Our Class

What we've done so far.....

         The first time I looked at the summer work, I'm not gonna lie I was a little scared. I knew I could finish the blog posts, forums, and the portfolio project while studying The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing for the test, the thing that wasn't sure about is if I was ready for the class. I've never been a genius at literature or be able to spot a motif from a mile away, what I did know was that I was ready to learn. I was ready to understand the complex nature of literature like I never have before. I wasn't so much questioning my own ability, I was questioning if I was ready for the kind of thought processes and work that really goes into AP lit. Since I was a freshman taking Ms. Holmes lit comp nine class I have always wanted to take the next step when I was a senior and take AP lit. So I thought to myself, "well were gonna have to try it." That isn't the most articulate thought I ever had but that's really what went through my head, I knew somehow the class was gonna be worth it. So here I am in the first couple weeks of my AP lit class.

       The first things we learned were basic vocab words like juxtaposition, which surprisingly when I was indulging in my weekly episode of Project Runway, I heard twice. Then we moved on to how to analyze and how to close read. These are the kinds of skills that I tend to lack, I have good heart but I don't tend to find my theories very accurate when it comes to interpreting literature. Even though we were getting into the nitty gritty of the basics, it still was beneficial to me and I'm glad we went over some things like DIDLS to remember the things we look for when we close read. Diction, imagery, details, language, and syntax are some of the most important things that need to understand before the main idea of the piece of literature can be determined. Little lessons like that seem to be repetitive sometimes because of course all of us have heard of these things before, but they are really helpful and need to be drilled into our minds.

      There is one thing that will seem to be hanging over our heads all year, and that's the AP test. Thank god that we take the time in class to not only know the material to ace this thing but also know how the test the structured and how our essay should sound. For one of our blog posts we had to analyze three different student responses and see what score they received. We also got to see what the AP judges had to say about the writing, that really helps me understand what kinds of things I should focus on and what kinds of things I should look out for. I think this is extremely important because we get to learn from others mistakes. One thing that the class will definitely remember is that you always need to talk about the MEANING and answer the entire PROMPT. They will try to trick you and not say in the prompt that you need to talk about the meaning but if you don't than your not done analyzing. That why is it so important to talk about the meaning, otherwise you don't know how to analyze the piece correctly.

     Usually books read in class is not my favorite thing to do, especially plays. That's why when it was time to start the American Dream by Edward Albee I was not the most excited student. The first couple pages I was still a bit weary but than as we got into the middle of the story I fell in love. I was more entertained than half the movies and shows I watch at home, its hilarious and so odd it keeps you thinking. I got some of the meaning as we were reading along but than when we started having discussions on it, the play made so much more sense. It is completely loaded with meaning, every line has some other motive. All the sexual undertones, the take on consumerism, and the superficial American dream made the play interesting and kept you engaged at all times. That's what I love about it, we could discuss it for three class periods and still miss a small idea behind the text like incest between the entire family. As we read different essays on the American Dream I realized that there are so many ways literature can be interpreted and that my mind would more than challenged this year.

I am very excited to see what else Ms. Holmes has in store for us.

Student Responses

2005 Student Responses

Student Response #1
          Overall I do not think that this response was very well done. The first thing that I noticed was the student's attempt to use elevated language to sound more educated but this ended up making the sentences confusing and muddled the meaning of the essay. They used words like “thersitical”, “syntactic”, and “sentimentality” which make the sentences hard to understand and also make them seem overstated. One of the other things that I noticed about the essay was the organization; it went back and forth between the two poems in a way that was distracting and hard to follow. It would be more beneficial to the essay if it was organized by poem and then brought them together in the end instead of comparing both throughout. Their use of grammar is very informal and incorrect in some places, they use the “&” symbol frequently and also used “w/”, it makes the essay seem too casual for an AP exam. The last thing that I found frustrating about the essay was the first sentence of the second paragraph; it reads “These two poems are comparable stylistically as they both deal quite directly with chimney sweepers.” This sentence seems to be stating the obvious because in the prompt is says to analyze two poems called The Chimney Sweeper, and I think could have been better worded.

