This I believe speech - Michael Hoover

This I Belive Speech
Michael Hoover




                                                      "Why you should always help"
                                                                 Michael Hoover

   Final paper

I remember I was walking home on a Friday afternoon irritated from what happened earlier that day In school. It was brisk and cloudy outside, the clouds reminded me of waves and how everybody was so miniature compared to the universe. I knew that I had time to kill given that I lost my keys early in the year and my sister and mother always go out on Friday.

When I saw them I knew it would be a struggle for them. They looked almost eighty four and I knew it would be easy for me to lift the groceries up their old steps. My mother established never to talk or help anyone I didn't know no matter who they were. I believe that helping people, even the ones you don't know will make you a better person. I walked over and helped them with their groceries up the steps to their house. A feeling was imprinted on me for the rest of that day and through the week.

I know my neighbors really well now, they live five houses down our block. Thier names are Kelly and James. James is a war veteran and always wears the same cap everyday, murky green with a American flag pasted on. Kelly I don't know that much about, and she likes to stay to herself when I am there. I believe that helping people, even the ones that you don't know is a very important skill to have.

end of the year reflection blog - Michael Hoover

End of the year reflection blog
Michael Hoover
5/22/16
Prompt:




[What are the three most important things you learned this year?]


I feel like we learned everything last year, but the three most important lessons/things learned would be, is mercy killing justified. The second really important thing that I learned this year was that we can prevent bad things from happening in the future after learning it happened in the past (Holocaust). Last but not least the third thing that I think was important and I will carry to high school is you should never hurt anything in any way if that person/thing has never hurt you before (TkAM).


 [What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?]


Something that we did this year that I think I will remember for the rest of my life is hiding in the dark for Nick and Evie to come in late for class. :) I don't know why that was so funny but I remember everyone that day was in such a jolly mood.
I feel like next year I will be sitting in some class and that will just pop into my mind and I will just think about me writing about that happening right now, I will just be like WOW. That was a confusing sentence to write.


[What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?]


I remember the nicest thing that somebody did for me this year was giving me the answers during the test (just kidding).
The nicest thing that somebody did for me this year was wrote that problem letter. I remember we had that assignment where we had to write down a problem that we were facing in our life and we put it in a hat and they got passed out to different people. The letter that I got back made me tear up, I thought it would so I did not read it until I got home, I still don't know who wrote it but thanks if you somehow read this.


[What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?]


I don't think that I taught my classmates or teachers anything this year. Maybe I did but I am pretty sure I did not.




[In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of?]


I feel that I made my biggest improvements in reading. I did not read that much in the beginning of the year but now I have started to read a lot more and I hope I keep it up through the summer. Some thing that I accomplished this year that I am proud of is getting the Participation award in battle of the books because who does not want that reward, right. Another thing that I am proud of this year is getting in most of my assignments on time and not getting that many falcon fowls.




[What was the most challenging part of this year for you?]


The most challenging part of this year for me was doing my homework early in the day and not at night because that is not a good habit. I don't know why I would always do that, I guess I am just good at postponing things. I started to change that habit towards the end of the year but I know that I should have done it earlier.




 [What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best?]


In my opinion the best piece of writing that I have done this year is this blog. I took a lot of time on it and I enjoyed the work I put into it. I also remember that last year this was one of the hardest blogs to write but now that I have been in the class for basically two years it is way easier to do. I wonder if it was easier for anybody else, I think it probably was for a lot of people.



 [Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why?]


Out of the books that I have read this year, my favorite was "Ripper" by Stefan Petrucha. It was very suspenseful and well written and had you on the edge of your seat every page you read. I read the second book to TkAM and was disappointed. The reason I think that book did so bad with ratings and sales is because the book was written about a time that it was not it so people were not interested in it.


[What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year?]


 This is more of a fun and beneficial class so you want to stay in it. Always get your homework in on time so you don't get fowls and detentions because some teaches show no mercy with fowls. Apparently your first high school literature class will be easy compared to this one that you are in right now. So work hard and don't give up. You wont regret it.

