English 9 Honors Blog

Please respond to each of the questions below.   Responses should be  at least one paragraph .  Number your responses so that it is clear which question you are answering.   1. Military school obviously benefited author Wes Moore. What did author Wes Moore go on to do after exiting military school?  Do you think there were any other paths that could have set him on the straight and narrow? 2. Prisoner Wes Moore continued to proclaim innocence, saying he wasn’t there for the robbery. Do you think the author believed him? Did you believe him? Do you think he should have been sentenced to life in prison? 3. At one point, author Wes Moore asks prisoner Wes Moore, "Do you think we are all products of our environments?"  How would you answer this question? 4. Prisoner Wes Moore says that we are either products of our environments or products of our expectations.  Which is it?  What about you?  (Are you more a product of your environment or...

Please respond to each of the questions below.  Responses should be  at least one paragraph .  Number your responses so that it is clear which question you are answering.  Please post your responses by Sunday, May 12th @8:00p.m. 1. Outside of his family, who warned author Wes Moore about the bad path he was on? (police officer after he got caught tagging) Did Moore heed this warning? For how long? Why didn’t the change stick? 2. Author Wes Moore states, “Later in life I learned that the way many governors projected the numbers of beds they’d need for prison facilities was by examining the reading scores of third graders.” (p. 54) How did reading this make you feel? Why? 3. What allowed author Wes Moore to go to better schools than prisoner Wes Moore?  (What kinds of sacrifices did his family make?) 4.  How did Tony try to dissuade prisoner Wes Moore from following his illegal path? Why did it work or not work? 5. At the end of this part of the re...

Please respond to all of the questions below .  Responses should be  at least one paragraph .  Number your responses so that it is clear which question you are answering.   1. What drove author Wes Moore to write to the prisoner Wes Moore? Why do you think prisoner Wes Moore wrote back to the author? 2. What was the fate of author Wes Moore’s father? Do you think his father might have survived under other circumstances? 3. Author Wes Moore states, “Soon it became clear that the Riots were about more than the tragic death of Dr. King. They were about anger and hurt so extreme that rational thought was thrown out the window – these were people so deranged by frustration that they were burning down their own neighborhood” (19).  Does this “deranged frustration” make sense to you? Are there places in today’s America that feel like this? 4. Author Wes Moore talks about the Bronx in the 1980s and early 1990s as an apocalyptic place to be with drugs, burned ou...

Post the prompt assignment you chose, the title of your piece here, and also a link to it (a link to it on the YWP website). Do not post your actual piece here.

Please comment on this post by 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 24th .   Starr pledges to "never be quiet" ( Chapter 26, p. 444 ). After reading this book, how can you use your voice to promote and advance social justice? Reflect on how you and your community discuss and address inequality.   Please make sure that your comment is at least 200 words. ( Questions issued by publishers .)

Please Respond to the following post in at least 250 words: Chris and Starr have a breakthrough in their relationship --- Starr admits to him that she was in the car with Khalil and shares the memories of Natasha’s murder (Chapter 17). Discuss why Starr’s admission and releasing of this burden to Chris is significant. Explore the practice of “code switching” and discuss how you might code switch in different circumstances in your own life.

Once again, I would like you to respond to two prompts (at least 150 words each) by Sunday at 8:00 p.m.  Here they are: 1. Once news of Khalil’s shooting spreads across the neighborhood, unrest arises: “Sirens wail outside. The news shows three patrol that have been set  ablaze at the police precinct...A gas station near the freeway gets looted...My neighborhood is a warzone” (Chapter 9, 136-139). Respond to this development and describe some parallels  to current events. 2. How do you think Starr would define family? What about Seven? How do you define it?

Respond to BOTH of the prompts below:  Each response should be at least 150 words. 1. As Starr and Khalil listen to Tupac, Khalil explains what Tupac said “Thug Life” meant. Discuss the meaning of the term “Thug Life” as an acronym and why the author might have chosen part of this at the title of the book. In what ways do you see this is society today? (Chapter 1, p. 17) 2. At the police station after Starr details the events leading up to the shooting, the detective shifts her focus to Khalil’s past. Why do you think the detective did this? Discuss Starr’s reaction to this “bait” (Chapter 6, pp. 102-103).

Choose one or two of the following prompts (from the Random House Website) and respond to it (them).  Your response should be at least 300 words. 1.  When a man is offended by John calling him a Montagoonian because he comes from a town called Montague, John writes that the man had no right to be offended because that’s where he lived, and if he didn’t like it, that he should move. Questions:  What do you think of John’s use of nicknames to refer to others?  In the case of the man from Montague, do you agree with John, that he had no right  to be offended?  Should John have stopped calling the man a Montagoonian simply because he was offended, even if he disagreed with the logic? Why/ Why not? 2. John describes growing apart from and ultimately divorcing Little Bear, and his next marriage to Martha. John wonders whether or not he picked the best mate in Martha, and considers her other two sisters as potentially better alternatives. Questions:...

Post the  prompt   you  chose,  the title  of your piece here,  and  also a link to it  (a link to it on the YWP website).  Do not post your actual piece here.

Please respond to one of the four prompts (from Penguin Publishing).  Your response should be at least 300 words.  Please proofread thoroughly before publishing.  Also, make it clear which prompt you are responding to.   1. In Chapter 16, “One with the Machine,” Robison says, “Sometimes I think I can relate better to a good machine than any kind of person.” Discuss the reasons he gives for his affinity. Why might a person find comfort in machinery but not in people? 2. Despite career advice from music industry insiders, Robison doesn’t want to move to a city. Compare the life he experiences when he’s on tour with KISS to his life back in Shutesbury. Why might the idea of living in a city be intimidating to someone with Asperger’s? 3. Robison writes that he can’t smile on command. How often do you smile “on command” whether you want to or not? How would not being able to automatically produce the expected facial expression make your work life more difficult? Yo...

Christopher, from  Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time , is a fictional character, while  Look Me in the Eye  is John Elder Robison's account of his life with Asperger's.  What similarities do you see between the fictional Christopher, and the real-life John Elder Robison?  What differences do you see?  Please provide examples from the texts to support your response.  Your response should be at least 300 words.

By Sunday Night (January 27th), at 8:00 p.m., please comment on your reaction (so far) to  Look Into My Eyes .  You might consider what you like/don't like about it (and why––the "why" is the most important piece here).  You might comment on the author's writing style.  How is it different or similar to other things you've read?  What surprised you?  What made you laugh?  What other emotions did the writing evoke?  The more specific you can be in your response, the better.   Comments should be at least 300 words.

Please  respond  to the book in at least 300 words .  You can respond any way you like, but you might consider the question below.  What made the author Wes Moore traditionally more successful than the other Wes Moore? In your response, consider the many influences on each Wes Moore’s life (such as family, friends, education, the neighborhood, and environment).  Consider, too, each man’s personality and actions.