Semester 1:
Here Are Some Things You Should Know About Me...
In my family hard work and dedication are attributes that are cherished and highly encouraged. I believe this is the only way to be successful. I have a passion for the arts, because I like giving attention to the little details. I enjoy math and sciences, because the field is wide and there are always surprises and new things to uncover.
Digital Story: A Leap of Faith
This assignment was turning our Personal Narrative into a Digital Story. It could be in the form of a power point, a Video, or a Prezi Presentation. I decided to do my digital story in a Power Point. This is different than writing a story, because there is more to it. You can't just paint a picture with elaborate words, you have to find the right picture to compliment the words.
The Power of An Individual Paragraph
The Power of An Individual assignment was given to us after we came together in groups and researched a certain individual that made an impact on the world and what Core Democratic Values they had or lacked. The assignment was summarizing who we researched and how their Core Democratic Values affected the lives around them.
The American Character Presentation
This assignment was describing how Americans can show their Core Democratic Values and what characteristics each value might encourage. This assignment was done through power point. We had to have a minimum of six slides.
Personal Narrative: A Leap of Faith
Our Personal Narrative had to be about a time in our lives that changed our thinking, had an impact on our lives, or that made us the people we are today. In my personal narrative, I told the story like I was living it right then and there.
Semester 2:
Power Point:
For this assignment, we researched a trend or social issue. We used primary and secondary resources to develop our own opinions on issues and put it all into a presentation.
Strategies For Planning An Argument
For this assignment our groups wrote a review for "My Sister's Keeper" by filling out a paper and agreeing on a claim and key point of the paper.
Larissa Fisher and Josh Powers
English 10
4/24/13
My Sister’s Keeper Review
My Sister's Keeper is a movie that tugs on anyone's heart. The plot is set to present day, and you are introduced to a family, that seems perfect but beneath the exterior “there are cracks”. The Fitzgerald’s have a daughter and a sister that is sick with cancer. Each member of the family have different opinions as to how to handle Kate’s illness. The different views are; help Kate in her battle against the cancer, or stand beside her and allow the illness to take its natural path. The film presents the issue that families become divided and split apart when family members have different views. Factors that cause families to fall apart that are shown in My Sister’s Keeper are death or sickness, lack of support from family members, depression, and stress.
Death and sickness are a big contributer to family tension in M.S.K, Kate is sick with cancer, so her death is something her family is either preparing for or denying to believe. A family is like a puzzle, each member is a key piece, when one person gets sick or is taken out of the puzzle it can cause the whole family to fall apart.
Sarah isn't supported by most of the people in her family. They don't agree with her motives, they feel that her own love for Kate over shadows the truth: Kate is ready to die. This makes Sarah’s intentions look more selfish, when really she just can’t let her daughter go. Anna is fighting her mother in court, she doesn’t want to be spare parts for Kate and so she’s suing her parents for the rights to her own body. This causes much conflict and arguments. Lack of support from the family members leads to many problems, it's also one of the main causes for a family to become divided. When one person doesn't back up another, soon different views will form, and it will cause members to feel obligated to pick a side.
Kate stuggles with depression throughout the film. As her destiny becomes clearer to her she is bombarded with overwhelming saddness. Also, Jesse shows signs of depression because he is neglected and ignored by his parents who give Kate more attention.
Depression causes a family to not reach out to each other, because they are concerned with their own problems. How can one offer help to another when their own pain is also tormenting them? The depression the characters feel makes the audience connect with the film at an emotional level.
Stress is shown by the mother, Sarah, as she fights her daughter in the court case. She's stressed because she has to do an extensive amount of research while still carrying her motherly duties. This helps show the seriousness of the situation. It also makes the audience view Anna as heartless girl up to the end. Stress can break a family. Once a parent starts feeling stress, they tend to take out their frustration on their family around them. Because they are in such a frenzy inside, the littlest thing can set them off.
Sources:
: 7/9/08, by editor of Health and Life STyle, Why Do Families Fall Apart?
: 5/11/11, by Tanisha Herrin, Why Does it Seem Like More Families Are Falling Apart?
