Synthesis of Course Material #4 - Other

We've done some other things this year that don't really fit into the three major categories. The most obvious of these is all the time we spent studying our list of literary terms. This was especially helpful with our annotation, being able to recognize when an author was using certain things to help tell their story. Another of these was the presentations we made on Prezi about the literary eras. This was extremely helpful in recognizing certain themes and techniques used in texts that may fit into the eras in which they were written. Some of them I was learning about for the first time and on some, it was nice to get refresher as we studied them in American Literature. Another topic that doesn't fit is the Theatre of the Absurd that we studied when we looked at The American Dream. I found the concept of the Theatre of the Absurd fascinating but, as entertainment, I'm not a huge fan of most of the plays I've seen so far that fit into this category. We also talked about the definition of comedy and the theories on why something is funny. We looked at the different philosophies on tragedy, as well, and how it's changed through the years, from Aristotle all the way to Northrop Frye. The idea of every text being either Apollonian and Dionysian was extremely interesting to me, although I think that some texts have elements of both in them. We also looked at the different critical theories and worked on applying them to texts. We did this a little bit in Brit Lit but it made a lot more sense to me this year and I can see how you can apply almost every theory to a text and see it a little bit differently with each. All of these other topics, while they don't fit in the other categories, have really helped me in understanding the literature we've read, as well as in writing the essays.

Synthesis of Course Material #3 - Open and Closed Prompts

We've looked at the two different types of essays on the AP and have practiced writing both in and out of class. They are different but we must approach the prompts in very similar ways. We've learned several "formulas" for writing essays on the AP. The most important is the basic AP question: how does the author use techniques to create effects that create meaning? We must be sure to always answer the hidden "so what?" question, even when it doesn't seem to be in the prompt. Another important formula is TAP - thesis answers prompt. We should just be able to stop after our thesis and have it vaguely answer the question. The last is a formula for an intro paragraph: topic sentence, background, thesis. In theory, we could just have those three sentences, although background may take several and we've learned that it's perfectly alright to have a multi-sentence thesis. We've talked a lot about reading the prompt itself, learning to take our time to make sure we address all the goals of the prompt, identify them as techniques, effects, or meaning, and then writing our thesis to answer all the goals. After we've got our thesis and our intro paragraph, we can start in on the body paragraphs, which should follow pretty naturally from the thesis with one paragraph to explain each of the goals of the prompt. The conclusion, then should wrap up the essay and restate our thesis. This all applies to both types of prompts. The difference, then, is that in a closed prompt we're given text to close read and use to answer the prompt. Most of the one's we've done have been two poems that we have to compare and contrast. We should spend a lot more time on the sheet given to us on closed prompts, as we have to close read and annotate the text to make sure we understand it and can form a thesis to address all the goals of the prompt. In an open prompt, we aren't given any text, although they provide a list of suggestions. We've been told not to look at the list first so that we pick a text to fit the prompt and don't try to make the prompt fit a certain text. This is harder in some ways because we have to remember texts we've read but it's also sometimes easier because we pick what we write about. Both prompts are hard but we're getting better with all the practice!

Synthesis of Course Material #2 - Close Reading and Annotation

We started the year learning about close reading and I would say it's been one of the most important parts of the class so far. We started out slow, learning about DIDLS - detail, imagery, diction, language, and syntax - and learning what each part meant. We did a lot of activities to help us get the hang of each of them. The packets weren't the most interesting thing we've done but they were probably one of the most helpful. The hardest to get the hang of was syntax. We read bits of Virginia Tufte's Syntax as Style, which helped us a lot and now I think the way that author's use syntax to emphasize a point or draw our attention to something is incredibly fascinating. Applying these techniques to the text was difficult but with practice we got the hang of it. Once we understood close reading, we could start annotating texts. We started with Albee's The American Dream, annotating mostly in groups to help each other out. It was confusing at first but now, it makes all the difference in recognizing certain techniques and effects and understanding the author's meaning. Even more helpful than annotation, though, in understanding a text, is discussing it with other people. As much as I can notice in the text when I annotate, other people catch things that I miss and when we put our observations together we get a clearer understanding.

