Bryce E's Cyber English blog

In Cyber English class, we formed groups in which we collaborated to make short stories. My group consisted of Zach H., Will O., and me. Throughout the course of a month, we each made a fictional character while making a similar story that included all of our characters in it. This is a reflection on the work that we have done.

While collaborating and making many aspects of the story in our group, it was difficult because we didn’t have enough communication and our stories turned out to be way more different than we expected they’d be. I was the type of group member who was working almost the whole class time and had the longest story amongst the class. I’d always be participating in class and would be helping my group mates out whenever they asked for help from me. Looking back I wouldn’t really change anything about my participation because I was working good, being on task, and getting things done as well.

My short story met all of the criteria that was needed for the story and all of the assignments that were needed were in on time too. The peer review process seemed sort of confusing/difficult because many times I wasn’t able to edit my peers stories since Google was down. I thought that it was somewhat of a help to me since I was able to make my story better but it wasn’t as good as I thought it could be. Furthermore I don’t think that I’d change anything in my peer review letter since I did everything I could to help my peers edit their stories.

In my story, creativity on the creation of the story was key. We’d discussed and analyzed characterization, setting, dialogue, conflict, tone and theme. Here are some passages from my story that show this creativity in it:

‘One week later, it was show time. Marshall contacted Lewis one more time before go to the concert that day, and Lewis confirmed that he had convinced Marshaun to meet him at the concert. Then Lewis gave Marshall his nine and said, “You’ve only got one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. You know this opportunity comes once in a lifetime.” They then departed, moving to the opposite sides of the Cow Palace Arena where they would sit. Marshall knew this was make or break. If he didn’t shoot him it would have come to nothing with an attempted murder and Marshaun would get away. On the other hand if he did shoot Marshaun and it was reported, he would go to jail that way. He was so nervous that his hands were shaking wildly as he sat in his spot in the arena, waiting for the signal from Lewis. About 10 minutes later, Lewis motioned for Marshall to slowly come over, not attracting attention from anyone. He then stopped about 15 yards from where Lewis was standing and cautiously pulled his nine out. The tension was building and building as Marshaun came closer and closer to the spot. Shortly after, Marshaun came into view of Lewis. In a blur Marshall quickly came out of cover and opened fire on Marshaun, but Marshaun knew better than to come unarmed. While turning around to aim at Marshall, Marshaun got hit in the leg by a bullet. It brought him down to the ground with excruciating pain. And while he was down, three security guards came and took Marshall away and he said, “You’ll be sorry Marshaun, I’ll be back to get you!” Marshaun was later transported to the hospital with a wound to his chest and recovered within a week.’

Between my group mates stories, they have many similarities within them. First of all, they contain the three main characters Marshall, Marshaun, and Lewis who are highly involved in the story. Secondly, the setting in all stories take place in the city of San Francisco. Another aspect is that we have the same rising action event where Marshall and Lewis meet Marshaun at the concert, and the same climax event where the G-Unit finally takes down Marshaun. A lot of the details are surprisingly different which is what we didn’t want but we didn’t expect either. I think that it was kind of difficult to try connect our stories more because we went our own ways trying to write our own kind of story and they ended up being quite different.

Now, I think that the favorite part in my short story is the rising action event (showed above), because I’d think that it is one of my best pieces of writing throughout the whole story and is filled with a lot of suspense, then the action. Finally, what I’m most proud of in my story was that I was able to create that kind of story only starting out with three characters that our group had made up in our own minds, while progressively creating what they did in our own image.

Last week my group had  our last discussion about our independent reading books for this quarter. I have already finished reading the book Double Helix by Nancy Werlin. For the rest of my group: Zach is still reading Like We Care by Tom Matthews, Will is reading Jason’s Gold by Will Hobbs, and Michael is reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. This final discussion was about language and dialogue and how it all works in our books.