English 10
4/24/13
My Sister’s Keeper Review
My Sister's Keeper is a movie that tugs on anyone's heart. The plot is set to present day, and you are introduced to a family, that seems perfect but beneath the exterior “there are cracks”. The Fitzgerald’s have a daughter and a sister that is sick with cancer. Each member of the family have different opinions as to how to handle Kate’s illness. The different views are; help Kate in her battle against the cancer, or stand beside her and allow the illness to take its natural path. The film presents the issue that families become divided and split apart when family members have different views. Factors that cause families to fall apart that are shown in My Sister’s Keeper are death or sickness, lack of support from family members, depression, and stress.
Death and sickness are a big contributer to family tension in M.S.K, Kate is sick with cancer, so her death is something her family is either preparing for or denying to believe. A family is like a puzzle, each member is a key piece, when one person gets sick or is taken out of the puzzle it can cause the whole family to fall apart.
Sarah isn't supported by most of the people in her family. They don't agree with her motives, they feel that her own love for Kate over shadows the truth: Kate is ready to die. This makes Sarah’s intentions look more selfish, when really she just can’t let her daughter go. Anna is fighting her mother in court, she doesn’t want to be spare parts for Kate and so she’s suing her parents for the rights to her own body. This causes much conflict and arguments. Lack of support from the family members leads to many problems, it's also one of the main causes for a family to become divided. When one person doesn't back up another, soon different views will form, and it will cause members to feel obligated to pick a side.
Kate stuggles with depression throughout the film. As her destiny becomes clearer to her she is bombarded with overwhelming saddness. Also, Jesse shows signs of depression because he is neglected and ignored by his parents who give Kate more attention.
Depression causes a family to not reach out to each other, because they are concerned with their own problems. How can one offer help to another when their own pain is also tormenting them? The depression the characters feel makes the audience connect with the film at an emotional level.
Stress is shown by the mother, Sarah, as she fights her daughter in the court case. She's stressed because she has to do an extensive amount of research while still carrying her motherly duties. This helps show the seriousness of the situation. It also makes the audience view Anna as heartless girl up to the end. Stress can break a family. Once a parent starts feeling stress, they tend to take out their frustration on their family around them. Because they are in such a frenzy inside, the littlest thing can set them off.
Sources:
: 7/9/08, by editor of Health and Life STyle, Why Do Families Fall Apart?
: 5/11/11, by Tanisha Herrin, Why Does it Seem Like More Families Are Falling Apart?
Literary Essay: My Sister's Keeper Film Review
For this assignment, I looked at film reviews for My Sister's Keeper and focused on writing and determining a claim. The assignment was: summarize the film and argue your stance/claim.
Larissa Fisher
English 10
April 25, 2013
“My Sister’s Keeper” Film Review
The novel, My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult is brought to life in the film directed by Nick Cassavetes. The movie starts with introducing the audience to Anna Fitzgerald (Abigail Breslin), a genetically engineered donor child, born with the intention that she could save her sister, Kate (Sofia Vassilieva), whom is sick with cancer. The girls’ mother, Sara (Cameron Diaz), will go to any length in order to save Kate’s life... Even if it means sacrificing her other daughter’s well being. Anna has spent all her 13 years in and out of the hospital, undergoing operations for Kate. When Kate’s kidneys fail, Anna, wanting to have the ability to live a normal life, decides it’s enough and gets a lawyer, Alexander Campbell (Alec Baldwin), to fight for her “medical emancipation”- limited parental rights to her body. Sara, a lawyer whom stopped her practice in order to tend to Kate, is fighting Anna in court claiming “She’s 13. She doesn’t fully understand the situation.” Sara is fiercely determined to save Kate’s life, and not even her husband, Brian Fitzgerald (Jason Patric) whom is beginning to question whether they have pushed Anna too far, can make her gain perspective. The oldest brother, Jesse (Evan Ellingson), is silently in the background, pushed to the side as all the attention is given to Kate since her cancer is the focus of the family. The film presents the social issue of families becoming divided when their views and beliefs in times of crisis differ from one another. Reasons for a family to become divided are as follows: lack of support from family members, death and illness, and stress. The mother, Sara, is a major reason there is family division.