Morrie Aphorism project

Michael Hoover
Final Aphorism project
10/12/16

"With out love we are birds with broken wings," - Morrie Schwartz
What this quote means is that we are alone and depressed without love. It means that we are restricted and can't reach what we want just like a bird can't reach its nest with broken wings.
Morris main message was that life is much easier when you have somebody to enjoy it with you. I think that what this meant to Morrie was that dying would be way harder for him if he did not have his wife and family to be by him.


In the movie Forrest Gump, the main character Forrest is lonely until he finds love. Most of the movie when he is alone there is a overall sad feeling and then he finds the women he loves and the movie gets all positive and happy. The way that this movie can relate to Morris's quote is because Forrest was like a bird with broken wings and he was lost and then he found wings and got love and found himself.


I honk that this quote is a little bit wrong because somebody can be alone and still be happy. The reason that I think this is because I know some really happy and healthy poeple that are all alone. Overall I do think that the quote makes sense in the way that having family is great. In the book it states "dieing would be much harder if I did not have the people I love around me." I think that the way he says it can make it mean more sense to people than it would written down on paper.

Morrie reflection blog

Michael Hoover
Morrie reflection blog
5/3/16
Prompt: Explain how the past four Socratic Seminars have influenced your thinking about Tuesdays with Morrie and life in general.

What trends did you notice with yourself and your personal goals for each seminar? How did your personal goal(s) change and what did you actively do to change throughout our last four discussions?

What trends did you notice with the class for each seminar? What did you notice that helped or hindered a specific seminar?


The way that the past four Socratic seminars changed my view on Morrie was in the way he helped people. What I mean by this is that at first we learned that yeah Morrie was a good person. Second seminar we learned a little bit more about him and how he would help people even more. An example of this is during the war when students that did not pull their grades were getting drafted, Morrie gave them all A's. Then in the third and fourth Socratic seminars we learned that when he slipped into a coma he waited until there was nobody in the room that he was in and then he took that as his chance to die. Something that I have learned in general about life from the four Socratic seminars that we did was to appreciate everything that I have, really appreciate. I know people in a lot of cases say that they are so happy to be alive. Then they never really realize how precious  it is until they get a taste of it going away whether that be sickness or a near death experience.

The trends that I noticed in my personal goals was that I reached most of them and also that I could have made them a little bit better. The way that my personal goals changed was from like talking more to actually trying to guide the conversation a little bit with the class. Things that I did to be active in the last three Socratic seminars was buy coming up with more engaging questions to try to bring people into the conversation and also to have myself think more.


Some trends that I noticed with the class was that some people did not really get the chance to talk a lot. I know that the person next to me tried to talk a lot more then she actually did. Another trend with the whole class was that people really only stayed of the same topic sometimes like when we talked about dying that was basically what we talked about for most of the Socratic seminar. A thing that helped the seminar was when somebody spoke up and was actually able to change the topic. one thing that I noticed that did help the seminar was when people were actually relating to Morrie with their personal life's. I think that this really brought people into the conversation because everybody was paying attention.

Tuesday's with Morrie Blog

Michael Hoover
Morrie blog
Prompt: Based on the 6 Tuesdays you have read about in Tuesdays with Morrie, choose which topic (The World, Feeling Sorry For Yourself, Regrets, Death, Family, or Emotions) that has had the most impact on you or inspired you. On your blog discuss the importance of this topic with your own opinions, including textual evidence (direct quotes) from the book. 

The Tuesday that had the most profound effect on me would be the Tuesday where Morrie and Mitch discussed family. The reason this had the biggest impact on me was because Morrie said that with out family dying would be way harder. " "If you don't have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don't have much at all. Love is so supremely important." pg.91. I think that this opened Mitches eyes about his brother and that he should probably go see him in case the cancer comes back. 
I also kind of thought about not having any of my family and dying alone and it is really scary to just think about. 

I feel like many people don't take family into consideration until they are dying and or close to it. Sometimes when people get older they start to separate from family to establish their own life and family like a fresh start. When you start to die you want everybody that you love to be around you. I think that it's really sad that in reality what brings people together the most is death. A example of this that is current is like when Prince died last week and all media apps like Fox and Aol had a lot of articles about him because he had died. This happens all of the time and we don't really notice or give any attention to it because it is so regular in everyday life. 


