Heroes

In Persepolis Marji had a lot of heroes. One of those heroes was her uncle that died in prison. I have a hero and that is my grandpa. He has been there for me when I needed him and he has always tried to help me in the most difficult situations. When I was going to have to leave my house in Grantsville before I came to my program, he said to bring me to his house. He said that because he didn’t want to see me go to a foster home. When I was ever hurt, he was there for me. When I got an award, he was always there to see me get it.

Everyone has heroes and everyone can be a hero for someone else. In Hotel Rwanda Paul was a hero. He saved people because he didn’t want them to die. He saved his family and his friends. When he stayed back while his family went on the convoy, he said he wanted them to be safe and he didn’t want to leave his friends that have been with him, so he stayed and protected them until they could get them all out.

In Swing Kids the kids got in fights but they stayed with each other. When one kid was into trouble, they were all there to help each other out of it. They all had there heroes. One kid, his hero was his father because he was there to protect him from the Nazis. You need a hero. We have heroes because we see them as mentors, good examples. We want to be like them. I want to be like my grandpa because he is one of the people that help others like on Hotel Rwanda. He helps others because it’s the right thing to do. If I was sick at home he would be there to make sure that I got better. Ever since I was a little kid my grandpa was there when I was sick to help me get better because he would not do anything with out me by his side.

Tayler

My thoughts and feelings about Persepolis are that the book is a really great book. I really like it and I would recommend others to read this book. This book is pretty graphic but not too graphic. It has a lot of swearing in it and it has a part in it where it shows a guard peeing on a prisoner and it shows some things. If you don’t like those things in a book then I wouldn’t read it.

What I like about the book is that it talks a lot about the war between Iran and Iraq. I love wars and I get interested when people get tortured. I don’t know why but it interests me to see things like that.

What I dislike about the book is all of the swearing in it. Swearing doesn’t make a book good. In my opinion it makes it so you don’t want to read the book. When there are sexual things in a book I don’t really like to read it because I don’t like reading about stuff like that. When you read a book that has things in it that you don’t like then you don’t get interested in the book. That’s the same way with me. When I read a book that has things in it that I don’t like, I don’t get interested in the book anymore.

The value and meaning of the book is that the girl Marji goes through all of these rough times through the war, going to her friends, friends dying, moving away from friends and losing people that she loves. Marji loses an uncle that was her hero and a boyfriend that cheated on her. I would recommend the book to others because I believe that it has a lot of great meanings in the book.

In the end of the book I believe that Marji’s parents are going to die because of old age or someone comes and kills them. I believe that something is going to happen that she doesn’t like.

Tayler

I hope that I level up in my program. I have worked hard these last few months and I am going to work hard to be able to advance. I need to work on a few little issues and if I get those issues worked on then I should level up. I want to be a leader in my program and help others. I need to work on my empathy a little. I have been making client of the week for two weeks in a row and I am trying hard to be able to advance. So I really hope that I advance. When I do advance, I will be on phase 6 in my program which is the last phase in the program. When I get on phase 6, there will be three of us on it.

Last weekend when I went on a home visit with my mom, we went and saw the wolverine movie. I thought that was a kick butt movie. I really liked it. It had Scott (Cyclops) as a little kid and it had Storm in it as a little kid as well. There were a lot of things that I didn’t know that was in it. Like I didn’t know that Sabortooth and Wolverine were brothers. I didn’t know about some of the characters that were in it as well. But I really liked it and I really want to go and see it again. When I go on a home visit with my grandpa, we will probably go and see it because he wants to go and see it.

Tayler

The first quote “if you’re going through hell, keep going” means that if you’re in a place that is strict or a place you don’t want do be, then you don’t like it. My group home is an example of that. I don’t want to be there and it’s a place that has rules that you need to follow. I also listen to a song called if you’re going through hell. It says that if your going through hell to keep on going and don’t slow down. That means if you’re in a program, to not give up. If you give up, you will just be in a place that’s worse.

How that quote relates to overcoming adversity is by going through obstacles. I go through a lot of obstacles in my group home and it helps me get through rough times. When I go through rough times, I feel like I’m in hell. I feel like I want to give up but I don’t because I don’t want to be somewhere worse.

The quotes relate to Swing Kids is by the Germens have to go to the HJ when they don’t want to. They have to go to a place that is strict and they have to go through all of these different rules. The movie talks about the Nazis are taking control of Germany and they are forcing people to love them. The movie is in the holocaust time and some of the kids want to swing but the rules are getting put down to where they can’t and that they have to listen to the Germen music when they don’t want to.

Tayler

Matrix talent

If I could have any talent it would be able to fly because I love to be in the sky. I love to be in the air because if feels good. When I’m up in the clouds I can see all of the cars and they look like ants. When I am in the sky I want to stay up there because I feel higher than everyone. I would also want it to be able to fly anywhere I wanted. I could fly to my family’s house whenever and I could fly to all of the different places.

