Write-Up: The Outsiders

hvuong — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:28:36 +0000

After reading the novel: The Outsider by S. E. Hinton, the students were composing a write-up in response to the novel. Below is a student writing-sample:

This book has become one of my favorite books that I have ever read. I really love this book because the author really thought out what would happen and made the book interesting. It was as if the she lived the life like they did and experienced their experiences and maybe she did. She kept you in suspense by giving the characters a certain personality and then making them do something that is out of character or drastic for them. For instance, Dally was supposed to have this tough personality and nothing could touch him. But whenever Johnny was around, he would loosen up a bit and show everyone his soft side. Especially when he committed suicide. I was especially intrigued by the fact that it was a fourteen year old boy who was narrating this story. That he experienced murder and gang fights at such an early age and even the fact that he already smokes! He knows of things that are way past his 14 years. Being only fourteen myself, I haven’t seen or experienced everything that I want to yet. What makes me admire this book more is that other similar books that I have read before always made me sorry for the central character. But in this book, I don’t feel that sorry for Ponyboy. But it isn’t because I’m unemotional or his life isn’t as bad as others. I mean, here’s a kid who is surrounded by people who aren’t the best role models because they are delinquents. He is excluded by others of his age because of that gang. He has a rep for being a Greaser which is a hood. He has to run away for witnessing a murder. And he has to have a feud with the Socs who hate his guts because he’s a Greaser. That sounds like a pretty bad life. But the reason I don’t feel sorry for Ponyboy is because he doesn’t feel sorry for himself that he is in that situation. The fact that he is proud of being with that gang and for being a Greaser makes me realize that if someone likes the life he has then he is better off than someone who is the richest person who feels like he’s missing something or is not happy. Also, Ponyboy is surrounded with people that love him and whom he loves. Ponyboy wouldn’t stay in that gang if that wasn’t the case. He knows that he belongs somewhere. That better than going through life wondering if you like your life or not.

This book also made me realize one thing, which makes me sad. There are people in real life who live or have lived a very similar life to Ponyboy’s and the gang. In real life, there are gang fights and violence on the streets. There have been teens who have not lived the life they wanted or have died before they can live their dreams. To think that teens who are my age and have seen and done things way past their years makes me less self-centered. It makes me realize that life isn’t easy for people. There are potholes in the road. That means that there are trials and tribulations that people have to go through to get to their destination. Certain people have to do things that are not like the picture-perfect life some see on the television to get to that place in life. For example Ponyboy doesn’t have the life that a regular teenager might have. With petty problems like your first crush or that your parents are being “unfair”. Those complications are nothing to the problems that someone like Ponyboy, might have. The people I know can’t say that they have seen their best friend be shot down or beat up in a gang fight or even experienced having to run away from home. Even right in the beginning, walking home from the movie leads to getting beaten up by the Socs and this is what he has to watch out for every time he goes out. He can’t go anywhere alone. Reading this book makes the rough life even more real for me because although I see the same kinds of situations on television, knowing that this book was written in the 1960’s means that this kinds of violence still existed in the past. While reading this book I hoped that it wasn’t based on a real-life situation because no one should deserve this kind of life without a choice. From my point of view, Ponyboy didn’t really choose to be a Greaser because he was born into that kind of life. “We get jumped by the Socs. I’m not sure how you spell it, but it’s the abbreviation for the Socials, the jet set, the West-side rich kids. It’s like the term ‘greaser’, which is used to class all us boys on the East Side.” (page two). This quote explains the situation that anyone who lives on that side of town, gets labeled as a Greaser and the same goes for the West Side. And what happens when that occurs, is that people start growing into that “preset” person, whether they know it or not. I wonder if the Socs or the Greasers ever feel like they’re under pressure to be what everyone expects them to be. It’s a very stressful life for those who have to live like that.

Another thing in this book that caught my eye was the fact that none of the boys had influence from their parents. The only time they mentioned the parents was when they talked about how they were negligent concerning the boys. “‘No,’ snapped Dally, ‘they didn’t. Blast it, Johnny, what do they matter? Shoot, my old man don’t give a hang whether I’m in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in the gutter. That don’t bother me none.’”(page 88). This quote proves that the influence from their parents really do matter and that’s why they become delinquents. No one was there to tell them what was wrong or right. I always wondered while reading the book, what were the parents like if the children were hoods? The only time I got a picture of their parents was when the author spoke of Steve’s dad and how he gave Steve money after a fight. And also when Dally told Johnny that care from your parents didn’t matter. It made me feel sorry for them because they grew up resenting the most important relationship they could have. The one they share with their parents. Aside from Ponyboy, Soda and Darry. They had the dream parents compared to the other boys. Although the gang’s parents weren’t the best ones they could have gotten, they should be a little more glad when they get yelled at because at least that means that their parents are taking care of them. Most children get “rebellious” when the reach their teen years so they like to forget whatever their parents tell them. Personally, I’d rather have a parent who yells at me and gives me curfews because that means they are trying to make me a better person. I think that was what Ponyboy wasn’t realizing in the beginning. Which leads me to my next topic.

