Debate Activity

Debate #1: Abortion
1. Normally occur at political debates
2. The debate makes it so everyones opionion is heard
3. Yes because it creates a better decision because all aspects are seen
4. The debate is most likeley structured
5. This debate ensures that the majority of what the people want get.
Debate #2: Use of Steroids in Sports
1. Normally occurs when important sports figures talk
2. The debate talks about the safety and equality of the players in the sports
3. No because it should be based on health and not the equality of playing, the health of the players should be more important
4. The debate could be structured or unstructured
5. The debate could effect the players health and safety
Debate #3: The Use of Guns for Protection
1. Normally occurs at political debates
2.The debate allows all sides to contribute their opinions to their sides
3. Yes because both sides are very complicated
4. The debate is most likely structured
5. The debate could end up saving a lot of peoples lives if the right decision is made and new laws could be enforced
Debate #4: Having teens under the age of 18 only allowed 2 others in the car
1. This debate occurs at political debates
2. This debate allows each opinion to be analyzed and proposes a lot of info to be looked at
3. Yes because there is a lot of stuff to be considered when making a decision
4. The debate is structured
5. The debate could prevent a lot of teen involved accidents
Debate #5: Teens Curfews
1. This debate most likely occurs between a child and their parents
2. The debate gets across both the kids view and the parents
3. Yes because kids a lot of times have good points and should be allowed to share them
4. This debate is unstructured
5. The parents could change their mind after hearing the kids point of view

Outside Reading Book Week 2 Post 2

"Passion is passion. It's the excitement between the tedious spaces, and it doesn't matter where it's directed...passion and satisfaction go hand in hand, and without them, any happiness is only temporary..." (pg 57) This quote is very intriguing to me. I agree with this quote when saying that every person should have a passion because it is something they can focus on in their lives and then receive satisfaction when achieving a goal they set within their passion. In my book John's father's passion happens to be coin collecting and although John and his father don't get along John realizes that coins make him happy so he doesn't bother telling him how boring he thinks they are. In life you may receive happiness from small things in your life but you receive fulfillment from achieving happiness when it concerns something your are passionate about. In my life my passion is hockey and it is the best thing in the entire world when you succeed in hockey because it is something I care so deeply about, whereas if I did something worth honorable mention in a different sport or activity it wouldn’t matter to me as much because it’s not my passion. Also a passion is important to everyone because your passion can be anything you can imagine and you don’t have to be an expert or professional at it because making yourself better is what gives you satisfaction. Overall I think this quote is very inspiring to me and is something that everyone should keep in mind.

Outside Reading Book Week 2 Post 1

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Vocab:

1. Lapsed: to come to and end or stop (pg 43)
2. Portending: to indicate by prediction (pg 45)

Figurative Language

1. "'I mean he was smiling, just as happy as a kid could be.'" (pg 40) This is an example of a similie because its comparing his smile to the happiest kid ever.
2. "Above me, I could see Orion's belt; just over the horizon on the water, Venus had appeared and glowed a heavy white..." (pg. 41) This is an example of imagery because it paints a picture of the setting and uses very descriptive words.
3. "Surfing is a solitary sport, one in which long stretches of boredom are interspersed with frantic activity, and it teaches you to flow with nature, insteat of fighting it..." (pg 44) This is an example of a metaphor because its describing surfing in a connotative way and not very blunt.

Significant Quote

1. "Passion and satisfaction go hand in hand, and without them, any happiness is only temporary, because ther's nothing to make it last." (pg 57) This quotes significant because it explains John's idea on his surfing and is kind of making a connection with his father and his father's fetish with coins.

Emerging Theme

A theme that I can see emerging throughout this section of the book is the learning that each John and Savannah gain from being with eachother. Each will contribute to one anothers learning and will gain different perspectives on things.

Outside Reading Book Week 1 Post 2

Post B:
pgs. 0-38
So far in Dear John there have been clear examples that John (the main character) is having and internal conflict. In his mind he is struggling with the relationship he has with his father. He knows that his dad loves him very much by the way he makes him breakfast every morning no matter how disappointed he was at the decisions that John made such as drugs and drinking while he was a teenager. But he struggles at the fact that he and his father broke a bond that they had after an argument over his father’s coin collection. From that time on John’s dad seems to be a lot less talkative and show no physical love for John just the support in his heart but not vocally. After John joined the army his father wrote him every month but showed no intimacy or genuine support. I think that John is struggling because he wants to have a bond with his father but doesn’t know where to start in order to build one. I predict that while John is back staying at his father’s house that they will continue to grow closer and their relationship will be a sub-conflict of the story, and Nicholas Sparks will continuously refer to their conflict to show how both characters have matured and changed and to show their changing relationship. This is not the only conflict that will occur in the story but in the first 38 pages it is quite clear that this is one of the hardest things for John.

Outside Reading Book Week 1 Post 1

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
pgs. 0-38.

2 Vocabulary Words:

1. Estrangement (pg.12): to turn away from, to keep at a distance
2. Infantry (pg.17): A branch of the army used to fight on foot

3 Figurative Language Examples

1. "I was as blind as a snail, and as dumb as a camel..." (pg.12): This is an example of a similie because it is comparing the blindness to a snail and dumb to the camel.
2. "In time, the color of the ocean began changing form iron gray to orange, then yellow." (pg.22): This is a good example of imagery because it is very descriptive in defining the colors of the ocean.
3. "...I felt something click, like a key turning in a lock." (pg.27): This is another example of a similie because it explains how he felt in relation to an object.

Significant Quote

1. "He was, I've long since come to belive, a far better man [father] than I'll ever be." (pg.18): This quote is significant because it shows the true feelings that John has for his father. Although he describes his frusteration he has for his father, this quote is significant because it exemplifies the fact that he really deep down loves his father.

Emerging Theme

A consistant theme that I see emerging from the book is the maturity and self-reliability of John and how self-motivated John was as a kid and how it has helped him help himself while being in the army and living on his own.

Quarter 2 Outside Reading Book Approve

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Published in 2006

271 pages

This book is sufficiently challenging enough because it says that it has "temendous emotional depth". The story is deep and has extensive vocabulary that makes this book challenging.

I chose this book for 3 reasons. The first being that I have read Nicholas Spark's previous novels and have enjoyed them greatly. The second being that I really like love stories. The third being that it is a current novel relating to a significant situation that occured recently (9/11).