Students in Mr. Graham's Fall '09 class can click on the comment button below to share thoughts about their Independent Reading Project books. Make sure you include your first name and last initial, as well as the period you are in Mr. Graham's class.
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15 comments:
Earl C. - Book is good so far. I like the storyline.
Glizyl L.
Period:7
I think this book is really interesting when it starts out with a guy name TJ who saw a kid name Chris who was getting bullied and saw a great swimmer in him. Now TJ who has a lot of sports talent never participated in sports will now create a swim team and is thinking of recruiting Chris so he can also wear a jacket to show everyone he earned it. I thought it was really sad for Chris that his he got bullied for carrying his brother's letter jacket. The bully Mike said that he couldn't wear the jacket because he didn't break the school football records his brother did, not him. We all know that Chris is wearing it to honor his brother. I think its a good idea for them to get a swim team and have Chris earn a letter jacket so he can be just like his brother. Does anyone think Chris and TJ is like going to be the best swimmer on the team?
Joaquin V
per.7
TJ Jones is not your average high school student. TJ is a great athlete. He can play any sport and all the jocks want him to join their teams for this reason. But for a lot of reasons, he does not play any school sports. TJ is part black, part Japanese and part white. he lives in part of the country where the majority of residents are pure white. And many of those same residents are racists. TJ’s learned to live with it as time goes on. But just because TJ learns to live with it, it doesn’t mean that he accepts it. And just because he can take all the racists remarks that are directed at him, it doesn’t mean that he will let anyone judge or degrade someone else. And because of this philosophy, he gets caught into joining the school’s swim team. The school has no pool or any real swimmers except for himself. Since leather jackets are the status symbol at Cutter High, TJ decides that he is going to assemble a bunch of misfits to join the swim team and get every one of his teammates a leather jacket. Do you think he will be succesful? And what types of challenges will he face?
Earl C
Period:7
Right now, TJ is recruiting people for the swimteam. Nothing fun yet.
Glizyl Luna
Tj is talking about his family. He is also talking about the three people he recruited so far and how they are going to be like in competitions. They are certainly not the fastest and athletic team so far. Im starting to like how Tj is supporting Chris with his struggles and helping him out with the swim team.
joaquin v
period-7
Tj is trying to get people to join his swim team he has yet to created but is not so successful in getting people to join the team
Glizyl L.
Period: 7
TJ now has found 5 swimmers for the team and they are Dan, Andy, Jackie, Simon, Tay-Roy, and Chris. They all went to their first swim meet near Idaho and they all scored points for themselves even though they lost they feel very proud and know they can keep getting better as the season continues. Also, when they're headed back they get caught in a snow storm which makes them talk about some personal issues to each other.
When they get back to school they have to talk about the different adversities they had to face with because their Cutter High swim team had a slight disadvantage because Andy had one leg to swim with. Did you guys think it was fair and believed it was a hard loss for Cutter High?
Right now, in chapter 9, Tao and his swim team, win the meet and beat the swimming record. The book was very interesting, but when there is no swimming, they just talk and it gets really boring. It's good.
In the book, Whale Talk, i could connect to the story because the book is about two of my favorite things to do, swimming and proving other people wrong. TJ gathers up a swim team of many different people with very different personalities and tries to win the state championship to let Chris, a mentally challenged teen, to let him a wear a leather jacket he earned.
Glizyl L.
Period:7
This book is finally getting interesting with the character Rich Marshall who has abused his wife and her daughter. They have a restraining order against him and now they are all staying at TJ's house who Rich doesn't like very much. He starts stalking them by calling from pay phone to pay phones. When TJ's dad finds out he gets really angry and the confrontations with him and Rich are very intense. As a reader you would love to just hit Rich but as TJ's dad reminds everyone that we would be like Rich too. I think TJ's dad is a great mentor to TJ and I can't wait to see what is going to happen next.
Glizyl L.
Period:7 (Entry 1)
I think this book is really interesting when it starts out with a guy name TJ who saw a kid name Chris who was getting bullied and saw a great swimmer in him. Now TJ who has a lot of sports talent never participated in sports will now create a swim team and is thinking of recruiting Chris so he can also wear a jacket to show everyone he earned it. I thought it was really sad for Chris that his he got bullied for carrying his brother's letter jacket. The bully Mike said that he couldn't wear the jacket because he didn't break the school football records his brother did, not him. We all know that Chris is wearing it to honor his brother. I think its a good idea for them to get a swim team and have Chris earn a letter jacket so he can be just like his brother. Does anyone think Chris and TJ is like going to be the best swimmer on the team?
November 9, 2009 12:54 PM
Glizyl Luna
Period:7 (Entry 2)
Tj is talking about his family. He is also talking about the three people he recruited so far and how they are going to be like in competitions. They are certainly not the fastest and athletic team so far. Im starting to like how Tj is supporting Chris with his struggles and helping him out with the swim team.
November 12, 2009 12:25 PM
Glizyl L.
Period: 7 (Entry 3)
TJ now has found 5 swimmers for the team and they are Dan, Andy, Jackie, Simon, Tay-Roy, and Chris. They all went to their first swim meet near Idaho and they all scored points for themselves even though they lost they feel very proud and know they can keep getting better as the season continues. Also, when they're headed back they get caught in a snow storm which makes them talk about some personal issues to each other.
