Project Progress

Even though I am done with my project, I am certain there is more that could be done to improve it. Like Dr. Preston said, even if you feel you are done with it, it could just mean your work is mediocre. There are things that I can improve on like making the blog more of a personal experience than merely trying to sell the college. Everyone is trying to put information up about the college, when most merely want your thought and experiences with the college issues.

Project Progress

I have recently made the college blog, and am in the process of gathering the information for the posts. I want to keep it in a timeline form, step by step form. I still have to put all the posts on it, but I have them together. I'm sure this will help others, and will be interesting because it it a good comparison to someone's blog who is going straight to a 4 year.

mission- college blog Vision- to help other following in this path Objectives- get together with others doing the similar blog Key responsibility areas- create the blog, and gather all the facts

AP Test study

Today, I tried studying with a partner. I found it easier collaborating with someone else to prepare for the test.

AP Test Studying

Today, I review essay prompts. I thought through how I would structure my intro paragraph, and overall essay.

AP test Study day

Today in AVID, a group of us worked on AP test materials. We helped each other with li. terms, multiple choice questions, and understanding prompts.

AP Test Study Day 2

Today I studied old questions from the AP English Language Tests online. I feel like this is a very good strategy to use to prepare for the AP test. Though I am not taking the test, I feel this will also prepare myself for the upcoming final that is ahead.

AP Test Study day 3

Today I found a website online like college boards which has 10 minute segments that address some of the sections on the AP test. Mostly review of how the AP test works and concepts and adresses prompts.

A Reflection on Unstructured Learning

In the text, The Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons, I found a theme that really stuck out at me. The theme I discovered was self-doubt. The speaker, super hero, doubts himself and struggles with his confidence to continue in his path. This is quite irnic since him being a super hero, would lead us to think he would have everythihng set and the most confidence out of anyone. He looks to excuses such as coming up with a name, so he is able to put off coming up with a costume. Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare! -Fyodor Dostoevsky You have to be able to take charge and be confident in the decisions you make. This hero, was indecisisive and alas, he was left with things that were unfinished.

AP exam study journal

Today, I am continuing my review with Lit terms. I find memorizing terms to be a tedious way of getting to learn the well needed terms, but it is something that needs to be done. I feel if I get the memorizing terms over with, it should be down hill from there. With constant usage of these words and recent review of them all, these words are becoming familiar. I am confident that by the time the test comes or whatever event that needs these words, it will have come in handy.

Possible Essay Prompts

Essay Prompts:

·  Prompt: Write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the poem's organization, diction, and figurative language prepare the reader for the speaker's concluding response. 

·    Critic Roland Barthes has said, "Literature is the question minus the answer." Choose a novel or play and, considering Barthes' observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers any answers. Explain how the author's treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary

·        Prompt: In the soliloquy, King Henry laments his inability to sleep. In a well-organized essay, briefly summarize the King's thoughts and analyze how the diction, imagery, and syntax help to convey his state of mind.

Plan for AP Test

My plan to prepare for the AP Test is to

• Review old tests
• actual test practices
• review vocabulary
• review some current events happening in the world

Macbeth Lecture Notes

RISE AND FALL OF A GREAT MAN

outline:
Act I-prophecy
Act II murder of Duncan
Act III Becomes King
Act IV Humanity deteriorates
Act V Replaced as king

Murder of Duncan
-Flaw: ambition
• Macbeth is ambitious
-Thinks of surface impression. Not of why
-Macbeth does not blow it off
• Many say because that’s what him and Lady Macbeth wanted
• Macbeth is not a hypocrite: he knows there will be a price to what he wants
• “But in these cases we don’t have judgements..”

Lady Macbeth
• Pure evil
• She tempted  and taunted Macbeth to be King
• She’s animus
• She taunts Macbeth to keep the dream alive
• Anima: Connection with other people , war-like heroe
• Animus: maternal quality

What makes Macbeth heroic?

• politically savvy,
• never evades conversation,
• has a sense or right and wrong
• no hypocrasy in him

Macbeth test answers

Part I
1. A
2. B
3. A
4. C
6. B
7. B
8. B
9. B
10. B
11. He was a good man, but suddenly after given Thane of Cawdor he became corrupted
12. Give the Thane of Cawdor
13.  Tell the futures and taunt
14. Macbeth asks for more and Banquo is indecisive

Part II
1. B
2. B
3. C
4. C
5. A
6. A
7. A
8. C
9. B
10. B

Literature Analysis (Reading Notes)

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte


Setting:

•  1770s-1802
• Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange
• Yorkshire moors
•  in or around two neighboring houses

Protagonist:

•  Heathcliff
• Catherine

Point of view

• Mainly through the voice of Nelly

Tone

• Has taken on a melodramatic tone
• The lost love had been a tragedy

Macbeth Notes

The Real Macbeth

• Originated from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles
• Means "son of life" (Christian name rather than a patronymic)
• Father was Findlaech who wasruler of Moray
• Mother's  unknown, but  said to have been the daughter of King Malcolm II

The Play

• Written in 1527 by Hector Boece
• Main source for Macbeth was Holinshed's Chronicles
• Based his account of Scotland's history
• formulated several conclusions
• Reason: dramatic purposes, creating a more complex characterization of Macbeth, and the political purposes with King James I in mind.

