Sunday, September 9, 2012
Response to Course Material 9/9
Between the summer work and the first week of school, I have already learned a lot. First off, How to Read Literature Like a Professor has completely changed the way I read books and watch films. Just the other day my brother was watching a movie on Disney Channel about a minister trying to ban rap music from his town, and I immediately saw how it paralleled Footloose. It was actually kind of cool. I've also learned a lot about writing essays in these past couple of months. In fact, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing helped a lot when I was writing an essay for my MSU application. Instead of trying to use big words or complex sentences, I just wrote in my own voice. The essay ended up being funny, and in my opinion, one of the best I've written in a long time. Regarding the actual AP test, I was surprised to learn that all of our essays will answer "the magic question" (how an author uses techniques to create effects and meanings). I thought on some of them we would instead have to compare and contrast a couple of pieces or literature.
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I totally agree that we have learned so much about literature since we have started AP lit. That is really awesome that you were able to recognize the allusion to footloose in a simple Disney movie! It seems that some classes may not always have a practical and truly useful function in the real world, but I think AP lit consistently provides us with concepts and material we will always be able to use in the "real world". Great job connecting all the ideas we have learned in class!
ReplyDeleteHaley, I think after reading all of these different pieces and having to respond to them in essay like formation has really helped me as a writer as well. Doing all of the summer work helped me in my college essays too! My mom would try to rewrite almost all of my essays, and when I was finished reading her version, the essay sounded nothing like me. There were a ton of words that I have never even heard of in my essays! So I definitely agree with you on that. Also, I think that learning about the magic question has helped to make the AP test seem not as bad, because we will already have a sense of what we are expected to write. AP Lit is a very useful class!
ReplyDeleteGood response, refreshing to read something other than rhetoric, arguments, and the AP test (including my own.) I agree with your comment on how while watching or reading things I find my self making connections between stories and other shows that I've seen, really applicable in real life. I'm glad that you reminded me about writing in my own voice, because as I'm writing my Stanford essays, I find myself having extensive trouble on them, but your post has refreshed me. As for the AP test, I agree, the test seems a lot easier now. Good job on connecting ideas from class into the real world!
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