Angel's AP blog

Today I was absent in class due to ACT WorkKeys. The tests were extremely easily, and it was basic reading and math skills. Although it was easy, I still took my time. I did this to watch out for trick question, but oddly there were not many. I am  very thankful that the test was not difficult.

Today we worked in groups to analyze the poem “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath. This poem was much harder to comprehend than “Mirror”. My group and I struggled  for the first ten out of twenty eight stanzas. The structure of the poem was most confusing; the poem was broken into three lines per stanza. Being a beginner at analyzing poems, it was hard to follow along. However toward the last couple of stanzas,  began to grasp the concepts of the authors purpose for the structure, and it all started to make sense.

Today we read the poem “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath. While reading the poem I reflected on the person I see when I look in the mirror. When I look in the mirror I see a strange, puzzled girl. The girl yearns to feel beautiful, but she fails at every attempt. The girl longs for her father’ love and reassurance, but she knows she’ll never receive it. She’s broken and feels as if half of her is the the graveyard. The girl can’t accept reality. The girl is lost and heartbroken hoping to see the beauty in herself like others  do. She wants to feel smart. She wants to be optimistic. The girl in the mirror want to have hope that change is really inevitable.

Mr. Rease was not here today, so we completed our scene. It was a little challenging because we did not have the book. That did not stop us though. My group and I successfully created most of our scene, and everyone was given their character. Overall, today was a great day filled with excessive talking.

Almost everyday I realize how much of a bad writer I am. After several days we were able to present our paragraph. It was horrible, and we came in second to last place. We earned 15/40 points. I did majority of the writing so I automatically felt like I was responsible. I’m so frustrated with myself, and I’m disappointed that I let my team down.

Today we went on field trip to see Frankenstein. The play was well acted out and very suspenseful. There were times when I would scream really loud or jump really hard. For example, the scene when the gun is shot caused the whole audience to jump. I really loved watching the play, especially since the actors seemed so devoted. I love going to see play’s.

Today we got out of Mr. Rease’s class early because of something dealing with homecoming week; however, during the time we were in there, we finished our previous assignment. It took my group thirty minutes to finish up because we had to revise what we wrote. After revision, everything we wrote flowed perfectly. I liked class today.

Today we were put into groups of either three or four to crraft a thesis statement and a body paragraph. The task itself was no difficult; the difficult part was working with others. Some people were contributing and some were not. I was getting frustrated because I felt as though the weight was in my shoulders. I really like working in groups, but today made me regret it.

We finished the reading of “Fences” today, and although I watched the movie before, the ending still came as a surprise. It was a realistic surprise. The thought that what happened in “Fences”, occurs normally is very unsettling. The parent and child relationship was most comparable to real-life. This was the most realistic part of the play because of first hand experience.

Today I realized that I’m not a great writer. Everything I write about is extremely simplistic. It is all literal and boring, and there is no deeper meaning behind  anything I write about. This makes me so frustrated with myself because I know that writing like this will not help me pass my AP exam. I finally came to the realization that I have so much to work on to achieve my desired score.

  Mr. Rease was not here today, so we had a substitute. The work that was left was fairly easy. We were charged with doing two assignments dealing with poems by William Carlos Williams. The poems that went with the assignments were ones we already covered. Therefore, the work wasn’t really rigorous.

Due to a chorus performance I was not present in class today. Our performance lasted about thirty minutes, but we stayed to watch our competitor teams. Competition was rigorous, but we still earned high scores. I love performancing overall. I love the emotions I feel when  singing. I, however, wish that performances could be after school because I hate being behind in class.

Today was the start of second quarter. By this being the beginning, I have the opportunity to start off fresh. With my fresh start, I am going to devote more time to my studies which will help me improve my skills inside of the classroom. For example, I will be able to develop a coherent essay, unlike my essay we reviewed in class today. I will also be able to apply the skills I learned in class about answering the prompt in my future writing. Furthermore, I will take advantage of this new beginning.

Today we took our EQT’s. The EQT came directly from the 2016 AP exam. Even though we only had  multiple choice questions, it was still extremely difficult. It was a lot of answers that seemed as though they could be correct, and that was the most challenging part. All in all, I don’t like multiple choice test.

Today I was not present in Mr. Rease’s classroom due to preparation for senior portraits. My preparations began yesterday evening, and I finished preparing this morning. This process was bittersweet, stressful, and overwhelming. I, however, felt joy and relief upon taking my picture because I know that I am ending one chapter and beginning another.

Today we were not in class because a college recruiter came to our school. The recruiter was from Auburn. He informed us about housing, majors, scholarships, and deadlines.  I asked him a couple of questions concerning my major, and the reply I received was very needed.The scholarship information I received was very enlightening, and it persuaded me to wanna go to that school.

Today we did a brief analysis on what we previously read in “Fences”. We analyzed characteristics that a man should have at a certain age, and we debated about what it means to be a man. This was covered because the main character son, who’s 34 years old, is referred to as “boy” by everyone who he has an encounter with. So doing the analysis of what it means to be a man, it helped us gain a better since of why he is looked at as being a child

Today we read the play “Fences”. So far from the chapters covered, we can tell that the main character, Troy, is very dominant. He’s dominant in all of his relationships . With his wife he’s has the leading role, and he uses harsh language with her. In his friendship he’s dominant, and his friend follows him. This dominance is both harmful and helpful to his character.

Today we had class discussion. During the many discussions, we covered “Yellow-Wallpaper”, analyzed prompts, and rhetorical devices. Our discussion lasted the whole class period, and it was very interesting. This was because of how we went into depth with the topics. Overall class was  intriguing and fun today.

I was not present at school today because I went to the Rotary Club of Mobile meeting. At the meeting I was awarded student of the week for my school. I had to give a speech about service. My speech was approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds long. After I gave my speech, I was presented with a Youth Merit Award. I am very grateful for this opportunity.

Today we played Kahoot to review the short story “Yellow-Wallpaper. My group came in first place and as a result we earned a total of twenty five  points. Even though we ended up in first place, earning the top position was no easy job; we were constantly back and fourth between the top three spots. Earning the top spot was definitely an accomplishment.

Today we finished our reading of the “Yellow-Wallpaper”. Before it all, the class was divided up into teams. Each team contained three or four members; Each team was labeled a football team. My groups team is the Saints. The goal of the teams is to accumulate points by successfully answering questions in class. While discussing the “Yellow-Wallpaper” my group earned an estimate of 6 points. Hopefully, we accumulate the most points by the end of the game.