Not to sound pretentious, but during group work I often find myself being the ant from The Ant and the Grasshopper. My group members see that I am a Contributor and an Initiator so they tend to lower their level of effort. I like to start working on projects right away while many students my age tend to sit back and relax until right before it is due, which typically ends with many starving grasshoppers and an exasperated ant. When paired with other "ants", though, my group flourishes and we produce thoughtful, unrushed work.
On the negative side of things, I sometimes find myself being the lion form the fable The Lion's Share. Although I am not necessarily greedy in group work (because, honestly, who intentionally wants to put more work on themselves), but rather a sort of Dominator. Just as the lion is unable to share the products of his skills with everyone, I find it hard to portray my thoughts concisely while sharing the time with others. Sometimes I have strong opinions to express about a certain topic and I'm always anxious to get them out before I forget them, which in turn makes it seem like I am greedy for the spotlight. So even though I am not maliciously hoarding all of the ideas for myself, I can get carried away and unintentionally disallow someone to share their thoughts.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
Blog #2
Today I got a pretty clear picture of my abilities in reading and understanding literature. I found that some types of passages I excelled in reading and analyzing while others I struggled to even comprehend what the passages were about. I correctly answered 28 out of the 47 questions correctly which, considering I've never studied literature in depth before, is not too awful. Of course, I want to drastically improve this score throughout this course, but I think that this practice test was a good starting point for me to realize what my strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to the study of literature.
One of my biggest weaknesses lies in my inability to focus on a piece that I find boring/uninteresting/confusing. I tend to read a couple of lines then, completely lost in what information I am supposed to retrieve from the text, end up rereading the same lines, often to no avail. I am especially bad at questions that ask the reader to infer something about the text. For example, question 7 states "The reader can infer from the play on words in the last stanza that the speaker is...". First off, I didn't even notice the play on words in the last stanza because I was still struggling to comprehend the point of the poem (which was apparently an example of a lyric, much to my dismay considering I incorrectly guessed what type of poem it was in the very first question). I am not good at analyzing poems in general. Poetry is something I like to read slowly and think through deliberately, and is definitely not something I want to be tested and timed on. I think once I learn how to really break down a piece of poetry this sluggishness will go away.
Luckily, the test wasn't all bad! I definitely spotted some rays of sunshine through my tears near the end of the assessment. I did very well on the last section, answering 11/12 questions correctly. I am very good at understanding essays. I think it's because they are logical and straightforward; there is almost no room for false interpretation. Ironically, this passage was about poetry, yet I excelled with it nonetheless. I also think that I am decently well versed in literary devices because of AP Language and Composition. I did very well on multiple choice tests in that class and hopefully I will be able to take some measures to do the same in this one.
The most major topic I need to improve on is comprehension of poetry, especially poetry from older time periods. I plan on reading and analyzing a few poems a week from the textbook for practice. I want to practice this until every time I read a poem I can completely analyze it in just a few minutes. This way, when test time rolls around again, I'll be better prepared for all of the pieces. Also, I think I need to take more multiple choice tests. I'm not sure how much practice we'll be doing in class, but I want to take the two practice exams at the end of the book and improve drastically each time I take it. I'll take one of the tests near the end of first trimester (aiming for a score of at least 70%) and then again before the AP test during the third trimester (aiming for a score of at least 85%). Lastly, I want to be able to accurately describe what type of literature I am reading. This will not only make it easier for me to answer questions directly relating to this topic, but will also add to my understanding of each text I read. By the end of the second trimester I want to be able to accurately classify every piece of literature that I read, whether it be a sonnet, elegy, or essay. I can achieve this by including the specific type of literature in my annotations of different pieces.
Overall, I think that it is my lack of background in literature that led me astray on this exam. Hopefully, through practice in the above topics, I will learn to grasp the various concepts I am struggling with.
One of my biggest weaknesses lies in my inability to focus on a piece that I find boring/uninteresting/confusing. I tend to read a couple of lines then, completely lost in what information I am supposed to retrieve from the text, end up rereading the same lines, often to no avail. I am especially bad at questions that ask the reader to infer something about the text. For example, question 7 states "The reader can infer from the play on words in the last stanza that the speaker is...". First off, I didn't even notice the play on words in the last stanza because I was still struggling to comprehend the point of the poem (which was apparently an example of a lyric, much to my dismay considering I incorrectly guessed what type of poem it was in the very first question). I am not good at analyzing poems in general. Poetry is something I like to read slowly and think through deliberately, and is definitely not something I want to be tested and timed on. I think once I learn how to really break down a piece of poetry this sluggishness will go away.
Luckily, the test wasn't all bad! I definitely spotted some rays of sunshine through my tears near the end of the assessment. I did very well on the last section, answering 11/12 questions correctly. I am very good at understanding essays. I think it's because they are logical and straightforward; there is almost no room for false interpretation. Ironically, this passage was about poetry, yet I excelled with it nonetheless. I also think that I am decently well versed in literary devices because of AP Language and Composition. I did very well on multiple choice tests in that class and hopefully I will be able to take some measures to do the same in this one.
The most major topic I need to improve on is comprehension of poetry, especially poetry from older time periods. I plan on reading and analyzing a few poems a week from the textbook for practice. I want to practice this until every time I read a poem I can completely analyze it in just a few minutes. This way, when test time rolls around again, I'll be better prepared for all of the pieces. Also, I think I need to take more multiple choice tests. I'm not sure how much practice we'll be doing in class, but I want to take the two practice exams at the end of the book and improve drastically each time I take it. I'll take one of the tests near the end of first trimester (aiming for a score of at least 70%) and then again before the AP test during the third trimester (aiming for a score of at least 85%). Lastly, I want to be able to accurately describe what type of literature I am reading. This will not only make it easier for me to answer questions directly relating to this topic, but will also add to my understanding of each text I read. By the end of the second trimester I want to be able to accurately classify every piece of literature that I read, whether it be a sonnet, elegy, or essay. I can achieve this by including the specific type of literature in my annotations of different pieces.
Overall, I think that it is my lack of background in literature that led me astray on this exam. Hopefully, through practice in the above topics, I will learn to grasp the various concepts I am struggling with.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Blog #1
I designed my blog to be bright and pleasing to the eye. The title font is large, easy to read, and welcoming. It's simple, yet still emphasizes the title to the reader without any fancy fonts. I made sure to make the font of my posts very plain and easy to read. I decided to make the color scheme/ background have bright colors in them so that the blog is not plain, and I hope for my entries in the blog to follow suit.
My background picture is a field of budding flowers, because what is a blog but a collection of my developing thoughts? Just as the flowers are growing and blossoming to their full potential, so is my writing. Hopefully, by the end of the class I will have a blog filled with blooming flowers, even though I may start with just a few skinny, green buds.
My background picture is a field of budding flowers, because what is a blog but a collection of my developing thoughts? Just as the flowers are growing and blossoming to their full potential, so is my writing. Hopefully, by the end of the class I will have a blog filled with blooming flowers, even though I may start with just a few skinny, green buds.
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