Extended Response to "Zimmerman's Murder Charge: Prosection Must Prove 'Depraved Mind'

In late February, a boy named Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a man named George Zimmerman. There has been some debate about whether Zimmerman really only killed Martin out of self defense or it was simply murder. Zimmerman was recently taken into custody without any chance of bail. I personally think that   Zimmerman is guilty and had no right to pursue and kill Martin, but do you think about all of this? Was Zimmerman acting in self-defense, or was it a deliberate kill. Let's see both sides of the story:
Prosecution: George Zimmerman was patrolling the "gated" community in Sanford at night when he saw Trayvon Martin walking alone with a hood over his head. Zimmerman thought that he looked suspicious, and began to follow him. As he was following him, Zimmerman called the police. The police ordered Zimmerman to stop following Martin, but he ignored them. This is the part that I don't understand: if the police told Zimmerman to stop following Martin, why did he continue to pursue him? Later, when Zimmerman caught up with Martin, there was most likely interaction and perhaps a struggle: "The 17 year-old was unarmed. Zimmerman told police he acted in self-defense" (Zimmerman's Murder Charge: Prosecution Must Prove 'Depraved Mind'). If Trayvon Martin was unarmed, and Zimmerman had a gun, how could it be self-defense?
Defense: The other opinion is that Trayvon Martin put up a fight and maybe even tried to injure Zimmerman when Zimmerman didn't even do anything yet. It is possible that Martin thought he was being mugged, and wanted to defend himself. If that is true, then it would all be a misunderstanding that went wrong. Despite this point, Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder.
Whatever really happened, George Zimmerman screwed everything up by ignoring the police's order and continuing to follow Trayvon Martin when it was unnecessary. Some people think that Zimmerman only thought Martin was suspicious because he was African American. From hearing both sides of the story, I am confident that most people would say George Zimmerman is guilty of murder.

  

Response to Plagiarizing

The student most likely was lazy and did not feel like writing an entire response, so they simply copied an actual response either forgot or didn't want to cite the source. What the student should have done was put quotation marks around the writing, cited it, then elaborated on the quotation. Then they couldn't be accused of plagiarizing.  

 Many people try to find the deeper meaning in the Starry Night Painting: "There is a peaceful essence flowing from the structures. Perhaps the cool dark colors and the fiery windows spark memories of our own warm childhood years filled with imagination of what exists in the night and dark starry skies. The center point of the town is the tall steeple of the church, reigning largely over the smaller buildings. This steeple casts down a sense of stability onto the town, and also creates a sense of size and seclusion" (A Brief Understanding of the Starry Night Paintings). 

To avoid plagiarizing, you can do at least 3 things: you can cite the source of the writing, paraphrase the writing and cite the original source, or simply summarize it in your own words. It's as simple as that.

2 Really Good Blog Posts of Thursday, April 12th

The first blog post I read was Joyce's, and I really liked it. I like how she made a separate paragraph when she was talking about Peeta, then another when she was talking about Gale. I can really appreciate this post now that I am familiar with the Hunger Games, and I agree with she was pointing out: Gale and Peeta do have different personalities. Joyce's post was very organized, she had an introduction with a thesis and a main idea, and made me feel very engaged in the post. I like how she asked the audience their opinion on the "Team Peeta" and "Team Gale" thing, and also mentioned her opinion. Joyce's blog post is a good model for an extended response essay.
The second blog post  I read was Aidan's, and once again, I was very impressed. Aidan's post was definitely a model essay, because it had an introduction with a thesis, three informative body paragraphs, and a conclusion to sum things up. I really liked how he included a brief background about his book Unwind, so I could relate to his main idea better. I also liked how he included character personalities and how they are similar or different from each other. 
I need to be more clear in my blog posts, because most of the time I stray off topic from my main idea. I will make them more like essays, just like Joyce and Aidan did. I think I will do more character comparisons, because I will have more to write about.  Both Joyce and Aidan's were really good.