The Final Giver Blogpost!

Dear Giver,

I have written this letter 100 times and yet I can't express how much I will miss you. You have given me courage and happiness in my life. Thank you. For me what you have taught the most is choice and freedom. These two key concepts have now been attached to me and I will keep them in mind forever. I have the privilege to know what these mean and I think that choice and freedom have impacted me a lot during my training. I will never forget the love you gave to me and the freedom and choice I got. My knowledge about choice and freedom is huge and I didn't know that much before I was The Receiver. My life has immensely changed by your wonderful memories and now I finally understand the concept of life and society and what is wrong in our society. Colour, freedom, belief and choice. Those are the things you have given me and now I can direct them into my new life. Thank you so much Giver. You have taught me a lot. With my knowledge of choice, freedom and society I will now stride forth and become an even better citizen in a better community. I am mournful that you can not come with me to the new community because of your great knowledge but it is for the best of things, and you said yourself you are so stuck to this community.

I am going to leave because I can't stand it anymore. Now that I have the wonderful memories from you and the knowledge I see what a bad community this is. I think that people like you and me deserve a better life and deserve a community where there is colour and liveliness. You have given me information on choice and freedom and those two concepts should be involved in our life and in the community we are living in now we have no choice and freedom and i think this is unfair. I am taking Gabriel with me because heal also deserves another chance at life and he should not be released. I think you also deserve a better community. You have been a wonderful man. Thank you so much. You taught me so much that I can now have the courage to save Gabriel's life and bring him to a better community. I am scared but at the same time excited to leave. Your wonderful memories have led me to this hard decision. I am leaving. I will miss you so much I can't describe my feelings for you. You are like my second father. I love you.

Yours Truly,

Quotations:

"Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing bare-footed on a damp lawn.

"Gabe?"

The new child stirred slightly in his sleep, Jonas looked over at him.

"There could be love" Jonas whispered."

Page 128-129 of The Giver by Lois Lowry

"Jonas went over the plan in his head. It seemed startlingly simple. Jonas and The Giver had gone over it and over it, late in

t

o the night hours.

~

Then, in the middle of the night before the Ceremony, Jonas would secretly leave his dwelling. This was probably the most dangerous part, because it was a violation of a major rule for any citizen not on a official bu

s

iness to leave a dwelling at night.

"I don't know what you should do if you are seen, Jonas," The Giver had said. "I have memories, of course, of all kinds of escapes. People fleeing from terrible things throughout hist

o

ry. But every situation is individual. There is no memory of one like this."

"I'll be careful," Jonas said. "No one will see me."

"As Receiver-in-training, you're held in very high respect already. So I think you wouldn't be questioned very forcefully."

"I'd just say I was on some important errand for the Receiver. I'd say it was all your

fault I was out after hours," Jonas teased.

They both laughed a little nervously. But Jonas was certain he could slip away, unseen, from his house, carrying an extra set of clothing. Silently he would take his bicycle to the riverbank and leave it there hidden in the bushes with the clothing folded beside it.

Then he would make his way through the darkness, on foot, silently, to the Annex.

"There's no nighttime attendant," The Giver explained. "I'll leave the door unlocked. You simply slip into the room. I'll be waiting for you."

Page 158-159 of The Giver by Lois Lowry

These are quotations of freedom and choice.

Lit. Circle Blogpost #4

"Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun: memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing bare-footed on a damp lawn.


"Gabe?"


The new child stirred slightly in his sleep, Jonas looked over at him.


"There could be love" Jonas whispered.






The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away".






I will start of by describing the book The Giver. It is a thrilling book and defiantly on my top 5 books list. I have been lucky enough to have read this book and I think that this quote is just a small bit of the wonderful book, The Giver.






I will start of by defining the two key words. Freedom and choice. Here is a official definition of freedom: Freedom

Definition


•

[C or U] the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited






Here is a official definition of choice: Choice


Definition


[C or U] an act or the possibility of choosing


In a way these to words are very similar. They both deal about being independent. Jonas shows a lot of independence as he gets training from The Giver which means The Giver has made him a more confident/independent person.






The quote above relates to the word freedom because Jonas is explaining to Gabriel that he has the freedom of love and Jonas has been able to have a amazing training from The Giver which no one else can experience and this has taught him much more about freedom. This is portrayed a lot in chapters 16~18. Freedom is a very powerful thing and we are lucky to have freedom but imagine you lived in a community like Jonas's of course if you would learn about freedom you would react like Jonas did. Freedom is a huge part of peoples lives they should have the freedom to do whatever they want to do and in Jonas's community he doesn't that is way he runs away from his childhood taking a risk. I think that with his knowledge of freedom he will do great things in life and I really think that his knowledge on freedom is expressed in chapters 16~18.






The quote above and chapters 16~18 illustrate the relationship between Jonas and choice. Now that Jonas is close to being The Receiver he has a whole new life in front of him because he has more choice in life. He can choose weather he wants the speaker on or off. He can always ask someone a question and he can lie. I think that Jonas has more opportunities and more freedom if he gets to chose between what he wants and the communities. He also has the choice of giving other people memories like he does in the quote above. He gives Gabriel happy memories so he can calm him down. Jonas did this secretly so in a way he was lying which is apart of his rule. He is allowed lie. Now that he has more choices he can choose if he wants to lie or not to lie and he is experimenting with that right now and this means that he is taking risks. I think that choice is a huge part of Jonas's life now.






