Facing Perseverance
By: Riya Shirahatti
Donner Party (Cause/Effect)
In the book, " The Donner Party," by Marian Calabro, The Donner Party ventures out on the Oregon Trail in search for a better life in California. They didn't think about the difficulties of the trail or the bad things that could happen. They only looked at the positive side and thought that was the only side of California. Before going they had to prep for their journey. On the way they face many difficulties, because they hadn't prepared enough, such as the loss of their loved ones. But they had to be resilient and persevere through those difficulties in order to make it to the end. They were running scarcely low on food. As a result, The Donner Party had to cannibalize and eat people that have just recently passed away. Since the Oregon Trail was going on about 200 years ago they didn't have all the necessary medicines to treat people.
To find out more about the Donner Party click the link below
> http://www.history.com/topics/donner-party
> pictures are from.....
http://blogs.rgj.com/renorebirth/2012/07/22/a-modest-proposal-donner-party-days/
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html
http://www.amazon.com/The-Perilous-Journey-Donner-Party/dp/0395866103
Rudy (Problem and Solution)
A Dream Goes to "Waste" (Chronological)
Laura-Beth, a twelve-year-old girl, wasn't like any ordinary girl, she wanted something that usually girls her age wouldn't even think of. Laura-Beth wanted to improve recycling in her area and wouldn't give up till she succeeded. First, in 1990 Laura-Beth saw demonstrations on Earth Day which inspired her and got her thinking about recycling. She later found out that her home town, Houston, didn't have a single recycling program and so she wanted to do something about that. Next, till 1991 Laura-Beth worked hard to try sending letters and calling to get her message through. People didn't take her seriously and said she was just a "kid". She then worked alone to gather advice from recycling companies and find out a place for the recyclables to be dropped off. Later in the spring of 1991, it was the first collection day for the recyclables. Hundreds of people had showed up and it was a success. The quote, "Every strike brings me closer to the next home run," by Babe Ruth relates to what Laura-Beth said, "That's just one more step I've taken, one more phone call, one less person to deal with." These two sayings relate because when Babe Ruth says that every strike brings him to the next home run, in Laura-Beth's case, every phone call is one less away to reaching her goal.
Inside Every Daydream Was a Hollywood Script (Descriptive/Spatial)
Stephen J. Cannell had Dyslexia and that was probably his biggest adversity. Most of his teachers had flunked him in school. He somehow managed to graduate but at the bottom of his class. Back then in the 1950s teachers didn't know about dyslexia and didn't help children with it. Stephen didn't even know he had dyslexia. He only came to know at the age of thirty-five. Students with dyslexia were often called "slow" and "stupid." Later in life he realized that his biggest adversity, dyslexia, happened to bring him success. That all happened because Stephen had hope and persevered. He wrote many famous scripts too many television series such as The Rockford Files, Baretta, Adam 12, The A-Team, and Hunter. Stephen still remembers the time that a reviewer called him, "brilliant and upcoming genius." Stephen J. Cannell shows kids with dyslexia all around the world that they can do whatever anybody else can do.