Throughout the film, there are clips of family bonding and displays of happy moments despite the deep turmoil that hovers in the air. There is a back yard scene, with the sun shining, bubbles being blown, and lots of smiles, all being shown with a cheery song and a deep voice-over by Brian. In the narration, he states how everythings seems to be great, he has a beautiful wife, nice house, and good kids, but underneath the exterior “there are cracks”. There are also frequent flashbacks, which helps the audience better understand the situation. Like when Kate is diagnosed with cancer. When this happens, Sara makes it clear that she will stop at nothing to save her daughter’s life, stating “You know I’m not gonna let her die, right?” So when the doctor gave the option of having a donor child, Sara jumps on the oppurtunity, without consulting the idea with her husband. “We have to try,” she says, and that is that. Then when their “donor child,” Anna, decides she doesn’t want to do it anymore, it’s like the floor beneath Sara collapses and the claws come out. She can’t see it through Anna’s eyes and she isn’t ready to let go of her other daughter, so her instincts as “momma bear” tell her to do whatever it takes to protect Kate from death. This goes to show that when family members don’t support one another then it can cause sides to form. “Sides? What are there sides now? Anna doesn’t want to do it anymore,” Brian says in a heated discussion with Sara. When sides form only the strongest families won’t become divided.
Death is another main cause to family division, every person handles crisis and time of struggle differently. Anna and Sara both have very different ways to handle their family crisis, meaning their child/sister sick with cancer. Anna is willing to let the cancer take it’s natural course, and if that means saying goodbye to her sister then she is ready to accept Kate’s fate. In the movie, Anna says that she loves her sister, but she also understands if she stops being Kate’s donor then she will die. If she stopped being her donor that would mean the cancer would have to take it’s natural path. To Sara, death is unimaginable, out of the question, not an option. She will save her daughter, and no one can stand in her way. Not even Kate’s own desires can make Sara see that she needs to stop fighting, or that she needs to let go. In the film, during the court scene, the movie takes a dramatic twist and reveals that Sara’s love for her daughter blinded her from seeing the facts. Two completely different opinions lead to many family feuds. Sara’s need to save Kate, drove Kate to persuade her sister into sueing her parents. A family is like a puzzle and each member represents a piece. When one member dies or is taken out of the puzzle it can cause the whole family to fall apart.
Another cause for family division in My Sister’s Keeper is stress. When a family member is stressed or has a lot on their plate then the smallest occurance that goes unaccording to plan can set them off, making them explode at the people in their family. An example of this in the film is when you discover that Sara quit her job to take care of her daughter, Kate. This shows that she has taken the weight of caring for a sick child on her shoulders. When she sees that Kate’s sickness is progressively getting worse, the thought never crosses her mind that it might be time to let go. The family is just the opposite. For example, when Kate was lying on her death bed and said she wanted to go to the beach her father, Anna, and Jesse took her as a way to make her smile and be happy, for they knew what was coming. Sara on the other hand, was horrified when she saw that Kate was out of the hospital and insisted that Brian was killing her by the act. When Brian refused to bring Kate back to the hospital, Sara and him decided they were going to get a divorce. This is an example of Sara blowing up on her husband. When stress is so heavy on a person it can cause them to take out frustrations on their family.
My Sister’s Keeper shows the trials and tribulations a family can be tested with. It’ll make the audience question their beliefs in genetic engineering. The film also shows the idea that time with the ones you love is limited, and when times get difficult that’s when you need to come together instead of pull apart.
English 10
April 25, 2013
“My Sister’s Keeper” Film Review
The novel, My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult is brought to life in the film directed by Nick Cassavetes. The movie starts with introducing the audience to Anna Fitzgerald (Abigail Breslin), a genetically engineered donor child, born with the intention that she could save her sister, Kate (Sofia Vassilieva), whom is sick with cancer. The girls’ mother, Sara (Cameron Diaz), will go to any length in order to save Kate’s life... Even if it means sacrificing her other daughter’s well being. Anna has spent all her 13 years in and out of the hospital, undergoing operations for Kate. When Kate’s kidneys fail, Anna, wanting to have the ability to live a normal life, decides it’s enough and gets a lawyer, Alexander Campbell (Alec Baldwin), to fight for her “medical emancipation”- limited parental rights to her body. Sara, a lawyer whom stopped her practice in order to tend to Kate, is fighting Anna in court claiming “She’s 13. She doesn’t fully understand the situation.” Sara is fiercely determined to save Kate’s life, and not even her husband, Brian Fitzgerald (Jason Patric) whom is beginning to question whether they have pushed Anna too far, can make her gain perspective. The oldest brother, Jesse (Evan Ellingson), is silently in the background, pushed to the side as all the attention is given to Kate since her cancer is the focus of the family. The film presents the social issue of families becoming divided when their views and beliefs in times of crisis differ from one another. Reasons for a family to become divided are as follows: lack of support from family members, death and illness, and stress. The mother, Sara, is a major reason there is family division.
