Chapters 4-7
Read through the 8 prompts below and choose one to write about. Spend time letting me know all of your thoughts. Use textual evidence to prove your ideas as well. Make sure you have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
1. Describe why the author thinks he won the parent lottery. Describe your own experience with the parent lottery in your own life.
2. Pick your favorite of Randy’s father’s quotes, and tell why it appeals to you.
3. Put yourself in Randy’s shoes for a minute. What would be something of value that you would choose to do if you knew you only had a few months left. Describe and defend your choice.
4. Describe the author’s room growing up. What is your reaction to his elevator? What does his room tell us about creativity & imagination? Do you think it is necessary in life? Discuss.
5. Make a parallel to your own life. Have you ever been given the type of freedom Randy was given with his room? If so, explain what happened. If not, explain what you would do given that type of freedom. Discuss fully.
6. How was Randy disappointed in chapter 6 & how did he deal with it? Discuss a time you had a big disappointment & how you dealt with it.
7. What do you have to “bring to the table” when you contribute to a project? What is your best skill set?
8. What is your evaluation of Coach Graham? Would you want him as a coach? Why or why not?
If I was into Randy's shoes, I would do the exact same thing as he's doing. Not so much about the big speech thing, but spend a lot of time with my family. I would visit everyone I love dearly. He only basically has his family left, and his loved one. Randy is one brave soul, that isn't afraid to die, I would be, because I haven't done everything I wanted to do in life. I always wanted to go spend time with the family in Hawaii, I never visited that place, but I really would like to. Another thing would be sky diving, things that you can't really do in small towns. Sure it will be scary, but you only got months to live, live life to the fullest!
ReplyDeleteYou have some good thoughts here. I'd really like to see even more comparison/contrasts... you did some of this & I think it adds to the blog.
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ReplyDelete4. Describe the author’s room growing up. What is your reaction to his elevator? What does his room tell us about creativity & imagination? Do you think it is necessary in life? Discuss.
ReplyDeleteI think creativity should be influenced in a child's life because some of the most creative people are the ones who make it big in the world. Inventors need a lot of creativity to make something that would help entertain or comfort others.
I think the elevator he drew in his room was creative because living in the ranch style homes everything is mostly on one level of the house and living in a house like that you wonder what its like to live in a 2 story or even 3 story house with staircases and a bunch of room. It also tells us how creative he was because he painted things in his room that he saw in dreams which would also be using his imagination to think of all the paintings and expressions he could fit on his walls.
There were many things that he painted in his room & you didn't do much discussion of this. What was your reaction to the "elevator"? Keep working on expanding your thoughts.
Delete#6 Randy was teaching a class that got to go up into a zero g plane they were going to do it that friday but the teachers were not allowed to go up with the kids and it was a life long dream of Rands to go into a zero g plane. That night Randy sat at home looking threw the legals trying to find any loophole possible. He found that a journalist would be able to go up in the zero g plane to document it. So the next day he turned in his letter of resentment and became a journalist he went up in the zero g plane and said it was really fun.
ReplyDeleteYou've done a decent job discussing Randy & his disappointment. However you didn't discuss the following part of the question: Discuss a time you had a big disappointment & how you dealt with it.
Delete1. Describe why the author thinks he won the parent lottery. Describe your own experience with the parent lottery in your own life.
ReplyDeleteThe reason why I think he was a parent lottery ticket is because his mom was a very strict english teacher and his dad was a world war two medic. I think I am a winning lottery ticket because I have been able to go through a lot in my life. I have two brothers that i like a lot and a mom and dad.
Based upon this, I'm not sure you read the chapter. You need to add more ideas & proof. Many things in the chapter show he "won." Expand on your "winning" as well.
Delete1.) The author begins by talking about the parent lottery, by that he means that everyone has two parents and some are more lucky than the others, there are some kids who don't know where their parents are and some who don't even know their parents, but Randy was lucky. He grew up with both parents and they were always there for him and could always support him, they never had problems with money and never abandoned or abused him. They always supported him no matter what he wanted to do. They let him paint his room with anything he wanted, he could let his imagination run free on his walls and express himself in a way he wanted, not a lot of parents would allow that, i know mine wouldn't. His mom was a strict english teacher who wouldn't allow them to disobey orders, and his dad was a WWII medic who served in the battle of the bulge. When it comes to having good parents, I agree with him to a certain point he did have good parents they were always there, they had enough money, and they always supported him but i dont know if they are the kind of parent i would like to have, they have a lot of rules to keep their house running the way it was. I believe i also have won the parent lottery, my parents are always there for me they always support me, money is never a problem and they let me do what i like and let me do things the way i like to do it.
ReplyDeleteWell done! I can tell that you read the chapter and know what is going on.
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ReplyDeleteRandy has to make a lot of decisions when he finds out he only has a few months left to live. I think it would be really hard to pick and choose what to do with your last days. I know for me there would be a couple things I know I would do. First I would go sky diving because thats one thing I've always wanted to do and I know I would be disappointed in my self if I didn't before I died. Also I would go around and spend time with all of my family members (even the ones I never talk to). If I was like Randy and had kids I would make sure they knew who I was and make sure that they never forget me. Then I would make sure someone knew all my last wishes, like where to be buried and all that good stuff. I know it would be hard to your life is a ticking time bomb but I feel to make the best of it you need to live it with no regrets and do all the things that you wish you would of done.
I think you have good ideas and applied them to Randy's life.
