Reader's Journal#22 auobiography

Readers Journal #22                                                     2/7/12

Dear Mrs.Zrihen,

The book I am still reading is Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow, is an autobiography and it falls under the nonfiction genre. The quote that I chose is“People often seem to think that when you're following the Lord and trying to do His will, your path will always be clear, the decisions smooth and easy, and life will be lived happily ever after and all that. Sometimes that may be true, but I've found that more often, it's not. The muddled decisions still seem muddled, bad things still happen to believers, and great things can happen to nonbelievers. When it comes to making our decisions, the key that God is concerned with is that we are trusting and seeking Him. God's desire is for us to align our lives with His Word and His will.” This quote really inspired me to think that we can not leave everything to God, sometimes there will be situations that is going to be bad but we have to trust and seek God no matter what. I used the same strategies as I explained in the last journal. But in the middle of the book it has pictures and captions of Tim Tebow.

The topic of this book is about football and his life out the field. The main idea of the book is that you can accomplish a lot in life but you need to put effort into what you want to accomplish, that nothing is easy in life. You have to have a certain mind set in life and if you practice daily on what you want to be, God will help you on your journey. The main idea is implied because if you read the book you can tell that Tim Tebow is devoted to his religion and God. He gives specific information and details that support the main idea. One detail is when he talks about the final seconds of a game that can take him to the Sugar Bowl and he prayed to God to help his team’s defense to stop the man from making a field goal. Tim Tebow’s dad told him not to pray for trivial things but football really meant a lot to him and he also remembered when his parents told him to pray for things that he felt were most important in his heart. The essential message of this book is to believe in God and how he works in mysterious ways.

The text features that I can identify are the headings and chapters, also the pictures and the captions help me identify what the picture means and understands the important ideas in the following chapters. The pattern of organization is chronological order because he’s telling you what happened to him from when he was a kid until now. Author’s purpose is to entertain the readers and also to inform about his life. The tone that the writer used in this book is a serious one and the mood that he created was excitement. The point of view is Tim Tebow’s because it’s an autobiography. The text-to-self features I found are that we both strive to be the best we can when we are playing sports and in school. Text-to-text features i saw were that I read a autobiography about Mike Strahan who was a defense on the New York Giants squad. The text-to-world conclusions I found were that I saw a video about a bunch of people in Croatia, doing the “Tebow”. The response starter I have is #38 I admire Tim Tebow because he never gives up on what he strives to do and how devoted to God he is. The rate I give this book would be a 10 because I can look up to Tim Tebow with a lot of things and how his advice comes in good use. I thought this book was great because I never got bored reading it like I do with some books.

From your student,

Alan Alvarez

Readers Journal #23 autobiography

1/31/12

Readers Journal #23

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

The Book I am reading currently is Through My eyes by Tim Tebow.  The two strategies I used before reading this book were looking at a review on Amazon to see what I am going to buy, and then I used context clues for words I didn’t understand in the preface. The strategy I’m currently using in this book is reading chapter titles to understand what Tim Tebow is going to talk about.

The genre of this book is an autobiography because Tim Tebow is telling the story of his life. The story is told from first-person point of view.  The topic of this book is about his experience as a football player. The main idea of this book so far is the life of Tim Tebow and his childhood and early teen years, the main idea is stated in the entire book. If I have to give another title to this book it would be The Journey of a Quarterback. The reason for selecting this title is because he played football through high school, college and now he is playing at the professional level. The essential message of this book is to never give up and follow your dreams and that God does his work in mysterious ways. The pattern of organization is in chronological order because he is narrating the events in the order that occurs. The author’s purpose was to inform the readers about what he went through in his life.  The author’s perspective is subjective because he wrote from his thought and feelings. The author’s point of view is 1^st person because he uses I and my. The tone of his writing change several times through out the book, sometimes he was humorous, but other times he was serious.

Text- to –self connections for me were that I play football and before I read this book he always inspired me to be a better player and person. Text to text connection is when I read a memoir by Michael Strahan.  Text to world connections is that he is known worldwide for how he acts on the field. A response starter that I used was #26; I wish I could meet Tim Tebow in real life. The rating I would give this book would be a 9 because I like reading about football players and the fact that I watch Tim Tebow play every Sunday gave me a better reason to buy this book and give it this rating.

