Senior AP English overview

Hmmm how to summarize senior year English in one blog post, well it was memorable for sure. I can't say that I have ever been more frustrated with a class then this one. All I can hope for is that all the work I've done has prepared me for the test next week. In all honesty, I don't feel prepared for the AP exam and I'm kinda upset with the fact that four major assignment were given to the class the week and a half before the test. The poetry test, independent reading book number three, the poetry project, and the poetry essay all before the exam! I have not had the time nor energy to study the past lessons because of the work load of these past few weeks. Overall the class was made even more difficult because it is senior year. I know you've heard this a million times and its the same statement year after year, but it doesn't change the fact that senior year is known to be a year to breeze through. I'm thankful that this class prevented me from breezing through, but because of that this year has been even more stressful than the past. Maybe I'm just being dramatic, but this class was much more work than I thought it would be. Maybe at the beginning of next year you should warn your students as to what they are getting themselves into. You're a great teacher, it is the class that I do not like, not you. Thanks for dealing with the moans and laziness that seniors bring along!

Poetry Project

The poetry projects went better than I thought they would go. Just because I am in my group, I am subjective when I say this, but I really thought that Kim's song for the make it memorable part was the best in the class. It was really cool how she managed to make a Robert Frost poem modern and sing it to a tune that many people recognize. I also believe that it was the most entertaining and out of all the groups, ours was the most memorable. I did enjoy all the sweets that people brought in and there were also some really creative groups that thought if ideas that were unique. The make it memorable part was the only part of the project that really stood out to me. To be honest I couldn't tell you any group's except my own style of the time period or poets. It's not that I wasn't paying attention, it's because of the quantity of information that I was given. They were very informative and covered the information really well, it's just that they were kinda boring at times. To improve on the project if you were to do it next year, I would focus on a specific time period or movement and then break that up. It was just too much presented at one time and therefore the quality of attention was not given that was deserved. I surprisingly liked the make it memorable part the most, so I would definitely keep that. It was surprising to me that I liked it because I thought that it would be a pain to come up with an idea, but in actuality, it was pretty simple.

The Homestretch

For my group we got assigned the Modern American time period from 1890 to 1950. I am researching the historical events during the time period along with art, philosophical beliefs, and major events. It is like having a review from AP US History. I really enjoy recapping the past events. I think a difficult part of my section will be to connect it back to the the poets and their writing styles. The other Lauren in our class found a great book that covers many poets and their major works. At this point in the semester I am feeling extremely overwhelmed and rushed. I know where I am going to college (UK) and I would really like to just move on from this chapter in my life. I am very excited to start off with a fresh slate and meet many new people next year. I want to move on from Dunbar and enjoy these last few major events while I am still in high school. I want to finish his year already and enjoy my last summer by relaxing. I feel as if school is in the last "homestretch" and graduation could not come sooner.

Group Project

To be honest, I am really flustered with the idea of doing a group project at this time in the year. I know that I have little say and the project is already decided upon, but I figured that I will give my opinion anyways. This year has been jam packed with assignments, outside reading books, projects, presentations, and vocabulary quizzes. And I get it, I willingly signed up to take this class expecting a lot of work. This project frustrates me because of the topic and the timing. Senior year is meant to be enjoyable and fun. It is the last year to spend with friends and enjoy being young. I have found myself more times than not in my room doing English homework rather than spending time with friends and making memories. The timing is bad because prom is coming up, it is spring semester, and it is due close to the AP exam. I want to be spend time preparing for the AP test and I feel that this project takes away from that time. I guess it won't be too bad when we get started and figure out more details. I like the idea of adding a creative element to the project to make it more exciting and memorable.

The future

With the AP test quickly approaching, I think that I am fairly prepared for it. We have written so many essays and done so many multiple choice practices that I should be ready. I am really happy that I decided to take this class because it has given me a stronger work ethic and it has prepared me for the work load that I expect college to give me. I hope that the AP test won't be too difficult and that I go into it prepared. I would really like to get this credit out of the way because I don't plan on majoring in English and I would get the required English class credit. Along with this AP test, I am also taking the AP Calculus test. The two tests are back to back within two days. I'm happy hat I will get them over with, but I expect that week to be a little stressful. I am happy that school is almost over with and I can't wait to move on with my life. I feel like most people get to a point where they just feel ready to move on and I am defiantly at that point right now. I am excited for graduation and summer vacation. I plan on going back to a Young Life camp to serve on work crew again and I could not be more excited. High school has taught me a lot and I think that I have grown a lot. I am excited to start with a fresh slate next year and to meet many new people.

