is Twilight. Twilight because of it's religioous views and 'sexual themes.' Harry Potter because of it's witchcraft and wizadry. I think that those are very stupid reasons for a book to be banned. To Kill a Mockingbird is also on the banned book list because it is considered racist. The book does have some racism in it, but it is just telling us how the world really is. I like some of the books on the list and I don't see why they are banned. I find banned book week ridiculous and some of the books on the list should not be banned.

Banning Books Can Be... Good?

When I first thinking about banning books, I was full out "free-the-books, words for everyone, let them read" attitude. However, after reading over a list, well, lists of banned books (it got a little obsessive) I actually began to realize that perhaps I could actually understand, and even support the banning of some books on the lists. I'm not all for holding information from people for hatred, or control people. However, when books will cause negative fallout for people or businesses or associations, I will flat out support the challenging of those books. Imagine that someone writes a book about you, talking about every bad thing you've done. It's all completely true, factual, and pretty-well researched. Now, any person with a little pride would openly oppose the book, saying that its degrading to them, that its causing people to act differently around them. It sounds like a pretty good reason for banning a book, right? The author will say, "Well its all factual, and people have a right to know this information." I don't think so. At the point that people are going to be affected negatively by the publishing of the book, I think that those people deserve the right to challenge the book, and maybe even have it banned.

I'll digress, now think of books that are written that negatively portray businesses and corporations. It's the same thing isn't it? If those businesses are going  to end up losing business, revenue, and dignity due to that book, I think that the same applies. After all, businesses are just people working together in the same employment, those people are trying to make a living too. For example, take the author John Steinbeck. His novels talk about the evil and dishonesty of companies during and after the Great Depression. Someone could argue that those businesses deserved the exposure, because of their unethical actions. You have to think of the big picture. Not only is John Steinbeck opposing the businesses, by not specifying any businesses, John Steinbeck is creating an overall anti-business feeling. Businesses that aren't participating in unethical actions may be experiencing negative fallout due to John Steinbeck's novels. That isn't exactly fair to them. For an example even farher away on the spectrum, consider Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neal-Hurston. Her book was banned because of the phoenetic misspellings of the words in her novels made her characters appear subliminal, and unintelligent. If people banning Neal-Hurston's book feel that her book will cause negative fallout for African Americans, I feel like it should be banned.

All of this has to be taken with a grain of salt. There are books that are creative, informative, and interesting which are being banned, and I will support the reinstatement of those books. Often, people seem to oppose books simply because they oppose the satirical concepts the book includes. Sometimes books are banned simply so that a group can get their voice out. It can be  more concept than action. I support that. I think that with the issue of banning books, we can't rush to attack the banning of books, or to full out support them. The banning of books can only appropriately operate on a case-to-case basis. And if it is taken case-by-case standard, banning books can be an extremely productive process.

Banned Books...Not Sure Where I Stand

I am actually not sure where I stand on this Issue. While I can see why some books are banned, I'm not sure why people should not be able to read what they please. I agree with some books being unavailable to immature audiences, I believe that people who can handle, understand, and are mature enough for the books, should be able to read them. I think that books that portray hatred towards other should be banned, but books banned for vulgarity and and sexual content should just be kept for mature audiences only. I can point out that a lot of the books were banned back in the early to mid 1900's, which was a MUCH more conservative times, so some of the banned books that were banned for language or content are not as bad as banned books that are banned today. For example, Annie on My Mind is banned because it is about to teenage girls who fall in love with each other and struggle with coming out, and it is banned, simply becuase of homosexual content. I believe that is wrong. But, with a book like Lolita, About child rape, I think that should be banned.

Banned Books!

