The Curriculum - The Syllabus Tuesdays with Morrie

      So far I am really enjoying my new book Tuesdays with Morrie. In the first part I have started picking up on the story line. In the first part the narrator, Mitch Albom, gives a brief explanation of his weekly meetings each Tuesday with Morrie, his former college professor. (he has ALS.) He described these meetings as a flashback of his studies with Morrie, each of them a separate class on the meaning of life. The class had been held in Morrie's home, in his study, where he had watched a pink hibiscus plant shed its leaves.
        I think this plant is showing a symbol of how he is going to shed his leaves (like the plant) and get weaker and weaker throughout the book.  Mitch reflects that no grades had been given, and that no books had been required for his final class with Morrie. A funeral, he says, had been held in place of a graduation, and his final thesis paper is the book that follows. I really like the book so far and I like how I am learning about what different people have to deal with (ALS.) so far it has showed me the quality of life which so far seems like Morries purpose for wanting this book written. So far I would recommend this book!


    

About the Authors Tuesdays with Morrie

       Before reading this book I did some research on the author. Mitch Albom was born in New Jersey in 1958, though he spent the greater part of his youth in Philadelphia. In 1979, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, where met and studied under his professor, Morrie Schwartz, the title character of Tuesdays With Morrie. In 1982, Albom was awarded a Masters degree from Columbia University in New York. After failed stints as an amateur boxer and nightclub musician, Albom began his career as a sports journalist, writing articles for newspapers such as the The Phili. Inquirer.  He was employed from 1985 until his reunion with Morrie in 1995.
      Albom also has his own nationally syndicated radio show, Monday sports Albom. In 1995, Albom began gathering notes for his book, Tuesdays with Morrie, which documents his and Morrie's discussions on the meaning of life. He apparently held meetings with Morrie before he passed. Albom claims to have written the book to offset Morrie's severe medical expenses, and has said in interviews that the profits from the two-year bestseller are divided between himself and the Schwartz family. (Morrie died at 40.) After learning the story behind this book it just makes me want to read it even more.


    

New Book Tuesdays with Morrie

       I am so exited to start my new book, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. My mom and sister read this book and recommended it to me. They told me it was a sad book but also very good. I want to read this book because I heard it was from someone's point of view with (ALS). My moms friend was just digonosied with this disorder so I thought it would be nice to read this book.

From the back if the book I learned that Mitch Albom is the book's narrator and recalls his graduation from Brandeis University in the spring of 1979. After he has received his diploma, Mitch approaches his favorite professor, Morrie Schwartz, and presents him with a monogrammed briefcase. While at Brandeis, Mitch takes almost all of the sociology courses Morrie had teaches. He promises Morrie, , that he will keep in touch, though he does not fulfill his promise. Years after Mitch's graduation from Brandeis, Morrie is forced to forfeit dancing, his favorite hobby, because he has been diagnosed with ALS, a debilitating disease that leaves his "soul, perfectly awake, imprisoned inside a limp husk" of a body. Morrie's wife, Charlotte, cares for Morrie, though at his insistence, keeps her job as a professor at M.I.T.
     
     I think I would really like this story from what I read from the back because I can relate to the story (knowing someone with ALS.) I am ready to start reading the book and hope that it will be inspiring and open my eyes like past books have.

Heaven is For Real Conclusion

       Yesterday I finally finished Heaven is For Real by Todd Burro. I loved the book and would recommend it to anyone. In review it was about a little boy Colton Burpo that "died" and made a journey into heaven. Earlier on that same day, the doctors at Great Plains Regional Medical Center in Nebraska, told Colton's parents that he was probably not going to make it.


        Colton had a ruptured appendix. His body had been taken over with the poison of the ruptured appendix for five days and he needed an emergency surgery in order for them to save his life if that were possible.


        If he really had died, we would not have known about the story of this four-year-old and his incredible experience in heaven, as outlined in Heaven is For Real by the boy’s father, Todd Burpo.


      Thanks to many heartfelt prayers from family and friends, Colton survived the surgery and was able to recover. Months after leaving the hospital, he started to mention his experience in heaven to his parents. They were surprised at first but they soon learned Colton was not kidding.