Another talent I would have would be able to turn invisible because so I can hide from people when they’re trying to find me. I would also use it to scare people by making just my head visible and lying on the ground so people think that my head has been cut off. I would also use it to sneak away from places I don’t want to be.

The talent that I would love to have is having super strength so I can pick up anything. I would pick up houses, buildings, and I would be able to punch through anything. I would mainly use my talent to help my Grandpa with yard work and to haul hay with him. I love to haul hay and I would help him load the hay on the trailer because I don’t want him hurting himself.


Tayler

Narrative: Conclusion

On the last day of my trip to California, we had the biggest breakfast at our hotel and went to Universal Studios. I had a lot of fun at universal studios. We went on things as a family and me, my grandpa, sister, and cousin went on the Jurassic Park boat ride. After we went on all of the rides, we had lunch at the Jurassic Café. It was a really good place to eat at. It had Chinese food and ate a lot of chicken.

After we ate at the Jurassic Café, we went up and out of the theme park because we had to go to the air port to leave California. While we were on the airplane, me and my cousin played Uno because we were bored on the way back home to Salt Lake. We had soda and peanuts on the way back.

It was very sad to go back home when we were having so much fun in California. I wanted to stay in California because I was having a lot of fun especially in Disneyland because it reminded me of my childhood when I went there when I was a child. The funnest thing that I liked about going to California was me and my cousin was able to go around by ourselves because our grandparents trusted us.

The coolest thing about the trip was my grandparents filmed our whole trip so we could watch it and remember our trip to California. I remember the day we got up at 4:00 in the morning because we needed to be at the air port in time and early so we didn’t have to wait. We were out of the air port by 6:00 in the morning and reached California by 8:30 in the morning. I cant wait until I can go back to California again.

Tayler

Narrative: Body Paragraphs

On the first day of my trip me and my family went through Knott’s Berry Farm. Me and my cousin were able to go through the park by ourselves. We went on some of the fastest rides there. The fastest ride that we went on was the silver bullet. It’s one of those rollercoaster rides that your feet dangle down. I felt very excited to go on the silver bullet because it looked fun and when I went on it. It was one of the funnest rollercoaster rides that I have been on.

The next day, before we went to another theme park, we ate at our hotel. Our hotel was awesome. We had a big suite room. Both rooms had bathrooms, a TV in it and comfortable beds. The breakfast was magnificent. It was one of the best that I have had at a hotel. They had a big buffet and a big dining room. I felt very happy to eat all of the new things that I have never tried before.

After we ate breakfast, we went to California Adventures theme park. California Adventures is right across Disneyland so if we get bored at one theme park we can just go over to the next. Me and my cousin went on one of the coolest roller coasters. The roller coaster was called the screemin rollercoaster. It stops and starts to count down from 10 then takes off at a dead speed. The roller coaster goes through tunnels, loops and big turns. I really liked that rollercoaster. Me and my cousin liked that roller coaster so much we went on it like 10 times.

The last day of our trip we went to Universal Studios Hollywood. I thought that Universal Studios was really cool. It had all of the movie rides. This time we went as a family through this park. We went on the mummy rollercoaster, back to the future, and the Jurassic Park boat ride. I really liked the Jurassic park ride because it showed all of the dinosaurs and went down an 84 foot drop. One of the scariest things that we went on was the haunted house of horrors. That had all of the scary movies in it. One of the things that scared me was a guy chasing people around with a real chainsaw. There was also a box that chucky popped out of with a knife out of random.


Tayler

Narrative Rough Draft

Have you ever had a day in your life when you had a lot of fun? I had one of those days and that was when I went on my family vacation to Disneyland with my grandparents, sister and cousin. I went through the whole park. It was cool looking at all of the new things that they had there.

What I thought was so cool was my grandpa let me and my cousin go all by ourselves around the park and go on any ride that we wanted to. Me and my cousin did a lot of cool things there. We saw all of the characters from Disney and saw the new rides there.

Me and my cousin went on a lot of rides. We went on the new pirates of the Caribbean boat ride. It was cool looking at all of the treasure and the pirates that they had there. When we were at Disneyland we saw the characters from pirates of the Caribbean. It was the opening day for the new movie at worlds end. They had a red carpet and everything. They walked right down Main Street.

One of the coolest things that I did was the star wars Jedi academy. They had two people dressed up like Jedi’s and they taught everyone they picked to do the Jedi training. They taught us how to fight and which way to do in and it was really fun. Me and my sister did it. I fought Darth Vader and my sister fought Darth Maul.

I had a really fun trip when I went to Disneyland. It was one of the best that I went on. When I was there it was like all of the troubles went away because I was having so much fun.

Tayler

There once was a mouse,
Who lived in a house.
He did not speak,
Nor did he speak.
But he did wear a blouse.