We first talked about how each of our author uses dialogue in our novel, and the types of conversations that take place. Throughout each one of our group’s books, dialogue was used in a different way to help bring out the importance of what was specifically going on in the book. For example, from my book on page 101, Eli says, ‘“I don’t want to share,” I said. “My father got to share. I wanted to keep you out of It. That was what I wanted.” We stared at each other. “But loving is about sharing,” Viv said, after a moment. “No,” I said. I could hear the conviction-and the raw anger-in my voice. “Love is about protection.”  “No,” Viv said frantically. “That’s all wrong! You’re wrong, wrong!” “You’re the one who’s wrong,” I said.’ It definitely shows that they’re fighting over something or someone, but they both have their different opinions on the matter. Eli is shutting out Viv, but she wants to know about what’s going on and help Eli out with what he has to go through. These types of conversations make the structure of the book, because if you read the whole thing, you can see that they are scattered all throughout the book.

Another thing we talked about was the use of figurative language. Much of the figurative language, and the dialogue, were different between my group member’s books. In my book she uses the figurative language to help describe objects, people, or places in more detail, and can help make the structure of a conversation sound more interesting. She also uses the dialogue to make the characters talk in a way that will get you suspicious and make the reader wonder what’s going on. This has been the same for most of my other group members books as we discussed about this topic as well, and have come up with specific examples that we have shown each other for figurative language. Finally one last thing I want to talk about was how we discussed and prepared for  our discussions every week. First we would get a sheet of questions to fill out and answer. Then we would meet with our groups on Friday or Monday to discuss. Lastly we would make a blog post on our discussions every week, which is how I made the last two blog posts on our series of collaborative discussions.

Again this week, my group had another discussion about our independent reading books for this quarter. I have finished reading Double Helix by Nancy Werlin. For the rest of my group: Zach is still reading Like We Care by Tom Matthews, Will is reading Jason’s Gold by Will Hobbs, and Michael is reading First Strike by Jack Higgins. This discussion was all about the setting and how it works into our books.

First off, our group talked about the different settings that we had in our book. Mine being in Boston, Zach’s in a small town in Illinois, Will’s being in Canada and Alaska, and Michael’s being in the Middle East. The characters all have important relationships that help them fit into the setting. For mine it would be that he was born and raised throughout his lifetime in Boston, because his mother who has Huntington’s Disease taught at Harvard University before she began getting symptoms of it. Then the settings that make my characters feel safe in my book would be their own homes, which is the only one of the few different kinds of settings that are actually shown in the book. Finally the setting that would make the characters feel scared would be the inside of the Wyatt Transgenics building because it contains a eeriness from within itself.

When we discussed the similarities between our books, we showed that there were few similarities between all of them. The only thing that was similar between Zach’s, Michael’s, and my book were that they were all in the same time period. Then the only thing that was similar between Zach’s and my book were that they both were mostly taking place in a town based around one small area throughout the book. So I think that they were similar in these ways because the time period can sort of control what can happen throughout  the book and where it is based and I think that is what the case was for this discussion. Finally the setting that I can remember better than my own book the best would probably be Will’s setting in Canada and Alaska because I have the most background knowledge on it and kind of know what it looks like in my head.

To remember their setting’s better, my group members described their settings with sensory details so that I could know what their settings feel, sound, taste, and smell like. Then there would be that one thing that would set it apart from others which would make it remember it the most.

I personally think that the time history and the time period were the most difficult part of the setting to identify because they seem very identical to each other and seem to have the same meaning. Then to share information in our group, we would have each person take turns on talking about our books, in which I feel that more people are actually listening to the person that’s sharing rather than everyone not listening and talking to one another. But if I were asked if there was a leader in our group who actually took charge, I would say that there isn’t because we all have it balanced out within our group and no one is bossing around another. Finally, what I could do to make our group discussions better is to cooperate more with each other, and at least take interest in what my group mates are reading to show some respect for them.

This week, my group had another discussion about our independent reading books for this quarter. I’m still reading Double Helix by Nancy Werlin. For the rest of my group: Zach reads Like We Care by Tom Matthews, Will reads Jason’s Gold by Will Hobbs, and Michael reads First Strike by Jack Higgins. It was mostly about the main characters in our books and how they can relate to each other or help us better understand our own characters.

The description of other characters by my group my helped me understand my characters a little more. For example, by them describing what their characters do, look like, and think about, it helped me understand my characters’ personalities even more than I did before.

Even though my group members character’s helped me understand mine better, they were all very different from each other and didn’t have any significant similarities. Like how Michael’s characters were placed on a setting in the middle east in the war on the basis of an action book. Will’s characters were about the 1800s and people who were traveling up the Rocky Mountains up to Alaska. Finally, Zach’s characters were in the setting of a High School and how they explain all of the havoc that goes on in their school. So all in all a unique and very different set of characters who have basically no characteristics in common.

