The Use of Computers in Class

Argument:  The Use of Computers in the Classroom.
Assertion/Claim:  Computers should not be relied upon in the classroom.
Evidence:

• Students go beyond the boundaries of what they need in school.
• Technology is expensive and the money spent for all these computers should be used somewhere else.
• Training teachers and students to use the computers is not always easy, and is expensive and time consuming.
• The internet is not always reliable, so if the internet crashes then the lesson plans for the day could be ruined.

Commentary:  Even though most of the internet is censored at school, many kids know that there are certain websites that you can go to so that you can get to unsafe websites, such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Twitter.

Bullying

     Bullying is bad.  People should not bully because bullying is mean.  To me, when people bully somebody, they are just showing their weak side and proving they are insecure.  Bullying violates peoples rights by offending the people getting bullied and this really hurts people.  How would you feel if someone was to hit you, or if they just walked up to you and called you names for no reason?  No, you would not like it.  My little brother goes to Westside Elementary and another kid tried to bully him once.  It really made my brother feel bad, and so he told my mom and she talked to the principal, and, well, lets just say my brother never had anymore trouble from this kid again.  That is an example of how it makes the person getting bullied feels as well as the consequences of bullying for the bullier.  So next time you think about saying something bad to someone, or hitting them, put yourself in their shoes and think about how you would feel if THEY were bullying YOU.  And dont bully them.

Missing by Catherine Macphail

Catherine Macphail's Missing proves to be a very interesting book.  The author really captivated me with her use of imagery.  I was so entranced in this book that I rarely put it down until I was finished with it.
    
     This book is about a girl named Maxine whos brother has ran away.  Her family is completely devastated and all that Maxine wants is for her parents to pay more attention to her.  But she gets more "attention" than she had ever bargained for when she starts getting mysterious phone calls from her presumably dead brother and again when she thinks she sees him one day.  She struggles with many conflicts when she has to decide between what she believes in and what she has seen.
    
     The theme of this book states that you cannot always believe what you think is true.  When Maxines dad examines a body and confirms that it is her brothers body, that is what her family believes for a while.  But when some funky stuff starts happening to Maxines family, they all are forced to reconsider the fact that Derek may in fact not be dead. 
    
     I would reccomend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery because this book will definetely keep you on edge. This  book is a quick read, and it offers insight to what you would feel like if something tragic like this had happened in your family.