Sunday, November 4, 2012
Response to Course Material #3
In class we finished up The American Dream, looked at the AP multiple choice section, performed some sort of skit after reading chapter 4 in our textbook, and watched Death of a Salesman. To me, it was a relief on the day that our close readings were due. I was happy to sit in a powwow and discuss the parts I had trouble understanding on my own. This discussion felt like a conclusion to my thoughts on The American Dream. I liked how we related characters from that play to the ones in the works we read in our textbooks. The performamces of the similarity in tone between works was not only hilarious and entertaining, but it actually made sense to me! It was so useful to actually SEE the tone be played out. Learning about the strategies of the AP multiple choice test makers was very interesting! It was also a vert easy concept to grasp and apply because it was all so logical. I had seen all of the distractor answer choices before in previous tests, so I knew exactly what was being taught. I feel like now, I'll be more focused on the question itself, than the choices. I've noticed myself making more literary connections in my life than usual! Last weekend I was watching the movie Rise of the Lychans and I noticed how one of the main characters clearly resembled the heroic character of Jesus. He resembled him so much to the point where he was chained down, being whipped while his lover was dying on a post (that clearly resembled a cross) nailed to it at her hands. That was why I was like okay do you notice all this too?? And my non-AP friend thought I was over analyzing it!!!!! That frustrated me so much because I know that Ms. Holmes would agree with me, along with my 6th hour, when I say that this archetype is obviously present!
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It seems you are really enjoying a lot of the activities in the class. I feel as though, since the class is an optional AP, everyone who is in it chose to take the class, and so we are all much more enthusiastic about all the activities we do than students might be in other classes. Ms. Holmes really encourages the students to lead the class, especially in discussion, and only interrupts when we need a little prompting.
ReplyDeleteI have also caught myself noticing references such as that one in other works. I think that is one of the benefits--or perhaps curses--of taking this course. I sometimes wonder if we do over analyze things because it almost seems like writers would not have the time to consider so many things while writing a play or novel. I also found learning about the distraction questions on the AP exam to be helpful because it made me realize how often I fall for them and why.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think that it was nice to see cross-applications of what we have learned as well. For example, we can look at archetypes or tones between works with similar messages. I found that this was very profound between DoS and the American Dream. I also agree with you on the AP multiple choice section! It was logical and easy to understand, which I contrast with writing essays, which is often subjective and (sometimes) wild.
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