Paige's Blog

Everyone has or will have a time in their lives where they have been mentally and/or physically hurt or abused. Guy from Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” and Kesha, the writing/singer of “Praying”  both go through some very difficult times. But these hard times for them might not exactly relate to each other.

The book Fahrenheit 451 and the song Praying have some similarities and some differences. A common theme for the two stories is something like questioning reality. Guy is questioning why his relationship with his wife is not going well and he is getting depressed. Kesha questions why the person that is abusing her is doing that to her. They both talk about how they need to think about moving on and making themselves stronger and start standing up for themselves.

Some similarities are that both Guy and Kesha have someone creating pain for them throughout their lives. They are hurt or abused by someone. Kesha gets mentally and physically abused and Guy gets mentally hurt. This leads to them both using reading or writing to escape their mental pain. Kesha writes her song, Praying, to let people know what was or is still happening. She also sings about what he did and how she is getting over it by becoming stronger from the situation and fighting against him. In the song it says “I had to learn how to fight for myself.” She uses this line to tell people that she made herself stand up for herself and didn’t make someone else stand up for her.  Guy reads his book to distract himself from the situation and to get away from what is happening. One last similarity is that they both had a bad relationship with someone and this is what the what problem is in their lives. Guys wife is making him stressed and sick to the point where all he does is sit in bed and read. Kesha’s relationship started out fine until he started to physically abuse her and cause her to be mentally her as well.

Even though these two stories some similarities they also have some very different things. Praying’s main storyline is about her getting abuses and how she got herself out of it. Fahrenheit 451’s main storyline is about all the books being illegal and how that is causing all of these arguments and putting stress on him. Another difference is Fahrenheit 451 is something that is made up and set far in the future and Praying is about something that actually happened to her and now she is telling her story of it all.

Listening to Praying and reading Fahrenheit 451 taught me that dealing with pain and abuse is very difficult. It also taught me that you can either deal with it or stand up for yourself and fight against the person that is hurting you. You can conclude that it is ultimately up to the person that is being abused to fight for themselves or let it keep happening because no one else knows what is going on and they can’t help you.

Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451 is set very far into the future. The main character is Guy Montag and he lives in a small city that has banned all books from even being in your house. The firemen in this city aren’t just any normal firemen. Instead of going to put out fires and helping people they purposely start go and start them. If there is a house with books in it and them to burn the books and the house the book were in. This is very different from today.

The main or most important theme in this book is to question reality. From the beginning of this book the author gives details to what this theme is. Some of these details are, Guy was kind of a rule follower and he always did what he was told without any problems. The firemen weren’t allowed to steal any books from the houses they burned. Guy followed this rule and all other rules like he always had. This is until he meets Clarisse and a lot changes. She asks Guy lots of questions and this makes Guy also question everything and wonder if he answered Clarisse with appropriate answers. More details about the theme is Guy having conversations with his wife. He says “maybe the books can get us half out of the cave.” he is explaining that if he steals the books good things can happen too.

The author also shows the theme through word choice and details. Some examples are repetition of word choice is on page 15 Guy repeats the same thing over and over to show how stressed about everything he is. Also on page 16 Guy overreacts the sleeping pills that he took. Some details are in the book it said “The autumn leaves blew over the moonlit pavement in such a way as to make the girl who was moving there seemed fixed to a sliding walk, letting the motion of the wind and the leaves carry her forward.

There is a lot of clues to the theme of questioning reality in the middle of the book too. Some character words and actions are that he starts to break the rules because he is starting to question more things. Guy steals the book and Captain Beatty gets mad at him. They continue to fight and Guy eventually kills him. The comparisons are when Guy explains that when he was younger he shoved his ignorance in people’s faces. This means that when he ignored someone he really made it so they knew he was trying to. Something that was also explained was that the dignity of truth is lost with much protesting.

Some word choice and details in the middle of this book is alliteration. It says “It was like coming into the cold marbles room of a mausoleum after the moon had set. The alliteration in this sentence are the multiple words  starting with m. Some of the details are explaining the Hound’s actions. They are “Looking back at the deserted Kennel his heart beating, pausing, beating. “This explains how the Hound was out of breath and he was also stresses.

In the end of the book there are also character words and actions and comparisons. The character words and actions are that Guy’s curiosity helps him save himself. This means that he was questioning reality and that helped himself. The comparisons in the end of the book are very detailed. They are “The concussion knocked the air across and down the river, turned the men over like dominoes in a line, blew the water in lifting sprays, and blew the dust and made the trees above them mourn with a great wind passing away south.” These compare to the city because what is explains sounds for empty and lonely and that is what the city is after all the fighting.