The characters also have a definite link between character and society. Michael’s characters would represent the kind of people that like to go off and fight for our country in the war or military type people. Will’s characters would represent the type of people who like to explore and discover new vistas that would give us information, like a scientist. Lastly, Zach’s characters would represent a normal teenager life in the world today who goes what any average type of High Schooler would go through.

My reading circle goal for this quarter is to better understand our group member’s books and their characters. To accomplish this goal, our group has discussed all about who our characters are, what they have to go through throughout the book, and how they succeed in what they are trying to do. What I need to do to accomplish this goal is to keep learning more about my group’s books/characters and keep comparing it to what’s happening in my own book.

During a group discussion during Cyber English, me and three others compared our independent reading books to each other. The book that I picked out to read this quarter is Double Helix by Nancy Werlin. For the rest of my group: Zach read Like We Care by Tom Matthews, Will read Jason’s Gold by Will Hobbs, and Michael read First Strike by Jack Higgins. So now I am making a reflection on our groups discussion on an introduction to books.

In my group, based on the genre and the content, the only thing that our group’s books had in common was that Zach’s and my book had  main characters who were mostly teenagers and were going through a basic life because we both had realistic fiction books.

The rest of the groups books were different because Michael’s was an action genre and Will’s was an historical/adventure genre. So in result, nobody in our group had books by the same author either.

The book that one of my group members is reading that I’m most interested in is Zach’s book because I read a short part that well explains the plot, and it really seems like an interesting story. Another reason that I would enjoy that book is because realistic fiction is one of my favorite genres to read out of all types of books.

Michael’s action book would probably be the most different out of all of our group’s books. It’s all about war, fighting, and action unlike the rest of our books which have almost nothing to do with what Michael is reading right now.

Through this introduction of books, I really learned more about what books really appeal to me as a reader. In showing all of our books to each other I didn’t really appeal to Will’s book. Michael’s book sounded pretty good to me even though it was an action book. But Zach’s book was definitely the most appealing to me which really showed what books that I like to read and which books I do not like to read.

A goal that I would like to accomplish this quarter is that I will check on at least one of the books that my group mates read for this quarter’s independent novel. I want to set this goal because it sort of shows courtesy towards my group mates but can also make me go farther in reading many different kinds of books. What I hope to learn from my peers is what type of books they like to read themselves and how much they enjoy reading. Finally what I hope to learn about myself is how far I can extend my ultimate reading skills.

Wouldn’t it be great to be in a school environment that has all the tools you can access that will help you succeed? A place where you can be free to do work yet able to be helped, and a place where you can get work done without any interruption. That’s what an ideal cyber school would look like.

It should be a place where you can get your work done without any distractions and yet you can still be helped by the people around you. A silent place where you will not be disturbed by anyone during your work time and not have to move anywhere to change that. For your work, you would use I-pads and laptops that have all the tools and accessories that you need to get your work done. These technological tools would also be used for teaching and lessons when demonstrations may need to be done.

In my Cyber School, technology would be used for the sole purpose of learning. Students would use the I-pads/laptops to get their work done as quick and with the most quality as they can, as opposed to working on assignments off of just regular paper. The I-pads/laptops may not be used for anything other than work to make conservation of their batteries so they won’t need to charge as often, which may result in less work time for some people. Then if the students don’t get their work done in school, they will be able to take an I-pad or laptop home for their own personal use, providing that they re-charge it when they’re done and bring it back to school the next day. Finally these ways of using technology in my Cyber School are the best because they use the most efficiency as well as using the most knowledge for getting work done, and require less time to do so.

            Throughout the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character Melinda has drastically changed her attitude, personality, and even looks throughout the book. In the whole book, Melinda has made a huge amount of new experiences. These all have gone from terrible to great, and in Melinda’s case is now thankful that she is basically back to the way that she was before high school.