The quote that I found very wise was “You and I were created by God to be so much more than normal…Following the crowd is not a winning approach to life. In the end it’s a loser’s game, because we never become who God created us to be by trying to be like everybody else.” I liked this one because it’s true. We are all here on this world for our individual purpose.

Sincerely,

Alan Alvarez

Current Event #5

Title:  To preserve history on the moon, visitors are asked to tread lightly

Author: Kenneth Chang

Source: New York Times

The topic of the article is about the moon visitors

The topic stated in the second paragraph: archaeologists and historians worried that the next generation of people might be careless.

The authors purpose is objective because the author is giving facts about the subject.

The pattern of organization main idea and supporting details

The reason the author chose this pattern for this article is because the main idea is the most important point of the article.

The article is about archaeologist and historians are worried that next generation people might be careless about this idea

The significance of this article is that you should know that there trying to protect the moons history

What I learned from this article is that in order to preserve history on the moon you need to compromise to do things with capability and respect.

What I did not like about it it had no pictures

Who should read this any person that is interested in astronomy and life science

The Authors Perspective in the article is subjective/objective (biased) because objective because the author is giving facts about the subject.

The text features included in the article are title of the article and with supporting details gives more information about the article

The article is about Archaeologists and historians are worried that next generation of people are visiting the moon could destroy important artifacts that are there. Some people are giving steps into how to protect those world artifacts. Under international law United States owns all the artifacts left there, like the American flag, two pairs of boots, and a hundred of other artifacts. A representative of NASA is giving some suggestions in order to protect the artifacts in there.

What I liked about this article is that explain with details about the consequences and that give hopes about recognizing the value of these sites like Apollo 11 and 17 sites and will protect them.

This article reminds me of when I visited the space center in Cape Canaveral

Text to Text star wars book

Text to world this is a subject that is international

New Vocabulary I learned

1.   Obliterate- people visiting the moon might carelessly- destroy

2.   Ruse-and with no plans to go back- trick, scheme

3.   Perk- up – to raise briskly 

Reader's Journal#18

                                                                                                              1/16/12        

Journal #18

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

  I just finished reading Artemis Fowl The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer. The book reached my expectations like the previous two books in the series. The reading strategies I used before reading was reading the synopsis and reading reviews for it on different websites. The strategies I used during reading this book were for words I did not understand I used context clues for and reading the title of the chapter to find out what topics were going to be covered. The strategies I used after reading were looking at summaries on the internet to see if I missed any key details and to check for the next installment in the series.

 The genre is science fiction because it talks about events that may take place in the near future. The main character which is Artemis Fowl is a static character because he remained the same from the beginning to the end of this book. The antagonist which is Jon Spiro, is a very evil witty person because all he wants is something that will make him money and earn power and he is a static character because his lust for money never changes. The setting goes from London to Chicago to Africa. The weather condition is regular summer time for those locations. The main problem is the character vs. the supernatural. The main conflict is external because the protagonist is fighting against an outside force. The tone is serious. The mood that the writer created was full of action. The theme of this book was power and ambition. The pattern of organization was in chronogical order because the events were presented in the order which they occur.

The author’s purpose was to entertain. The figurative language used was metaphor, personification, exaggeration. What I rate this book is 8/10 because of it’s action, suspence, and humor.  

From your student,

Alan Alvarez

Reader's Journal#17

Dear Mrs.Zrihen,                         1/13/12                        Science Fiction    #17

I am currently reading  Artemis Fowl The Eternity Code by Eion Colfer. The genre of this book is sci-fi or science fiction the strategies I used before reading were looking through different reviews to see if this book was any good.  The protagonists for this book are Artemis Fowl, Butler, Holly Short, And Grub. The antagonist for this book is Jon Spiro. The tone of this book is serious and entertaining. Serious for the plot and entertaining for the action scenes. The response starter I would use would be #2 I wonder what family means to Artemis Fowl. The plot structure is good and well paced to keep the reader less confused. The setting of this book are primarily in two areas, cities and sights in United Kingdom such as London to Southern Stonehenge. The weather for this book is usual spring weather in England.

