It takes roughly 66 days for a habit to stick. With the first month of school out of the way, as students we are at a halfway point of making the procedures of this class a habit. I would like to take a moment and reflect on how much I enjoy the creative writing portion of the class. Life is not perfect. I have faced many trials throughout my life and there is more to come. After undergoing something troubling, I find that writing creatively helps organize my emotions. This has done wonders for my attitude. I am excited to share my creative writing piece for this first six weeks because we humans are imperfect, moody creatures. Some days I come into class happy or sad. Whatever my emotion is on a given day, by making creative writing a habit, it humanizes my writing. I have no idea how I am going to feel in the next two weeks, or even the next hour.
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The third week of AP Lit was a little different than the first two weeks. We discussed the AP Lit test and how to score an 8 or a 9 on the essay portion. We also had fruitful opportunity to work on our essays. I am thankful for the class time given to collaborate and debate viewpoints of symbolism among my group members because this week has been chaotic due to homecoming and other outside activities.
I struggled with understanding the theme of Obasan after I read it in the summer. I asked my group members "Why is there such a intense contrast between the attitudes of Obasan and Aunt Emily? What is the meaning of attitude?". After talking with Melissa and Christina, they provided excellent explanation to my questions. Christina explained that Obasan is the model of the traditional Japanese woman while Aunt Emily challenges all Japanese social norms. My brain clicked and everything made sense to me. I connected the role of Obasan with the reoccurring theme of the chicken with the tongue cut out. The Japanese were merely chickens living among wolves with no voice. Furthermore, the fact that the Japanese grit their teeth and accept their lifestyle, it makes them far more manipulatable. This week I learned that I should question everything. I should embark on an lifestyle that fits for me. If I have a developed opinion on something I will be stubborn. However, I am always open to other viewpoints and free speech because I have to defend the speech I hate the most. If I don't, I may be preaching one day what is right but it would not be protected. This week was yet another great week in AP literature. I am starting to find more rhythm when I write as I develop more consistent writing habits. I have noticed that this class calls for some type of in depth writing every day. Whether it be a creative writing piece, a comparative essay, or even a reflective learning blog. To be successful in college you must be an avid reader and writer. More specifically this week, I enjoyed the most this week was our group discussions in our comparative essay groups. It challenged me with different ideas and perspectives. Some arguments my group made were stronger than what I have thought about. Group work holds us accountable as students because we are all working together to achieve the same goal. This idea spurs learning and benefits me in the future. As I continue to invest myself in more group work, I become more comfortable with working with others. Working with others is something I would be doing for the rest of my life and I am happy I can hone these skills in AP Literature.
Another thing we focused on this week was analyzing and studying the poem The Eagle. I found that the poem was a little tough to understand. I always asked myself "what is the author trying to tell the reader?", however, that way of thinking actually limited my creativity. I started to put The Eagle into a box because I was simply trying to solve for "X". Therefore, I started to ask myself "what do I think the poem is about?". This is a simple question but it ultimately opened up a new world of perspectives. I was no longer shackled to narrow minded thinking. My next step for weeks to come is to learn how to organize my thoughts of a poem in a quick manner, so I become better equipped for the AP test. After the first week of AP Lit I can already say that I am comfortable. The class is structured for discussions rather than monotonous labor. I have participated each day in class and enjoyed hearing different perspectives from fellow students and Andrew. I have already built a solid foundation with our teacher. He allows us to call him by his first name and I think that is very humbling. Being on a first name basis, whether it being a teacher or a boss, puts you and the person in charge on the same playing field. I can already see a positive impact on my academics with this new relationship. The class also involves a lot of technology use. This is something that I enjoy the most because it helps us high school students become college ready. The first week was a blur and I cannot wait what the future holds in AP Lit and how I can apply these skills to real life. |
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March 2017
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