I am ready to learn more

Sean Wakatake

Ms. Rumford language arts

4^th Quarter Evaluation

June 1, 2009                                               

                                                                   4th QUARTER EVALUATION

Throughout this quarter, we focused not only on Shakespeare, but using proper sentence structure when we wrote our five blogs about our favorite activity.  In my opinion, I thought the blogs were there to improve our writing skills by expressing our opinions about a certain situation more other than just writing.  When we were writing the five blogs on free write, I learned how to express my opinions clearly in a way of encouraging and giving desire other people to play my favorite sport, which is running. 

Since these blogs required my opinion about running, I did not have much trouble posting these blogs.  Usually, when it comes to doing something that I am interested in, I have a lot to say about that topic, which gives me a good grade.  I thought that running was the best topic, because when I had a lot to say, this gave me a choice of writing with simple, compound, and complex sentences.  This gave me good grades for every blog I wrote.  Compared to the other units in the past, not all of them were much interest to me.  Therefore, there were times when I did not stand out very much. 

During my blogging, one of the requirements was to have a reasonable amount of simple, compound, and complex sentences.  At first, I did not have a clue what these sentence types were, but after making use of these while writing my blogs, this seemed pretty straightforward after all.  Now that I know, I now use these frequently when I write, this can benefit for me getting a good grade.

Using these methods from my blogs would be very beneficial for me.  Since those types of sentences make a good essay, this would help me write up good essays especially when it comes to test taking.  In fact, I sometimes get good test grades when I follow these methods after writing essays on tests.  Also, the way I wrote my first blog I wrote about running would come in handy too, because the sentence structure and description gives encouragement and desire to run.  If I use the same methods for other classes other than just language arts, I think this would help me on my travel agent video about London in Journalism class, because this also encourages people to visit my vacation spot, London.  I thought this was a pretty good way to improve my writing skills and my efforts did pay off         

 AMERICAN FOOTBALL

           As you can see in all of my previous posts, I was free writing but had to have a free write about running, which is my favorite hobby.  Now, I am going to talk about American football.  American football is a very popular but rough sport that involves running, catching, and goal touchdowns.  There are two teams and all the players must try to get the ball when the referee says, “HIKE.”  Make sure you run as fast as you can or the other team will get the ball before you. You have the ball and you want to make a touchdown to get a point for your team.  In order to score a point, you have to run as fast as you can and get to the boundaries of the touchdown zone.  If you make it, good but if you don’t, try again next time.  You have run fast or else the opponent players will run faster to catch up to you and eventually tackle you to steal the ball.  The best part however is when you get a chance to KICK the ball toward the goal and still, it counts as a touchdown.  Make sure your opponents aren’t behind though.  You have to run fast in order to tackle the opponents in order to steal the ball, but there are some incorrect and illegal moves of American football.  Intentionally throwing, kicking, or doing an obvious foul play to a player is not allowed, and chances are you will receive a Red Card, which means you’re out of the game and you can only watch without playing the game.  It’s a shame especially when you will only watch the game and not run from the enemies and run to tackle your opponents.  So be careful since the refs are watching at all times.

            I never really liked American football very much because I wasn’t good at throwing and catching the ball; and I couldn’t run fast enough to escape the opponents.  Even the referee and coach got mad at me if I only missed the ball once.  I wasn’t perfect you know and the coach should have understood that.  Also, since it is a very rough sport, I heard there has been an injury every game that was played.  However, it is one of the most popular sports, and if you have the potential and courage to run hard and score a touchdown, go for it. 

                                                         AMERICAN FOOTBALL

As you can see in all of my previous posts, I was free writing but had to have a free write about running, which is my favorite hobby.  Now, I am going to talk about American football.  American football is a very popular but rough sport that involves running, catching, and goal touchdowns.  There are two teams and all the players must try to get the ball when the referee says, “HIKE.”  Make sure you run as fast as you can or the other team will get the ball before you. You have the ball and you want to make a touchdown to get a point for your team.  In order to score a point, you have to run as fast as you can and get to the boundaries of the touchdown zone.  If you make it, good but if you don’t, try again next time.  You have run fast or else the opponent players will run faster to catch up to you and eventually tackle you to steal the ball.  The best part however is when you get a chance to KICK the ball toward the goal and still, it counts as a touchdown.  Make sure your opponents aren’t behind though.  You have to run fast in order to tackle the opponents in order to steal the ball, but there are some incorrect and illegal moves of American football.  Intentionally throwing, kicking, or doing an obvious foul play to a player is not allowed, and chances are you will receive a Red Card which means you’re out of the game.  It’s a shame especially when you will only watch the game and not run from the enemies and run to tackle your opponents.  So be careful since the refs are watching at all times.