Synthesis of Course Material #1 - Literature

In the class so far we've read two novels (Ceremony and Pride & Prejudice), several plays (The American Dream, Death of a Salesman, Hamlet, and bits of The Importance of Being Earnest), and many poems. We also read Foster's How to Read Literature like a Professor, some Greek mythology and parts of the Bible as our summer work before the course started. We've gone through them all, close reading and annotating and then discussed the works as a whole in class. We started out annotating all together, helping each other out with The American Dream, our first attempt at close reading. By the time we got to Pride & Prejudice, though, we annotated completely on our own and discussed a bit in class. It's wonderful to recognize how much progress we've made since our first go at annotation. I love getting to look at so many different kinds of literature and the techniques authors use to tell their stories. It's very satisfying to finally come to some conclusion about the author's ultimate themes and messages. I haven't disliked any of the texts we've read although I wouldn't call The American Dream one of my favorites. The most nerve-racking thing, I think, as we start to look ahead to the AP test, is whether or not we're going to be able to remember these texts to answer our open prompts. The good news, I guess, is that most of what we've read could be applied to any number of prompts they could throw at us because there is so much good stuff in all of them. Besides the novels and plays, we've done a lot of poetry so far, as they often show up on closed prompts. I've always been a novels girl but this class has given me a new appreciation for poetry. I've just never really spent much time on it until now. Rossetti's "Promises Like Pie-Crust" and Collins's"The History Teacher" are two of my new favorites. Overall, I've really enjoyed the literature we've looked at and feel like I've learned a lot about the texts themselves and the way we approach them.

Response to Course Material #5

In class lately, we've been reading Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. And it is so hard. But I'm also convinced it's brilliant. I really like it, too. Everything about it, really: the story, the nonlinear storyline, the characters, the culture. It's all pretty fascinating. It's just so hard to understand every part of it. Going through in annotations, we can write so much in a page. And it our group, we've been having trouble deciding if we're making brilliant observations or just reaching for meaning because there is so much of it. And then Ms. Holmes chimes in with some tidbit of info that would have taken us years to recognize. We also read some articles for the forum assignment. Mine were on cultural background of the Pueblo people and some essays by Silko. The cultural background one was great, it gave me a lot of info that helps understanding some of the motifs and symbols in the novel, especially the directions and the sunwise cycle. Overall, Ceremony is crazy difficult but I'm really enjoying it and I can't wait to get a clearer picture of the meaning as we keep annotating!

Response to Course Material #4

Since my last response, we've finished reading Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. I love this play so I was very excited to get to talk about it with the class. We looked at it a little bit in my American Lit class sophomore year but it was great to delve into a little bit further. I still feel very little sympathy for Willy but I love the boys. I am bummed though, I don't feel like we got to discuss it enough in class. I was really looking forward to it but our discussion didn't feel like it really ended. I don't expect us to be able to really "finish" talking about anything we read but we never really got to talk about the play as a whole which I would really like to do. Ms. Holmes did say we'd compare The American Dream and Death of a Salesman  so maybe we can talk some more then. Other than that, we did our Eras Presentations on Prezi. I love Prezi, I think its a great program. We did Modernism and Postmodernism which I've studied before in American Lit but even so, I enjoyed doing the project. We're just starting Ceremony now which is difficult but should be interesting and provide for a lot of material for the AP test in the spring!

Response to Course Material #3

Recently in class, we've just been annotating and analyzing Albee's The American Dream this might be a quicker response than usual. I have some mixed emotions about what we've been doing. I think the play is fascinating, Albee is a genius. To be able to find patterns and connections to theme and meaning is great, our group gets so excited when we think we figure something out. The play itself is not my favorite, I just don't really enjoy it. Its definitely not one that I would jump at the chance to see. However, I love discussing in class. The most interesting thing about what we've been doing, I think, is how things all sort of fit together. Even the tiniest of details contribute somehow to the overall meaning, like the repetition of the phrase "very much like" or Albee's specific stage directions. The Young Man fascinates me. My group has discussed a million times what actually happened to his "twin". Did the twin actually exist and was killed by Mommy and Daddy? Or was the Young Man actually that child, who was emotionally and mentally torn apart by his parents, and who reappears on their doorstep as a stranger, due to the vague and disappearing nature of the recent past? We've found some evidence to support this second theory and I cannot wait to look for more and to keep discussing it with them, Ms. Holmes, and the class.
We've also been reviewing terms for our test next week and I've been playing games to get them down!
I can't wait to begin Death of a Salesman next week because we will annotate and analyze much the same way we've done The American Dream but here I get the added bonus of loving that play!