            In the beginning of Speak Melinda is a shy, sensitive, and cautious person who really wants to express her feelings but doesn’t want to speak. She has no friends anymore since her group split up after the incident where she called the police. Since she won’t speak people don’t know how she really feels and what she is thinking. One example of her motivation not to speak is, “Mr. Neck: ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ Me:  It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say” (9). Later on the first day, Melinda makes friends with the new girl Heather from Ohio, who is her only friend throughout that first marking period. Another thing Melinda works on is a painting of a tree in which she has to in depth on and find her “muse” as the art teacher Mr. Freeman told her. At the end of the first marking period she encounters Andy Evans, who she hates, and refers to as it as she describes the part where she says, “IT sees me. IT smiles and winks. Good thing my lips are stitched together or I’d throw up.”

            The persona of Melinda is about the same in the second marking period. Although a few important new things that she does are that she starts scratching her wrists and gashing herself with paperclips, tools, or whatever she can. Heather and her have been running with the group the “Marthas” who Melinda disliked. She is also getting steadily frustrated with the work on her tree and can’t seem to make it come to life, even to the end of the second marking period. At the start of the third marking period Melinda is skipping school to get away from all of her troubles. Furthermore she has an encounter with Heather at the lunch table where she states that she and Melinda are very different and that they shouldn’t be friends anymore. Heather goes back to the Marthas and Melinda doesn’t have a friend any longer. But as the weeks pass in Biology, she notices her lab partner David Petrakis more and is starting to build a friendship with him. Then at the end of the marking period, she describes the incident where she had been raped and called the police, where in the end she didn’t tell anybody why and just walked home from it.

            So in the last marking period, Melinda actually takes up the strength to start talking in a more cautious way. She starts by wanting to protect Rachel from Andy Evans by passing her a note. Another way is that she gets in touch with the rest of the female student body by writing about him on the bathroom wall so they can express their opinions about Andy. Finally she has the courage to tell Rachel about what happened to her at the party. Rachel seems sympathetic at first, but when she tells her that it was Andy who did, she left in disgust, thinking that Melinda was jealous. After the prom, she learns that Rachel had left Andy during the dance because she confronted Andy and questioned him about what happened. In return Andy trapped Melinda in her janitors closet that she had set up in the second marking period and tried assaulting her but Melinda fought back and said no to him. “I reach in and wrap my fingers around a triangle of glass. I hold it to Andy’s neck. His lips are paralyzed. He cannot speak. That’s good enough. Me: ‘I said no’” (195).

The next day, Melinda’s story is already known by the whole school. Everyone feels sorry for her and knows she is innocent, even all of her friends including Rachel. At the art room she is full of sad emotion and has finished her painting of her tree, getting an A+ on it. Finally she has the courage to tell Mr. Freeman about what happened. “The tears dissolve the last block of ice in my throat. I feel the frozen stillness melt down through the inside of me, dripping shards of ice that vanish in a puddle of sunlight on the stained floor. Words float up. Me: ‘Let me tell you about it’” (198).

So in the end Melinda shows us how she really felt throughout the book and the terror of the things she had experienced. In the beginning she didn’t want to talk, but at the end was dying to tell someone and she finally did. We could all learn from her that it is important to speak and talk to people, otherwise no one would really know what happening to you and what you’re going through.

I am currently reading the book Fallout by James W. Huston. For my genre piece I created a Eulogy that represents the life and story of Quentin “Thud” Thurmond throughout the book up until the point where he died. From this you will learn about Thud from the book and how he had died bravely doing something that he loved.

Quentin Thurmond: Thud. A great pilot, friend, and partner of Lieutenant Commander Luke Henry. They had been through thick and thin ever since they began training years ago at the TOPGUN school in Fallon Nevada. Together they had graduated from the school and became instructors at the same school that they had graduated from. After the incident with Luke getting kicked out of TOPGUN, Thud was asked to be the second in command for the Nevada Fighting and Weapons School(NFWS) in Tonopah. At this he was thrilled and couldn’t wait to get into a job with no real rules and no actual boundaries.

Six months later, the school started out with twelve students. Four Pakistanis, two Canadians, and six American pilots who planned attend every day for one month. Although, there were some issues and complications that had started even from the first day. The leader of the Pakistanis, Khan, started acting up and tried to boss everyone around which gave Thud some rising suspicions of the Pakistanis. Then four weeks later he was awaken early in the morning by the guard Raymond to quickly report to the base at Tonopah. He was told that he and the other pilots had to stop the four Pakistanis who had attached Laser Guided missiles and Sidewinder missiles to their aircraft. When he arrived at the base he started up his Mig-29 plane and went took off after the enemy pilots.