The figurative language of this book were:

·         Onomatopoeia “Next thing you know, out of nowhere…BOOM! The car explodes and everyone scatters for safety.”

·         Personification “When I pulled out the C-cube, Spiro commented on it saying it was telling him to “buy me, I’ll make you millions.” Because he gave the C-cube a voice which it doesn’t have.

The plot structure of this book was intense because the cube that the man stole from him belonged not to him, but to a group of underground half human half animal. The cube is a device that is like an advanced iphone with plenty of information about the government and can hack into any network or website. A tycoon named Jon Spiro arranged a meeting with the owner of the cube, Artemis Fowl to buy the Cube. The prices he arranged for were no good for Artemis so he called off biding for his item.So far I rate this book a 8/10 because it’s fun and it has plenty of action.

From your student,

Alan Alvarez

Reader's Journal#15

Readers Journal #15                                             1/3/12

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

 The book I’m in the middle of reading is called The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan. The reading strategy I used before reading this book was reading the synopsis for this book which is located in the two sleeves of the book.  The genre of this book is fantasy and it’s about mythology. The characters are Percy Jackson, Grover, and Annabeth. They are all dynamic characters they changed from the beginning to the middle because they undergo different changes as the plot unfolds. The story setting is in New York. The time is modern. The weather conditions are sunny most of the time. The social conditions are only between half bloods because most can’t use cell phones, if they do that it sends a signal to the monsters. I have only reached somewhat close to the rising action which I believe is when a character named Charles dies in the boat explosion. The main issue is to stop Luke and his forces from invading the camp. It is character vs. supernatural because they are monsters and bad spirits. The pattern of organization is chronological order.

The tone of this book is serious and entertaining , the author used imagery and details to set the mood of the story. The theme is fantasy. The moral is to think twice about trusting somebody. The point of view is from the narrator. The author’s purpose is to entertain. I recommend this book to anyone that likes fiction and adventure. I rate this book a 10.

From your student,

Alan Alvarez

Current Event #3

Date:12/15/2011

Name: Alan Alvarez

Current Events Journal

Title: Animal shelter’s behavior experts face life and death decisions for animals

Author:  John Owens

Source: The Miami Herald

The topic of the article is: Animals

The main idea of the article is: How a dog’s future on being adopted depends on a series of evaluations and the way animals react to them.

(implied/stated): It is stated in the first paragraph

The author’s purpose for writing this article is to : Inform the reader on how the dog trainer evaluates them, and if they don’t pass will be “put to sleep’’.

The author’s perspective in this article is objective/subjective (biased) .Objective because they are giving examples of what is happening during the evaluation.

The pattern of organization of the article is cause and effect

The reason the author chose this pattern for the article is because they are giving you the problem and consequences.

The text features include the quotations that help by showing me how the person being interviewed answers the question and how the feel about the situation.

This article is about (a summary in your own words) the system that is used in some of the shelters in Chicago to determine the fate of many dogs and cats awaiting  for adoption. The author is explaining how unfair this system is because they may be killing a lot of animals that can be easily adopted just because, the animals didn’t pass the evaluation test.

The significance (importance) to know and to understand that some animals act different when they are placed in a environment that they are not used to.

What I learned from this article is that they are some steps to determine the fate of the animal in a shelter and that animals go through plenty of behavior test.

What I liked about this article that he explained some scenarios that would tie in to what he is talking about.

What I did not like about it I didn’t find anything wrong with it

Who should read this article and why people that are advocated for animals and that they want to save their life.

This article reminds me of (text-to-self) The day that my friend went to the Humane society to get a puppy.

(text-to-text) this reminds me of the book Marley and Me.

(text-to-world) in around the world a lot of places where animals are mistreated.

New vocabulary I learned

Word Context Clues Meaning

1. euthanized- those who fail are put to death- kill painlessly

2. Advocacy- we understand the stress that they are under- speaking or writing in favor

3.Unreliable- are not praised- not to be dependent on; irresponsible.