Response to Course Material #2

Since my last response, we have covered a few more things, one of them being syntax. After going through  Syntax as Style by Virginia Tufte, the concept of syntax makes a lot more sense. There is a lot to recognize about syntax and I'm still having trouble doing so especially with the more subtle things like "deliberate omission of conjunctions". It makes a lot more sense now, though, especially in looking at things like sentence length, fragments, punctuation, and inverted syntax to see how they draw attention to certain things and emphasize an author's point. Sarah and I went through a part of Ernest Hemingway's Walden and found lots of evidence of how he used syntax to prove his point. For example, he writes in very lengthy, drawn out sentences and then all of a sudden, he throws in a short sentence ("Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!") which immediately catches your attention (notice the use of an exclamation point and repetition, as well) and happens to state, in one word, the essential meaning of the passage.
We've also looked at comedy, which absolutely fascinated me. The six elements required for something to be funny as well as all the theories about why something is funny really interested me. We laugh so much, at so many things, and we never stop to think about why it they make us laugh. I particularly like the relief theory but I think in order to cover all of comedy, you have to accept that what makes something funny may be a mix of all five theories. Or it may also be true that some humorous things could fit into some of the theories but not the others. The comedy terms were familiar to me but some were new and I think it's difficult to remember the differences between some of the close ones like travesty and burlesque. I'll need to practice a lot with the games before the terms test!
The Theatre of the Absurd is an interesting concept, as well. I'm a history nerd so I liked that they were, in the article, able to trace the origins of the Theatre of the Absurd throughout the history of theatre. I'm not at all surprised that they said that WWII was what eventually set off this style of theatre. From what I know, from history classes and American Lit, the Theatre of the Absurd follows naturally from the disillusionment following the war. It would have been easy for people feeling that disillusionment to accept that we're never going to get a good answer for why life is the way it is. In some aspects, I feel that way today. The idea of language not being a successful means of communication being a part of the Theatre of the Absurd is another post-modern idea that doesn't surprise me at all, especially when you think about Absurdist plays like Waiting for Godot and The American Dream.
The first read we did of The American Dream was great since I've been looking forward to getting started in our reading in this class. It's a very strange play, to say the least. In trying to write our intros and topic sentences, our group kept getting off topic, caught in these great discussions about the play. We came up with some interesting theories and have a lot of questions. I cannot wait to discuss as a whole class.
Writing intros and topic sentences was very difficult, especially since we aren't entirely clear on what Albee's meaning may have been in the play. It's stressful, how hard writing a good essay seems and it makes me nervous. But I just remind myself that we're working on it and we have until May to learn how to write a good essay. It will take some time but I can do it, I just have to be patient!

Response to Course Material #1

DIDLS was one of the first things we studied this year: diction, imagery, details, language, and syntax. As I've been writing, I've found that diction, imagery, and details have been the ones that come most easily to me, depending on the work. Language (as in metaphors, similies, personification, etc.) was one I didn't really understand at first, I just sort of skipped over it, lumping it in with diciton and syntax but now that I read about it in the chapter, I realize its really quite simple, you just have to look for it. Syntax, then, it the difficult one. I understand that it's the "arrangement of words into phrases or sentences", in the words of our text book. It's just a little bit harder to recognize and use to show effect and overall meaning in an essay. The more we talk about it and work with it, however, the easier I think it will be become.
Close reading has also been a big topic. I never though about annotating text before but now that I've begun, I think I enjoy it. I haven't thought about it much in any novels I've been reading but I did annotate a few poems by Allen Ginsberg in my copy of "Howl" and Other Poems. Nerdy, right?

As far as writing the essays, its very hard to get used to and I've always had difficulty writing a thesis. However, the idea that an intro should consist of only three parts (opener, background, thesis) is definitely helping. As for the thesis itself, breaking down the prompt as we learned is making it a little bit easier. It helps to be able to recognize the goals of the prompt and find the techniques, effects, and overall meaning (sometimes, the hidden "so what" question). Overall meaning is probably what many of my theses have been lacking or at least, it was something I certainly didn't understand. So far, I don't think closed prompts are easier or harder than open prompts. They're just very different. On the one hand, its nice to have the text in front of you for the closed prompt but its also nice to be able to choose a work that you might know fairly well. Putting DIDLS into my essays has helped give them a focus and annotating the closed prompt texts is an obvious advantage, as well as marking up the prompts themselves.

Poetry is a genre of literature that, although I've always appreciated, I've just started to really enjoy reading. I was blown away by Rossetti's poem "Promises like Pie-Crust" in the text book. Because of her poetic techniques as well as her powerful meaning. So far, I've found that close reading a poem is just like close reading any other text (annotating, looking at DIDLS, techniques to effects to meaning, etc.) except that you have to be aware of poetic techniques that wouldn't be present in prose, such as meter, rhyme, and form. We talked about reading sentences on a first read and then going back to look at line breaks. Reading a poem in sentences instead of lines has never been an issue for me. In fact, I find I have to remind myself to go back and see if line breaks are significant.

Overall, what we've gone over in class so far has gotten me excited to keep getting better at close reading and analyzing texts, as well as simply being exposed to new literature. I love talking in class about certain pieces and techniques used in them to create meaning. I think talking out loud about a text is one of the best ways to get new understanding out of it, especially after you've gone through on your own first, annotating and seeing what you can find.