One of the assignments I am most proud of in my portfolio is my Comparison/Contrast Summer Reading Paper. Out of all of my essays written this trimester, I believe that this is my best in terms of analyzing literature. In both the Mis En Scene and textual analysis, I found the complexity and paradoxical relationship between the author and director's choices and the themes of the literature. Not only is my thesis strong, the evidence I used to support it fits well and adds new layers to my original claim. Although this was a well written essay, there were areas for improvement; I struggled with the organization of my claims and the final product reflects this obstacle. The transitions between each paragraph is choppy at times and hurts the fluidity of the paper. This paper helped with my analysis of small passages of literature and their purpose in relation to the entirety of the work. Before this assignment, I was able to analyze parts of a film from a similar project in Honors English IIIA; however, the aspects of Mis En Scene gave a more in depth explanation of directorial choices and the effects they create.
My second assignment I am most proud of is my second Hamlet blog post. I chose the movie Gladiator to parallel to the events in Act II. I addressed the obvious similarities between the two works (both stories of revenge) but also looked for more subtle parallels. For example, the two characters both use forms of entertainment to advance their revenge schemes, Maximus uses the gladiator games and Hamlet uses the play. Also the contrast I addressed between the two characters helped lead into my character's, Horatio, connection to Act II. An area of weakness in this post is the quote integration. When using evidence from the play, I need to use shorter more meaningful quotes that provide sufficient support while not being the focus of the sentence.
Throughout this trimester I have actively participated in both group discussion and group projects. In group discussions, I attempt to answer questions, although not always correctly, to test my understanding of the topic. When I answer a question correctly, it increases my confidence in the subject and when I answer incorrectly, it confirms that I need to review those topics. My motivation to read and complete the homework comes from the desire to participate in these discussions effectively. Personally, I participated more in discussion when we broke up into smaller groups because I felt more comfortable sharing my opinions. Within these smaller groups, I was also able to help other classmates in and out of school with editing papers, reviewing concepts, or working through a difficult text.
In group projects, I contributed greatly to ensure that the final product had all of the required items and was done in the right way. However, I did not control each part of the projects. If someone had a specific job, I let them complete it instead of trying to do everything myself. This helped to keep a peaceful working environment within the group and also allowed for each group member to contribute to the project without feeling left out. Occasionally in certain projects, I felt that I was doing a majority of the heavy lifting. For example, coming up with the thesis and specific evidence to support it while other group members completed informational slides. Instead of everyone contributing to our analysis it was only me, or me and one other group member. This made it difficult to come up with arguments on a couple of occasions because we didn't have the entire group's ideas contributing to the thesis. In my individual projects and papers, I did a good job managing my time so that I didn't have to do all of the work on one day.
At the beginning of this trimester, my goals were to expand my knowledge of literary devices, study more poetry, and read more literature. Throughout the poetry unit, I learned and studied more than seven new literary devices and analyzed specific examples in all types of poetry and prose. Specifically, the PowerPoint presentations expanded my understanding of literary devices and stylistic choices and how they created meaning in relation to the overall message of the work. I can always expand upon my knowledge of literary devices, and as I transition into the second trimester, I need to continually look for devices in our reading. One way I can improve this outside of the classroom is in my own personal reading, whether it is Sports Illustrated or the newspaper, I can look for literary devices and see how they create meaning within topics which I am interested in. Before the second trimester ends, I want to learn at least 10 new types of literary devices and be able to explain how each can create meaning in a piece of literature.
As I previously stated, the poetry presentations helped immensely in my understanding of this type of literature. Throughout the trimester, I have carefully analyzed more than 10 poems. The studying of the Foster chapters, literary archetypes, literary periods, and literary theory all compounded and aided in my learning. However, I am still struggling with expanding upon the complexity of the poem. Some of my initial thesis statements before they were reviewed still failed to address how the author uses literary devices to create meaning. A way to improve upon this skill in the future is to continue studying all of the aspects that contribute to the complexity of a piece of literature. By knowing these concepts by heart, I can identify more subtle influences within the passages revealing more complexity, thus improving my analytical and open ended essay writing. Before the second trimester ends, I want to complete in depth analyses of at least four different poems.
I do not feel like I accomplished my final goal as thoroughly as I had hoped. This trimester focused primarily on poetry, although some literature was sprinkled in throughout. We analyzed both of our summer reading books, which was helpful in finding how small events or scenes in a book can contribute to the meaning as a whole, and some other short passages on a variety of topics The amount of literature I read and analyzed this trimester, however, was not enough. For second trimester, I need to focus on the analysis of prose and dial back a bit on poetry. Although I am comfortable with this type of analysis from taking AP Language and Composition, there are nuances with regards to AP Literature that need to be learned to excel in these types of essays. Before second trimester ends, I want to complete in depth analyses of at least six pieces of prose.
This class has been one of the most insightful English classes I have taken in my high school career. I will carry the skills I have learned into part B of the class and expand upon my current knowledge with new concepts. I will admit, this class has been extremely difficult and frustrating at times but I am glad I stuck it out and am looking forward to another challenge second trimester.
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