War of the Worlds Blog

 The War of the Worlds broadcast was very interesting. The broadcast made it seem like there was an actual alien invasion happening in real time. It was cool to kind of experience what it was like to listen to only sound in 1938. Entertainment back then was a lot different than it is today. We are very fortunate to have such advanced technology and forms of entertainment. Although the whole alien invasion ended up being fake, the broadcasters made it very believable that it caused the nation to panic. Because there was only sound and no images being broadcasted, the listeners could only believe what was being said and hear the horrible background sounds. The performers played their roles very well by dramatizing the whole situation. The occasional silence played very big roles in convincing the audience it was real. Silence is so important because it is so convincing to the listener. As you are listening to someone talk and then the sound abruptly cuts off, you think that the people talking have just been killed or taken away, or the line of the broadcast has been cut in order to interrupt communication to the outside world. 

The morning after the broadcast aired on the national radio, Orson Welles found himself to be the most talked about person in America. From coast-to-coast people believed that there really was an alien invasion. Many people in America became furious with Welles for deceiving them. There were reports of massive protests, suicides, and death threats directed at Welles. In countless interviews after the broadcast, the same question was asked: “Did he intend, or anticipate, that War of the Worlds would throw its audience into panic?”. Welles answered by saying that no one involved with the story expected to deceive anyone because they all thought it was too outlandish and improbable for people to believe. However, if I was in the same situation as the people listening to the radio in 1938, I probably would have believed the broadcast too. Because it was played out so well, it seemed believable. Although the story was the only thing people were talking about, it was not for good reasons. And I don’t think that Welles and his team thought that this broadcast would destroy their careers.

Reflection Post (Writing Center Reflection)

I went to the writing center to work on my Portfolio. I went with Sarah Collier to help discuss my Choice project for my Portfolio. When I went my goal was to ask her questions about how I could make my personal narrative better. When I got there I read the paper out loud to her. She told me that my significance was pretty good, but it could be better. She also told me that some things did not really seem like they were important and necessary information. We both saw that I did repeat a couple of words and phrases a couple times, however some of the words and phrases do not really have any synonyms, so I had to keep those the same. We both noticed on some sentences that I could word them better and make them flow better, so I edited those sentences. Overall, I feel that Sarah helped me see things that I could have done better, and when I made those changes I think my narrative turned out to be much better.

Choice Project

For my choice project I chose to revise a previous essay I wrote this year based on the feedback I received from my teacher. I chose to revise my personal narrative because it was the first essay we wrote all year and I received the lowest score on it out of any of my essays all year. I definitely feel like I could have done better, and by revising it I made some significant changes that I felt really improved the narrative. The choice of revising my narrative connects to my portfolio because it shows how I have grown as a writer. When I look back on the mistakes I made during the first I quarter, and realize how I could have avoided those mistakes with the knowledge I have received this year, it amazes me on how much I have improved my writing from the beginning of the year. I feel that revising my personal narrative went rather well. I used all the tips and new information that I learned this year to improve my personal narrative.

Reading Post

From the time of this summer to now at the end of my freshmen year, I feel like I am definitely a better reader. I have been able to accelerate my reading, so that I can read books faster and still comprehend what they are saying. This year in class we read Lord of the Flies, ATDPTI, Purple Hibiscus, and Macbeth. Outside of class I read Alex Rider: Skeleton Key.

So far in Purple Hibiscus we have seen how Kambili's and Jaja's lives have changed from before staying with Aunt Ifeoma in Nsukka and after their stay. Before Kambili and Jaja go to visit Aunt Ifeoma their lives are both dull and controlled. From the time Kambili and Jaja were born they had always lived under Papa's rules and known nothing different. Papa was extremely devoted to religion and God and he raised Kambili and Jaja the same way. Papa was very strict and Kambili and Jaja always had a schedule to follow. They were both expected to be the best in school and nothing less. If they ever disappointed Papa or sinned, Papa would beat them.
When they went to Aunt Ifeoma's house in Nsukka for a week, they realized how different life was their compared to life in with Papa in Enugu. Aunt Ifeoma is also a Christian like Papa, but not near as devoted to Christianity as Papa is. They find that Aunt Ifeoma's house is more lenient with religion than their house in Enugu. After staying with Aunt Ifeoma for a week they realized how much more enjoyable life is without all of Papa's rules. While they are there Kambili and Jaja find their own voice and when they get back to Papa they will fight for their own freedom.
In this response for Purple Hibiscus, I analyzed how Kambili and Jaja's lives changed after staying with Aunt Ifeoma.

Our class is currently reading Lord of the Flies. It is a very interesting and strange book. At first I thought the book was not going to be that enjoyable to me, but it has turned out to be an intriguing read. This book has been very surprising to me.
I find it interesting to see how these boys, no older than 12, are reacting and adapting to being stranded on an island, compared to how our class reacted to the given situation. Other things I find interesting are how the leadership role or chief title has been juggled between Ralph and Jack, Ralph and Jack's relationship, and the mystery of the beast. Originally, Ralph was named chief and ever since Jack has tried to strip Ralph of his title. At the start of the book it seemed like Ralph and Jack were friends and throughout the book they have grown farther apart. Ever since the first mention of a beast on the island, the idea was first ignored, and throughout the book it has become more believable and intimidating.
In this response for Lord of the Flies, I talked about how I noticed the change in leadership on the island and the emergence of the idea of the beast.

About Me

Hi! My name is Thomas! I am in 9th grade and I am English I: Foundations, and this is my Portfolio! In my portfolio I will explore my development as a writer throughout this year. In my portfolio I will elaborate on my hits and misses from this year. I will describe my strengths and weaknesses for me as a writer. I will also show a revised version of one of my previous pieces from this year.

Reflection Post (Goals For Next Year)

My goals as a writer for next year are to improve on my sentence fluency, organization, and voice, reducing grammatical errors in my writing, and to expand my vocabulary. To improve my sentence fluency, I will try and use more diverse sentence structure to make my writing more sophisticated and refined. To improve my organization, I will focus more on trying to connect my ideas together in order to make my writing flow more smoothly. To improve my voice, I will work on transitioning to and from different types of writing to help get my point across. Conventions are not necessarliy a problem for me, although in most of my writings I do often tend to make some conventional errors. In order for my writing to be where I want it to be, I definitely need to practice identifying and fixing punctuation, spelling, and grammatical errors. Before next year starts I really want to expand my vocabulary so I can use stronger and more advanced words in my writing. If I achieve these goals, I know my writing will drastically improve and I will definitely benefit from my work later on.

Reflection Post (Weaknesses of Writing)

I definitely have trouble with my sentence fluency, organization, and voice. I need to work on using different sentence structures. Whenever I write, I tend to only use simple sentences, instead of mixing in some compound and complex sentences. Improving on my sentence fluency will help make my writing more complex and exciting. I also need to work on my organization. I often have trouble staying on task and following and connecting ideas together. In addition, I have trouble making transitional sentences and wrapping up a writing in my conclusion paragraph. I especially struggled with organization during my literary analysis. I also need to work on my voice. Whenever I am writing it is hard for me to transition into formal writing from informal writing or vice versa. These traits of writing are very important because they will help make your readers more interested in your writing and it will let them enjoy your writing more.