Toddlers and Technology

As I walked in to babysit a four year old tonight I noticed that her focus was completely off. She was glued to her mom's Kindle fire watching Barney episodes one after another. She didn't greet me as I came into the room and she kept her eyes fixed on the screen as her dad was saying goodbye. I don't know what it is with children/people and technology, but it is as if that is all they are focused on nowadays. When I was a kid I spent most of my time playing outside with hula hoops and sidewalk chalk. I grew up alongside the growth of technology. So as I lay in my bed typing on my phone, I realize how consumed the world is with pieces of glass and metal called technology. If you really think about it, humans today would not be able to function without their I Phones and Kindles. With everyone stuck taping away on their screens, face to face confrontation has gone down the drain. People rely on speaking to each other via social networking where conversation flows more quickly and easily. I don't like this downward slope society is headed towards and witnessing a four year old glued to a screen doesn't give me much hope. I don't want the aspect of face to face communication to disappear completely just because of how convenient talking on phones is becoming.

Poetry Blues

Whenever I think of poetry I think of long boring passages or poems about something really random. Poetry has never really struck a chord with me because I don't really understand most poetry. I like the romantic side of poetry, but the literary side sounds like a chore. Reading 6-8 poems a night seems very daunting. It takes a while for the meaning behind a poem to register, so hopefully I will get better at analyzing poems. Poetry seems like it is very broad because I think of it as either being old and long or short and blatantly obvious. I didn't realize that poetry could just be a few lines of anything you want it to be. I always thought that poems have to follow a strict pattern and rhyme scheme but apparently that is not the case. I like that poetry can be beautiful when it is written in a simple way. I think that my writing skills are even worse than my writing skills. I want to get better at analyzing why the author chose the words they chose an why that is important. I want to learn the different type of rhyme patterns and what purpose they accomplish.

Adventure

My new outside reading book is "Into the Wild". It is about this man who goes by the name Alex. He graduated from college and came from a wealthy family, but he was very unsatisfied with his life. He ditched his life and belongings one day and set out for the west. He lived a lifestyle of adventure and curiosity. He lived off nature and whatever people offered along the way. He stretched his journey from Houston to California. His mindset along the way was very unique because he believed that in order to experience happiness and inner peace you have to abandon the commercial lifestyle that most people live. I think his lifestyle was very extreme, but to some extent you have to give up things that are holding you back from experience life to the fullest. I think an easy thing to give up would just be spending so much time on your phone or glued to a screen. There's so many beautiful things in the world and I think a lot of people miss them because they are preoccupied. Alex just didn't give up his phone, he gave up his car, family, and life savings to see the true beauty in the world which was the landscape surrounding him.

Denver's Change

I was pleasantly surprised when I read the end if Beloved. I was surprised by the power and strength Denver gained. I didn't expect the girl who acted like a child and threw fits to mature into a lady that took matters into her own hands. I think it was caused by her mom growing sick and Beloved growing overpowering. I think when people are placed in hard situations they are left with no other choice but to grow up and deal with it. Denver was forced to face the people that shunned her and her family. That took a lot of courage to stand up for her family and deal with the consequences of her mother's mistakes. I can only imagine the fear Denver felt to go ask for help and for a job. Denver transformed into an adult and her actions spoke much louder than any words that she has spoke. Denver surprised me in a good way. I was happy to find out that someone in that house finally grew up and took action for what was haunting them. It was refreshing to see Denver change her attitude about her life and her family.

Too Much Love

My emotional response to Beloved is mixed because I can not decide whether I believe Sethe's actions are okay or not. I think Sethe had the right intentions in protecting her children from slavery. She could have chose to hide her children rather than murdering them. I think that it's hard to put yourself in her situation because its hard to imagine what that would be like. It would be so scary to live in constant fear of losing a loved one because of the evil actions of a few people. I think Sethe's love for her children is over bearing and ridiculous. She guarded Denver from the outside world and she basically cannot function in social situations. Often times today parents are still overprotective at times. A common bond though is that that it is all out of love. Too much love can be bad because it leads to being overprotective. A great parent knows when to back off and let their child live the way they want to live and they need to let go at the right time. It's hard for me to imagine having that much love for someone and allowing myself to act in such that way. I think Sethe crossed the line when she killed her child. Out of all of her options she chose to take away the most precious gift, which is life. Life can never be given back and it's a shame that Sethe was so selfish to take that away from her daughter.

My Future

It's really strange to think about the future. I spend a lot of time daydreaming about what my life will look like 5 or 10 years from now. I have come to the conclusion that right now, I have the ability to take literally any path in life. I could become a doctor, a lawyer, or a politician. I have the power to control what my life will be like, to some extent. Right now I can choose what school to go to, what to major in, and how much time I invest in studying. It's exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time. I can choose to take the easy path or to take the hard path. I can choose who I hang out with and who I invest my love in. It's all my choice and it's all up to me. I think it's great to have a set path in life and most people have that, but I find it much more interesting to live on the edge, so to say. Many high school students have everything through college planned out, like what sorority they want to be in, what they want to major in, what state they will be living in, and who they will associate themselves with. Personally, I think that this closes them off from discovering who they want to be later in life. I think that the first year of college should all be about finding who you are. If you go into college, or any situation with it all mapped out, you may not make the mistakes or fortunes that shape you and make you who you are. I think that I will go into college with an open mind and open heart to soak up anything, good or bad, that comes my way.

