This semester has been an adventure, and I have gained a deeper understanding of the universe around us, and our own world. AP English III has been a particularly enlightening class, albeit my gains in this class are less quantifiable than others such as physics or chemistry. The many discussions we have had in the class have provided ground for thought and expression on a variety of issues, ranging from puritanism to racism, and overarching revelations about society and human nature that can be seen in our own lives. I have found these discussions enlightening, and while we get off topic (at least my group) all too often, the discussions often find themselves revealing something meaningful (even if it is not necessarily directly from the literature we are discussing).
Timed writings are a pain, but I got them down pretty quickly, and have been performing well in that regard (although the most recent one felt a bit sub-par). I can't really say why I've done so well in regard to those, but nonetheless, I have apparently. While I don't know the real life applications of timed writings, this apparent skill should prove beneficial when taking the timed writing on the AP English III test, which is one of the classes goals. I am glad to say that timed writings and preparation for the exam is only a part of English III AP, and we do much more than test preparation. I have gained lessons and thoughts from English III, and these blog posts, which have helped me shape and clarify my own beliefs.
However, not all of English III was fun; most roses have thorns. English challenged me in some ways. Read-by dates always were problematic. Id usually start reading in the week it was assigned, and mosey my way through the first third of the book, and then be swamped with homework from other classes, and then wait until the day (maybe two days) before it was due, and cram it in. Thankfully, I was sick the day before The Scarlet Letter reading was due, so I managed to get that done without losing a lot of sleep. On the flip side, we were having discussions over our extended definition essays, and I had to miss out on that. Needless to say, my original rough draft was scrapped (along most of it's ideas). I ended up outlining the night before, and writing it that morning, along with my APUSH folder project. I did a pretty good job outlining, so even though it was rushed, it had sincere ideas within it, although the writing may have become either BS-y or poor at times. This was kind of repeated with the formal rhetorical analysis paper, although to a much lesser degree, as I had it written, albeit poorly, the night before (having a headache did not help). I did not feel well, most likely a combination of both sickness and anxiety about the 5 major grades which I felt in no way prepared for the next day. I decided to call upon a sick day, although physically I only had a headache (which was almost a daily occurrence, albeit not often when I woke up) and a turbulent stomach (and I had come to school with much worse symptoms before), and spent the time completing the various school related projects, and even wrote a little (yay!). Overall, it felt like I had too many ideas in my essay when I had finished, but it read fine, so it became my final copy. Anyway, taking my sick days strategically did not feel like I was cheating the system; I was genuinely not feeling well on either of these days, but since these were occasions where taking a sick day rather than not was more beneficial academically (which is pretty rare), it did aid in my ultimate decision to not go to school.
I hope in the second semester I'll read the books more fervently, but I'm sure by the end of the semester, my motivation will be in the same state it is now, which is pretty much non-existent.
Timed writings are a pain, but I got them down pretty quickly, and have been performing well in that regard (although the most recent one felt a bit sub-par). I can't really say why I've done so well in regard to those, but nonetheless, I have apparently. While I don't know the real life applications of timed writings, this apparent skill should prove beneficial when taking the timed writing on the AP English III test, which is one of the classes goals. I am glad to say that timed writings and preparation for the exam is only a part of English III AP, and we do much more than test preparation. I have gained lessons and thoughts from English III, and these blog posts, which have helped me shape and clarify my own beliefs.
However, not all of English III was fun; most roses have thorns. English challenged me in some ways. Read-by dates always were problematic. Id usually start reading in the week it was assigned, and mosey my way through the first third of the book, and then be swamped with homework from other classes, and then wait until the day (maybe two days) before it was due, and cram it in. Thankfully, I was sick the day before The Scarlet Letter reading was due, so I managed to get that done without losing a lot of sleep. On the flip side, we were having discussions over our extended definition essays, and I had to miss out on that. Needless to say, my original rough draft was scrapped (along most of it's ideas). I ended up outlining the night before, and writing it that morning, along with my APUSH folder project. I did a pretty good job outlining, so even though it was rushed, it had sincere ideas within it, although the writing may have become either BS-y or poor at times. This was kind of repeated with the formal rhetorical analysis paper, although to a much lesser degree, as I had it written, albeit poorly, the night before (having a headache did not help). I did not feel well, most likely a combination of both sickness and anxiety about the 5 major grades which I felt in no way prepared for the next day. I decided to call upon a sick day, although physically I only had a headache (which was almost a daily occurrence, albeit not often when I woke up) and a turbulent stomach (and I had come to school with much worse symptoms before), and spent the time completing the various school related projects, and even wrote a little (yay!). Overall, it felt like I had too many ideas in my essay when I had finished, but it read fine, so it became my final copy. Anyway, taking my sick days strategically did not feel like I was cheating the system; I was genuinely not feeling well on either of these days, but since these were occasions where taking a sick day rather than not was more beneficial academically (which is pretty rare), it did aid in my ultimate decision to not go to school.
I hope in the second semester I'll read the books more fervently, but I'm sure by the end of the semester, my motivation will be in the same state it is now, which is pretty much non-existent.