Banned Books
I don't believe that books should be banned for a variety of reasons. If a parent or school official has a problem with a book make sure your child doesn't read the book or have it removed form the school district library. I feel that if a book is banned then it is banned because someone noticed something and didn't approve of something and got others to agree with them and work to get rid of it. The book that I am supremely against banning Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. This book is banned because of offending words regarding African Americans and because of the relationship described between the masters and their slaves. I also think that they shouldn't ban books written during a certain time period with historically accurate language and events because the writers were just adding things that really happened or something that was really said of done during a certain time period. I also don't believe that books should be banned because if a book is banned it can take away someone else's chance of reading a book they may enjoy and not be offended with. all in all i am against banning books and support reading banned books and ignoring those who do all that they can to take books off the shelves. http://www.coverbrowser.com

Making School Longer

President Obama wants to make school longer, and I don't think that's going to help our education system. Students are already tired when school is almost over, so add a couple more hours wouldn't help them learn; they'd all be in class sleeping or zoned out. Also sports need that time after school to practice. It would also separate families, giving them less time to spend time with each other. Another approach was to extend the amount of school days, cutting into summer vacation. No kid is going to want to sit inside the hot stuffy school when they know that they could be outside enjoying summer. It's not about giving more time for students to learn, it should be about improving the quality of the learning.

NO MORE DISCRIMINATION IN BOOKS!

Brothers and sisters, aren't all books created equal? Who are we to say that this book shouldn't be allowed in schools? Or that some other book should be? Who died and made us king of the books? If I want to read "Grapes of Wrath," gosh darn it I will. I don't need some all powerful book council telling me what I can and can't read. I say no more bans, let kids and adults alike decide what books they want to read. If Little Johnny decides to read such and such, I say we let him. Sure, we could provide some ratings to help guide children like him to better book choices. But we shouldn't go overboard. If someone really wants a book, they can get it anyway. So if they ban something, it doesn't really do anything. So we should just stop it. This message was sponsored by The Book Banning Council. Just kidding.

Welcome Freshmen!

This year we will be working on blogging! Woo-hoo!

There are a few rules.

When you get a computer you must sit at a desk and it (the computer) must remain on a flat surface. :)

You must be responsible in what you say, nothing rude or disrespectful.

You must post a response, hand write a response, or type and email me a response each time this is assigned. If you do not complete your thoughts, please save what you are writing so you can come back and edit, please remember to come back and post it.

You will be presented with a question and you must write about it in a thoughtful manner. You should write your response in a word document and save it to your student folder, then copy and paste. (SAVE all work in case the computer goes wonky.)

Feel free to read others students' post and comment on them in a healthy respectful manner.

These are graded, so please take time to edit and formulate thoughtful posts.

TODAY'S POST: What is the best story you have ever heard or read? Why? What do you like to read?


Enjoy! This is meant to be a creative approach to communicating ideas and interacting with all of my other classes, breaking down the classroom walls, so to speak.

V. Gaboury

The best book that I ever read was The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. Sarah Dessen is such an amazing author and I have read a lot of her books but my favorite by far is The Truth About Forever. I really enjoyed this book because it was about a teenage girl named Macy and I could really relate to her. Macy is shy, like me and in this book she came out of her shell and opened herself up to new people and experiences. In doing this she made a lot of new friends and stopped letting people push her around. I really like how Sarah Dessen can make a character seem real so that her readers can relate to them. This is why Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite authors and why The Truth About Forever is my favorite book.

Don't Read This

Congratulations. You have taken the next step to not being lame.

Anyways, the best book I have ever read is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This book was fast-paced, exciting, and a real page turner. Double points for the teacher's pet term!! But seriously, it was a really good book. Suzanne Collins kept the reader interested with violence, killing, and a little romance without turning into those repulsive sap stories. The book was well written, and the setting was realistic enough that the reader could imagine it, unlike other books set in the future. So yeah, it was a good book. I like to read fiction novels and sports novels. I like the Demonata series, which I recommend to anyone who likes gore. But only if you like gore. If you don't, stay away from this book.

Always keep it delicious.

