Our fourth week of class was dedicated to the analysis of works of art. We spent the week picking through and searching for a deeper understanding of Emily Dickinson's poem, I Felt a Funeral in My Brain. After our poetry analysis of The Eagle, I found it easier to read through Dickinson's poem. As soon as I started to read it, I found myself searching for the true meaning fo the text, and what Dickinson was trying to convey. I soon discovered that I was deeply moved by my own interpretation of the poem, as a look into the life of someone struggling with depression. As depression has played a major role in my family's life, I felt a deep connection to the poem, and I very much enjoyed reading through it everyday, and hearing my classmate's own interpretations of it.
Throughout much of the week, we also took an in-depth look at literature as artwork. We analyzed literature as a whole and picked apart what is the "story" part of novels, and what is the "literature" part. I had never thought of literature in that way before, and I enjoyed looking at it through a new perspective. We also looked at several paintings and analyzed them much in the same fashion that we analyze literature. As we looked at the paintings and told stories of them and their backgrounds, I began to appreciate the artwork more, and I began to add my own made-up stories to them. Throughout the week, we also had several chances to read as well as write creatively. I appreciate this because I often feel that I need to get my thoughts in order, and creative writing is just the way to do it. I also appreciate the chance to read, as I've begun to be completely ensnared by my book, Catch-22. At first, I was not sure of it, but as I've read on, it has grown on me as a hilarious look at World War 2, or at least as hilarious as that period of history can be. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22 Overall, it was a very good week, and I happy for the many chances given in class that are already helping me grow as a writer as well as a reader.
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Week 3 of class was all about getting work done. Every day, we planned and wrote our comparative essays, brainstorming at first, and then putting all of our thoughts into the essay. For the first few days, writing the essay was not an easy task. All three of us in the group had our ideas for the essay, as well as our own way of writing. This led to a prolonged period of planning and brainstorming, as we tried to sort out the mass of ideas and thoughts that were flowing from us. I felt worried that this would cause our essay to suffer, as it might have ended up appearing as though it were disorganized and incoherent.
Ultimately, however, I am grateful we all worked together to write the essay. All three of us brought in different points of view and different thoughts on different subjects. This led to our essay being comprehensive and hosting a large number of different ideas. Although I was hesitant at first about writing with others, I believe that our final product really was a showcase of each of our best ideas and thoughts. In the end, this week was all about writing and learning to write with others. I am glad I had the chance to work with my classmates and learn their views on our novels. http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/group-writing/ I entered week two of class excited. I was looking forward to the chance to work on more creative writing pieces as well as reading the novel, Catch-22. However, I have to admit that there was one thing I was not looking forward to: poetry. I have never considered myself a lover of poetry. I can appreciate it, but when it comes to picking through a poem and analyzing it, I am no fan. So, when The Eagle was passed around the class, I was less than thrilled. But as the week wore on, and we discussed the poem more and more, delving deeper and deeper, I found it was becoming quite enjoyable. I was proud of analysis of the poem and the ideas I discovered as I talked it over with the others in my desk clump. More so that, I found that analyzing The Eagle helped me tremendously while analyzing my two summer read books as my group and I prepare to write an essay over them.
The other major part of this week was our preparation for writing about our summer reading books. Although I was excited for this and to share my thoughts and ideas about the books with other people, I was also a little hesitant. After all, I read my summer reading books back in June, and it felt as though many of the ideas within the books have escaped my mind. Fortunately, however, I quickly discovered that the ideas never really left, and as my group and I worked, they came flowing back in like a waterfall. It also helped to use, http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/waves/, as a reference as we worked on the essay. Overall, this was an interesting and fun week, and I hope the mood of the week continues into our third week. I entered the first week of AP Lit uncertain. I was worried that it would be just like every other English class I've ever had, with major limits on creativity and expression, but I was honestly just not sure of what to expect. It is because of this, during our first class, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there would not be the normal creative shackles that had encumbered me in my previous English classes.
Throughout the week, we mainly discussed what we would be doing for the rest of the year. We set up our Weebly accounts and we wrote a small biography of ourselves as readers and writers. I found this to be fun, as it was a way for me to go into detail of how I reached this point in reading and writing life, which is a chance I rarely get. After that, we were given a list of books that, at first glance, looks very daunting. The books and their authors were not the typical high school books. They were the real deal. However, I am quite looking forward to diving into them. My favorite part of AP Lit so far, however, was our chance to simply write for a few minutes. There were no restrictions or limits on what we could write about; we could simply put any and every thought we had onto paper. That has always been my favorite part of writing; the chance to express myself in any way I please. I believe that creative writing is an extremely important part of writing, and I am glad that I have a class that will allow me to write creatively. I also found a website that I think will prove useful in the future for creative writing in AP Lit: https://www.writingforward.com/category/creative-writing Overall, I had a great time in my first week of AP Lit, and I look forward to the many weeks to come! |
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December 2016
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