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.