This trimester of AP Literature has been trying, but worth every minute. As both a writer and person, I have expanded and grown into an intelligent woman, and with every day my intellect seems to grow more. Blogging and reflecting on assignments has really impacted my learning positively. One of my favorite assignments I have posted is the first Hamlet blog post. I had to write from my character, Ophelia's point of view to her bloggers (yeah, Ophelia had a blog) about the conflict between listening to Polonius about not seeing Hamlet and listening to her heart. I am proud of this post because I decided to challenge myself and wrote in Shakespearean language. Somehow, I managed to make Ophelia sound as if she had time traveled from Shakespeare's time period to now, learning the ways of the future. The analogy I thought of was a foreign exchange student joining a new school, attempting to become culturally savvy in a new environment but never losing the hometown accent. That I made this challenge work while following the guidelines, even challenging myself at all gives me joy and is a reason for me to take pride in my blog work.
Another post I pride myself on is my comparison/ contrast paper. That paper was incredibly difficult to write, and at that point in my education I hadn't written a wide variety of papers. Nonetheless, I wrote it as best as I knew how to at the time, and I earned a B. Though an A gleaming in my rear view mirror would be a nice change of pace, I still pride myself on earning that grade with the little experience I've had with AP courses. The main reason I believe I did not receive an A was my MLA format and the two essays I had to write individually in order to create a decent comparison and contrast paper. If I had taken more time on my prose analysis and checked my MLA format with a magnifying glass, I honestly believe I could have earned an A. Improving the roots of a paper usually improves the paper as a whole, after all.
In class, I believe I am a very active participant. I get involved in discussions, I risk saying wrong answers and embarrassing myself for the sake of learning and helping my classmates learn. When I finally analyze a piece correctly in class, I pride myself and motivate myself to keep working up the ladder of my educational experience. During group assignments, I felt that I performed my role in the group well. I tried to be an energetic as possible, and when we got stuck or lazy, I urged everyone to try again. Sometimes my tactics worked and sometimes they didn't, but I feel that I tried as hard as I could whenever I was in class.
However, work at home is a different, less-motivated tune. Looking back on this trimester, I might have earned an A if I hadn't been so lazy when it came to homework. I am not saying I never did my homework, but sometimes I just couldn't get going. When my brain needed to jog, it would sometimes sit on the couch. I am disappointed in myself that I didn't try as hard at home as I did in school, but I have developed plans to change the way I operate for next trimester. I have planned a personal reward system, and I have done some research on how to keep myself from falling into old habits of not studying. Overall, this laziness is close to extinction.
Referring to my previous post about not doing as much homework as I should, I believe that would improve my work ethic and overall scores immensely. A goal I have in mind is to start off the trimester doing all of my homework and in addition doing extra work. This way, I can take off some work as the trimester moves along. Not only will this method improve my skills as an AP Literature student, but I will feel like I'm doing a less or even amount of work as the trimester progresses. To put a metaphorical time stamp on this, at the end of next trimester, I will be completing all of my work, creating better work, and not feel so stressed out about it.
When it comes to the AP exam, I have a few ideas as to how to reach the range in which I would like to score. I swear, I am going to read 8 and 9 essays before bed every night so that I can internalize what I've read while sleeping. I will write in the morning, afternoon, evening, mid day, every day. I know this is the most efficient way to improve my essay writing abilities. Maybe I won't write quite that often, but it'll be at least once every day. Another plan is to keep practicing the multiple choice portion of the exam. I will buy my own books if need be, but I will make it happen. For my second metaphorical time stamp, I will employ these techniques (as best as I can) until the exam. Though I do not have AP Lit for the third trimester, I will continue practicing these techniques so that I can achieve at a college scholar level and to earn a college credit from this class.
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