Quarter 1

Reflection on the Quarter 1 Theme

             The American Dream requires work. It was not meant to be easy. As the article states, "The American Dream should require hard work, but it should not require 80-hour workweeks and parents who never see their kids from across the dinner table." It requires work but it shouldn't take over your entire life, that's not a dream. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's dream on women's rights did not change the night after she gave her speech, nor Jefferson, nor King. The American Dream is a process. A process in which it takes a very long time to achieve their dreams. The American Dream is not dead, The American people are just too lazy to chase it.

Quarter 1 Columnist Rhetorical Analysis Reflection.

             Paul Krugman is a columnist who writes primarily on politics and holds a democratic point-of-view. Due to the elections being around the corner, that is the focus of his articles. In all five articles, Krugman uses statistical information, or logos. Krugman would also attempt to build his credibility in order to increase his persuasiveness. These two techniques proved to be effective in the eyes of Krugman as they were widely used in his articles. I assume that Logos was just a byproduct of the article's topic. I believe that Krugman will continue to use these devices in all of his articles.

 Jefferson-Stanton Comparison Rhetorical Analysis Essay

I promise that in my next formal paper, I will use the text to my advantage and provide more examples and when used, I will make sure that they are effective. I will provide better analysis to the evidence used. I will do a better job in writing the formal essay as I do not believe this essay accurately showcases my ability to write and analyze documents and their rhetorics.

Favorite Quarter 1 40-Minute Timed Write

My favorite timed write was the Synthesis essay on the USPS. I feel as though I did a good job on this essay. It felt easy to write due to the fact that all the information I needed was there and I did not need to spend endless time rummaging through the packet trying to find an example. I feel as though this timed write is the highest grade I received out of the three. It felt as though the forty-five minute time period to write was more than enough which gave me time to revise the essay. If I could change one thing, It would be the lack of sources used. I did not accurately read the prompt which left me missing a source. I learned that I need to focus more on reading the actual prompt before I get penalized for it on the actual AP test. 

QUARTER 1 REFLECTION.

Quarter one was filled with first-time assignments and moments. I have never done a precis before and at first it was unusual. I did not understand why analyzing a columnist for an entire quarter would help. This assignment would prove itself to be the most useful assignment of the quarter. I dreaded the socratic seminars due to the fact that I am shy but on the other hand, I enjoyed hearing the others opinions on things, It helped on the essay. 

QUARTER 2


Their Eyes Were Watching God PROMPT

 

 

TEWWG, in my opinion, showed a lot about gender. I believed that a big part of the character Janie was symbolism on its own. Janie spent the entire time finding herself. But not only that, symbolism is present through out the entire novel. The hurricane, Janie, and some even consider Janie's hair to be a major example of symbolism. The hurricane made the characters question themselves and who they are. Janie represented someone trying to find themselves, and "self fulfillment." Janie's hair represented 

Q2 COLUMNIST PRECIS PAPER PROMPT

        This quarter I used Charles M. Blow as my columnist for the Precis paper assignment. Blow is a columnist for the New York Times. Blow mainly covered the presidential debate during the time period I was reading the articles. Blow usually wrote about the winning candidate, Trump. He did not agree with Trumps standpoints on almost everything. Blow mainly used Logos and Pathos as his main way to spread his main idea and persuade the audience.

     Blow used Logos in every article. The main reason is because it added credibility to his argument and main idea. The articles were always political so it would make sense as to why the articles are full of Logos. When Blow would argue a point, he would back it up with a quote or statistical information  that defended his argument.  At times, he would even provide a quote that counter argues his idea in order to provide a rebuttal.

 Pathos was not a major factor in Blow's articles. It was not present in all the articles I read but it was the secondly most used rhetorical device that influenced his audience. Pathos generally includes diction, or, word choice. Blow used the diction to his advantage in order to set the tone of the article. This lead to the audience's emotions being affected depending on the tone set by Blow. 


Q2 SYNTHESIS PAPER FINAL DRAFT

SYNTHESIS PAPER REFLECTION



Overall, I do not feel extremely confident on this essay.I am not doubting my abilities to write, I did indeed answer the prompt but it was hard to write due to the fact that there were so many sources that were mandatory to use. I used sources that were not required to be used (anecdote) but it was hard to find any picture related to the topic that held the message I was looking for. I definitely could’ve done better, next time I will work harder.

I was not used to writing in the MLA Style we were told to write in. I feel like it was more unnecessary work added on top of the entire essay. I did not feel very comfortable in writing it. If I had to rewrite a paper using the MLA Style format, I would learn how to properly cite the evidence in text. This way I would not be struggling to put the evidence in what I am writing.

The easy part was coming up with an argument. I already knew what I was going to say, How to answer the prompt. The hardest part was putting all the sources together, creating a counter argument to my argument, then finally creating a rebuttal to that counter argument. It was not challenging to write, but as I’ve said many times, The sources made it difficult and more stressful.

QUARTER 2 REFLECTION

 

 

             I feel as though quarter two was very long and had a lot of work in it. I learned how to use MLA Citations, I learned how to accurately write a synthesis paper. The most meaningful unit was doing the timed writes and also, the writing of the synthesis paper. I did not gain a lot but I do feel like I learned something. It felt like some of the things we learned we unnecessary. 

          I'm looking forward to reading the independent novel for this quarter. I'm looking forward to learning what we're focusing on this quarter and how it will affect my understandings of everything. This quarter I hope to prepare more for the AP exam. I hope that we will be able to focus on the multiple choice section of the test. I also hope we write more timed writes.