Hero Project Reflection

1. I think a hero becomes a hero when they do something for someone that not everyone could or would do. For example, almost everyone could probably save someone from drowning but not everyone would take their time or be brave enough to do it. A hero can also become a hero by doing something really important or significant for someone although not everyone sees that person as a hero. A hero cares about others and not just for themselves.

2. Project Description: In the Hero in My Eyes project we had to choose a hero but it couldn't be any hero, it had to be someone we could be able to interview and take pictures of. After we picked a hero we had to write a character sketch describing how they are heroic to us or just writing about a heroic moment of our hero. We had to have with the character sketch two black and white pictures of our hero.

3. Process: First, I had to choose a hero and write possible questions I could ask my hero in the interview. Then, I had to interview my hero, which was my sister Ana. Then, I had to write a manuscript of the interview. After that, I had to write the first draft of the character sketch. Then, in class we looked at other people's draft and made corrections. Then, I included in my character sketch the corrections I received and wrote the second draft. I had to then turn in the second draft so Ms. Charlotte could make corrections on my paper. After she gave me back my paper I had to include the corrections and write the final draft. After I was finish with my character sketch I had to make a template which had to include my character sketch, two pictures of my hero, and a hero blurb, where we had to tell why that person is a hero to us in less than 50 words.

4. Reflection: In this project I learned how to make a manuscript and how to conduct an interview in a better way. I learned how to make a character sketch and write a blurb. I think the only challenge a encountered in this project was trying to make my character sketch shorter but keeping the necessary parts. I solved that challenge by taking a few little parts that I thought weren't really important. I think this project went really good and if I had to do it again I wouldn't change anything. I think this will help me later if I have to write a manuscript or write a blurb.

5. Habits of Mind: I think I used the ownership habit of mind in this project because in my final draft I kept asking myself "Is this my best work?" because I wanted it to be really good so I kept adding showing not telling and literacy devices and description to make it better.

6. Artifact: http://cristina-michel.blogspot.com/2009/11/little-white-shoes.html

7. Picture:

The Origin of Zero

What stroke me about the articles was how the number zero didn’t exist a really long time ago and the people would use symbols to represent zero. For example, “the Mayans used an eyelike character to denote zero. The Babylonians displayed zero with two angled wedges. The Hindus depicted zero as a dot. The Chinese started writing the open circle we now use for zero.”

In both articles it doesn’t say who really discovered zero it just says where it came from. I think the person that first brought up the concept or the idea of the number zero could be named the person that discovered zero. “The first evidence we have of zero is from the Sumerian culture in Mesopotamia, some 5,000 years ago. There, a slanted double wedge was inserted between cuneiform symbols for numbers, written positionally, to indicate the absence of a number in a place.” I think the whole world got to know about the number zero by probably people who traveled and told others about recent news and then that person told another and another.

Little White Shoes

“I heard something small fall in the water but I didn’t think it could be you. I decided to turn around anyway to see what you were doing. As I turned around I saw part of your little white shoes coming up from the surface. At that moment my mind became full of thousands of thoughts.” Ana’s small brown eyes grew bigger and her mouth opened wide. She breathed harder than usual as if there was no more air. She held her hands up like she wanted me to come over to her. She ran as fast as she could with her bright red shirt, her jeans, and her black Converse. Her long, soft and curly black hair moved wildly with the fresh wind. The sun brightened her face making it lighter. Her face was as if she had seen a ghost and looked more worried than someone who hadn’t studied for a test.

“You were really small. You were almost completely in the water. I could just see your little shoes but your head and all your body were in the water, which made me more worried.” She pursed her little red lips together and tightened them. “I was really scared that I might not be able to save you but at the same time I felt hopeful and tried to be positive and think that you were going to be alive when I pulled you out of the water.” As she sat there she brought the whole memory to life. She ran and thought “Will she be alive? Will I be able to save her? What if I’m too late and I don’t save her?” She was thinking about all the bad things that could happen but also that I was going to be okay. As the words flowed out of her mouth and entered my ears I traveled back to that day at the river.

As she finally got to the river she submerged her hands in the warm water and grabbed my little white shoes and kept pulling me until my whole body was out of the water. She held me in her big, warm hands. I was more scared than a little kid going to school for the first day and I was really surprised that I was still alive. My clothes were wet and felt sticky and uncomfortable on my skin. My face was without expression just standing with my eyes closed. My whole body was shaking. At that moment, I didn’t know what to think or what to say, I wasn’t even sure if I was really alive. When I was drowning I kept trying to think that I was going to be okay but at the end I just thought I wasn’t going to make it and now I was just here standing. As I stood there all of my thoughts and feelings were out of place. I didn’t know if I should be happy, sad, confused, surprised or even what to do.

“I kept on saying ‘Cristina! Cristina! Are you okay?’ because you didn’t open your eyes but as soon as you opened them I said, ‘Oh Cristina, I’m so happy your okay! Are you cold? Do you need anything? How did you fall? What happened? Are you hearing me? Are you listening?’”

“Y-e-s,” I muttered under my breath. I was only five years old. I could not believe I was standing here with my sister. I could not believe I was even alive. The whole scene played over and over in my head. I was listening to my sister but I was thinking about what happened and how this all happened so quickly. I didn’t want to talk I just wanted something warm. I looked into my sister’s eyes and the more I looked at them the more I felt like that moment was real, that I was alive.

She carried me in her arms and tried to keep me warm. I put my head on her shoulder as the scene kept repeating in my head over and over. I was shaking a little but then I stopped when she put her hands tighter around me. It smelled like sun block combined with flowers. That smell made me feel comfortable and secure like if nothing had happened. As she carried me in her arms she looked really happy that she had been able to save me from drowning. “I was filled with joy and happiness. You were alive! I actually saved you!” I looked and observed the big smile on her face, her eyes shined like the sun, her hair was moving as the wind blew. I kept looking at her and thought, “This is how a hero really looks like.”

The Question

Catching the signal from one of her friends, Angela brushed her skirt, took a deep breath and walked towards where he was sitting. Her blonde straight hair hung besides her elbows. Her eyes were two long blue rivers. Her lips were pink like a rose. She wore a wavy black and white skirt that was above her knees and a white tank top. She walked slowly.

“Hi! Angela,” Daniel screamed. He had short brown hair. His eyes were blue like the sky and his lips were red as blood. He was wearing jeans and a black shirt. He smiled as he looked into Angela’s eyes.

“Hi! Daniel,” Angela replied as she smiled back. They both looked at each other as the wind blew making their hair move from one side to the other.

Angela remembered a year ago when she asked a guy to go with her and her friends to the beach. She remembered how happy she was when the guy said yes. Now she was about to ask Daniel if he wanted to go with her and her friends to the movies, hoping that he would say yes.

“Would you want to go with my friends and I to the movies tomorrow?” Angela asked.

“Yes! Thanks for inviting me.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow,” she smiled.

“Bye,” he stood up and walked to his class.

She walked towards her friends and started telling them what happened.