One more tueday that had an impact on me was the Tuesday where Mitch and Morrie talked about death. Mainly due to the fact that when asked if he was afraid of dying Morrie responds no. He then says how he feels lucky to be able to die over the course of time and that it gives him time to say goodbye to everybody. "No I'm not afraid of dying, it gives me more time to say goodbye to the people I love and care about..." I've never thought about having a terminal illness in this way and how it could be lucky.  I think it's crazy how Morrie can basically make everything seem like a gift, it's like his own unique special ability. 

Michael Hoover Tuesdays with Morrie 1st blog

Michael Hoover
Tuesdays With Morrie

Prompt: What are
 your initial reactions to
what you have read in
 Tuesdays with Morrie
thus far.


So far I have read to page forty in "tuesdays with Morrie" written by Mitch Albom and my initial thoughts so far are that this book is different than any that I have read something that is different is the writing style. I feel like the reason the book has such an impact on people when they read it is because there is honesty and no excuses. A example of this is when Mitch is in the car and he says how he feels bad about not seeing his old friend for so long and then waiting in the car while Morrie waits outside. Something that surprised me so far about the book is that it mentions dieing a lot and how Morrie is slowly losing control of his body yet the book maintains a happy vibe, that is so far.

I was surprised how welcoming Morrie was to Mitch because he had not seen him in so long and then he appears on tv and his colleague graduate happens to appear out of the blue. I just thought that was really interesting because it really shows Morries character and how he does not really condone hate or let it make him bitter. I was surprised at how much Mitch remembered about Morrie because they had not seen each other in so long he even called him 'coach', I thought that was good that they had not forgotten about each other it makes the book a lot more easier to read.

Everybody has a bucket list whether it is written down or just in their head. There are a lot of things that I want to do before I die, here is a list:

1:Live on campus
2:Get a Phd
3:Live in the forest for a month
4: make a discovery in space
5:get a Bugatti (I can settle for a Lamborghini)
6: Run a marathon
7: direct a movie
8:bungee jump
9:Jump into an alligator (that is a goal not a joke)
10: Travel around the world at least once

Third quarter reflections

Michael Hoover
Third Quarter reflection blog
Prompts: - 
*In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts? 

The area that I believe I improved the most upon in English language arts this quarter was getting my work in on time when it was due.  I feel like I struggled in this spot the most last quarter because I would start my homework late a lot and turn it in right on the deadline or a little after. 
Throughout this quarter I really think I was able to stay on top of my work and turn it in before it was due. I think that something that helped me out with this was starting my homework two hours earlier than I usually did. 

Overall the most challenging part of third quarter for me I think would be reading, I have not read that much this quarter. I think that I have this problem because I put reading last a lot of the time when I have things to do like homework and chores in general. Something that I can do to help myself overcome this problem is to read for at least thirty minutes everyday or at least try to squeeze it in. I think that this could help a lot because I tend to do better in school when I read.

Something this quarter that I have accomplished and I am proud of is not getting any twos on my vocabulary tests. Even though vocab is a pretty easy test and we do it every week I feel good that I did not have to retake any of the tests mainly due to the fact that I would have to put more time away for studying. The grade would go on schoology and my mom would have been able to see it which would not be very good.

Michael Hoover Blog 3/10/16

Michael Hoover
Book blog
Book: Year Of the Hangman
Prompt: what is the book mainly about
What do you think is going to happen in the future of your book
Spoiler Alert

In the book "Year of the Hangman" the book is mainly about Britain winning the war and not the U.S.A. The way that they won the war has not come up yet in the book in any war so far. The way that I think that Britain will win the war is by having the leading general be Creighton (main character). The reason that  I think that someone close to him is going to die and he is going to take everything into more consideration and he will become general and help win the war is because the ship got taken over and I think that his uncle might die.

The first event that I think could take place in the future of the book is that Creighton will work for the pirates for a while. Mainly due to the fact  that he said that he was pretty much a slave when they caught him after taking over the ship. The reason that I think Creighton might work for the pirates is because he  has portrayed himself so far as a greedy person that would let someone else die to get a better chance of living for himself. If he does work for the pirates he will probably try to escape because when  he got kidnapped by good people he tried to escape. Now bad pirates have caught him I wonder what he will do now and they will probably let him walk free on the dock.