The Life of Pi

The best book I've ever read woud definitly be Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The book has a very original plot, about a boy lost on the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat; the only complication is that he must share this small lifeline with a fully grown Bengal tiger. The story is filled with symbolism from start to finish, which all connect to several overarching themes present throughout the story. The relationship between the boy, Pi, and the tiger, Richard Parker, is an important and often humourous part of the book. Suggesting a survival book as my all time favorite would suggest that I also enjoy the survival genre, which I do, but I vastly prefer sci-fi and fantasy books. Their fantastical approach to life can be, with the right book, a window into another world.

The House of Stairs

My favorite book of all time would have to be House of Stairs by William Sleator. I read and did a book report on this in 7th grade, and it continues to be a memorable book for me.
It is a story about five teenage orphans who are taken from their orphanage and put in a place with no visible walls, ceiling, or floor; only endless staircases. Their only source of food is a little red machine that requires the kids to do certain activities in order for them to receive food. At the beginning of the story, the machine gives the teenagers food whenever they stick their tongues out at it. As the story advances, they are forced to do more elaborate things to receive food. Eventually, the machine only gives the orphans food when they treat each other cruelly. It progresses to the point where some of characters are physically harming each other in order to obtain food. Other characters reject the pressure to give in to the machine’s inhumane requests.
I like House of Stairs because it shows how terrible some human beings will treat each other in order to satisfy themselves. It offers an important life lesson and reminds readers to maintain good character even in difficult situations.

Found

The best story I've ever read was Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix. In the beginning of the book there is an airplane that shows up at an airport unscheduled and in every passenger in the plane happens to be a baby. Then the book starts to focus on two children named Jonah and Chip who find out that they are adopted. When they start getting mysterious notes, they find themselves being connected with they FBI. I chose this book because I liked Haddix's “Shadow Children” Series which included Among the Hidden which is also one of my favorite books. My favorite book genres are science-fiction and horror.

The fire within

I read the book in 6th grade and its about a man named David Rein and the fact that he was just an ordenery guy looking to graduate from collage and become an author, until he rented a room to go to collage from a lady named Elizebeth Pennykettle and her daughter lucy Pennykettle. The pennykettles made a living by making clay dragons. But David had noticed that these dragons are much more than clay there little floating figures. Liz made hime one of these small clay beings and David had named it, gadzooks, the dragon had then helped daivid write a story about the squrill in the back yard that lucy Pennykettle had named snigger. Eventully the book was published and became a hit ( sorta like a story inside a story)

My Sister's Keeper

The best book I’ve ever read is My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I really liked the way the book was setup. Every chapter was from the point of view of a different character, so you could see all sides of the story. This book would most likely be considered realistic fiction, which is what I usually enjoy reading. My Sister’s Keeper was recently made into a movie. I personally liked the book a lot more. The ending of the book and movie were very different. I liked the books ending because, in my opinion, it gave the story more meaning.
My Sister’s Keeper is about a young girl, who’s sister is suffering from leukemia. The young girl, Anna, was born to be a donor for her ill sister, Kate. Anna says she is tired of giving away all of her organs to her sister, and goes to Campbell Alexander, a lawyer, in search of medical emancipation from her parents. Anna and Kate’s mother, Sara, is against Anna being medically emancipated, and refuses to give her the freedom she asks for. Sara is have a lot of difficulty excepting the fact that Kate is near death and will do anything to save her child. Anna may seem selfish to let her sister die, but an unexpected twist proves that Anna is just the opposite.
My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult, will keep your interest until the end. It may make you cry at times, but it’s characters show us what the true meaning of family is.

The best story I have ever read was called Tangerine by Edward Bloor. It was about a boy named Paul Fisher who is the neglected one in the family compared to his superstar place kicker brother erik. Paul thinks he was born blind but what really happened is his brother erik sprayed white spray paint in his eyes with his friends, which eventually is a huge turning point in the book when paul finds this out. Overall it was my favorite story and I encourage all of you to read it.

