Qur'an Response

Despite the difficulty when reading the Qur'an, I can definitely understand why they believe what they believe a little bit better. I thought that this book was very hard to understand and made no sense, however it is beneficial to know why they believe these certain things. As a Christian I think it is good to know about other religions, just so we are not one-sided, and really understand our religion and why we believe what we do. I found Christianity and the Bible more reliable and appealing because it is easier to understand the storyline, therefore being more reliable because the Bible was written during the same time frame of Jesus as well as prophesized before. Unlike Muslim, where Muhammed came out of the cave and told people what was spoken to him, and then that wasn't written down until a while later. Therefore, I think that studying the Qur'an is beneficial because now we know some of their reasons for their belief, and maybe won't be so judgemental next time we are around Muslims.

Camelot Response

I thought the overall portion of the movie was not too bad. Despite it being an older movie with weird singing and what not, it was pretty easy to follow the story line. I appreciated how the plot of the story was not too difficult. Also, I thought the movie gave us a good look at what life may have been like during that time period. Despite the singing, I thought they did a good job of getting the story across. The film has universal human appeal in many ways. For example, there is a love story involved, which appeals to every human. Also, there is always violence and fighting involved. The violence can appeal to many humans across the world, however there is an opposite effect as well that humans have-especially when the guy almost dies after being jousted by Lancelot. I think this movie does show some Christian significance. For example, we see the sinful desires of humans in here between Lancelot and Arthur's wife Genvieve. They secretly are in love behind Arthur's back. This shows the sinful temptations and desires of humans. Also, we see that Arthur has hope that his relationship will become better and that his kingdom won't be corrupted and fall. Therefore, I thought that they did an okay job in this movie, but it would appeal to me much more if there was no singing.

Iliad/Troy Similarities and Differences

There are a number of similarities and differences between the movie Troy and the Iliad. Some similarities that I saw between the two was how Patroclus put himself in Achilles armor, went out and fought and got himself killed. Another similarity portrayed in both is the anger of Achilles. Especially after Patroclus is killed, it shows both in the movie and book how Achilles really lets his anger take control of him, and how he goes straight to the man who killed his cousin, Hector. I think they do a good job showing that heroes aren't perfect, and that they have downfalls.

Some differences between the two include how they mixed Chryseis and Briseis into one person in the movie. I would say that they probably would have done that to make it easier to understand the plot line. It may be more confusing having those two characters, as well as every other main character to remember. Also, in the movie there is really no intervention and involvement of the gods as there is in the Iliad. I think that they would have done this because most people aren't familiar with the Greek Pantheon and it would add to the difficulty of understanding the movie. In the book, Athena, disguises herself as one of Hector's allies, and then when Hector looks over for help, she's gone, and he is killed.

I think that the overall purpose in having changes in the movie, is to help the audience better understand what's going on. There are less names to remember, which simplifies the plot and allows for an easier understanding.

Strategy and Success Blog

1. What do you like best about class so far? What's going well?
So far this year I have really enjoyed starting our unit out with the movie Superman. I also enjoy not having much homework each night as well as having review days for our vocab.

2. What has been your greatest disappointment so far?
I would probably have to say that my greatest disappointment so far would be not doing so well on the pop quizzes we have every once and a while either on vocab roots or stories we read in our literature books.

3. Describe how you've studied for tests or prepared for quizzes. Give me time lengths, environment, strategy, etc.
Usually for vocab tests I like to read over the roots and words for half an hour, then have one of my parents quiz me on it. I usually get up a little early and review the words one more time. For minor quizzes, I spend about 15 minutes reviewing in our book by looking over bold words, italics, and I will usually skim briefly. When studying, I prefer to be somewhere quiet like my room or anywhere where there is no noise.

4.Do you know if you're a visual, aural (hearing) or kinesthetic (movement) learner? Answer with a yes or no and an explanation.
Yes, I would probably have to say that I am mainly a visual learner. I can recall information that I studied in the back of my head. Sometimes though I am a aural learner. When we review in class for our root words with the game where we get candy, I seem to remember the information quite well.

Archetype Blog

The German folktale "Silver Fir Cones" takes place in the Harz Mountains, Germany. The folktale is about a miner and his wife and their seven children who are a very poor family. The miner became very sick that he could't get out of bed. Even worse, they had run out of food. So the miner's wife said she would go out into the woods and gather fir cones for making a fire and possibly selling the cones for food. When she was out in the woods, she was thinking about the situation they were in and started to cry. Then she heard a voice that asked why she was crying and why she was taking his fir cones. It was a dwarf who was talking to her and he comforted her and told her she couldn't take the cones but had to go to the next forest to get them. She gathered many and they kept getting heavier and heavier and by the time she got home they had turned into silver. She realized the dwarf was Gubich, king of the dwarfs and helper of the poor. They sold the silver cones and got everything they needed. She went back and thanked the dwarf and he gave her a plant to heal her husband. She thanked him and that was the last time she ever saw him.

There are many examples of archetypes found in this folktale. First of all the forest is one where she finds the fir cones. The dwarf is a hero becasue he helps the poor family and the miner recover. The wife is somewhat a heroine because she goes out to help her husband. There is a light-dark archetype becasue of the darkness of the forest. The wife goes on a journey/quest to find the fir cones.

This folktale is specifically German because it takes place in the Harz Mountains located in Germany. Many German folktales have a dwarf or elf in them and Gubich was the king of the dwarfs in this folktale. Another way you can tell this folktale takes place in Germany is because of its thick forests, which is 30 percent of Germany's land use.

Hero

The hero I chose to talk about comes from one of my favorite movies, "Rudy". As a child, the main character Rudy had a dream to go to the University of Notre Dame and on top of that he wanted to play football for the Irish. Everyone told him there was no way he could get into Notre Dame, let alone play football for them. He ignored them, and kept on working hard and ended up getting into college there. He was diligent and determined and ended up getting to play one football game for the Irish. I admire his hard work and determination and that's why I chose him as my hero.