The second possible event that I think will happen in the future of the book is that Creighton will try to get back to Britain by smuggling himself onto a boat. The reason that I think he will try to do this is because throughout being in America he has been plotting to somehow get back to Britain and his main plan is to jump onto a boat. I feel like he is somehow going to sneak on the wrong boat and get into a lot of trouble because he has been running into a lot of that lately, if he fets back his mom won't take him in that if for sure. 

Personal book blog

"Year of the Hangman" by Gary Blackwood
Prompt: what character do you dislike the most out of the book and why.
What is something that you found bizarre in what you have read so far.

 The character that I dislike the most in the book "Year of the Hangman" by Gary Blackwood is probably Creighton because he takes everything for granted and he causes chaos. There has not been a part in the book were Creighton has been nice to anybody which I found weird because the author usually makes the protagonist a good person. Even after he barley lived from getting kidnapped by pirates he still acts annoyed with everything and everyone around him.

The first thing that I found interesting in the book so far was that Creighton was terrified of going to Florida because it was supposedly the roughest place and also the most easy place to die. The reason that I thought that this was bizarre was because modern day Florida is probably the nicest place that you can live or visit. Another reason that I thought that this was bizarre was because the reason that Creighton thought that Florida was such a bad place was because in school that was what they were taught about the new world and the states.

Some thing else that I found bizarre in the book so far was how Creightons mother had him kidnapped. The reason that I thought that this was bizarre was because some creep did not snatch him off of the street, his mother got him snatched off of the street on purpose. I did not really be live this part of the book at first because I thought that he was just dreaming but it turns out he wasn't. People must have been different back then because my mom would not ship me to Europe or to Britian for being bad.

Butterfly thing links

Joseph's Butterfly blog:http://josephh2.blogspot.com/2016/02/butterfly-project.html?showComment=1456151124640#c4300863186727695180

Devins butterfly blog: http://featherlite10.blogspot.com/2016/02/blog-post.html?showComment=1456755696182


Evils blog: http://eveliac3.blogspot.com/2016/02/butterfly-project-task-four.html?showComment=1457117183548#c317939511630405596

Night blog

Michael Hoover
Night blog
Prompt:

Throughout your reading of Night, you have witnessed many significant changes that Wiesel experiences as a result of his time in the concentration camps. I encourage you to delve deeply into his character and focus on important aspects, such as: his personality, morality, beliefs or values.

Through out the book "night" by Elie Wiesel, I think that Elie changed tremendously from the beginning of the book to the middle to the end. This happened with religion throughout the book because in the beginning he believed in God before he was old enough to start in the middle he started losing faith and at the end he says that his God is dead. On the first page of the book it states "during the day I studied Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue." It says in the book how he decided to start practicing his religion before anyone told him to, so this shows that he is really religiously devoted.

In the middle of the book when Elie Wisel get to the camp and witnesses the horror that went on he starts to think that God is not real or that he just does not care. I thought that this was really weird how he started to doubt his God after all that he praised him, in the book it states "for the first time...I felt why... Should I sanctify his name..." This really shows how the concentration camps broke his soul as well as his body and how he could just give everything up, even his religion. 

At the end of the book or at least close to it he really just gives up 
and explicitly states that there is no point in living which really 
shows that he does not believe in God at all anymore. In the book
 it states " I had nothing to say of my life during this time." I 
thought that this really showed how much his father meant to him 
and how his God had taken him from him.

Michael Hoover "Night" Blog

Michael Hoover
Night Blog
Prompt: How long or in what way do you think that ww2 could have been different if it were in modern day times.

How may Elie's life  be different if ww2 never occurred and Hitler never came into power.

 The first way that I think that the war could have been different is that it most likely would have lasted longer than it did when it actually occurred. With the technology that we have today it allows us to know crucial information in a few hours opposed to back then when it took a few days such as finding out where the enemy was. Nazis could have easily deployed a drone undetected and could have found out in little to no time at all where the ssr were and how much that they were progressing per hour or day. This could have been bad also because if the ssr was closing in, the Nazis would have been able to just kill a whole bunch of the Jews fast using weapons that had to do with chemical warfare instead of having to bring all of them at once.