The Hunger Games

The best story I have ever read or heard is undisputedly The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. But before I continue – to those of you (the few, the unfortunate) who have not yet had the chance to read this AMAZING book, you have been forewarned: wild spoilers roam unchecked and unhindered ahead.

The first thing that attracted me to The Hunger Games was the refreshingly original storyline. With modern fantasy of the day slowly degenerating into four or five stories retold a quintillion times over, it was a treat to read a book with a completely different storyline. (Take Eragon for example – great book, a bestseller, but clearly Star Wars set in Tolkien’s Middle Earth with dragons instead of Force abilities and terrible, horrendous geography.) Who ever thought to write a book where kids kill each other for the sake of entertainment? Since I read much of the popular teen fantasy and sci-fi books out there, it was great to have a book like The Hunger Games. Also, I liked the way that Collins described Katniss Everdeen, the main character. Another failing of the fiction genre as a whole is its annoying habit of making main characters into almost god-like people, who automatically and irrevocably attract the opposite sex, are easily forgiven, everyone loves them, and they solve their problems with a snap of their finger. BO-RING! I never feared once that Katniss would fall into this territory.

So if you’re looking for a compelling read with a dark, original storyline, terrible tragedies, and even worse meaningful names (yes, I see you Panem, as in panem et circenses and Katniss, a real plant with the common name of arrowhead), I suggest you read The Hunger Games. I guarantee you will not put that book down and you will read and read and read even if you hate reading until you finish it. It is that good. I swear.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

My favorite book of all time would definitely have to be The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom. This story is one that makes you think. Basically, a elderly man named Eddie is working at an amusement park, when a ride breaks down, endangering lives. He gives his own to save the life of a little girl. His journey to heaven consists of meeting five people that had a significant impact on Eddie's life. These people vary, from the man who ended up dying from a stroke while avoiding young Eddie running out into the road, to Eddie's beloved wife, Marguerite. I love the fact that this is a book that makes you realize that even the smallest moments in life have a lasting effect on you. There are flashbacks throughout Eddie's epiphanies that prove everything happens for a reason. The entire book is entertaining, and although it is sad at some parts, it is definitelty worth reading.

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She was dead, but not gone

The absolute best story I have read ever was "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold. Discovered first by movie, I wondered if it was ever based on a book like how most movies are now, which I later found to be true. After re-reading the story, I officially gave it the title of my favorite book. The book is an definite murder mystery that isn't at all what first comes to mind at the word 'murder'. Instead, it's a story of a young girl, with a full life ahead of her and who crosses path's with a crazed man who is set on destroying it all by one fatal decision, either to kill or not to kill her.

North

The best book I ever read was North, by Donna Jo Napoli. I read it a long time ago but I still remember what it was about and how the story went. It is about a boy, named Alvin, who is fascinated by the life of an arctic explorer, who co-discovered the North Pole. He lives in Washington D.C., where he runs away from his mother and great-grandmother, to follow his hero and travel to North Pole. He uses trains to get to Canada, where he travels to Churchill, where he meets Inuit people and they help him get to the Arctic Circle. There, he joins forces with a trapper and learns how to survive in the cold. They face many difficulties like polar bears and wolves. I like this book because it had a lot of action in it and the author used a lot of detail to tell the story. Also, it was a realistic fiction book and those are the kind of books I like to read. I also like to read historical fiction because they are about real events that have actually happened but with a little twist.

best book series

The best book(s) I ever read were the Alex Rider series. The first book Stormbreaker i read in 5th grade and i read the second to last book Snakehead for 9th grade summer reading. I enjoyed this series because i found it interesting and the books dont die out from beginning to end, they stay consistent the entire book. I hope more come out because I enjoy the series very much.

Meaghan Brennan

the best book i have ever read was Dear John by Nicholas Sparks.I chose this because i love Nicholas Sparks. Yeah, corny but he is an awesome author. I loved this book because it wasnt the usual love story. It didnt end up a happy ending. I am continuing to read more of his books.