Throughout the film, there are clips of family bonding and displays of happy moments despite the deep turmoil that hovers in the air. There is a back yard scene, with the sun shining, bubbles being blown, and lots of smiles, all being shown with a cheery song and a deep voice-over by Brian. In the narration, he states how everythings seems to be great, he has a beautiful wife, nice house, and good kids, but underneath the exterior “there are cracks”. There are also frequent flashbacks, which helps the audience better understand the situation. Like when Kate is diagnosed with cancer. When this happens, Sara makes it clear that she will stop at nothing to save her daughter’s life, stating “You know I’m not gonna let her die, right?” So when the doctor gave the option of having a donor child, Sara jumps on the oppurtunity, without consulting the idea with her husband. “We have to try,” she says, and that is that. Then when their “donor child,” Anna, decides she doesn’t want to do it anymore, it’s like the floor beneath Sara collapses and the claws come out. She can’t see it through Anna’s eyes and she isn’t ready to let go of her other daughter, so her instincts as “momma bear” tell her to do whatever it takes to protect Kate from death. This goes to show that when family members don’t support one another then it can cause sides to form. “Sides? What are there sides now? Anna doesn’t want to do it anymore,” Brian says in a heated discussion with Sara. When sides form only the strongest families won’t become divided.
Death is another main cause to family division, every person handles crisis and time of struggle differently. Anna and Sara both have very different ways to handle their family crisis, meaning their child/sister sick with cancer. Anna is willing to let the cancer take it’s natural course, and if that means saying goodbye to her sister then she is ready to accept Kate’s fate. In the movie, Anna says that she loves her sister, but she also understands if she stops being Kate’s donor then she will die. If she stopped being her donor that would mean the cancer would have to take it’s natural path. To Sara, death is unimaginable, out of the question, not an option. She will save her daughter, and no one can stand in her way. Not even Kate’s own desires can make Sara see that she needs to stop fighting, or that she needs to let go. In the film, during the court scene, the movie takes a dramatic twist and reveals that Sara’s love for her daughter blinded her from seeing the facts. Two completely different opinions lead to many family feuds. Sara’s need to save Kate, drove Kate to persuade her sister into sueing her parents. A family is like a puzzle and each member represents a piece. When one member dies or is taken out of the puzzle it can cause the whole family to fall apart.
Another cause for family division in My Sister’s Keeper is stress. When a family member is stressed or has a lot on their plate then the smallest occurance that goes unaccording to plan can set them off, making them explode at the people in their family. An example of this in the film is when you discover that Sara quit her job to take care of her daughter, Kate. This shows that she has taken the weight of caring for a sick child on her shoulders. When she sees that Kate’s sickness is progressively getting worse, the thought never crosses her mind that it might be time to let go. The family is just the opposite. For example, when Kate was lying on her death bed and said she wanted to go to the beach her father, Anna, and Jesse took her as a way to make her smile and be happy, for they knew what was coming. Sara on the other hand, was horrified when she saw that Kate was out of the hospital and insisted that Brian was killing her by the act. When Brian refused to bring Kate back to the hospital, Sara and him decided they were going to get a divorce. This is an example of Sara blowing up on her husband. When stress is so heavy on a person it can cause them to take out frustrations on their family.
My Sister’s Keeper shows the trials and tribulations a family can be tested with. It’ll make the audience question their beliefs in genetic engineering. The film also shows the idea that time with the ones you love is limited, and when times get difficult that’s when you need to come together instead of pull apart.