1. From the beginning of the trimester, the poetry analysis Powerpoints were the cause of much moaning and grinding of teeth, as hours upon hours were spent analyzing the assigned poem, researching background information, and of course, attempting to write a workable thesis and topic sentences that were worthy of the Wilson stamp of approval. The struggle was consistently agonizing, the results equally unimpressive, and many of us felt we would never break the barrier between mediocrity and greatness. It was then that our group was assigned Marxism as our literary approach. Immediately the groans of our group grew exponentially more frustrated; how in the world were we supposed to analyze a story of The Pied Piper from the perspective of a Marxist? The challenge seemed more insurmountable than any previous obstacle, and the four of us wondered if we would even be able to pull off a B. But none of us gave up. Together, as one To Be Determined group, and with some (much) help from our friendly neighborhood Wilson, we read the story from an economic perspective. We scrupulously researched every corner of Marxism, denoting each character in the story as a class and analyzing their interactions from that point. And when we finally pulled our project together, we managed to obtain the rumored A+.
Though the Marxist analysis of that story was not the most conventional approach, we were able to assign a deeper meaning to the text that still related to the idea of communism, albeit stretched to a certain degree. I realized that not every analysis is cookie-cutter; there is no one right answer when it comes to interpreting a text, though it is important to remember that there are multiple wrong answers as well. Analyzing "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" as a Marxist allowed me to understand that the most obvious analysis of a story or poem doesn't always have to be the right one-there could always be a stronger interpretation lying just below the surface.
Of course, those simple Powerpoints were only, in the end, homework assignments. The real challenge came when we were assigned our first paper, worth 35% of our grade. Though at first it seemed the essay would be a Herculean task-three separate papers totally about ten pages double-spaced-in the end, neither the length not the content were unbearable. Elements of mise en scene and literary device paralleled one another quite easily, and I found myself enjoying comparing and contrasting how the two contributed to the greater meaning of The Namesake. In the future, I hope I'll be able to note differences between the actual meanings behind each of the scenes, as my paper focused solely on the differences in how that meaning was created.
2. In assessing my participation within the actual classroom setting, I don't think I contributed nearly as much to discussions as I could have. The reminder that every student in the room was focused on the thoughts and ideas of the person speaking was a little intimidating, especially since I don't have much confidence when it comes to interpreting works of literature. I still tried, however, to input answers to more standard questions, such as referencing the lines of the poem in which a certain idea was emphasized or offering official definitions to certain words. Because from this class I've learned that, though the meaning behind a piece is constant, there is more than one correct analysis of a text, I hope that next trimester I'll be able to contribute more ideas when it comes to the actual interpretation of pieces we are discussing in class.
Outside of class, on the other hand, and in a small-group setting, I believe I participated fully. I wrote the topic sentences for our group projects, spent multiple hours discussing the analysis of the poem, and researched the background and Foster chapters for each section. When we had our American drama project and Man Booker Prize project, I completed my even share of the work and reviewed my other group members. I always completed the assigned homework and did my best to spend enough time on it to make the product quality. Other classmates would ask me to edit their papers and review their thesis and, with the hope that I don't sound too self-serving, I gladly obliged. I hope that the participation I've displayed outside the classroom will integrate itself inside the classroom as well.
3. My goals for this trimester have not been successful. Plain and simple. I'd like to think that the 2% increase from the first practice AP test we took to this one 12 weeks later was the result of hours of labor and planning but honestly speaking, the significance of that grade increase is nonexistent.
I believe the problem may have been not just with my own inactivity but with the goals themselves. My goal to talk the talk ended up being the most useful, though I still don't have as firm of a grasp on each term as I would like. Instead of sitting down and going through 10 vocabulary words a month like I had hoped to do, I leeched off of our everyday class use of these words, learning through involuntary repetition. This was not the result of my effort; it was the result of the classroom's. My goals to use testing time wisely and physically SOAPStone the text are two that I would actually like to replace because these seem too obvious; of course I need to use all the time I'm given, of course I need to analyze the poem or prose before I attempt answering questions about it. I'll replace these vague, obvious goals with learning to analyze prose and finding patterns within the questions.
The second goal will be the easier of the two. Often if one answer to a question denotes a specific author purpose, every other question will somehow relate to that author's purpose. That simple idea is one I missed multiple times throughout the last AP test, such as in the Lord Chesterfield letter. Though I knew the tone was sarcastic, I still missed that the closing lines were facetious. Those are two pieces that go hand in hand, and yet it was a key step that I entirely missed.
The first goal will certainly require a great deal more work than simply studying the exam carefully once it is in my hands. On the last AP test we took, the prose passages were my two weakest by far; I had completely missed the point of the first and forgotten to string theme throughout my answers in the section. Therefore, over the next trimester, I will read a famous prose section every two weeks and attempt to analyze it before comparing my interpretation with a credible online interpretation to see what it is I'm missing and where I'm going wrong. Though I know we're not supposed to look up analyses of works, I'll make sure the pieces I choose are ones we won't discuss in class. I believe that by practicing the analysis aspect of the prose section, it will become that much easier on the AP test.
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