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Ida B

In the book Ida B., a young character named Ida who begins to lose what she had close to her. Her mother becomes diagnosed with cancer, her precious orchard is cut down, and she is now forced to go to a public school. Through out this story Katherine Hannigan creates a well developed change through Ida’s personality and thinking process and a strong conflict with an ending resolve. Hannigan is able to show Ida B.’s perspective strongly throughout the plot and show how the conflicts and problems in the plot affect change.

The first thing that Hannigan shows the readers is Ida’s original personality. She is happy, carefree, diligent, and positive. Ida is home-schooled by her parents, showing that she is very close to them in the beginning of the book. She is loving and very enjoyable when she is with them. Also Ida’s only friends in the book is the orchard of trees and brook by the house. She consistently goes to the trees and talks to them as if they were real people. Then there is conflict. Her mother is diagnosed with cancer. This creates a large problem that the main character, Ida B., must overcome somehow. Following her mother’s cancer, Ida B. is forced to go to a public school and their family sells part of the orchard, which is cut down for new neighbors to move in. Ida B., devastated with the new lifestyle, decides that she will hate school, hate the children there, and hate everything that even exists. She closes herself off from the world, even her parents, because of her hatred, and plans out a way to scare the new neighbors away.The main conflict of the book slowly transforms into how Ida B. reacts to the original problems. Everything becomes worse because of her decision to close everyone out of her life. Even her parents. She is almost shy to talk about her problems to her parents, showing that she has repressed her feelings from even her own parents, her past’s closest connections. Ida hardens her heart so that nothing can get in, until she begins to connect with her teacher. Miss Washington is a kind teacher who tries hard to get Ida B. to open up at least a small amount. She has Ida read stories to the class and this is when Ida begins to adjust to her life again. Ida begins to see how everyone deserves a chance, she can not decide to hate them, and she must apologize for being so rude to the classmates before. Ida sees inside herself that it is okay to open up to others, and when she slowly begins to she becomes happier.

My Personal Compass

          In class we have drafted and outlined our own Personal Compasses. My own consisted of four main topics: Instinct, Independence, Creativity, and Perspective. Each of these traits help push me to make my own decisions and contribute to my own morals. My Personal Compass is overall what I live by.
          The first main trait I had decided to place on my compass was Instinct. This is a natural thing that everyone has, even animals. We all have natural reactions that tell us what is wrong and right. I follow my instincts more than anything else in my life. Whenever I am in a situation of picking between two separate choice my instinct almost immediately tells me which I would rather choose and go with. Also, almost every time I follow my instinct, the end of the entire situation turns out for the better. Instinct leads you to the right path almost every time, and it has always positively influenced my life.
           Another trait that I put on my Personal Compass was Independence. Independence is a more secluded, yet helpful, way that I am able to have. I see it as a way of being proud, self-sufficient, and more self associated. Being independent can allow someone to be able to work alone in situations without needing help. I use my own independence often to do school projects because if someone who presents poor work wants to be my partner in a project, then I will able able to say no and work alone with out an obstacle in my way. I see independence as a beneficiary trait because when I am older, and no one is there to help me up,  I will be able to control the environment I live in by myself. Although I admire the functions of Independence, I believe that the offers of help from others is always a good thing to accept as long as you know the limits of responsibility.
    My third personal piece is Perspective. Perspective is how something is seen and understood. Everyone has a different perspective, but some of them may be similar. I see perspective as a way that I can connect to other’s thoughts and emotions. I want to be able to understand why people react to certain situations and not just assume why. I try to use different perspectives everyday of my life and I plan to broaden my horizons. Perspective helps me make better decisions that benefit not only me, but also others. If you are able to see from many perspectives than I feel as if that would help craft you into a better person who can help others.
    Lastly, my strongest personal trait is Creativity. This is how I define myself and compare to others. I see my imagination as unlimited and constantly changing. It helps me come up with different choices, express myself, and even influence other people. Everyone has creativity, but they all have different ways of showing it. I feel as if creativity is what makes me stand out from the crowd. I have my own imagination, with my own thoughts that no one will be able to fully understand. I don’t see it so much as a bad thing, but more of my own personal bubble which I can keep to myself. Everyone has their own personal bubble.

     Today in class, me and four other students (Sydney, Daniel, and Chandler) all connected our Personal compasses together to show that not only we are all connected, but that we also can share our seperate veiws. This is our Crafting Video for our Personal Compasses

Morality: Disney & Morals

What is Morality? I see morality as a common known concept that holds additional, smaller subcategories to it. We all know that moralities are something to live by, and are always unique, including our own. Although many people may not know their own morals on the spot, they subconsciously live by them. We learn as humans to develop our own morals, or live by what we are taught.  The teachings all start as soon as you’re born. Your brain is constantly learning, observing, and developing. As young infants grow into toddlers they begin to start learning from right and wrong. This begins to create on how the child sees the right morals and remember them in their memory.The main stream of how they learn the right morals, other than from their own parents, is their exposure to television’s movies.

One of the absolute top movie productions is Disney. They create animated films, their start dating back since the 1930’s, that are mainly focused on being for children below the age of ten. Disney produces many films about romance, adventure, and problem solving. There are the Disney princesses, who always find a prince in the end, and then there are the following adventures, in which the main character must overcome an obstacle in the end. Each story has their own moral to it. There is Aladin and Pinocchio with their overall moral of never lie. Mulan shows that no matter what gender you are, you can still be proud, strong, and excel beyond other’s expectations. And there is Beauty and the Beast, with the importance of personality stretches beyond their looks. All of these Disney movies provide a very catching story for young children, but also teach them right from wrong. At such a young age, a child is most likely to hold onto the moral, learn from it, and develop their personality off of it as they grow up.

Majorly, the development process throughout a human’s life never ends, but is much more significant when young. What you learn then as morals mostly affects how you will follow them and believe them yourself. The younger young children begin to learn the morals of right from wrong show that they will grow to know the difference, and most likely become well-rounded people with good morals. All together, morality is taught majorly through childhood movies, such as all of Disney’s, and is definitely beneficial to them.

Mouse Morality