There once was a boy
He loved his favorite toy
He found it broken
After he awoken
And just found out it was his brother troy.

There once was a bum
He played the drum
He found it was bad
He got very mad
And he told himself he’s dumb

I wish to have a phone
Maybe I can get a lone.
Should I get cricket?
Or kick back and kick it.
But all I do is mone.


Tayler

The lonely guitar

The guitar is very lonely,
It hasn’t been played for years,

All it can do is make a noise,
But the guitar was bought from sears.

The kid cant play the guitar, either can his parents,
So all the guitar does is play in tears.

When the guitar plays it plays a sad song,
So all it does is play when it’s sad.

The guitar is very lonely, the guitar is very sad,
The lonely guitar turned out to be mad!!!


Tayler

Summit

Summit is cool, summit is great,
It might be hard to get a date.

We all help others,
Because we are like brothers.

Summit may be small, but it’s full of joy,
Summit is great for every girl and boy.

You hear Doug planning activities,
Dan planning fun

Student council planning summit nights,
And you hear that some kids want to run.

You hear teachers talking about assignments,
Councilors talk about credits,

But the person who works the most is Joe
At the front desk.
Joe has to call people and receive calls
I don’t think she ever goes to malls.

Summit is trustworthy,
Summit can help,

And what summit doesn’t do is wine and whelp.


Tayler

Music
Music is the best; it helps me sleep at night.
If I go without music their will be a fight.

I love to play guitar, I can’t play the bass.
But that’s ok because I keep all of my music
In a case.

The sound of the electric is ok, I like the
Sound that it makes.
But some people who play them are fakes.

The drums are loud; I like the sound they make
But lessons I will not take.

Tayler

Procrastination is bad in my terms. If you procrastinate things, it will just become bad for you. I have procrastinated a lot of things in the past and it did not turn out good for me. When I was in elementary school I would procrastinate a lot of projects so I would be up until 11:00 trying to get it done and my step mom was right there to make sure that I got it done.

I have procrastinated a lot of assignments in school and I got a bad grade or something for not turning it in at all or getting fewer points for turning it in late. Turning things in late doesn’t hurt anyone but myself. Procrastination is bad! I hate myself for procrastinating things but I don’t do it now because I’ve learned that it’s bad.

If you keep procrastinating things as a little kid or as a child then when you get older it will come back and bite you on the but or you’ll learn that it’s ok to procrastinate things. Because you will soon get fired if you procrastinate things at work and that will be bad. Don’t procrastinate things because it will hurt you!


Tayler

Freedom is one of the greatest feelings in the world in my opinion. Everyone wants some freedom some time in their life. Freedom feels good when you’re using your freedom for a good thing. Some people like to use their freedom badly to do dangerous and stupid things like stealing or doing a crime and that’s not the way to spend your freedom. Besides, if you do a crime, then you will just lose your freedom.

Freedom feels good when you have it. I love to have freedom because I get to spend the time that I want to do whatever like listen to music, play games, eat a lot of candy ect.

I’m in a group home, so I don’t get much freedom. I can’t go wherever I want or hang out with friends when I want. The only time that I really get freedom is when I’m on a home visit, and I get to play games and eat whatever I want. When I have freedom and having it makes me want to scream Freedom!

Some people don’t like freedom at all. Some people who get in programs tell that they don’t want any freedom because they did a crime to get in the program. Some people just make a mistake and get in a program.

Freedom is a great feeling to have in the world because no one can tell you what to do especially when you’re some place that you really like to be like in California or at a family member’s house.

Tayler

The dominant theme of Hamlet is about revenge. Most of the movie is about revenge and getting back at other people. First King Hamlet dies by Claudius, and Hamlet suspects that it’s him. So Hamlet has tried to get back at him but never knew if it was him or not. So Hamlet has tried to get back at His uncle and go crazy. Because of revenges that went on their was a lot of deaths. First Polonius died because he spied on Hamlet and the queen. Then Larates wants to get revenge on Hamlet for killing his father.
Revenge can be nice at sometimes but because of some revenges a lot of people died.

Another theme of the story was drama. There was a lot of drama in the play between Hamlet and Ophelia, the king and queen, Polonius and his son. But there was a lot of drama and that had a big part in revenges. Larates wanted to get revenge for being a jerk to his sister.

One message that I got from the play was the whole plot of the play. There was a lot of action, revenge and drama and I think that was one of the coolest things was having all of those things in it. Another message was about death. Hamlet talked about death and what happens when you die. Before Hamlet died he said that it’s a big sleep.

Tayler

Journal

What I think about Valentines Day is that I like it because my family always gives me candy. I really love candy on Valentines Day especially chocolate. I never really had any family Valentines Day traditions but in the past I have woken up with a basket full of candy on the side of my bed with something that I wanted in it.