The way that the war could be different is that it could have been shorter mainly  because we could have used our advance guns and grenades etc... to end the war fast. A weapon today that could have been useful at that time was the stun grenade because it did not pose as much of a risk as the traditional grenade did to carry around and what it would do. If you went in and threw a grenade in a bunker it could kill some of the Jews and also kill the Nazi but if you throw a flash grenade then the Nazi will be helpless and could be taken down with the least amount of damage possible thus saving more Jews.

The way that I thought that Elie's  life may have been different is that he could be working a regular job today and have had a nice good long life. It is hard to imagine what his life may have been like mainly due to the fact that what really happened has just left a print of what life was back in Germany in 1937 till 45. I think that he probably would have been a writer like he is know because he is good at writing about his life and telling the truth about how he felt just like what he said when he had soup after a man was hanged and how it tasted good, he did not lie and say how he was all devastated.

Butterfly thing link blog

Aow Impressions Blog

Michael Hoover
Impressions blog
2/16/16/
Prompt:
  Now take a moment to reflect upon
 your impressions of what you have
 learned from the array of articles
 in at least two well written paragraphs,
using evidence from your graphic
 organizer.


          After walking around and learning about everybody's articles in class which mainly focused on the Holocaust, there was one thing that I learned about the Jewish survivors which was when they were liberated from the work camps and ghettos some of them went on to teach kids about the holocaust. Something that they taught was that after everything that Hitler and his Nazis did to them that it did not make them hate Germans and that they still shows respect for them. Evie's article mainly focuses on this particular situation of the teaching about the holocaust through a survivor and how it impacted them. The reason that I thought that the way that the survivors taught was interesting was because everything wrong was done to them and they still have respect for the Germans and the Jews did nothing wrong and everything bad was done to them by Hitler and the Nazis.

Another thing that I learned from the aow impression gallery walk in class was that there are Jewish survivors that say that there should be a rescue transport for the Syrian refugees. The reason that this had an impression on me was because the Jewish survivors know what could be happening to the refugees right now like being put into ghettos and concentration camps. In James Furbeck's article that is what it mainly focuses about which I thought was pretty interesting because that is the only article I saw about the Syrian refugees in relation to Jewish survivors.

This symbolizes peace 

Michael Hoover Berlin Memorial activity

Michael Hoover
Berlin Memorial Activity

One thing that I learned from the Jewish restrictions activity that we did in class today was that the restrictions that Hitler made were pretty extreme, people that had to follow these laws pretty much lost everything that they had or owned which was sad. There were restrictions like you had a curfew and you can't own pets which Is like family for some people, and you had to wear the Star of David like it was a tag to identify you. The most crazy thing that I learned was how the Jewish people were identified or caught, most times it was the neighbor that snitched to Hitlers secreat police which I found really sad because it showed how much influence and power that Hitler had. Overall I learned a lot from the activity because I did not know half of the stuff that was put onto the wall. When you read these books about the holocaust it really only talks about the really extreme stuff like tear gas and mass shootings.

The reason that I think the memorial in Berlin was made was to bring all of the souls of the people that had perished during the war and give them a proper burial and lay them to rest. In a lot of cultures when you do not properly bury a loved one then they will be condemned for life to stay at the place that they died at and it pretty much is like an eternal torture for the person. Another reason that the memorial may have been built was to remember what happened in history with all of the death and chaos and use it as a lesson for It to not relapse itself in the future and happen again.

Something that I noticed about the amount of laws passed in the years when Hitler was in power was when he got his power he made a lot of resrictions and kind of in a way settled down after the first and only made a couple of laws a year. He would in certain years make a whole bunch of laws but there was never a patter or a constant rate he kind of just did it when he wanted to. Something else that I noticed was that he kind of started off easy with bans and as the years went on the laws became more demeaniring like when he was making the Jews go to the concentration camps and killing them for know reason.