When they get back to school they have to talk about the different adversities they had to face with because their Cutter High swim team had a slight disadvantage because Andy had one leg to swim with. Did you guys think it was fair and believed it was a hard loss for Cutter High?
November 15, 2009 1:25 PM
Glizyl L.
Period:7 (Entry 4)
This book is finally getting interesting with the character Rich Marshall who has abused his wife and her daughter. They have a restraining order against him and now they are all staying at TJ's house who Rich doesn't like very much. He starts stalking them by calling from pay phone to pay phones. When TJ's dad finds out he gets really angry and the confrontations with him and Rich are very intense. As a reader you would love to just hit Rich but as TJ's dad reminds everyone that we would be like Rich too. I think TJ's dad is a great mentor to TJ and I can't wait to see what is going to happen next.
November 18, 2009 6:55 PM
Joaquin V
per.7
[1st]
TJ Jones is not your average high school student. TJ is a great athlete. He can play any sport and all the jocks want him to join their teams for this reason. But for a lot of reasons, he does not play any school sports. TJ is part black, part Japanese and part white. he lives in part of the country where the majority of residents are pure white. And many of those same residents are racists. TJ’s learned to live with it as time goes on. But just because TJ learns to live with it, it doesn’t mean that he accepts it. And just because he can take all the racists remarks that are directed at him, it doesn’t mean that he will let anyone judge or degrade someone else. And because of this philosophy, he gets caught into joining the school’s swim team. The school has no pool or any real swimmers except for himself. Since leather jackets are the status symbol at Cutter High, TJ decides that he is going to assemble a bunch of misfits to join the swim team and get every one of his teammates a leather jacket. Do you think he will be succesful? And what types of challenges will he face?
joaquin v
period-7
[2nd]
Tj is trying to get people to join his swim team he has yet to created but is not so successful in getting people to join the team. This is yet the hardest challenge he has yet to face. Faced to the fact that there are very few swimmers and football is the main sport.
joaquin v
period-7
[3rd]
Tj puts a team together after his long search for his former swimmers. Tj get the pool at a local fitness center and now have a pool were to practice. This was one less problem for tj.The team struggles because of the size of the pool and like always tj finds a way to fix it. Now the team is of on a good start.
joaquin v
period-7
[4th]
Tj and the team face a huge problem about getting the jackets.People say that the swim team is not worthy enough to wear the leather jacket. Tj and the team do not believe this ang go talk to the principle but come to know that he believes the same. But tj does not agree with this one bit and argues. they come up with a conclusion that they have to win a race and they will get the leather jackets.
Glizyl L
period:7
Entry:5
I was enjoying the confrontations with TJs dad and Rich. I also felt bad for Heidi the daughter because of what Rich told her to do. I thought the ending was shocking with the dad dying but that shows the type of person he was. When TJ found out he had a brother I thougth that was really cool. I really liked the part when the dad got shot and he knew he was going to die he told TJ not to avenge his death. I thought that was an example of being a good mentor and the last moment with his dad. I know that TJ must of been very angry with Rich Marshall but his dad was right. I thought this book was really good with all the conflicts that happens to the end.
Earl C.
Period:7
Tao jones, the protagonist of the story is African,Japanese, And Caucasian, american living in a rather racist part of the United States. All the verbal and physical punishment made him a strong person both emotionally and physically. He meets a mentally ill teenager, Chris, who wears his deceased brothers football jacket. When the football jocks herd of this, they got angry proclaiming that he did not earn the jacket, thus no having the quality to wear it. He is picked on for this and TJ feels sorry. He later sees his in the swimming pool and then wants to assemble a swim team.
Earl C.
Period 7
2nd entry
TJ tries to make a swim team. He gets Chris Coughlin a mentally handicapped teen, Tay-Roy Kibble a dedicated mesician/bodybuilding, Andy Mott physically handicapped swimmer with only one leg, Jackie Craig a mute, Simon DeLong overweight teen, and Dan Hole a geek with a love for multi-syllable verbiage.
Earl C.
Period 7
3rd entry
As the teem gets closer and closr through the long bus trip and rides. He learns that sometimes even when people socialize they do not reveal their emotions. during the individual state championships the Athletic Council, fearing that the merman might actually earn letter jackets, attempts to revoke the privilege and TJ goes another temper tantrum and gets himself off the swim team. He wanted to make the swim team, A bunch of social rejects, into something memorable.
Earl C.
Period 7
4th entry
later in the year, T.J. meets a young half African American girl named Heidi. Her step-dad is a drunk, frequently abuses her. Her mother, Alicia is also abused by Rick Marshall, the drunk husband/father. TJ help separate them from Rick which angers Rick
joaquin vilchis
per.7
#5
The swim team win ater a long fought race they win. So they now get the letter jacket. This shows that all there work actually payed of after all the problems and doubts they went through and against all adds. In the ceramony of the letter jacket Tj's dad get shot by rich marshal because tj was able to get them the letter jackets
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