California Dreamin'

My dad was born in Italy and he moved to Santa Clara when he was 10. He had to grow up fast because his parents didn't speak any English so he learned english and handled his parents finances and took care of everything. My mom was born in Wisconsin and she moved to California when she was 5.

The people that come to California are the ones that are looking for a better future. They want a better life because people see California as a place that has a lot of opportunities.

MLA tips

1. An example of common knowledge would be Obama's president or Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party. You should graduate from high school in 4 years.

2. You have to site the title and the page number.

3. Usually websites don't have page numbers so you don't have to site them. You just have to put the title and the passage you use in quotes.

American Exceptionalism

Most Americans aren't unique at lot of people that come here conform to what they think is being American. Teens in high school always act like there friends and can't think for themselves. Even people who come over from other countries try to conform and America becomes more of a melting pot than a salad bowl.

John Steinbeck

1. Steinbeck's books are centered around where he grew up. He would also run away to his grandpa's ranch in King City or to the country side.

2. He wrote about controversial topics that people weren't used to reading. He wrote about whore houses, topics that were to trivial and story lines that weren't clear according to the publishers. He also wrote about violence and social realism.

3. Steinbeck liked nature and worked as an agricultural hand. He worked as an agricultural hand from ranch to ranch as he moved around. Steinbeck was able to write in clam places such as Lake Tahoe because it was peaceful there.

4. He wrote about one of his neighbors Samuel Hamilton who came from Ireland, he enjoyed listening to his stories. Steinbeck also like to listen to the ranch hand's stories and would write about people who lived around him.

5. Steinbeck liked to listen to jazz music. Mexican immigrants took over the agricultural hand jobs from the people who lived in the country.

Timshel

"Thou Mayest" has a lot to do with the Cain and Abel idea that goes throughout the whole book. It deals with making a choice and being able to chose between good and bad. Through the whole book Adam makes the good choice and his wife Cathy makes the bad choices. They can decide what they want to do.

Reflection on Envelope Prediction

My prediction was semi right and the thing that surprised me was when Midnight let Akemi get beat up because I thought he would have protected her more. Most of the predictions about how Midnight has changed was right because Midnight has grown up during the course of the book into a better, stronger man even though he's only 14.

Reflection on Teaching Experience

All the groups had creative ideas about how to teach the class, some better than others. The candy idea was good because it got most of the class to pay attention knowing that they would get candy if they answered a question right. The one activity i liked was the playdough one because that was more fun than having to write a poem. Keynotes were good as long as there wasn't to much information on the slides because after awhile they kind of got boring.