Ethan- Purple Hibiscus Response

Robert- Hits and Misses

Strengths and Weaknesses

           In my English class, writing is very determining of grades and is important. Needing to understand what the problems are to fix writing is also very important. There are always certain aspects everyone struggles with in writing that they need to fix. It is a part of correcting themselves to write better in the future with real jobs with real businesses. I have a few strengths and weaknesses that are important, but there is always a way to get better.

             I mainly know how to edit papers, understand what people mean, and come up with creative writing ideas and topics. Without these things, I believe I would be failing English because of how weak my writings would be. With these, I also have a lot of weaknesses in writing as well. I struggle with things like understand the certain words to use to write, determining phrases, and more. These make me struggle a lot to understand make good grades on my papers. With both positive and negative parts of my writing, I need to understand how to work at it to make my papers better and be more positive.

Hits and Misses

            Throughout the whole year, I was able to see my characteristics for writing and what I was best at. Each and every project gave me an idea of what I was truly good at in writing. My grades also determined how I could fix the details I would be weak in or what I was strong in. Without the comparisons of each project to go off of, I would not be able to get any better at writing and benefit for the next stage in high school.

              I was able to make creative ideas and connect details very well to understand a story and its purpose or theme. I had noticed this while I wrote in projects and made predictions for the different novels that we had read during the year. I also noticed the things I had struggled in during the year for writing and reading. I had a hard time interpreting certain phrases words and comparing different paragraphs to make either a thesis or statement. Without these ideas of what I could do to get better, then I would not be able to make any progress through my class for the rest of the year and years to come.

Reading Response

          As I read more and more of this novel, it becomes very interesting and concerning to me. The issues outside and inside of the family become worse and worse. I think the story will become worse as the problems become worse. That is my distinct prediction, but so far, anything can happen as I have seen so far. I hope that things become better between Kambili and her family as so far in this story, it shows the affects and actions of family members.

            I realized in the story the strength some people want or have. I am not just talking about physical strength, but also mental strength. The way Kambili deals with her emotions and feelings in bad times is amazing and concerning. I hope her strength inspires others to keep their mind that focused in that bad of a time. I hope the rest of the book supports that inspiration and idea for the greater good.

How do you define 'family'?

          I like to define family in mainly simple terms. Your family is the people that you care about and you trust and they care and trust you as well. This does not limit to only your bloodline, but also your friends and coworkers. Most people think of this term as part of your landline, but not always. The people who truly care about you and love you as part of a family is your true family.

          It is understandable why some people think of a family as being part of a bloodline. But a family is the people who help raise you and learn new things of this world. They help feed you and teach you lessons and have your back no matter what kind of trouble you are in. In your faith, who you believe in is in your family as well, which should be the one and true God, his son, Jesus, and the many other followers. We are alike in being a human, but unfortunately some try to separate or violence is created in our communities. We need to stop this and realize we are all family, no matter what happens to each other.

Ellie S. - Trump vs. Amazon