Someone Like You- Sarah Dessen

This book was about two teenage girls that are best friends. One of the girls, Scarlett, is pregnant and her boyfriend died while she was pr egnant. She has to deal with everything on her own, especially with her not so supportive mom who keeps telling her to get an abortion. She is very stressed and in the middle of this her best friend , Halley, is changing into a different person. Halley is very goody goody and then she gets asked out by a mystery boy who is very rebellious. So Halley turns very rebellious too. This book is very good and is deffinitely one of my favorites.

Blog #1

The best book I've ever read was Swallowing Stones by Joyce McDonald. This book was very interesting and a page turner. It was about a boy names Michael who, on the the Fourth of July, shot a shot gun, and the bullet flew a few blocks over and shot a man who was doing work on his roof at the time. This bullet killed the man, who was the father of a girl named Jenna. Jenna goes to school with Michael, and they know each other. Police start suspecting that Michael is the killer of Jenna's father. Jenna is determined to find out who killed her father, and get revenge on that person. No one knows that Michael killed Jenna's father, and the guilt is killing him. This book was intriguing to read, and I never wanted to put it down.
My favorite genre to read is romance and suspense. I like to read suspensful stories because they keep me wanting more. They are also usually very interesting and have a good story line. Swallowing Stones had both romance and suspense, which made it a great book overall.

Go Ask Alice

Go Ask Alice, was a diary of troubled teen dealing with pressure of drugs and alcohol and high school. The book was Alice’s own personal diary and published by an anonymous author after she died of a drug overdose. Through the diary Alice shows how she starts of as an average teenager who, like most girls, is trying to lose weight and become popular. As soon as Alice’s diet finally starts working and she begins making friends and even dating, her world is ripped from under her feet when her father announces that there moving. An upset and angry Alice slides back into her misfit attitude and starts to gain weight, but these are the least of her problems.
Shortly after moving, Alice pays a visit to her grandparents back home where she reunites with some former peers from her old school. There she discovers LSD, a lethal drug that sends her spiraling into the world of drugs and alcohol. After short periods on and off drugs she hits a new low when she runs away from home. There she loses track of time doing fatal drugs every day and drinking alcohol with under age teens like her. When she returns home she is sent to hospital where she is treated for her addiction and other diseases. After this life threatening scare it seems that Alice is finally off drugs and is focusing on family and friends. Although the diary ends with her content and safe at home the epilogue, written from the publisher’s perspective, shows that a while later Alice tragically dies of a drug overdose.
This book really resonates with me because as a teenage girl I understand the pressure to be thin and look good and also the pressure of alcohol. I thought it was interesting and different that the book was a diary and I also liked the mystery of it since we don’t know who published her diary and what actually happened to Alice in the later years of her life. This is one of the best most honest books I’ve read in a long time.

If You Come Softly

The best story ive ever read was If You Come Softly By Jaqueline Woodson. It was a story about two people who meet, feel an instantaneous connection, and fall in love with each other, despite the dissaproval of their parents, and the descrimination they feel towards them. You see, Ellie, is white, and Miah is black. They both come from different circles, and end up together. The story is happy, sad, and poignant. Its a metaphor for how we live and what we should strive to live like. The story sends a message about love, light, and living life to the fullest, because life is way too short to let it pass by.

The Mustard Seed

The best story that I have ever heard is a Buddhist story called, "The Mustard Seed." In the beginning, a woman's infant son dies. The woman is overcome with grief, and is unable to come to terms with the death of her son. The woman goes to the Buddha, and asks him how she is to gone on living when her son has died. The buddha replied that if the woman was to find peace with the death of her son, she would have to search the land, and take a mustard seed from a person who had never experienced the loss of someone they loved. The woman thanked the Buddha, and began her search.

