My final opinion on “Out of My Mind” is that it’s a great story about a girl who doesn’t have it as easy as everyone else and I’ve really liked the book.  I’ve liked it so far because it makes people think of how lucky they are for even the littlest things like being able to talk, walk, and do things that everyday people might take for granted.  It also shows how even a little girl who can hardly move and who can not talk can accomplish and be whoever she wants and how she still hasn’t given up with her circumstances.  My predictions for the rest of the book is that Melody will win the game winning answer for her class in the Whiz Kids competition and people will start seeing her for her true self, realize how amazing of a person she is, and people will start to want to get to know Melody and become her friend.  However, I do have a feeling that something bad is going to go down because all of these happy and great things are happening to her like getting a dog, getting a baby sister, getting a computer that can help her communicate, and being able to actually start really participating in school like all the other kids.  I feel like there hasn’t been a really big conflict or bad part in the story yet so I think that is going to come soon considering we are pretty much in the dead center of the book.

Delaney Pearson

Melody’s new computer completely changes her life mostly because now she can communicate by talking.  It makes her life easier and helps her express everything she thinks about or has thought about before.  The computer changes her outlook on life because she now can think about having a future and making a difference in the world.  She can consider going to college, reaching her dreams, and accomplish things she’s never thought of before.  I would definitely say this changes her potential because now she has a better chance of being able to do more things and I think she has more hope than without the computer.  This computer is definitely going to impact her future positively.  She names her new computer Elvira because it reminds her of a song she likes.  This song must make Melody very happy and sends her good feelings just like she was very happy when she got the computer.

Delaney Pearson

My experience of being put into Melody’s wheelchair was a lot harder than I expected because, even though I talk a lot, I felt trapped and that I couldn’t express or get out all the words I wanted to.  We had a board that included the alphabet, numbers and some word that I thought I would need to communicate.  My partner, Kate, and I talked about making plans to study for an upcoming math test.  I think the purpose of this was to see what Melody’s life was like and to make us feel how she has felt for her whole life.  Even though we only had to communicate like this for 10 minutes it was still challenging, but this makes me think of how hard it is for Melody who has had to deal with this her whole life.

The main words and phrases I put on my board was the basic questions, who, what, why, where, and when, yes and no, names of my family members, and help.  Those are probably my top and I chose them because if I could talk and I needed a board to communicate, I know for a fact that I would need to get out my hundreds of thousand questions I ask on the daily.  Yes and no are obviously important for simple yes and no questions that I’d probably get asked a lot since I can’t communicate with words as well.  If i were to do this activity again, I do not think I would change very many of my words and phrases I chose because I know that I do talk a lot and I know that those words are most of the words I repeat or use when I’m having a conversation or communicating.

My experience of communicating like Melody does was quite challenging and it made me feel very trapped and frustrated because I couldn’t tell Kate all the things I wanted to say and if I really did, it took my more than a minute.  To me, this was difficult because I am a person who expresses herself through her words and who talks a lot and being on a limitation almost of words and questions was hard.

This activity has changed the way I view Melody because before this I knew that it must be challenging for Melody but I didn’t think that communicating on a board would be that much harder than communicating with words.  Now I view Melody as a strong individual because she has had to hold in everything that could possibly come to her mind and no matter what her life will, sadly, never be normal.  This will definitely impact the way I view the rest of the story because now I see the protagonist, Melody, in a whole other way, but I don’t think myself or anyone else will ever completely understand how difficult and challenging her life is to her.

Delaney Pearson

Mrs. V is kind, open hearted, and see’s Melody in a different way than most people which makes her very understanding with Melody.  She is also very colorful, not afraid to be herself, and express her personality.  She plays a huge role in Melody’s development because she has such high standards and expectations for her while most people think very little of Melody.  An example is the many times Mrs. V has challenged her to turn over, to reach a toy, or to grab things.  Mrs. V is very necessary in Melody’s life because she’s one of the only people who understand and treat Melody like a real person.

Delaney Pearson

I don’t think Melody is enjoying her school experiences very much because she has stated many times she doesn’t like her classroom because she thinks it’s babyish and it’s not appropriate or matched correctly to her mind, she doesn’t enjoy or like her teachers, and people treat her like she’s a baby, but they don’t actually know that Melody thinks like any other kid.  I remember my elementary school experience being very fun, challenging because we were learning new stuff everyday, and enjoyable.  However, for Melody, her’s was quite the opposite because she doesn’t like being babied and it is not enjoyable or challenging for her because she’s learning the same things over and over again while I was learning new things everyday and moving up to the next grade or level.

Delaney Pearson

As I read the first couple chapters of Out of My Mind, Melody grabbed my attention the most.  I noticed that most people see Melody as an outcast.  An example is from page 17, “People stared.  Some pointed.  Others looked away.”  This line supports the idea that people don’t see Melody as any other person.  However, these people don’t know that she thinks the same as a normal person.  I noticed this because I know Melody’s disabilities which are she can’t move very well and she can’t speak, but, she does think the same as others, she can see, and she has good hearing.  I think this is going to play a big role in the future of the book because nobody but Melody knows how she thinks and she understands that people are going to stare.  That’s why you should never judge a book by its cover.

Delaney Pearson

Welcome to your brand new blog at Loudoun County Public Schools Blogs Sites.

To get started, simply log in, edit or delete this post and check out all the other options available to you.