Salar English Blog

  Prompt: How does watching the film version of  Into the Wild  change or deepen your understanding of Chris McCandless compared to reading the book? In your response, explain one key difference in how his character or experiences are presented, and connect this to a time when seeing something visually changed your understanding of a situation. Watching the film makes Chris seem more emotional and human compared to in the book, and similarly, when you see something in real life instead of just hearing about it, it changes how you view it. Today we watched 40 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes into the movie Into the Wild. Today I saw the different perspectives of the movie and the book.

  Prompt: Chris and his sister  Carine McCandless  had a very close relationship, even when he struggled to connect with others. Write about a relationship in your life where you feel truly understood. Explain what makes that relationship strong and how it compares to the connection between Chris and Carine in  Into the Wild . I dont think there is a relationship where you should feel 100% truly understood because you show one side of yourself to your friends and you show one side of yourself to your loved ones and there are people in the middle but they dont get to see the extent of either side. Today in class we read chapter 13 and we answere questions about it. Today throught reading chapter 13 I understood chris's relationship with his family and more specifically his sister and why they were close.

 Look at how your friendships or social groups have changed over time. What tends to cause those shifts?  Shifts in social groups tend to come with age and especially at my age in high school changes in social groups come from what classes you are you can be really good friends with somebody but if you dont have a class with them it is a bit harder to keep that up. Today in class we read chapter 12 and we had a class discusion about it. Today I learned more about Chris and how he could very easily fit into society infact he was more than just fit he was really good at school and we learned from prevois chapters he was a really good sale's man so he could have been very succesfull.

  Prompt: Based on the first 40 minutes of the film and Chapters 1–11 of the book, does the visual version of Chris’s journey make his choices seem more justified or more reckless than the text does? Explain how the medium (film vs writing) shapes your perspective. It makes it seem more reckless beucase we dont know what his thoughts are and we dont have anything to relate it to like the book which tries to justify what he did based on his past and other people stories. Today we watched the first 40 minutes of " Into the Wild."  Today I saw how the movie had to be a movie and tell things in a somewhat chronological order and it couldnt explain stuff so it had to rely on visuals and creative story telling.

  Prompt: Think about a moment when your understanding of your family changed as you got older. How did that shift impact your perspective, and how does that connect to Chris’s realization about his parents in Chapter 11? A moment when my understanding of my family changed was when I learned more about my family, where we came from, the history, and what some people have done. This shifted my perspective on what I should do as well in life. Today in class, we read chapter 11 (I read 9-11), and we worked on our worksheets. Today I learnt about Chris's family life and who he was as a person.

  Prompt: Reflect on your reading of  Into the Wild  chapters 1–10. Which chapter stood out to you the most, and why? In your response, explain what specifically made this chapter meaningful, interesting, or impactful. You may consider elements such as McCandless’s actions, a key event, a theme, or Krakauer’s storytelling. Chapter 3, where McCandless is working at McDonald's, is interesting to me. His time there also reveals more about who he is and what he does.

  Prompt: Chris McCandless rejects a traditional path of success and instead defines success on his own terms through freedom, experience, and personal meaning. Reflect on what success means to you at your current stage in life. In the response, explain how success is currently defined (grades, college acceptance, achievements, happiness, etc.) and where those ideas come from. Then, consider whether that definition truly reflects personal values or if it is shaped by expectations from family, school, or society.  Right now in my life success means to me doing everything I do and that I care about well, like my school work and working on my body. My asperations for schools do come somehwhat from family but also my self, and then I want to work on myself becauese I would like to be fit during the summer. Not in class for summary and reflection.

  Prompt: Chris chooses independence over relationships. When have you chosen to be on your own instead of relying on others? What happened, and would you make the same choice again?  I have chosen to be on my own instead of working with others when I have to take the initiative to get things done, because nobody else is taking the initiative to get those things done. Today in class, we read chapter 8 of " Into the Wild " and made questions we had while reading it. Today I learned about others that the author compares Alex to to somewhat justify or explain what and why Alex does what he does.