She went into her town and went down a row of houses, and knocked on the door of the first house she came to. When the man inside opened the door, she asked, "Excuse, I am hoping to borrow a mustard seed, but I can only take from someone who has never experienced loss." The man, looked at her sadly, "I am very sorry," he said, "I would love to loan you a mustard seed, but my wife passed last winter, so I guess that I do not fit your criteria." The women asked for the man's pardon, and went on to the next house. She knocked on the door, and a woman answered. She asked the woman, "Hello, I have a very strange request, I need to borrow a mustard seed, but I am only allowed to if the giver has never experienced loss." The woman in the door looked forlorn. "I'm sorry," she replied, "But my father passed last year, I see that I am not able to loan it to you." The woman once again asked for her pardon, and then continued on her way.

The woman went all through the town, asking people if they had experienced loss, and if she could borrow a mustard seed. Everywhere she went, she was given the same answer. Sometimes it was a brother, a sister, a cousin, a daughter, a spouse, a son. Every time a different circumstance, but every person had lost someone. As she sat and rested, the answer came to the woman. Everyone experienced loss, and everyone was sad about it, but as time went on, everyone came to accept it was it was.

I like this story because it has a moral about acceptance. It shows that you can get through some of the toughest times just by accepting that what is, is. The Buddha's simple and compassionate answer showed the woman that loss is just another part of life, and death wouldn't be without life. The story contains a Taoist concept of seeing things simply in their true honesty- the death of the woman's son was nothing but, and there was no reason for her to continually mourn it.

Space Monkeys Ate My Brain

The title of this post actually has nothing to do with the actual post. I just figured that if I had an interesting title like that more people would read this. Anyway, the best story I've ever heard is a story about my sister. My dad says that when my sister was just a baby, he would sometimes stay home and take care of her while my mom was at work. This one time, he says she just started crying and wouldn't stop. He tried eveything to shut her up but it didn't work. Bottles, blankets, changing, food, burping, none of it worked. So he called my mom at work and told her to come home because my sister just wouldn't stop crying. So she leaves work, and my sister is still crying right along. But by the time she got home, my sister was fast asleep. I don't know why I like this story so much. Maybe because it makes my dad look dumb or my sister look like a troublemaker. Either way, I've heard this story a hundred times and still enjoy it. It could be the emotions, or the repetition, or even the image of it. On a side note, that wasn't the whole story because it actually is really long and detailed and I would rather not waste a beautiful day in front of the computer typing out the word "crying" 75 times. Because space monkeys might eat my brain.

The best book I have ever read

The best book that I have ever read is The Season by Sarah Maclean. The Season is a historical fiction romance mystery set during Regency England Era. The main character is Lady Alexandra Stafford Alex for short. Along with her friends the beautiful but smart Lady Eleanor Redburn and the exotic and perfect Lady Vivian Markwell. The VERY important character is Lord Blackmoor (Gavin Sewell) the Earl of Blackmoor. Gavin is the Handsome young man that all the young girls fawn over along with Alex’s three handsome and tall brothers. There is a mystery behind Gavin’s father’s death and his uncle, not to mention that boring book A History of Essex that must be in every household in the county. The Season by Sarah Maclean is a great romance that is well written and even better has mystery incorporated into it!!!!! Can a book be any better.

The best story I ever heard was about my great grandma. She's 91 and she's really healthy. She lives in China and I've visited her twice. To tell you the truth, she's in better shape than my grandma. My grandma fell down the stairs a couple of times and she can't really walk anymore. Meanwhile, my great grandma goes out for walks at 6:30 in the morning. She sometimes even jogs. This is all true by the way, my great grandma is stubborn. She also still climbs trees from time to time (without a ladder or anything). My dad tells the story all the time and I can tell he's proud of it.
I like this story because it's amazing. It's also not very believable, but my dad says my great grandma can prove it. If you've actually seen my great grandma you would believe the story. She doesn't look that old.
My favorite genres are fantasy and historical fiction.