Hero project reflection

A hero becomes a hero by putting other first and by their actions. A hero can also be hero my ones perspective, because someone can be a hero to somebody but probably wont be a hero for someone else.

We had to find out what a hero is and what makes a hero. Once we have chosen our hero we interviewed them and wrote a character sketch about them. We learned literary devices, 5 senses, dialogue and detailed writing. We also had to write about a one moment in time that shaped us in who we are today. We also had a Socratic seminar about what makes a hero.

I met all my deadlines but had to work hard, since we also had a lot of work going on in different classes. I stayed many nights to get my work done on time and really started to use my planner to keep track of due dates.

I learned a lot of things, it changed my perspective on what it hero really is and really made me think and take seriously about what makes a hero a hero. I think I have also really improved on my writing. At first my computer wasn’t working and I had to do extra effort to get things done on time. I would have written a better character sketch, I feel like I could have done better, it would honor my hero more. Another challenge I had was picking my hero since I didn’t really understand what a hero really was at first, but I found my mom is a hero to my eyes. This will help me later on, because now I know the true meaning on what’s a hero.

Perspective was a big thing in this project since everyone has their own different perspective on what is a hero, or what changed them to who they are today. At the beginning of the project mostly everybody had the perspective of a hero being like superman. Through out the project everyone’s perspective changed and took the question more deeply.

The Origin of Zero

What strikes you about the articles?
-What strikes is that they so much information about zero or about numbers in general because I never thought about how there use to be mathematics way back then. What I also find astonishing is how they discover these things from a long times ago, and how it went around through out the whole world that every body knew about it.

How do we decide who discovers what?
-It’s not really exact in who discovers zero because it was first discovered in Mesopotamia around 3 B.C, and then it kept getting discovered in other places through the years but wasn’t found in Rome. Later in India in the fifth century A.D it started to be considered as a number.

Who really discovered zero? Is it the person who came up with the concept of zero or the person who discovered the actual number?
-I think nobody really exactly discovered zero because if the person who came up with the concept of it being a place holder, it wouldn’t have become an actual number and the person that made it an actual number was because there was already the concept of it.

And how did the entire world come to a consensus without an efficient means of communication?
-The meaning of zero and the concept of zero was made by communication. That how it was spread, too.

Sweet Home Child Care

“Yo queria trabajar, hacer algo.” my mom said as she picked up clothes from the floor, my sister uncaringly threw. Even after a long day she kept going. My mom, a short, strong woman that wanted to do something with her life. “My friend showed me an advertisement on the newspaper, about a course on daycare at the South Western College, that’s what got me started.” I flashed back when she started her job.
She went ahead and saw her opportunity of starting something that she seemed capable of doing. At the same time we started constructing our house to have more room for the daycare, I didn’t see the point in expanding our house, and I didn’t like change. I was excited for my mom but at the same she wasn’t going to be our full time mom anymore. She came to me many times for help, I felt eager to help her accomplish her goal but I couldn’t take it seriously. My mom had always been a house mom.

She finally graduated from South Western College. Many months after she started advertising but, didn’t really get any good customers she took another big step forward and enrolled herself into Navy Child Development Home; this is where the real challenge started. Navy Child Development Home is strict and you have to do a lot of paper work, she would have to sacrifice her night sleep to finish her work. Once she started moving forward, things we thought were going to get smoother, they did in some sense. My mom started really working. She has to take care kids sometimes from 6 to 6, do the bills, do the housework, and take care of my brother, my sister, my dad, that has a bad knee, and me.

When I come home from school, if the children aren’t there anymore we all plop down in front of the T.V. and eat the delicious food my mom so caringly made. I looked at her, she looked so tired you can see it in her red eyes and the way she ate, I cleaned the kitchen with out being asked, hoping my mom will take advantage and rest for a while more before she starts up again with things that she has to get done.
As I wash the dishes my mom stumbles in, she looks at me then at the clock.

“Tienes mucha tarea?” she asks, minding my work and responsibilities. I think and try to remember the things I still had to do as I rinse a glass cup. I had plenty of homework but helping her seemed more important, I wanted to let her know that I really appreciated all the work she has to do to keep buying me cute clothes.

“Mmm, sort of.” I muttered not making eye contact.

“If you have a lot of homework go do it, I don’t want you to stay up late.” She strictly told me. I thought how she always had to wake up earlier than me and always went to bed later than me. She should be telling herself that, I thought.

I look at her now with a year working like this. “Do you miss your old life, when you didn’t have a lot of little kids running around? What do you miss?”
She looked at me with her still red eyes as she thought, “The Peace. When I could do everything [bills, papers] without stress.” I missed that, too. “Okay, ¿es todo? Estoy cansada y tu te tienes que ir a dormir.” I don’t know how she does it to stay on top of everything and still care about how much sleep I get.

She’s a good mom and really cares on everything she does. Even though it’s hard she is proud of herself, “Yes [I’m proud] because, it’s my own little business and we have gone forward because of my daycare we haven’t lost our house.”

Literary Device

Catching the signal from one of her friends, Angela brushed her skirt, took a deep breath and walked towards where he was sitting. She looked over at her best friend for approval. Her best friend smiled and gave her a small nod. She remembered how things use to be before, how easy it used to be to talk to him, that was before everything changed. She glanced at him once more before approaching; even the way his eyes met hers was different. He no longer had that warm safe feeling they once had; they were dark brown with hate and resentment. As she took a seat in front of him she tried to smile sincerely. Angela gave him a small peck on his cheek and noticed his breath smelled like ice cold lemonade on a boiling hot summer day. When he looked up at her he said in a miserable blue way that could have made even the reddest of roses die in a heartbeat, “I can’t believe she is really gone.” Angela tried to hold his hand to comfort him; his hand was ice cold she squeezed it slowly trying to make it warmer. Memories of his mom flooded in, Sandy, she remembered, the night she met her and the warm welcomed feeling she gave her to their family. Angela gently laid her head on his shoulder and lovingly whispered in his ear, “I’m sorry.” The cell phone on the table buzzed as it slowly vibrated towards the edge of the table. He ignored it, and looked at Angela as she assured him, “It’s going to be okay, baby, and I’m here for you.” The cell phone buzzed again like it was screaming at him to answer. He checked his phone, sighed and turned it off. He laid his head on Angela’s and kisses the top of her head. She feels his pain and a teardrop drops from her eye and lands on her hand in her lap. He squeezed her and teardrops fell from his eyes, too. The loss of his mother was terrible for both of them.