The restrictions that I think I would have the hardest time coping with would be having to wear an armband showing who I was. I would have the most trouble with this because when I would leave for school or activities I would probaly forget to grab it and if that happened I would probaly get beat on the street or wherever I was going that day. The second ban that I think I would have a hard time dealing with would be getting rid of my pet because in the first place I would not hand my tiny dog Chewbacca to those evil people because it's not right and I do not think it would hurt anything to keep him. The way that the Nazis made these bans to break down the Jewish people was malevolent and cruel and was not needed at all in my opinion because they did not do anything wrong in the first place.

Second quarter reflections

Michael Hoover
Second quarter reflections blog
1/21/16

Of the books that I have read this quarter my favorite has been Jack the Ripper written by Patricia Cornwell, the reason that this is my favorite book is because while you read it the slightest noise will make you fly to your feet and be on end, it was hard to stop reading until I could not lift my eyelids then when you finally put the book down there was so much to think about. I would get tired of thinking, wanting to tell my sister about it but I also did not want to walk through the Erie darkness to her room contemplating what was there in the dark waiting for me even though subconsciencely I knew it was nothing.

One thing that I believe that I improved on in quarter two in langue arts was the vocab quizzes that we take almost every week on friday. Last quarter I was getting a lot of twos on my quizzes which was not so good, then second quarter came and I guess I got better at remembering the words probably because of how much coffee I drink, I started getting more threes and fours even though I think I did a bit mediocre on my most recent and last test of the quarter.

Something that I think that I improved on this quarter was using the Tiqa format. I did not really use it in the beginning of the school year and first quarter and then, quarter two I started using it and my writing got a little bit better and everything was a lot more organized and clean and much easier to read.

To kill a Mockingbird Comparsion blog

Michael Hoover
To kill a Mockingbird  comparison analysis
Prompt:
What is the purpose in having different versions of a story? Think about how different versions contribute to the overall understanding and interpretation of that piece of work. Use specific concepts to support your opinion. 

 How would you prove or disprove that one version of To Kill A Mockingbird is more affective in delivering its message than the other? Be sure to provide specific pieces of evidence to support your opinion.

1/21/16

The main purpose for having multiple versions of a story is to make sure that every body can understand the story like little children. This is because if you do not understand the original book there may be an easier version of the story or a movie about it which is usually more common to see. A good example of this happening is with the Harry Potter books because they got such a huge fanbase that there was a younger audience that started reading them and then some of those children  could not understand what was happening overall in the book because it was made for an older audience so an easier one to read was published. "The Harry Potter 1-6 easy to read version." This book was made for the first through sixth grade groups, this new version of the book has less graphic content and the word choice of the book went from Discombobulated to suprised or spaced out.

The way that the written version of To Kill a Mockingbird  by Harper Lee delivered it's message better than the movie version is because of the way that it was portrayed throughout both. Throughout the book the author Harper Lee could explicitly state what the main purpose or lesson of the book was by making someone say, the character that she made say it was Atticus when he got Scout and Jem guns which she wrote for him to say "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird..." This is An explicit way to prove that the book got its message across better, in the movie you can't explicitly state something it's usually that you have to interpret it based on what you watched.

The reason standing that the movie did not portray the message which is "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird..." Is because 

Michael Hoover
To Kill A Mockingbird Blog
Prompt: What three
 characters are you
looking forward to
see the most in the
 second book Go Set
A Watchman.

If They are in it.

 The first character in the second book " Go Set A Watchman" that I look forward to seeing the most is Atticus, The reason being it is Atticus is because it takes place about 20 years into the future and I want to see how Atticus has changed with his age. Mostly because I heard something about him being racist and possibly joining the KKK which is really surprising. I just read this on a website so it may or may not be true. (I really hope it's not)

The second person that I look forward to see the most is Jem mainly because I feel that I can relate to him the most out of the book because he is more of  a person that likes to look out for other people, not just himself, for example when he tried to get scout to run when he was getting attack by Bob that was really nice and showed a bit of his character and how he really is. I think that a lot of people would not have acted in that same way but I don't know because I have never been in a situation like that before. Another reason that I look forward to seeing him the most is because I want to see if his view on African American colored people has changed or what he works as.

The last person I hope to see in the second book is Scout because she was a hold in the first book and I want to see how much she had changed throughout the years and if she ever went to live somewhere else besides Alabama and if she still visits.