       Overall, this bright yellow paperback will brighten your day and inspire you. For me, reading this book resembles having an experience of sitting down and having a nice conversation with Colton about his wonderful experiences in Heaven. It is a book full of hope and of life to come. This book is a great gift for friends or family members who just lost their loved ones or anyone who wants to see hope of Heaven. This book opened my eyes to new things and made me have many questions and to be a more curious person-being a Christian. I would highly recommend this book to many different kinds of people. I am so glad I read this novel.

Main Events in Coltons Heaven Expierence

       So... I am very close to finishing the book and it has gotten super good ! I really enjoyed reading Colton's heaven experience and hearing the story from his point of view. I thought the cool thing was knowing it was a true. It made this part just that enjoyable. These events made more sense to me when he was explaining them to his parents later in the book but I looked back at this part and thought it was cool how he described them.  Let me give you a quick low-down on the parts of the story about heaven that stood out to me most in Colton's heaven experience...

• He sat in Jesus’ lap
• He met his sister who died in his mother’s womb (whom his parents had never told him about)
• He saw John the Baptist
• There is a coming battle with Satan (he is a futurist!)
• There are thousands of colors we have never seen
• He met his great granddad (who told him things about his father that his father had never told him)
• He saw Jesus’ “marks” on his hands and feet
• All the people had wings of various sizes (including Colton) and flew around (except Jesus who moved up and down as if on an escalator)
• Jesus had the most beautiful eyes, a beard, a white gown, a purple sash, and a crown
• All the people had a light above their head (halo?)
• Jesus sits on a throne at the right hand of God and Gabriel is on the left
• He sat by God the Holy Spirit (who he could not describe) and explained to his dad that God is a Trinity
• It never gets dark in heaven because God the Father and God the Son are the lights
• There were all kinds of animals everywhere
• Nobody is old in heaven and no one wears glasses
• Jesus “shoots” power down from heaven to his father while he is preaching (like I hope he is doing for me while I am blogging!)
• The gates to heaven were made of gold and pearls
• He was actually only there for three minutes (timelessness in heaven?)

      I thought these parts of Colton's heaven experience were really cool and I really enjoyed reading them. I cant wait to hear about it when you all read this this part of the book as well!!

Heaven is For Real Movie Comparison

    A few days ago I broke down and saw the new movie Heaven is For real because I have been enjoying the book so much. I thought the movie was actually very good and was pretty similar to the book. Although there were some major changes that I would like to share.


      In the film there were some odd changes to Akiane’s back-story. The film begins with a subtitle that tells us the prologue is set in “Lithuania – Present Day”, and it ends with Todd watching the CNN report and calling her “a girl on the other side of the world.” But Akiane, whose mother is indeed Lithuanian, was born in Illinois and raised in Idaho, and is just as American as Colton. And she completed this painting sometime after her eighth birthday in 2002, before even the real-life Colton had had his near-death experience. Changes like these don’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things. But it’s precisely the fact that these details don’t really matter that makes me wonder why the filmmakers changed them in the first place. Did they feel that they needed to put even more distance between Colton and Akiane to make the similarities between their visions seem like a much bigger sort of coincidence, perhaps? This was the most major change that I saw throughout the movie compared to the book. I did believe this was a major change because starting with the girls story at the beginning made the view point different than the book. The hospital scene was also much more intense in the book because the author used many elevated diction words that the movie did not have. This diction allowed me to pain a picture in my mind that did not match the movie.


       Overall, I thought the movie was very enjoyable and great for a movie! There were some disappointing changes but Overall, I would recommend you seeing the movie and reading the book!