Top Remixes

1. Marisol Zepeda: marisolzpd13.blogspot.com
"The Tortilla Curtain" T.C. Boyle Remixed


2. Annais Acosta: amarhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com
Literature Analysis Video Remix: Daisy Miller by Henry James


3. Jessica Parra : jpdrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

The Great Gatsby-F.Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby on Prezi

Socratic Seminar Notes

Will there be any more Albert Einstein, Picasso, or Shakespeare in our generation to come?
- We must break the routine before we can move on
-You have to be able to do things you don't want to do
-Unable to think beyond the routine anymore
-When you aren't given a specific outline of duties, the work is tainted
-Everything you do or love will eventually become work

What does it take?
-Be able to question everything
-And not be afraid of the answer
-Be open minded
-Look to find the answer to your questions rather act like you know all the answers
*Adults don't like to look like they don't know something which is why children ask triple the more questions a day than adults.

"Play leads to new approaches"
-Leads to the imagination and creativity

The Lamb

The lamb - William Blake
Little Lamb, who made thee
Does thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing woolly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice.
Making all the vales rejoice:
Little Lamb who made thee
Does thou know who made thee

Little Lamb I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb I'll tell thee;
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by His name,
Little Lamb God bless thee,
Little Lamb God bless thee.
1. Not knowing who made it
2. Structure: every two lines is a rhyme
3. Theme: knowing ones origins
4. Grammar: old English
5. Images: The lamb
6. Diction: simple
7. Tone: curious
8. Lit. Techniques: personification and reputation

Sonnet 89

Sonnet 89- Shakespeare
Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,
And I will comment upon that offense.
Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt,
Against thy reasons making no defense.
Thou canst not, love, disgrace me half so ill,
To set a form upon desired change,
As I’ll myself disgrace, knowing thy will;
I will acquaintance strangle and look strange,
Be absent from thy walks, and in my tongue
Thy sweet belovèd name no more shall dwell,
Lest I, too much profane, should do it wrong
And haply of our old acquaintance tell.
  For thee against myself I’ll vow debate,
  For I must ne'er love him whom thou dost hate.
1. First person(man/woman)
2.4 stanzas, 4 verses no rhymes
3. Theme: love
4. Grammar: Elizabethan
5. Images: "speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt."
6. Words: die, love, live, want
7. Tone: hopeful
8. Lit. Techniques: imagery

Sonnet 69

Pablo Neruda-Sonnet 69

Maybe nothingness is to be without your presence,
without you moving, slicing the noon
like a blue flower, without you walking
later through the fog and the cobbles,
without the light you carry in your hand,
golden, which maybe others will not see,
which maybe no one knew was growing
like the red beginnings of a rose.

In short, without your presence: without your coming
suddenly, incitingly, to know my life,
gust of a rosebush, wheat of wind:

since then I am because you are,
since then you are, I am, we are,
and through love I will be, you will be, we'll be.


1. Dramatic Situation- The narrator is the speaker, he is in live, and sees his love interest and himself as one.
2. Structure- Sonnet, 2 quatrains, and 2 triplets
3. Theme- Love for a woman
4. Grammar- Continuos sentences
5. Figure of speech- Appearance "..Without the light you carry in your hand."
6. Diction- Old English
7. Tone- hopeful and love-stricken
8. Literary Techniques- imagery, metaphors, repition

The Crucible

The Crucible - Arthur Miller
1.In Salem, Massachusetts a group of younger girls go into a forest with a slave named Tituba who practices witchcraft . Reverend Parris surprises them, discovering their activity and his daughter, Betty, falls into a coma. The townspeople suspect witchcraft but Abigail, the niece of Parris, swears they were only dancing. John Proctor enters Betty’s room and Abigail tries to rekindle their past affair. Reverend Hale, is called for help and suspects not only suspects but diagnosis witchcraft. Abigail puts the blame upon Tituba and Hale goes to her and she admits that they were communicating with the devil. She also mentions that there are other towns people who communicate with the devil. That is when Abigail and Betty start blurting out other names of people in the town who are supposedly dealing in witchcraft. People randomly start getting arrested, and that is when Abigail accuses Elizabeth, Proctors wife, of witchcraft. She goes even further by setting her up with a voodu looking doll, accusing Elizabeth stabbed her with a needle through the doll. Proctor demands Mary that she confess to the Judge but the other girls insist that Mary is bewitching them. Proctor tells the court that Abigail and him had an affair and her accusation is based on pure jealousy. Elizabeth is brought in to testify but she protects Proctors dignity and denies everything about the affair. Procter is arrested is then arrested, due to seeing the devil. Parris and Hale insist the prisoners to confess seeing the devil.The Judge wants him to sign his confession so it could be hung on the church door, and in the end, he is hung.

2. The theme of this novel would have to be the intolerance of the Puritan religion. This life style is very strict, and there doesn't seem to be room for error. It is either black or white. For God or against God. With the devil or against the devil.
ACT III-“A person is either with this court or he must be counted against it.”