I think that the character that changed the most in the book was Ponyboy himself. In the beginning, he thought less of the Socs than he did before. That they were just rich kids who could get anything they wanted and had no problems at all. I think that he just stereotyped them all and they were just the enemies so he didn’t have to think anything good of them at all. But what I think changed Ponyboy’s mind about the Socs was when Randy confronted Ponyboy and when Cherry helped them out. When Randy confronted or talked to Ponyboy, he cleared up any problems they could have had. I think that when Randy started to talk about Bob and how he was when he wasn’t drunk, I think it opened Pony’s eyes because, although it never said in the book, I think he realized something. I think he saw that there were people that cared about Bob and that Johnny didn’t kill a machine. Bob had a life and although he had material objects to surround him, he also craved the parental part of his life. I also assume that Ponyboy looked at his own friends and saw that, like himself, all he had left was the friends he had to support him. I’m glad that Randy made Pony see this because if Randy or Cherry Valance had held a grudge against Ponyboy for what Johnny had did, then the feud between the East and the West would have never died. Maybe it still hasn’t but it will be a little less harsh now. When Cherry decided to help out Ponyboy and the gang, I think her actions proved that she didn’t think she was better than them and she wanted to help them out as a friend. She showed that the barrier between the Socs and the Greasers could be broken and the feud between them could have disintegrated a long time ago but it was someone who would always bring the fight back. There is a lesson that I learned from Randy. I learned that people who are mean and harsh, are sometimes only like that because they are waiting for someone to tell them no. That they are seeing if someone cares enough to make them stop. Unfortunately for Bob, the people that were supposed to see that, which are his parents, didn’t see that in time.

In conclusion, I think that there are many lessons that we should learn from this book. For instance, stereotyping. Every book has stereotyping written between the lines but this book makes stereotyping harsher for me because this kind of stereotyping happens at school. Wherever you’re from, there is a certain stereotype made specifically for that race. Or if you look a certain way, everyone makes assumptions. I might be a hypocrite to say that you should never stereotype because, even I stereotype, whether it be subconsciously or consciously. I think that stereotyping is one of the most reasons why the gangs fight. Wherever you live, you have to play up the role that people make for you. With stereotyping, it’s hard to break out of the expectations without losing yourself in the process.

Projet d’un documentaire

hvuong — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:11:22 +0000

Après avoir lu des exemplaires de documentaires en classe, nous avons étudié la structure d’un texte informatif. J’ai proposé aux élèves de rédiger un texte informatif au sujet d’un animal pour des élèves plus jeunes. Les élèves ont fait de la recherche à l’intenet et dans des livres. Ils ont écrit des notes. Ensuite ils ont rédigé leurs textes dans Power Point ou MsWord. Avant de faire une copie finale, quelques élèves de la 4e année sont venus pour offrir des commentaires constructifs. Par la suite, les élèves de la 6e ont fait les changements pour améliorer leurs textes. Finalement, les élèves de la 6e année ont présenté leurs textes aux enfants de la 3e et de la 4e année.

1. Le koala		2. L’aigle royale
3. L’anaconda		4. L’ocelot
5. Le chimpanzé		6. Le jaguar
7. Le lapin		8. Le loup
9. Le lynx		10. Le panda
11. Le puma		12. Le tortue de mer
13. La vie d’un dauphin		14. Le manchot
15. Les dauphins		16. Le levrier afghan
17. Le mommouth impérial

La publicité 1 de 7

hvuong — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:05:31 +0000

Après avoir regardéplusieurs annonces publicitaires en classe, nous avons fait une liste de trucs médiatiques utilisées pour vendre des produits. En groupe de trois, les élèves ont dû inventer un produit, choisir quels trucs médiatiques seraient appropriés, créer une affiche publicité et écrire un scénario pour une annonce publicitaire d’environ 30 secondes. Les groupes ont fait le tournage de leurs annonces publicitaires. Ils ont ensuite fait le montage avec le progamme Movie Maker.

Click on the title to view the video: Click here to view the embedded video.

La publicité 2 de 7

hvuong — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:58:25 +0000

Click on the title to view the video: clique

La publicité 3 de 7

hvuong — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:49:42 +0000

Click on the title to view the video: comercial

École Sacré-Coeur

Write-Up: The Outsiders

Projet d’un documentaire

La publicité 1 de 7

La publicité 2 de 7

La publicité 3 de 7