Final Blogging Assessment in English 1B

      
      Heaven is For Real is touching my heart in ways not many books have. So far its simple, interesting, but yet powerful. Right now I am at the peek of the book. Its very stressful because there is a lot going on. I seriously can't put down the book... I need to find out what happens to Colton! In my introduction post I shared that I read Colton was in the hospital in the Prologue, but it is much more intense actually reading the Hospital scene for yourself. Before I knew that Colton was sick on the family trip but I didn't know it was going to get this serious. I read in the last chapter that the family had to end their vacation and take him to the Hospital. He had a ruptured appendix.
           This meant that he had to go into emergency surgery. When I found out about this I was very surprised because I thought he just had a virus.  My heart melted for his family because I know how scary it can be to have a loved one go into surgery. What I found amazing, was how the family dealt with the news. The first thing they did after he was in the surgery room was to call everyone they knew to pray for him. I thought this was so nice and thoughtful. If I were in Coltons situation I would love it if my parents did that for me.
       I thought the turning point of the book was when the Nurse wheeled him away for surgery. This turned the story form a regular story about a Ministers family to a story about Coltons survival. I think anyone would be upset reading this part. What made it extra depressing was when Coltons mom said, "we are never going to see our boy alive again." I was hard not to believe what she said considering how dangerous the surgery was that Colton was entering. I was so relived when I found out that Colton lived and it made me really believe that the praying worked. I think even with out Coltons later stories about going to Heaven and back even his survival is a miracle.
        This story will just simply walk up to the door of your heart and quietly knock on it while offering an amazing touching and inspirational story. So far I love this book and would highly recommend it! I am looking forward to reading about Coltons later stories about his trip to Heaven.

 

       In my blogs this tri (especially the one above) I tried to craft my writers voice with diction and Syntax. In this post I used a lot of syntax. I used commas to make each point more emphasized. I also used lots of exclamation points to make myself seem exited to tell about my reading. Lastly, I used ... (three dots)to allow my reader to pause and realize how important what ever they just read or are going to read. For example when I was talking about my reading I said, " I seriously can't put down the book... I need to find out what happens to Colton!" I also used diction throughout the passage. I used words that were pleasing to the ear such as- "ruptured" and depressing." An example of this was when I was talking about Colton and said " He had a ruptured appendix." By using the word ruptured it makes the condition seem a lot worse. Overall I believe that I did a good job including Syntax and Diction in the post.

        My goal for this trimester was to read my book a little bit every couple of days vs. spreading out my reading too much. Another goal that I made was to blog more often and to make my blogs more connected to the readers and more of posts that I am interested in and other would be to. Overall, I think I did a good job of keeping up with these two goals. I took the time to read my book and it payed off not only through my blogs but I also really liked my book and I found it more fun to read. This was something I wanted to happen for a very long time- I am so glad that I chose the book that I did. Reading more also made blogging more fun because I was always coming up with new interesting ideas for blogs. This trimester blogging has also shown me how to find my voice and connect with my readers a lot more. I did this by keeping my reading fun and light- (kind of like a journal.) This worked well for me and I think I accomplished my goal in that area. Overall, I think my blogging and reading skills have improved this trimester. I accomplished my goals.

The Plot is Building in Heaven is For Real

      
      Heaven is For Real is touching my heart in ways not many books have. So far its simple, interesting, but yet powerful. Right now I am at the peek of the book. Its very stressful because there is a lot going on. I seriously can't put down the book... I need to find out what happens to Colton! In my introduction post I shared that I read Colton was in the hospital in the Prologue, but it is much more intense actually reading the Hospital scene for yourself. Before I knew that Colton was sick on the family trip but I didn't know it was going to get this serious. I read in the last chapter that the family had to end their vacation and take him to the Hospital. He had a ruptured appendix.
           This meant that he had to go into emergency surgery. When I found out about this I was verty surprised because I thought he just had a virus.  My heart melted for his family because I know how scary it can be to have a loved one go into surgery. What I found amazing, was how the family dealt with the news. The first thing they did after he was in the surgery room was to call everyone they knew to pray for him. I thought this was so nice and thoughtful. If I were in Coltons situation I would love it if my parents did that for me.
       I thought the turning point of the book was when the Nurse wheeled him away for surgery. This turned the story form a regular story about a Ministers family to a story about Coltons survival. I think anyone would be upset reading this part. What made it extra depressing was when Coltons mom said, "we are never going to see our boy alive again." I was hard not to believe what she said considering how dangerous the surgery was that Colton was entering. I was so relived when I found out that Colton lived and it made me really believe that the praying worked. I think even with out Coltons later stories about going to Heaven and back even his survival is a miricle.
        This story will just simply walk up to the door of your heart and quietly knock on it while offering an amazing touching and inspirational story. So far I love this book and would highly recommend it! I am looking forward to reading about Coltons later stories about his trip to Heaven.




Go see the movie Heaven is for Real! It's almost as good as the book and I would recommend it!