                                                              TERRY FOX

Do you know what the Terry Fox Run is?  Well if you don’t let me tell you this.  The Terry Fox Run is a Canadian festival that is in honor of a famous runner named Terry Fox.  Terry Fox was just an average teen who was a runner and basketball player.  One day however he began to feel severe pains in his leg which was not an ordinary injury.  He was diagnosed with cancer in his left leg and needed to have his leg amputated and have a prosthetic leg in replacement.  After his surgery, he had a big mission called the Marathon of Hope, which was to run across the whole Canada in order to raise for money for cancer research.  Everyone supported his goal. 

Terry Fox’s starting point was in Vancouver, British Columbia.  For months, he did nothing but spend a whole day running along the lonely wilderness of Canada only stopping to rest for the night.  His average distance a day would be about 42km or 26.2mi.  Fox successfully made it through British Columbia, Atlantic Canada, and Quebec.  Everyone was waiting for him in Ontario and the NFL coach said, “ I’ve been around athletes a long time and I’ve never seen any with courage and stamina.  Unfortunately, there were times when Fox would feel more pains in his leg which was a warning his cancer was coming back.  Pretty soon Fox was so weak he no longer had the strength to run another across Canada.  This time, his cancer spread to his brain and his lungs and that was when he got pneumonia and died on June 28^th 1981.

  Although Terry Fox did not accomplish his goal of running across the whole of Canada, people in Canada and all over the world still continue his legacy by hosting an annual event called the Terry Fox Run.  The people get together and run for many miles to raise money for more cancer research and to fulfill his dream.  This is not a competition and there is no winning and losing.  In my old school in Oman, we participated in the Terry Fox Run as well.  Still, there are people who are too lazy to run and just walk instead.  Today, people are greatly inspired by his almost completed goal.  He was voted to be #2 on the Greatest Canadians of the 21^st century.  I am also amazed to see the courage in him to run and help the world without giving up or living with despair.  If I had the strength like him, I do hope to run just like him and carry on with the hard work he has done for Canada and the world. 

                                                3^rd FREE WRITE

As can you see in my previous posts, I was writing about running experiences from others and me.  The first entry was about me “running” away from the school bully.   The second entry was about a deer running away from the cheetah and this one is all about the art of track n field.  Track n field is one of the most popular sport in the world that involves events of running, throwing, and jumping.  The one that most people do is running by either sprinting or long distances.  I like running both distances although depending on how far I go.  The jumping events are called long and high jump; which is obviously seeing how far and high you can jump with crossing the penalty line or tipping over the high jump bar.  The throwing is more of shot put, discus, javelin, and even the hammer throw.  Throwing events are more for the big and heavy people with a lot of muscles as running is more for the lankier people.  I don’t focus that much on the throwing and jumping that much because I don’t have the right size body for these, although running is more of my type.  However, of all the track n field events, there is pole vault, which is in an unknown category and one very long race called the Marathon.  Usually there are about 1100 people running the race.  It is about 2 hours long plus running about 30 miles.  Usually, the race and nationality depends on how well a person can do this.  Marathon is more for the African and Caribbean people because it’s all in their genes.  Also, for most of the Marathons, many Africans are the ones who come in first place of all the other runners.  Can you believe track n field is the most popular sport played in the Olympics?  Almost everyone wants to go see this event that has been around since the beginning of the Olympics. 

I MADE A MISTAKE SORRY!  TOO SHORT.  I’M MAKING A 2ND COPY

Back in my previous entry about running, I was talking about my experience of running which was “running” away from a bully.  This time, I am comparing running between me, a human and animals.  A cheetah and antelope have very similar characteristics.  Both use their great speed in running to catch their prey and escape from their enemies.  Although they are the fastest animals on land, they are endangered there are humans today who kill and capture them for antlers or fur for clothes   I am amazed that these animals can reach up to the speed of a car.  I was watching a National Geographic video about animals.  It was winter season and a cheetah and his mate were desperate for food for the winter since all the other animals already sheltered in their homes except them.  The cheetah ran like the wind to catch one of the deers he saw.  However, since the deer was a fast runner, he managed to run ahead of the cheetah and was able to swim through the lake as the cheetah couldn’t.  The cheetah gave up but came back the next day.  The cheetah couldn’t swim but he almost caught the deer. The next day, the starving cheetah saw the deer again and ran even faster to catch up.  he finally managed to catch the deer for their very own meal.  The couple was able to last their treasure throughout the winter month.  

