Kaitlyn Chow                                                                                                  April 16, 2015

ELA Writing                                                                                                                    812

Heart Poem Reading Response

Response to Another Sonnet for Stephan

            Alvin Lester Sitomer’s poem “Another Sonnet for Stephan” stood out to me because of the main theme of the poem. The theme of the poem was life and growing up. Evidence that this was the theme was because the narrator writes about how they watch this little boy grow up in different stages. The poem flowed very smoothly and all of the lines related to the theme. Specifically, lines 1-4 stood out to me because it expresses the narrator’s happy reaction to the boys joy. It shows the relationship they had and how the narrator loved this young boy.

            The theme in this poem is not contradicted and, as I mentioned before, all the lines relate to the theme. The poem talks about the relationship between the narrator and the boy, and the sonnet continues to show that this boy grew up well. It keeps expanding and showing the different ways the boy was fortunate.

            The audience that the poem is written to is everyone. I say this because it’s a poem about a boy growing up, with the narrator alongside to watch him every time he does. It’s not specifically for guardians or parents, not for only boys, but for everyone because we can all relate to this sonnet in some sort of way. We all have our prideful and grateful moments where we are happy to be alive as the narrator seemed to be because of how proud he was of the boy growing up.

            Throughout the poem I have also observed the speakers tone. The speakers tone is proud and they seem to know this boy well, as they care for him deeply. The last few lines, lines 13 and 14 in the sonnet emphasizes the narrators feeling towards the boy by saying, “The boy, the youth, the man are each now gone/ Except that in my heart they linger on.” These lines have a great significance to the poem, as it ends in a beautiful way because the narrator seems very wistful and remembers the times when the boy was young.

            When I read this poem, I felt happy and grateful. The reasons I feel this way is because it was emotional to hear about how proud the narrator was of the growing boy whom he watched at a young age, and he appreciates the time with the boy as he grows. In addition, it also made me happy because the boy became successful, and he made the narrator proud and grateful for this boy in his life. Towards the end of the sonnet, even though, “The boy, the youth, the man are each now gone,” the narrator knows the boy became successful and grew up well, which made the narrator happy.

Kaitlyn Chow                                                                                                                 February 11, 2015

ELA                                                                                                                                                      812

Reading Response

Book: Athletic Shorts- Six Short Stories

Title: The Pin

Author: Chris Crutcher

Critical Thinking Question: 11) Who has "power" in the text? How is it shown?

             When your own father was the number two wrestler in the nationals, you could imagine the amount of pressure the son would have on wrestling. The Pin by Chris Crutcher is about the relationship between Johnny and  his father. His father wants Johnny to do good, and learn how to grow up so he'll be ready for the world. As a result, Johnny's father is very strict on him.

             Cecil B. Johnson is Johnny's father; number two wrestler at 177 pounds at the University of Oklahoma. Johnny is Cecil's son. His father wants to toughen him up because he: "thinks I'm too frivolous to grow up in the world" (36). Cecil expects Johnny to do what he says, and to learn from him. If he doesn't listen, Johnny says: "he's always roughed me up pretty good. Either with his open hand on the back of my head or with words" (38). His father pushes him to do better.

             Johnny's father wants him to learn from his mistakes. An example if this is that Johnny has to do ten push-ups per word that irritates him (on purpose) or is immature. Cecil wants Johnny to learn not to run his smart mouth. One time, Johnny purposely made an inappropriate joke at the dinner table."That's very funny, John," he says, but he's not laughing. "That's worth exactly one thousand thirty push-ups." (41) his father said in reply. And one thousand and thirty push-ups is just what Johnny did. Besides, he knew push-ups helped strengthen his muscles for wrestling too. Johnny also obeyed his father because he knew he had to face his father's consequence. If he cheated, he would have to start all over again.

             Johnny wanted to make his parents proud. He wanted to show his father that he could do things too, not always with his fathers help. Even if Johnny is immature sometimes, he wants to prove to his father that he is worthy. In particularly, this part shows it: "I want to do every one of those 1,030 push-ups to his specs. I want to hand him this year's state wrestling trophy and shake his hand with a grip that will bring him down to his knees" (45). Johnny wants to show Cecil that he is capable. That even though his father may be The Great Cecil B. Johnson, he can do things too. "I hate him because no matter what I do, it's never enough. But I love him, I must. I want to show him I am good enough." (45). Johnny feels Cecil thinks too little of him, that he isn't the son who would be as great of a wrestler as he.
             Cecil wants Johnny to grow up and be a man. He wants the best for his son, but sometimes, Johnny doesn't see it. We often as people question why we are pressured or pushed so hard by our parents. They want the best for us. Parents want the best for their kids, just like Cecil wants for Johnny.

Picture Book First Draft

Peter is a small boy at the age of seven years old.

His best friend, Ryan, is the opposite. Ryan is very tall.

They are the bestest of friends.

One day at school, Ryan was asked to take down some books from the shelf for the class.

Everyone thought he could do it because of his height.

But Ryan couldn’t reach it.

So he took a chair and stood on it.

He reach over to get the books, but someone pushed the chair. It fell, and Ryan fell with it.

The whole class laughed.

Ryan was mad. Peter was mad. The whole class laughed.

“What are you gonna do Ryan?” The bully said.

Ryan looked down at the floor.

Peter couldn’t just watch this, he had to do something.

Peter walked up to the bully.

“He might do anything, but I will.”

The bully laughed. “Ok shorty, do something.”

“Leave him alone.” Peter said.

The bully stared at him. Slowly, he backed away.

After school, Peter noticed Ryan was still feeling sad.

“Come on Ry, lets go get some ice-cream.” He said, hoping to cheer his friend up.

Peter knew just the place to get some.

“You can go in, I don’t feel like having any.” Ryan said.

“Come with me. It’ll cheer you up!” Peter said.

Ryan nodded his head no.

So Peter went in alone.

He walked up to the counter and said, “May I please have some vanilla ice cream?”

The woman didn’t hear him.

Once again Peter said, “May I please have some vanilla ice cream?”

But again, the woman did not seem to hear him.

Peter walked out of the store with no ice cream.

“What happened? Where’s your ice cream?” Ryan asked.

“The lady in the store didn’t hear me, because I was too short, so I left.”

“Well then I’ll order it.” Ryan said.

And this time, they went into the ice cream shop together.

Authors Note First Draft

Planning Page:

Main Character: Peter

Age: 7

Issue: Fitting In

Setting: Everywhere

Flaw: Too Small

Examples: The candy store, getting a job, Rollacoasters, clothes don't fit,