Beloved

Beloved is a very interesting book to read. I think that the topic is very strong and it is written with a lot of passion, but I just have a really hard time connecting with the characters and the plot. I find the whole thing with the ghost baby strange. I also find that Denver acts really strange for her age. I guess Denver acts this way because she has been isolated so long from society. I have know idea when there is flashbacks or when it is just normal present tense. I find the language hard to understand because it is written like a poem and I don't really get poems. I cannot connect with Denver even though we are the same age because I think she is too closed off. It took her a while to accept Paul D. and I find that strange because he provides her mom with happiness. Usually when someone close to you is happy, you become happy just because they are happy. I don't know when this story will connect to the newspaper article, but I know it has some connection. I really enjoyed The Road compared to this story because even though it was full of literary connections, they made sense and made the story full of depth.

First Outside Reading Book

For my first outside reading book, I chose to read Heart of Darkness. It was written in 1902 and it's only 72 pages long. Let’s just say the font size was probably size 5. It felt like I was reading a 300 page book. The actual story was hard to follow because of the language. I selected travel as my topic for this project and this book kind of matched up. It was long and I'm not quite sure if I completely followed the plot. The main character Marlow sets out on a journey down the Congo River. Marlow's journeys led to him discover himself and others around him. I predicted that he would grow due to his exposure to a new land, and he did. His travel experience was not exactly pleasant, though. He describes his journey as being dark. He longed for companionship, which was interesting to me. I always suspected that when a person travels, they have a person that tags along for the journey. I never really thought about having to travel alone and how lonely that must be. Marlow was traveling on a steamboat with "pilgrims" or basically people who practiced cannibalism. He had a partner with him, but still he felt so alone. I think it's easy to sympathize with Marlow on his trip. He set out to find Kurtz the ivory owner in Africa, and when he got there he was disappointed. Kurtz didn't end up being the great person he thought he would be. It's easy to relate to because often people set out on a journey with high hopes for a great time, and sometimes that works out, but sometimes people let you down. Even though this book was long and boring at times, the message is clear, even after a hundred and eleven years.

The Road Contrast

The Road is the first type of apocalyptic story I've read. I don't usually read science fiction so I don't have anything really to compare it to. Even though I've never read anything in the same setting, many things crossover in other stories. The man and son's relationship is one with bumps, but they ultimately love one another a lot. Many stories have a tight relationship in it whether that be a love story or not. The main characters are also on a journey. Their journey is long and tough, but their perseverance and determination makes up for that. Maybe it's not always a literal journey a character takes, but most often a character experiences some kind of change. When a character changes internally it makes the story interesting to read. Just because I don't have anything to compare The Road to, it's overall story line had many similarities with other books.

To switch gears, I'd figure I would give my feed back on the seminar today. I love that we incorporated technology into the lesson. We all love to tweet so it was cool to give feedback on our phones. I also really liked the open debate. I would definitely suggest to do it again!

The Road pt. 2

The Road recently has gotten really exciting. I've enjoyed reading about the journey the father and son embark on together. I've learned a lot about self motivation and the motives behind it. The father is prolonging his and his son's death when they could be put out of their misery. When I first found out what the mother did, I thought it was ridiculous and insane. I see her reasoning now. The two of them are just walking through darkness hoping for a better life once they reach the shore. They reached the shore, but nothing was new. It was still dark and freezing. I wonder why McCarthy wrote about hopelessness for 200 some odd pages. I realize that the relationship between the boy and father was special, but the darkness dragged on. I'm not sure how it ends, but I have trouble seeing it as a happy one. The way McCarthy wrote his thoughts on the pages was interesting. At times I had no idea what he was saying, yet at others it seemed like poetry. I love the way the dialogue was written because it seems so much more natural without all the punctuation. I'm eager to find out the way it ends, good or bad. This book is a good read for AP English because it is a high enough literary level, yet it grabs your attention and does not give it back.

The Road

When I first picked up The Road I was immediately hit with the feeling of isolation and loneliness. McCarthy so far has done a great job in setting the mood of darkness. I think he has described darkness and ashes in as many ways a person possibly could. I actually really enjoy his writing style and the way he writes the dialogue. Even though I can’t understand half of his thoughts and passages, I like the way it seems so natural. He writes as though he went into the character's minds to hear their thoughts. In the beginning everything seemed confusing and scrambled. As McCarthy revealed details of their journey, I began to grasp a better understanding for what was going on. Everything seemed to click when the father dreamt of the mother. She is used as a parallel between their past life and where their future may go. She reveals what the father is actually thinking about death and how it may be a better option. It is interesting that she provides so much insight into the father's character. The boy has only ever grown up in this apocalypse setting. I think he portrayed as being too scared and vulnerable because this has been all he's been exposed to. The book became very interesting when the father found the food. Until this point everything was depressing and it all sounded the same. I really enjoy this book and I can’t wait to see what will happen next.