3.The tone Miller has set u has to be a more formal and serious one. He gets the innocence of the girls across, and yet their role in this hole fiasco.

4.The two literary elements in the passages below show character development. Here you see Abigail’s threat and it shows that she will kill to protect her dignity. The other would be the language or diction used. the use of words by the author for example -“the edge of a word” it just adds to Abigail’s threat making her sound even more menacing.
-“Let either of You breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to You in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you”

Great Expectations

I feel Charles Dickens titled his novel Great Expectations, because that is exactly what the main character, Pip has for himself and his life. He doesn't go around expecting his life to be dull and mediocre.

BQ Introduction

Is violence hereditary or taught from environment?

At birth, we are taught many things to help us adapt to life and everyday living. There are a lot of skills, characteristics that come naturally, and have no necessity to be taught. When it comes to certain characteristic traits, it is merely questioning whether or not these traits are heredity or learned from the people and environment the individual is exposed to.

Natural emotions that one individual experiences is questioning whether they were taught those or they naturally experienced them. Anger, I believe to be is a natural emotion that one experiences at birth. For example, when a baby is tired, hungry, or uncomfortable; they cry, whine, and holler until they are given the attention needed. This emotion is a common part of humanity. The questioning area is whether that anger which turns into violence is the hereditary or learned part.

The Great Gatsby

THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1. Nick Carraway,a young man, has moved to West Egg in New York, and his next door neighbor happens to be a very popular, wealthy man, named Jay Gatsby. After settling in, Nick, his cousin Daisy, and her husband Tom,grow close and attend Gatsby's grand parties late in the summer. That is where Nick discovers his love interest,Jordan Baker. Soon the discovery of Gatsby's past secret love affair with Daisy and the reality of the affair that is continuing throughout the summer. When Tom's suspicions of the affair get a hold of him, he begins accusing Gatsby of crimes and put his fury upon Daisy. He does not even question his own affair and the effects it has had. After a night out, Gatsby and his company are driving and accidentally kills Myrtle with his car. When Myrtle's husband finds out Gatsby was the one who killed her, he kills Gatsby and after shoots himself. The novel ends in the summer with Gatsby's funeral and leaves West Egg. He reflects on his relationships and experiences in West Egg.


2. The main themes in this novel is the corruption of the American dream and the lack of values and morals in high society. The main focus many have is on their rise in society and the next grand party they will be attending. The American Dream has been distorted and somehow turned into something different than it once was, which is the want of a steady job, house, and family life. These wealthy people don't work for their money, set themselves up high on a bar, and still manage to go on in life with no care. Almost, as is their life is being handed to them on a silver platter.

3. Nick has an admiration tone, when discussing Gatsby and all his pleasures. Which is only natural when one is exposed to those grand pleasures. The odd thing, was Nick's disapproval and almost judgmental dislike towards the other wealthy people in town. He felt they were merely rude and had a lack of integrity. NIck did have a tone of hope, but only when it came to love.
-"He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God,"
-"He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself,"
-"I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others--young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life."

4. Fitzgerald used many literary techniques throughout the novel. He was able to use symbolism through the green light to display Gatsby's hope for love and to rekindle his relationship wit Daisy. It had also symbolized the corruption of the American Dream and how it was dimmed down. Fitzgerald's diction was crucial in describing every little detail and making it as clear and thorough as possible. He took on the wealth people's persona and was able to portray them in an understandable way. Foreshadowing plays a crucial role in the unraveling events in the story. Gatsby's car crash early in the novel gives a hint of what is to come to later. Fitzgerald sets this novel during the early 1920's, which is around the time most had looked to heavy partying and drinking. The standards for American and their goals had decreased.
-"A single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock,"
-"I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life,"
-"...with her chin raised a little, as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall."

Weekend Glory

Weekend Glory -Maya Angelou

Some clichty folks don't know the facts,
posin' and preenin' and puttin' on acts,
stretchin' their backs.

They move into condos up over the ranks,
pawn their souls to the local banks.
Buying big cars they can't afford,
ridin' around town actin' bored.

If they want to learn how to live life right
they ought to study me on Saturday night.

My job at the plant ain't the biggest bet, but I pay my bills
and stay out of debt. I get my hair done
for my own self's sake, so I don't have to pick
and I don't have to rake.

Take the church money out and head cross town
to my friend girl's house where we plan our round.
We meet our men and go to a joint
where the music is blue
and to the point.

Folks write about me. They just can't see
how I work all week at the factory.
Then get spruced up and laugh and dance
And turn away from worry with sassy glance.

They accuse me of livin' from day to day,
but who are they kiddin'?
So are they.

My life ain't heaven but it sure ain't hell.
I'm not on top but I call it swell
if I'm able to work and get paid right
and have the luck to be Black
on a Saturday night

I chose this novel because it is very inspiring. Maya Angelou is an inspirational woman. The poem is not only showing her pride of being able to work hard, with a moral standard, but also also her pride race. It's an enjoyment to see the comparisons of daily lives, and also the joy of what the activities bring after work and on the weekends bring to a hard working woman.