This video from National Geographic relates well to when I try to outrun my opponents during a track meet before they outrun me!  I always think of myself as the deer and my opponents as the cheetahs.  I have to run very fast or else they could catch up to me and pass me.  Passing me is the same thing like when the cheetah eventually caught.  Gosh, I should be the cheetah one day.  

A cheetah and antelope have very similar characteristics.  Both use their great speed in running to catch prey and escape from their enemies.  I am amazed that these animals can reach up to the speed of a car.  I was watching a National Geographic video about animals.  It was winter season and a cheetah and his mate were desperate for food for the winter.  The cheetah ran like the wind to catch one of the deers.  However, the deer was running too but was able to swim through the lake as the cheetah couldn’t.  Later on, the starving cheetah saw the deer again and ran even faster.  he finally managed to catch the deer for their very own meal.  

This video from National Geographic relates well to when I try to outrun my opponents during a track meet before they outrun me!  

As you can see in one of my previous posts that I typed up, my main topic was about running, which is my favorite sport.  I like to run a lot because running gives me the endurance and power to run longer and longer distances over time.  I would like to tell you all a bit of one of my running experiences.  If you look at the 2nd paragraph carefully, you can see how this story connects to my previous topic about running.   

                                       BASED ON A TRUE STORY

When I was younger especially in my elementary school years, I used to get picked on a lot by many other kids and even some my own size.  I was tired of being pushed around by one of the big bullies and always being an easy target for bullies just because I was smaller than they were.  Luckily, that kid had a good reputation for being a bully.  It happened when I was walking back from recess, when one of the bullies caught my eye.  As usual, he began charging after me.  Thankfully, with my power of running like the wind, because I used to run every weekend with my dad, which made me stronger.  I ran with exhilaration just to save my life from being mauled by that crazy jerk.  A couple times, he ran even faster and was able to tackle me and hurt me successfully.  I thought he was going to catch up to me and maul me to death but eventually, I saw the bully give up and head back to his class.  I felt good and tired from all that running and even thankful I had the power to run or I would lose the battle with him.  I stayed away from the bully as much as possible by RUNNING away from him whenever he came near.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

I’ve learned a lot about the Freedom of Speech while I was studying about the U.S. Constitution in my U.S. History class. The Freedom of Speech is a document that has a main rule. This rule allows people to speak out loud without censorship or limitation. For example, people in the U.S.A. can speak freely about someone negatively without being censored or caught by someone. The only thing the people must do is, watch for any unwanted consequence in case someone disagrees with what they are saying. Also, the Freedom of Speech relates well to the 26 Amendments that provides rules of the country. These amendments give rights to people as well. The ten most important are called The Bill of Rights because they tell people that these rights are protected by the government.
I liked learning about the Freedom of Speech and I hope to learn more about this later in the future.

                                                       RUNNING   

              Have you ever felt a certain exhilaration when you run?  Don’t believe me; well let me tell you this.  If you run, you will feel the adrenalin rising in yourself as you whiz past every object in your path as your feet thump heavily on the ground.  Plus, the opportunity to run is free and you don’t need someone to be you unless you want a running partner and all you need is a pair of good running shoes, the correct attire and your hope and good luck.  You don’t need a gym unless you want to run outside or a membership fee.  Let me tell you all about this fast, energetic sport that will give the encouragement and feeling of running.

When I first entered the wide big running track, I thought to myself I would never be able to do this.  I never knew how to push myself until I burst or even run like the wind; but I was wrong.  I had the potential and I could do it.  When I began to run with my dad, I felt my legs tighten like ropes and I felt the cold sharp wind slice past me like a knife.  I gritted my teeth and kept going.  I continued my interval pattern of a “fartlek”  (fartlek is a Swedish word which means going both fast and slow in an interval. After what felt like forever my two feet crossed the end of the finish line.  When I crossed the line, my heart thumped like a bass drum at every second and my lungs burned so wildly I thought I was going to collapse from the blazing heat and extreme exhaustion.  I got a lot of encouragement from my dad, which made me feel better, confident, and stronger.  I couldn’t believe when my dad told me I could run a whole mile nonstop.  When I miss running, my body feels very tight, uncomfortable, and in a need for a run, but when after I finish my run, my body feels fit and good because my brain releases a chemical called endorphin.  In fact, I always get that feeling of a natural “high” in me after every run I do.   

                The confidence in my running built up in me over time as years passed and I began to race like the wind and run faster.  I still keep on trying since I loved running.  Running is my favorite sport that I do for my own good to keep up my confidence and stay healthy.