Johnson 2 “When Blanco comforts a mentally challenged high school student after being teased by the football team captain, however, she wonders if maybe she is looking for acceptance and friendship in the wrong places. She finds meaning in helping the special education kids organize a senior prom. Later, she becomes friends with Annie, the school's tough girl, who like Blanco, is an outcast looking for acceptance”. (Pior 4) Its normal wanted to be expected in high school. No matter whom it’s always good to feel wanted and liked.
Isabella LaBianca English 2H, 5th Mrs. Miller Dead Poets Society “Dead Poets’Society”: IDK In the film, Dead Poets Society, Peter Weir illustrates the romantic elements of nonconformity and nature. As the film opens, Todd Anderson, a shy and lonely teenager, under pressure from his parents to succeed like his brother, arrives for the new semester at Welton Academy. He sees a different side to this strict school after the first day of English class with the new teacher, Mr. Keating. His first words of wisdom, perhaps the most important, to the boys are in his first lesson: “Carpe Dium lads! Seize the day!
A handful of students mouthed off about how their junior English teacher, Mrs. Thornton, hardly ever gave out hard assignments. As class went on Mandrell was pelted with more and more complaints about how her class was stressing the students to a level where they could not really focus on their assignments. All the class came together in unison and agreed that she was assigning them too much work. After some serious thought Mandrell concluded that maybe a change in the way the class was taught would release some of the stress put on the students and take away the worries of focusing on grades (380). After Mandrell was burdened with the complaints of her class, she went home to meditate on the day’s new found conclusion: the students thought her class was a nightmare.
“The falling girl” Vs. “The school” Both stories, “The falling girl” by Dino Buzzati & “The school” by Donald Barthelme, deal with the theme of life versus death. Both authors are trying to show the importance of life and how valuable life is. They prove how something has to be lost in order to make people realize the value of what was lost. “We take for granted the very things - _______________________ that most deserve our gratitude.” (Cynthia Ozick). Marta (“The falling girl”) had to lose her youth in order to realize how valuable all that time that she had as young girl was, left with a regret of all the things that she could have done.
The technical convention of close-up shots is used to show the importance of education through the facial expressions which show desperation, anger and joy of the families of children applying for charter schools. During the final scenes of the documentary, we learn that some children were accepted and some were not. This makes the reader sympathize with the children who were not accepted. The symbolic convention of body language is used to show the importance of education through Ruby’s actions in the isolated classroom. On the seventh page of the book, Ruby is focused on doing her work in an isolated classroom; Ruby seemed to ignore the fact that she was isolated and fully immersed herself in her textbooks.
The Writer by Richard Wilbur: A father hears his daughter writing a story, and the daughter is an adolescent. The daughter possibly has a severe illness that is threatening her life. The father then realizes that you cannot be a good writer if you have an easy life; hardships and life lessons are what make a good writer. The father wishes his daughter not an easy passage through life, but struggles that she will face to later become a better writer. The Watcher at the Gates by Gail Goodwin: The “inner critic” is a common problem among all writers.
The movie Dead Poets Society follows a group of teens at a strict school who become heavily influenced by the transcendentalist philosophies of their new teacher, Professor John Keating. The values they are taught completely change their entire perspective and attitude towards life. For the most part this is a good thing, as the boys normally lead boring lives that they are bored with. They form a group known as the Dead Poets Society and their lives are immediately changed forever. They live by the philosophies of writers like Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I tried not to look the way I felt- like I didn’t belong there with them.” Also, she narrates difficulties that she faced after high-school graduation. Financial difficulties forced her to stop her higher education “Financial difficulties forced my family of eight to move”. Then, she shows how she succeeded, despite her mother’s disapproval toward parents who seek higher education. Her son was the better motivation. He kindled her ambition to be a better student.
Alissa Ringeisen First-Year Writing Fairbanks 8 October 2012 Lives on the Boundary: Mike Rose In Lives on the Boundary, Mike Rose is observing a teacher, Dr. Gunner, in the English A course at UCLA. Many other professors and students call this course the “Bonehead” course because it is the lowest English course offered at UCLA. This course was designed for the slow, or remedial learners, the ones that were considered “marginal”. Dr. Gunner, however, saw potential for these students. She challenged her students to show their intelligence.
Madera’s desire to overcome her language barrier caused her to decide to go back to college and take English courses (79). Madera had taken her weakness into her own hands and decided to fix it by going back to school. She realizes that the way she speaks does not show the type of person that she, but her writing does (80). “The Bar of Gold” also talks about how the protagonist, Weeping John, is his own constraint, and because of that he is not able to move forward. In this folktale, Weeping John is constantly sick because he is worried about how his family will survive after his death (Gold 148).