  Prompt:  For most of you, yesterday you took the SAT. If you did not, you  will  take it before you leave high school. What is your  desired SAT score ? Identify your  top three colleges  and explain  why each school appeals to you .  My desired SAT score is 1500. My top 3 colleges are 1 Georgia Tech, because it is both a really good school and it is also in Georgia, and I would like to stay in-state for college, the second one would be MIT, and then Stanford, because those are the best schools in the US for electrical engineering. Today in class, we read chapter 7 of " Into the Wild. Today I learnt what the word highstrung means, which is nervous or easily upset.

  Prompt: Twice a year we adjust our clocks for daylight saving time, but the change can affect our sleep, energy, and daily routines. Now that we have  sprung forward ; reflect on how this time change impacts you personally. Do you find it easy or difficult to adjust your schedule? Explain how the time change affects your mood, productivity, or daily habits. I dont find it easy to change with daylight savings time, especially when we loose and hour, and I need to go to sleep an hour earlier and wake up an hour earlier, especially since it was on a Sunday. Today in class, we read into the wild chapter 6. Today I learned about Ronald Franz and what impact he had on Alex McCandless, and what impact Alex had on him.

  Prompt:  In Chapter 5 of  Into the Wild , McCandless is strongly influenced by writers like Jack London, whose stories shape the way he thinks about adventure and wilderness.  Has a book, song, musician, or artist ever influenced the way you think about life, goals, or the world around you?  Identify the specific book, song, musician, or artist and explain how their ideas or message affected your thinking. No, a book, song, musician, or artist hasn't influenced the way I think about my life or my goals. The goals I can think of are centered on being as successful as I possibly can, financially and physically. Today in class, we read chapter 5 and answered questions about it. Today, I understood some of McCandless's ideas and where he got them from after hearing about how much Jack London affected his life.

  Prompt: In  Into the Wild , Christopher McCandless gives up many of his possessions in pursuit of freedom and meaningful experiences. If you had to simplify your life and keep only a few important possessions, what would you keep and why? What would be hardest to leave behind? If I had to give up my possessions except a few important ones, I would keep my phone and my laptop, which would be very necessary wherever I go, to make sure I can still make an income, because freedom for me would mean needing to have a good income so I can freely do whatever I please. Today in class, we read chapter 4 of " Into the Wild. Today I understood some of the things that led to McCandless's death, with him abandoning many of his possessions.

  Prompt: People sometimes feel the need to step away from their normal routines or environments in order to better understand themselves. Describe a time when you needed distance from a situation, place, or group of people in order to think more clearly or gain perspective. What did that experience teach you about yourself? A time that I have realized that I need to distance myself from a group of people is when I'm in class, and I realize that the people I'm working with actually dont care about their grade or what they are doing in the class, so I distance myself from these types of people. Today in class, we read chapters 2 and 3 of Into the Wild. Today, I learned about how McCandless was found, and the state of his body was.

  Prompt: After reading Chapter 1 of  Into the Wild , consider your first impression of Christopher McCandless. Based solely on the events and details presented in this opening chapter, do you believe McCandless truly understood the risks he was taking when he entered the Alaskan wilderness? Why or why not? No, I don't think that he was fully aware of the risk that he was taking when he entered the Alaskan wilderness, because even right as he was about to leave the man's truck, he was still asking basic questions that someone truly trying to live in the wilderness should have known before they went into the forest. Today in Class we discussed what you would need if you were to go on a through-hike, and then we read the first chapter of into the Wild. Today, while reading, I understood what McCandless did to get into the wild, just the beginning.

  Prompt:  Today you worked on creating your  Vocabulary Digital Cards  in Adobe Express. In one well-developed paragraph, reflect on the assignment by explaining which vocabulary word was easiest for you to understand, which word was most challenging, and how creating your own sentence and selecting an image helped strengthen your understanding of the vocabulary. Use specific examples from your work. The vocab word that was the easiest for me to understand was benign as I related it to the current geopolitical situations and how it affects my stock portfolio. Today in class, we worked on our vocab activity. Today I understood what the word Bumpkin " means, which is an unsophisticated person.