The word choice and details in the end of the book are very detailed. There is some repetition, it is “The jet bombers were going over, going over one two, one two, one two…” This explains how dramatic this part in the book was to everyone. Some details are, “The dry smell of hay, and the motion of the waters made him think of sleeping.” Another detail is when Guy begins to wonder about other cities, his wife, and what will happen next. The two details explain how the city is abandoned and everyone is thinking about what they will do next.

Some people think that the theme might be ignorance or knowledge. Even though questioning reality is a big theme I can see why they think is ignorance/knowledge. Guy likes to ignore a lot of people when he thinks they aren’t being fair. Guy also has a lot of knowledge about what he is doing and what is going on around him. These are two very good points but I still think the most important theme is questioning reality.

In conclusion Fahrenheit 451 has many different themes that all make sense. In my opinion the most important theme is questioning reality or curiosity. Ignorance and knowledge are big ones that other people might see but questioning reality/curiosity are my big ones.

One of the good things about Blackhawk is that the teachers treat the students like responsible students. Why doesn’t this reflect onto some of the rules the school has?

Students are not allowed to have their phones at all during the long dreaded school day. Not in class, in the hallway, or during lunch at Blackhawk Middle School. Students still think they should be able to have their phones out during some parts of the day, but do teachers feel the same way? “They could look up answers to problems or they will be texting each other during class.” Some teachers say. “Then make certain times in class where we aren’t working on anything that we could use them, like at the very end of class or something.” A student argued back.

Another thing students complain about is phones at lunch. Many students say “we should be allowed to have our phones out during lunch, we aren’t doing any learning we are just eating.” “Some kids try to get their phones out during lunch but they are told to put them away.” said another student. Also if there were an emergency at school would the school contact all they parents or would they let the students call their parents with their own phones too? Students seem to say they already try to sneak them in class all the time anyway. So why aren’t they just allowed to have them?

Could using cell phones at school actually be useful to the students learning?Today, most of the world is technology so why can’t that apply with school. Sure we have computer labs and iPads but the notes and assignments that are given to students are mostly paper and pencil. Students would be much more willing to take out their phones to take notes than doing everything on paper. It will also be faster because most students can type faster than they can write. They could just have everything stored on their phones so they will always have it and never lose anything or leave their papers at home or school because it will all just be on their phones.

Students also could use their phones as calculators or a place to work instead of teachers going out and buying more paper and calculators before the school year starts. This will be a good idea since Blackhawk Middle School doesn’t have the money for every student to have their own iPad or lap top. Research shows that cell phones are like handheld computers that could eventually replace, classroom technology that is very expensive for schools on a tight budget to provide. This could easily provide more money for other things like school activities and sports.

The students use these at school for school related websites that are usually monitored by the teachers since the students log onto them. The students could easily just use their own devices for any of the school websites. This way the teachers wouldn’t have to worry about students braking the iPads and computers and having to pay for them. Students also couldn’t do whatever they want on their phones because the teachers can see when they are logged in and on the website, so they couldn’t get away with that.

Students say they would have a lot more freedom than if they could use their phones during school. One student said “I think we would enjoy school more and get into less fights and arguments caused by drama, if we were occupied with our phones some of the time.” Another student mentioned, “last year one of our teachers would let the students, who were good in class that day, have the last 5 minutes of class to be on our phones doing whatever we wanted.” That teacher added more to the topic, “this worked by getting the students to do their work faster. It also makes the kids better behaved so they would get the privilege of having time at the end of class to use their phones.

Research shows that cell phones at school are a way of communication from student to parents. If the student decides they want to stay after school to get help with a class or join a club or after school activity they are probably going to want to call or text their parents to tell them. Many parents might not answer calls from numbers they don’t recognize, such as Blackhawk in this case, but they would most likely answer calls from their kids.

Students have complained about teachers taking their phones if they go off even if they weren’t using them. “One year all my phone did was vibrant, without any sound and the teacher figured out it was me and took my phone.” a student complained. If the student forgot to turn the vibrate on their phone off and it was still in their pocket it would be easier to tell the student to turn it off rather than arguing if the phone should be taken or not. A teacher added, “students know their phones should be silent and away but if it’s in their pocket and not in use I wouldn’t take it right away.

So if you think your school’s cell phone policy is not fair, just start a protest, make the school change the rules. Have everyone use their phones in the middle of class visible to the teacher. The teachers can’t take away 35 phones. They will have to let you have your phones out during certain times of the day. At lunch use your phones while you are not eating, they can’t possibly take the whole  grades phones away, that would be too much and what’s the worst that could happen?  If you keep doing this every day from now on they just might let you have your phones at lunch without having to sneak them or get in trouble.

Cell Phone Policy

One of the good things about Blackhawk is that the teachers treat the students like responsible young adults. Why doesn’t this reflect onto the rules they have about cell phones?