In chapters 16~18 Jonas experiments and knows more about two key things in life, freedom and choice. Also in the quote above he demonstrates this.


Here are some pictures of the two main motto's Jonas lives on. Choice and Freedom:




























Sources: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/choice_1


http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/freedom


clipartheaven.com


worldinconversation.org

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My Blogpost comments are on Jake's blog.

The Giver Blogpost #2

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a book that can take your mind to another world. I am lucky enough to be reading it right now. When you start reading it you never want to stop. I am slowly falling in love with this book for many reasons. It has so much control over you which brings me to the point were Jonas (the main character) is getting his first few weeks of training by The Giver. In these weeks of training the Giver is giving Jonas his memories and Jonas is taken into a totally different world. Jonas lives in a community where everything is plain and boring. Jonas discovers that the world actually has color in it, and he discovers new weather such as cold icy weather and snow. Jonas is liking his assignment as The Receiver of Memory. He does suffer from one thing. Since he is The Receiver of Memory it says in the rules that he has to have his training alone, away from everyone else and he must not talk about his training with anyone, not even his family. This means that he feels left out and he doesn't really have time for his friends anymore. This makes Jonas a little upset. He still hangs out with his friends but he spends most of his time with The Giver. There are so many questions that lie behind this book, but the one that strikes forth to me is: Why does Jonas find the instruction about lying so disturbing?

Jonas was raised as a good boy and now since he is the Receiver of Memory he got his folder of instructions. One of them being "You may lie". This startles Jonas because he is so used to always telling the truth since this is how he was raised. For Jonas this opens many new doors because he can say whatever he wants to to his parents, sister, friends etc. I know that this will take a lot of getting used to for Jonas because he was taught by the rules of the community and one of them was not to lie. Now it has completely changed. I think this is a type of diversion since a new road has opened and Jonas has a new perspective in life. Jonas dives into a new world which he is not to sure yet if he likes or dislikes. I think Jonas finds the instruction about lying so disturbing because he is not yet come across the thought of lying to his family or friends and he doesn't want to hurt their feelings. If they find out he is lying to them they will trust him no longer and that is why he doesn't want to lie to his friends and family. The Giver told Jonas that he can lie but Jonas hasn't yet because he hasn't had that feeling of telling a lie yet so he doesn't know what response will be thrown at him after he has told the lie. These are passages from the book that prove that Jonas finds the instruction of lying disturbing:

"

Jonas

Receiver of Memory

1. Go immediately at the end of school hours each day to the Annex entrance behind the House of the Old and present yourself to the attendant.

2. Go immediately to your dwelling at the conclusion of Training Hours each day.

3. From this moment on you are exempted from rules governing rudeness. You may ask any question of any citizen and you will receive answers.

4. Do not discuss your training with any other members of the community, including parents and Elders.

5. From this moment you are prohibited from dream-telling.

6. Except for illness or injury unrelated to your training, do not apply for any medication.

7. You are not permitted to apply for release.

8. You may lie.

Jonas was stunned. What would happen to his friendships? His mindless hours playing ball, or riding his bike along the river? Those had been happy and vital times for him, now? The simple logistic instructions -- where to go, and when -- were expected. Every twelve had to be told, of course, where and how and when to report for training. But he was a little dismayed that his schedule left no time, apparently, for recreation."

Page 68-69 of The Giver by Lois Lowry

These are the passages where Jonas looks at his new rules and his reaction to them. He is stunned and has many questions about his new rules. Jonas wants to try his best for a good training and with his new rules he has a lot of getting used to. The last rule from the 8 rules is, "You may lie" and this is the one rule that really strikes at Jonas. He is so used to not lying and with this new rule he has a new life in front of him. I am not sure if Jonas will stick with the community rules and not lie or if he will use the new rule and lie. I guess to find out I need to continue the thrilling book of The Giver.

On my point of view lying is not always a good thing but not always a bad. There will be situations in life where you will have to lie and those will always stride forth, but there are situations in life where you can choose if you want to lie or not. If you have the choice and you choose to lie then you are portraying yourself as a bad person. These cases are usually because someone wants something or did something bad and does not want to admit it. When someone starts to lie and that persons friends or family find out that person is no longer trusted and that persons friends or family will not tell him/her any more secrets.

This is the punishment of a liar: he is not believed, even when he speaks the truth.

"LIES AND LYING Quotes, Sayings and Quotations." Love Quotes | Quotes about Love | Cute Love Quotes | Sweet Love Quotes - Top 10 - Top 100 Love Quotes. Web. 14 Mar. 2011. .

The Giver Blogpost #1

In humanities I have been reading the book "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. It is a book about a boy who lives in a community which has very strict rules and decides everything for everyone. When kids become twelves, they get assigned a job. Jonas is the boy, and his assignment is the Receiver of Memory. That is a very important job and it is a honour to be chosen for this position. Jonas goes through some complicated times. He feels left out, since it says in the rules that he must stay away from everyone else while he is in training. This is very upsetting for Jonas. That was a little summary about the book.

Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not?

In my opinion I would not like to have my future decided by others. I think it is important that everyone has a chance to choose what they want to do in life and they can be free. I like independent people and if you live in a community like Jonas's you will not be able to do independent things and most importantly be independent. As a child you might not realize how much freedom you have and when your older you don't want to loose it, and thats why I think it is extremely important for people to be free and independent.

I think a lot of people fall for these type of things and then they get stuck and can never come out again. In the moving on ceremonies everything is structured and planned exceptionally well and straight forward.

"He was calm now that his turn had come. He took a deep breath and smoothed his hair with his hand.

"Twenty," he heard her voice say clearly, "Pierre."

She skipped me, Jonas thought, stunned. Had he heard wrong? No. There was a sudden hush in the crowd, and he knew the entire community realized that the Chief Elder had moved from Eighteen to twenty, leaving a gap. On his right, Pierre, with a startled look, rose from his seat and moved to the stage.

A mistake. She made a mistake. But Jonas knew, even as he had the thought, that she hadn't. The Chief Elder made no mistakes. Not at the Ceremony of Twelve."

Page 57 of The Giver by Lois Lowry

This passage proves that something has gone wrong and Jonas thinks that the Chief of Elder but actually he is the Receiver of memory and that is such a special job that she has to singly point him out to the community and Jonas is very surprised.

Ancient Egypt-Pharaoh Assignment

1. Why do you think Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs created monuments?

I think they created monuments because they wanted to leave something behind to show us their culture, beliefs, etc. I think it was very important for them to show us their lifestyle. This gives archaeologists or scientists a boost because back then the Artisans drew a lot of their culture on the monuments so the scientists could have extra information.

2. What monuments in our society are similar? (be sure to provide explanations and graphics).

The structure of monuments back in Ancient Egypt had kind of a similar structure as some of the famous monuments we know today. For example the Eiffel tower in Paris, France is similar to the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids because they both have a pointy end and they both look like a triangle.

3. How did the using google docs as the main portal for collaboration help you with this assignment? Google docs made sure that my work was saved and the note taking sheet and my script were on that and they were never deleted. At some times it was a bit of a pain in a neck but otherwise I think it was a good source.

4. What did you learn from this assignment?

I was surprised at how much I learned from this assignment because I thought I already knew a lot about King Tutankhamen but actually there is a lot of extra information that no one would ever guess. King Tutankhamen is a pharaoh full of surprises. He really showed me the power pharaohs had in Ancient Egypt. If I would have been alive during the Ancient Egypt time I would definitely like to meet King Tutankhamen.

5. What was challenging?

The most challenging part of making the Imovie is the information. It was hard to structure it and make sure we have enough information because the information in our notes was not that good so we had to get some extra information for the script. A lot of the information was hard to put into our own words and that was another challenge but at the end we were able to put everything in our own words.

6. Which schoolwide learning results were evident in this assignment?

Collaborating constructively, Communicate Effectively and Think Creatively. I think this assignment showed collaborating constructively because we had to collaborate with our partner on who was doing what for homework and how much work we both do. Communicating Effectively was important because we had to agree on the same answer and what our video was going to be structured like. I think the assignment shows thinking creatively because we had to have good ideas on what our Imovie was going to look like and its structure. I am very happy with my video.

:)

Kefalonia Reflections

In Humanities our task was to create a powerpoint and write about "What we call home". I chose Kefalonia, Greece because I love it and it is a really beautiful. I was very excited to do this presentation and now since I have presented it I am going to write about what I think I did well, what I need to improve on ect.

What do I believe I did well on my project?

I think that the city I chose was good because it was different from other people. One of my favorite slides was the "History" slide because Greek history is very interesting because it involves mythology and something that was different on my history slide was "The Earthquake" which was different from other cities. I feel like my project was detailed but not to much and it was precise. I think my graphics were good because they were not blurred and you can clearly see them. I am happy with my presentation. :)

What will I improve in future presentations/projects?

I think that in my presentation I should slow down because I talk fast when I am nervous. On my projects I need to improve on making sure the photos are not blurry the the audience can read the text and to cut down my information in small parts so it's not all in one paragraph. It is important that I do not just read the information of the screen because then the audience could just read on their own and they won't really care about what you are saying. I should always try to add as much information as I can. :)

What did you learn from your preparation (for your presentation) in addition to the

presentations of others?

It was very interesting to see other people present because it showed me how nervous people get about one tiny thing and thats when I notice I had to be more confident. Watching other people present was like a golden ticket for me to Hollywood. It really helped me on my presentation and therefore I was a bit more confident when I presented. It is really amazing how you can improve your presentation by watching people doing the same thing. I think people only concentrate about the information and not really the big picture unless the presenter makes a big mistake. :P

What is your analysis of your performance?

I think all in all I did a pretty good job. Of course there is always something I need to improve on and I have a lot of those areas in my performance but I am really happy with myself and what my end result looked like.

Thank You

xoxo

:)