Student Response #2
           The second response I read was generally well put together. The organization was a little bit confusing going in between the two poems but that's not to say essay was badly written. I did not care for some of the phrases the author used such as, “such a poet who” and “mistreatment of these young chimney sweeps” as they did not add to the sentence, instead they made them sound choppy and like the sentences have bad sentence structure. They use very good imagery in the essay and connected the imagery of both of the poems. The use of color symbolism is very interesting in the essay, they say things like, “Further along in the first poem, the phrase ‘coffins of black’ enhances the idea that these children are being affected and may establish a metaphor to the black chimneys that children must crawl into.” One thing I did notice was they hardly described the meaning of the two poems in relation to if they were similar or different. Overall, the essay was well written and thoughtfully put together.  

Student Response #3
            My first impression was that the essay was very short, in some cases this is okay but in this one the examples the author gives need to be better explained. In the first paragraph a discussion about the differences in tone should have been elaborated on, clear examples would have helped convince the reader that the tone of the piece did in fact differ between the two poems. The second paragraph is too short, and though it does include evidence it seems very quickly put together and not thought out. They did not discuss any of the techniques that Blake used to create meaning in his poems like imagery or diction. I was very disappointed with the lack of textual evidence and examples. I think the essay could have compared and contrasted the poems a lot more effectively as well. In the last part of the essay I did like how she talked about God and how that was a motif in the poems. The essay in the end was not long enough to compare and contrast the poems effectively, however.
        

Wu-Tang Forever

           In the article Drake Drops Wu-Tang-Inspired Song, to the Dismay of Wu-Tang Fans Everywhere
the author Aisha Harris talks about how Drakes new song "Wu-Tang Forever" is an awful ode to the Wu-Tang Clan. The language of the piece is very critical of the song and sounds to be mocking what Drake has done. The diction of the article is colloquial, most likely pointed towards urban areas or city populations. The words the author chooses are quite simple, using everyday language that is easy to understand. The language, diction and syntax of the article all contribute to the idea that the author is using humor to say that Drake's new song does an awful job of honoring the Wu-Tang Clan.
          The language in the article is the most concrete way to tell that the author is making fun of Drake's new song. Through the whole thing the language is extremely mocking and humorous. When the author chose to add in the comment, "Others dislike the instrumentals for Drake’s tune as well: 'How can Drake title a song 'Wu-Tang Forever'…when the entire thing sounds like it was made in a bubble bath?' one music fan tweeted." (Harris) it backs up the idea that the language is humorous and cynical towards Drake's lyrics. The last sentence of the article is another example of the language, "I recommend just enjoying it for what it is." (Harris) obviously the author does not enjoy the new song and is telling the reader or listener to just take the song for being a rap song and not taking it as an honor to the Wu-Tang Clan.
          The diction used in the article sounds like everyday language, it doesn't have very complicated words or obscure words either. I think the author does this so than it can reach a wide audience, I also think the author did this so than it will add to the tone of being mocking toward Drake. There were not any unfamiliar words or big words in the article at all, some of the words he uses are "legendary", "genuinely", and "innovative". (Harris) The words are in no way challenging for the average reader which the author did to make the article very easy to understand. The diction is very simple so that article is blunt and gets to the point.
         The syntax in the piece contributes to how the sentences and ideas flow together. Harris uses a lot of semi colons and commas to emphasize different parts of the sentences. In this sentence "Or maybe they genuinely expected Drake’s new song to both resemble and live up to the work of the legendary hip-hop group, beloved for their innovative sampling, gritty beats, and intricate lyrics" Harris uses multiple commas to create parallelism between the different parts of the Wu-Tang Clan's songs. The simple use of syntax makes it easy for the reader to understand the author's point of view.