Later, after traveling at after traveling at a speed of over Mach 1.2 for over 20 minutes, he had caught up to the Pakistanis who had just bombed the nuclear plant off the shore of the Pacific in San Diego. Thud had successfully taken down one of the four planes with the help of Luke, Vlad, and Stamp.  Shortly after they had bombed the plant, Thud went after Rashim, Khan’s second in command. He had finally caught up to Rashim but was too close to shoot a missile, and when he saw that Rashim had stopped, he wasn’t able to get out of the way of his plane and Rashim took his own life as well. Thud went down protecting the United States from the havoc that was about to be brought upon it, and died as one the many brave souls that gave up their lives on the battlefield.  Thud loved flying and did it every day as a dream job that any pilot would want to have. So I don’t think that anyone would be surprised one bit that Thud was fully prepared to defend the thing that he loved the most.

I have recently been reading Fallout by James W. Houston in my CyberEnglish class for the 2nd quater . These are journal entries from the antagonist who’s surname is Khan in the book. He is the leader of the terrorist plan that is taking place in the book and these entries should show the frustration that Khan is having and the problems that he has to deal with.

March 3, 2002. Midnight: We are about to execute the first step of our plan. If this works we will be able to finish the United States once and for all, although this we will be probably the hardest step to that accomplishment. We’ll have to smuggle the radiated scrap metal out of the Iran border and into Pakistan to keep the truck moving through on to Quetta. But if they don’t allow them transport through the border, my men and I will have to take them out ourselves which could cause a big uproar throughout that area; attracting more security to the area. Oh wow, it looks like they’re turning the truck back! I’m going to have to take my men down there to deal with them before it’s too late!

March 3, 2002. 1800 hours: Today has been a big fork in the road on our path to destruction. Ever since Mahmood failed to smuggle the radiated scrap metal into Pakistan we have had to change our whole plan of attack. If it weren’t for him the job would have been done in a few weeks and he would have been rewarded as well. After the whole calamity with the radiated truck I met with Shirish, Mahmood, and the Russian scientist who is the key to our whole plan. Mahmood had failed, and I almost took the blame for what he had done, which was a relief because if you fail before Shirish the price is death. Mahmood paid that price of failure. Then after a period of thinking about it, the Russian scientist figured out a solution for our plan: infiltrate the Top Gun academy in America going undercover and learning about their weaknesses as well as their deep, dark secrets.

 March 4, 2002.: If it’s one thing I have never wanted to do it’s ground one of my best pilots in the service. Major Petkov has been probably the best pilot the Soviet Air Force has ever seen in the history of its existence. He has also been a good friend as well and I don’t want to lose that between us, but I must do this for the good of our regiment. Petkov has been a terrible influence on our pilots with his excessive vodka drinking as well as his fooling around and causing accidents in town. I cannot let this go on. It’s going to be rough on him and I understand that, but he will have to live with it like any other Russian citizen that’s going through hardship. It will be one of the toughest decisions I have had to make yet,  but probably the smartest one too.

The book Speak makes me feel sad, angry and sympathetic. It makes me feel sad and sympathetic for Melinda for the stuff that she has to go through and the things she has to deal with right now. Furthermore I am also angry for how poorly Melinda’s classmates are treating her and that they don’t let her explain what had happened.

“I run for the bathroom and heave lunch into the toilet.”

“Heads snap in my direction, I can’t feel my fingers, I shake my head.’’

“Everyone I’ve known ignores me.”

“Thwap! A lump of potatoes and gravy hits me.”

“I’m a hot Pop Tart on a cold kitchen floor.”

“I see a few friends-they look away.”

“I hate you,” she mouths silently.

“I close my eyes. I am sitting alone.”

“I am knocked down the bleachers.”

“The wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude.”

“I am Outcast.”

The text that I have chosen from the book Speak by Laurise Halse Anderson and the order that the sentences are in go along with my introduction because it goes in order from how she is feeling, to what people think of her and are doing to her, and how she is acting probably from a result of all this tension. I would hope that what the readers learn from this would be what Melinda has to go through many times at school and how severe it can be.