Students are not allowed to have their phones in class, in the hallway, or at lunch at Blackhawk Middle School. Students still think they should be able to have their phones out during some parts of the day, but do teachers feel the same way? Some teachers say, “they will look up answers to problems or they will be texting each other during class.” One student had an argument for that! “We wouldn’t have enough time to look up a whole answer and learn how to do the problem before the teachers would catch us, also if you are worried about us texting, why aren’t you stopping us when we do it now anyway?”

Some students say “students should be allowed to have their phones out during lunch, we aren’t doing any learning we are just eating.” “Some kids try to get their phones out during lunch but they are told to put them away.” said another student.  We aren’t learning anything so why can’t we have them out for lunch and put them away before the next class? Also if there were an emergency at school would the school contact all they parents or would they let the students call their parents with their own phones too? Students already sneak them in class all the time anyway.

Could using cell phones at school actually be useful to the students learning. Most of the world is technology so why can’t that apply at school. Sure we have computer labs and iPads but the notes and assignments that are given to students are mostly paper and pencil. Why can’t students be allowed to take out their phones in class to take notes or do homework so they could never lose it or leave it at home or school because they always have their phones with them.

Students could also use their phones as calculators, a place to work or just a device to contact someone in case of an emergency instead of teachers going out and buying more paper and calculators before the school year starts. This will be a good idea since Blackhawk Middle School doesn’t have the money for every student to have their own iPad or lap top. Research shows that cell phones are like handheld computers that could eventually replace, classroom technology that is very expensive for schools on a tight budget to provide. This could leave more money for other things like school activities and sports.

The students use these at school for school related websites that are usually monitored by the teachers since the students log onto them. The students could easily just use their own devices for any of the school websites. This way the teachers wouldn’t have to worry about the broken iPads.  Students also couldn’t get on their own website because the teachers know when they are logged in and they couldn’t get away with that.

Students say they would have a lot more freedom than if they could use their phones during school. One student said “I think we would enjoy school more if teachers let us have time at lunch and in between learning times to be on our phones.” Another student said “last year one of our teachers would let the students, who were good in class that day, have the last 5 minutes of class to be on our phones doing whatever we wanted (school appropriately of course.)” That teacher added more to the topic, “this seemed to get the students to do their work faster and make the kids behave better so they would have time to get the privilege of using their phones at the end of class.”

Research shows that cell phones are a way of communication from student to parent. If the student decides they want to stay after school for something they are going to want to call their parent to tell them and many parents don’t answer calls from numbers they don’t recognize, such as Blackhawk. Cell phones are a way to replace classroom technology that is too expensive for schools to provide for every classroom.

August 24th very shocking “news” came for the 8th grade students of Mr. Hoering and Mrs. Godfree’s classes. The divider was opened between the 2 rooms and Mrs. Oaks had come in. The suspense grew and everyone was waiting for “the big news.” Mrs. Oaks slowly explained “after Labor Day all of the students of Blackhawk middle school will be following a new school uniform policy.” “Everyone sat silent in shock” said a student in 2nd period. After they realized what had just happened the class erupted in all kinds of emotion.

As the teachers were trying to calm all the shouting and angry students a boy shouted “but this is a public school we can wear whatever we want!” Another girl shouted “but i just spent hundreds of dollars on new school clothes!” Mrs. Oaks had finally gotten the attention of the students and explained “this is a decision made by the FWCS district and all the middle schools will end up doing this, it will also help you get a better education and be more successful.”

As students erupted again and were shouting more questions about the whole situation Mrs. Oaks left the students to write a story about what had happened. The students wrote down all of their emotions into a story. They started asking Mr. Hoering questions like “can i still wear my own sweatshirt?” and “do teachers have to buy and wear the uniforms too?”

After all the questions were done and answered Mrs. Oaks cautiously reentered the room with 2 pieces of papers. They were flyers with information about the uniform policy. “These are the flyers that will be handed out at back to school night tonight!” Mrs. Oaks explained. “But i have one question, should the flyers be black and white or colored?” Once again the students erupted with anger! “You just told us we are getting uniforms and that is the question you ask us?” yelled an anger student.

After everyone settled down, or as much as they were going to, Mrs. Oaks had some more news for the students. “You students are not getting uniforms, this was all just a joke.” The room filled with emotions. Some mad, some excited and most were even more were angry that they had just gotten all fired up for no reason. “You guys are the worst!” someone told Mrs. Oaks and Mr. Hoering. They explained it was just for a writing lesson that was being taught and the students continued their day very relieved.

 

The last book I read was The Fault in Our Stars. This was a very good book. What I liked about this book was that it was very emotional and it could have been very relatable for some people. The book I chose from the library is Pivot Point by Kaise West. I chose the book because the cover looked really interesting. I read the summary on the inside cover. The main character, Addie, has the ability to see into the future at anything she wants to. Her parents get a divorce and she has to chose which parent she wants to live with and she decides using her power. I thought this was very interesting so that is why I got it.

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