When I was little my mom would get me a toy that I wanted, and a lot of candy in a Valentines Day basket. My plans this weekend are the same, but on Saturday I’m going to eat a lot of candy that I get from my family and play video games. But it’s really the same as every weekend in the group home. The only good thing is I get to play video games for 4-5 hours eat a lot of candy and have a lot of fun

. For the talent show I’m playing the guitar in it and my family is coming from Salt Lake to come and see me. They’re going to bring me a lot of stuff for being in the talent show.

I’ve never dated anyone nor had a girlfriend for Valentines Day so this Valentines Day is the same as any other one. But it’s happened all of my life so I’m used to it. But I really like all of the candy that I get.

Tayler

In the book I’m reading in my English class, Hamlet, Claudius can be forgiven but will people forgive him. I really don’t think that he should be forgiven. The reason why I don’t think that he should is because he killed his brother which was the king. He killed his brother just to get the thrown to be king and to get his brothers wife.

It’s just like in the Lion King scar killed his brother to get pride rock and to become king. I would think that no matter what you would still be royalty for your brother being king or whatever. I would think that you would still get special privileges.

I don’t think that Claudius should be forgiven because he killed someone. I think that Claudius should be killed for it because a king shouldn’t be a killer. A king should be someone who wants to help his country and enforce the law. I understand that Hamlet would want to kill his uncle because he wants to get revenge for himself and his father. He knows for a fact that his uncle killed his father and the ghost of his father told him to get revenge.

Tayler

ipods in School

Dear Administrators

I think that kids should be able to have iPods in school because kids could work faster. If kids could work faster, then they don’t have to have homework, they stay on task, and they would get their work done on time. Kids like to listen to music when they work and I have seen that they like to get their work done.

Another reason that I have is that kids could work harder, they could get good grades, a good education, and they would be abler to get all of their work right. I have seen kids work harder with iPods or music for them to listen to. When I’m working on a project or I’m cleaning something I like to listen to music because it helps me work faster, and I like to work harder on the thing that I’m doing.

My third reason is that kids would get their work done. My reasons are is if they get their work done then they have more time for fun, wont get distracted from others while their doing their work, and they could help others when their done with their work. If kids get all of their work done and know how to do it then they could help others that do not know how to do their work.

My fourth reason is concentration. Kids could concentrate better, and that means no distractions, keeps you going, and you are focused on your work. Concentration is very important for working. I believe that you can concentrate better when your listening to music because your so focused on what your working on and you have your favorite music to listen to while your working and it can help you work faster.

My final reason is entertainment. If, you have all of your work done in class you have nothing else to work on and theirs time left in class then you can watch a movie, play games and listen to music. Most of the time when people are bored they do something stupid. If, they have something to listen to or something to do then they won’t be so bored.

The kind of music that I’m into is country, hip-hop, and pop music. I like those because I grew up with those. I also like to listen to techno because it cheers me up when I’m down. I have been listening to country ever since I was little. For Christmas my family has always given me county music for me to listen to. When I’m sad or depressed I listen to county music because it reminds me of my family. Me and my family love country music, and while I’m in this program I listen to it because it tells me that I need to go back home to my family.

What makes bad music suck is the language. In a lot of rap songs rappers say swear words after every other word. Like in country the artist might say a little swear word like the A word or Hell. They don’t say the F bomb or any of the other swear words. That’s why I like country because they don’t say that much swear words. When rappers swear 50 times in their songs I don’t think that’s cool, and I don’t see how people like listening to it.

I don’t think that genre matters because if you write a song then that’s great. Not many people can write songs, and if you like country or hip hop then that’s the kind of music you like. All songs should get respect. The only songs that I don’t think should get respect is the songs that say a swear word after every other word. Because then all that person is doing is cussing and it’s not much of a song. But I think that every song at least should get respect. If not the song then the writer for all of the hard work that they did to make the song.

Tayler

I can’t wait until this weekend because I’m going on a home visit. My grandparents got a flat screen TV and my aunt and uncle have a ps3 and their going to bring it and rock band 2 with it. They also have a wii system. Me and my brother and my family are going to play it. My grandma is also going to cook buffalo in her big cooker that she got. I can’t wait, because I’m also probably going to go to the walking with dinosaurs. I heard that it was really good. I really want to go. It will be a first time for me having buffalo. I’ve never had it so I’m so excited to eat it.

I have learned new songs on my guitar and I’m going to play my guitar to my family. Me and a friend are going to play Our Song by Taylor Swift in the talent show. She’s going to sing it and I’m going to play the guitar. I love playing guitar and it makes me happy when I play it. When I play my guitar it feels like all of my troubles go away. Most of the songs that I play are country because I like country. I was born country and I will always love it. Kids in my group home hate country except one person. They hate it when I play my guitar because I play to loudly.

Tayler