DeleteHe said he had won the parent lottery because he loved his parents.He thought his parents were the best ever an they rocked did everything a good parent would do. they helped him with what they could. they also supported him on his dreams of being a disney imagineer and they also supported him when he said he wanted to go on playing college football. The football idea fell through but he made it to the disney imagineer.
ReplyDeleteYou don't really prove that you've read the chapter. There are some very specific things that should be mentioned in terms of Randy's "win." Also, you didn't then compare it to yourself.
Delete3.) If I only had a few months left to live, I would be horrified and at the same time humbled by the amount of support I already know I would be given. I would spend some time trying to comprehend the severity of my sickness, but after everyone had had some time to mourn, I would go crazy. I would go on a crazy adventure, maybe even go sky diving, and literally live like I am dying. After I got all of the adventures out of the way, I would sit down an write letters to my sisters, my parents, my grandparents, my friends, and for the cousins that were too little to understand, I would draw them a picture of something very happy. The hardest thing would be not to break down and cry all day, but in a situation like that, staying happy would make it easier on the people who love you. Living a life where you know that your final day is upon you would be difficult, but its possible.
ReplyDeleteYou have good thoughts; I wish you would have potentially drawn it back to Randy at times.
Delete4.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5 Randy talks about his room as a kid. His parents let him paint the walls however he wanted. Randy really appreciates his parents letting him do this because it made his life as a child more interesting. He painted everything from an elevator to words written backwards so it looked like someone was writing from inside the attic.
His room made you realize how creative he actually was. The elevator was a good touch. It had to take some thinking to come up with that idea. They had to sit down and think about what he wanted painted on the walls because something that cool doesn't come without any thought put into it. You don't see many rooms painted this same way.
I don't really know that it is necessary for Randy to paint the walls of his room. I do think that creativity is important in early childhood. You will need to be creative in many parts of your life. If it takes painting your walls for you to become creative then thats what you should do.
Why do you think the elevator is a good touch? Good thoughts overall.
Delete1.) When I was reading the chapter about parent lottery it really hit me because everything he talked about such as when he was a little boy his parents really taught him everything. He also fells like he won the parent lottery when he got prostate cancer and he only had a little time life to live so he want to send the little time he had left by bonding with his kids before he will die so the kids can still remember him. This relates to my life a little bit but not like
ReplyDeleteRandy,when I was a little kid my dad was there for me any time of the day. He taught me everything he taught me how to feed calve and farm. He taught me everything he know and now I can really do anything an everything on the farm now.
So much more exists on his reasoning for winning the parent lottery - look back at that chapter please. You had good ideas on how you won with your dad.
Delete#3 In Randy's last few months he had to make a lot of decisions. I think it would be very challenging to choose what you do in your last few months. I know that I would want to do several things before I die. First I would want to go to an NFL game. Football has always been a big part of my life so I would want to see some of the athletes that I look up too play. I would also want to go deep sea fishing. Fishing has always been something that my dad and I could do all day. Fishing is a way my dad and I would bond together. Lastly, I would spend time with my family. I would tell them how I want to be remembered and what I enjoyed in life. I would tell them what I want done with my personal belongings. I would want the people that are most important in my life to have one of my belongings so they would remember me. Making these kind of decisions would be very challenging but you would have to make the best of it because your time is running out.
ReplyDeleteYou have good thoughts. Is there any way you could time some of your thoughts back to Randy?
DeleteI Randy said that he won the parent lottery. It sounds like that is true. Randy's parents let him do a lot and taught him lot. His mom was a English teacher and taught him a lot and when they did not know something they looked it up. Randy's dad was very smart and kind. He owned his own car insurance company that help people with bad credit and other problems. His parents also started a school to help young woman. I feel that I have also struck it with the parent lottery. My parents teach me a lot and get me every thing that I need. They also believe in helping people. I am glad that Randy and I won the lottery.
ReplyDeleteWhat specifically did they teach him? Keep going. I'd like you to expand and give specifics with your family as well.
Delete3.
ReplyDeleteIf I only had a few months to live I honestly think it would be hard for me to pick what I want to do. But I know one thing would be bonding with my dad. The reason I would want to spend a lot of my time with my dad is because I want him to know he taught me a lot and we had a lot of good times together. I think other top thing would be to do is just spending time with my family and friends. I want to show them that I will miss them and I wont forget them and I want to remember all them good times we had together. I would also like to give my closes people something of mine that they can remember me with. And the last thing I would want to do is going fishing with my parents and my sister again. We did this once and I really enjoyed the time with my family and I like to just relax on the water. I also like it when you get that adrenaline when you get that big fish that wears you out. So these would have to be the top things to do if I only had a few months to live.
You've got good ideas here. I would have liked to see you make comparisons between your wants and what Randy did.
ReplyDeleteAlright lets retype this blog again. Randy has cancer and he is going to die. He was talk how long and then he will sadly die. He said he won the parent lottery it took me a while to figure this out but I finally did. Ill explain that to you in the next paragraph. The parent lottery is a very good lottery.
ReplyDeleteI think I won the parent lottery because when I was growing up I had the right to shoot guns. By doing this I was able to get really good at shooting guns. I got to stay home and go deer hunting. Randy won the lottery because he was able to paint his room what ever color he wanted.
There I have now told you how the parent lottery relates to me. Randy is a very unfortunate but lucky guy. That caused him to become a very successful man. by doing this he became a very looked up to man. maybe some day I will be a very well looked up to man. #roar
One of the parts you are supposed to discuss in this blog is why Randy won the parent lottery. This shows me that you read the chapter. With what you have right now, I don't know.
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