2nd Quarter Reflection

1/22/2016
2nd Quarter Reflection
John Zalazinski

Questions picked:
- Of the books you have read this quarter, which was your favorite? Why?
- What has been the most challenging part of 2nd Quarter for you and what did/can you do to help overcome this?
- What strategies have benefited you?

Out of the books I have read this quarter my favorite has to be To Kill A Mockingbird. It was my favorite because of how the two plots intertwined. When Bob Ewell attacked Jem that is when I think it fully came together. I think that is when it fully came together because that is when Boo needed to protect them the most because of Bob Ewell which was then plaintiff in the Tom Robinson trial.


The most challenging part of the second quarter would be the return of my procrastination habits. It was hard to focus on the ELA work I had to get done. It was either because I was constantly looking for music to listen to while doing the work or worrying about it get done, which was ironically preventing me from getting it done. What I'm planning to do to fix that habit in the future is only focus on my work and maybe making playlist so I can stop switching apps to change music and take time away from work.


One strategy that has benefited me is the TIQA format. This is because I didn't really utilize it in the past quarter and I would usually have writer's block because I didn't really have any idea what to do, really shouldn't have tossed the TIQA format out the window. I promise myself that I will use the TIQA format as much as I can to improve my writing. Hopefully I won't ignore it and feel like I'll do better without it, because I don't want my grades to fall any lower than a three.

To Kill A Mockingbird: Book to Movie Comparison

1/20/2016
John Zalazinski
Options Picked: 2 & 3

2. Even though the movie gives a visual to what was happening in the book I still believe
the book has a bigger impact. This is because most movies about books usually leave things out, change the roles of characters, take out characters, or take out other events completely. For example, Scout, Jem and Dill never went to Calpurnia's church which means we didn't get "what we paid for" like in the book. We've never seen the black community in Maycomb (fully) in the movie and I was looking forward to that, and get a good visual of what it would be like. There was also Dill not running away from home. In the movie Dill came back to the house for the same way he did the first time, which seems boring and repetitive and people would expect more. The time when Dill came back would've been more dramatic, purposeful, and impactful.



2. If the movie told the whole story it may have had the same impact as the book. For example, when they left out Miss Maudie that left out a chunk of the story. Like when her house burned down, and she really didn't seem to care, that told the reader that she'd prefer to be outside for  her whole life if she could. There was also when she compared the trial to a roman carnival. This would have foreshadowed the loss of the Tom Robinson trial in the movie, that would've made watching the movie a more impactful experience.



3. I feel like the purpose of having different versions of a story, is that one version is for people who like to get to the point, and the other version is for people who like to know everything that's going on and decipher it along the way. The movie was cut of some events that happened in the book because I guess they felt if they didn't maintain to the main story as much as everything else. That could also be a reason that it would be hard to see the themes in To Kill A Mockingbird developed through the movie like it did in the book. The book was more thorough and made the reader try and guess was next because every character played their role correctly which made the book flow and easier to understand.