Blog Post #3: Mythological Creature/ Group Skills

Much like the sun creates energy, I create and disperse energy in a group setting.  I find myself connected to the Greek God Apollo, who is known as the God of light and the sun; words that tend to be associated with the idea of life. Take for example plants.  Without the sun's energy, plants would quickly diminish, therefore disrupting the whole ecosystem and those who rely on the plant's energy in order to thrive. When placed in a group setting I tend to be the optimistic, energized team player who radiates energy and motivates the rest of the group till the very end of the task.  I'll admit, having AP Literature and Composition right before lunch is a struggle to keep the energy up when all you want to do is give up and go eat lunch. However, with someone such as myself in the group, I tend to prod others when their energy begins to scrape the bottom of the barrel and push them to finish strong.
The story of Jesus resurrecting Lazarus from the dead is a Bible story that I am able to connect myself to.  Lazarus, a friend of Jesus', became very ill and soon after died.  Much like us seniors, "senioritus" tends to strike and cause illness and force us to become off-topic, slack off on our work, or simply not attempt the task at all. By not doing work, we are essentially killing ourselves and our grades, especially in an AP class.   Jesus was taken to Lazarus and resurrected him from his tomb.  I connect to this part of the story in particular because I tend to resurrect people from this death caused by "senioritus".  I try to get the group back on task, giving words of encouragement, etc.  Anything to get their focus on getting the task at hand completed.

Blog Post #2 Diagnosis/Exam Reflection

     Stressful.  That's how I would describe today's testing experience. With any given test, it's important to stay calm, think the questions through, and of course, choose the right answers.  Something I do really well in when it comes to test taking is staying calm, time management, and annotating each passage.  You don't want to spend too much time on a difficult question, you could end up hurting yourself in the end by not answering the easier questions and earning those extra points.  If I don't know the answer right away, I skip it and come back.  Staying calm is important.  When anxiety and nerves flourish, it shows in the grade.  Today, I was calm during the test.  I took my time, thought out the questions to the best of my abilities, and finished the test with a few moments to spare, which was used to check answers.  Working with the text is important, delving into the passage is key to fully understand what the piece is about.  When I start to read a passage I automatically highlight, underline, circle, all of the important details that could help me to answer the multiple choice questions.  This helps me find things easier, therefore cutting down on time so that I can use that extra time to focus on the more difficult questions.
     Although my final test score was not exactly the most superb, there is always room for improvement.  The first problem I ran into was vocabulary.  Not knowing the difference between an ode, lyric, or sonnet would definitely become a problem when looking at each passage, something I learned very quickly.  Just like in the book Literature and Composition, stamina and attentiveness are important to be an effective reader.  This is something I tend to struggle with when it comes to a passage that fails to interest me, or I fail to quickly understand the underlying meaning.  I found myself rereading the same passage multiple times after I had just read it.  I should be able to read the passage once or twice without zoning out or trailing off in my own thoughts.  That time wasted could've helped me focus on more important questions.
     Like I said before, there is always room for improvement.  When test scores are low the way to improve is to take more tests, practice, and try try try again.  I could look for more practice tests in the 5 steps book we received from class, or invest in other books such as ACT books that contain various passages with more multiple choice questions.  Asking for help is never a bad thing.  Asking a teacher for tips or searching the internet for tips and tricks could help me find new strategies that help me get the better grade.    Putting work and effort into something will eventually pay-off and the scores will improve.
     Some realistic goals I can set for myself is to try and read a passage each night before I go to bed.  By doing this I read more literature, find new strategies, and find new vocabulary words that I never knew before.  I plan to search for tips and tricks that can help me in the long run when faced with a passage or piece of literature that I have not read before.  Sometimes it's the little things we didn't know that help us out the most.  Some student could've posted on the web an amazing tip that I never even thought about applying to these kinds of tests.  Finally, I could ultimately go back to those ACT books hiding in the corner of my room collecting dust.  Practicing helps us to improve and I plan to take one new test once every two weeks.  This can help me stay on point with time management, understanding new vocabulary and ultimately improving my grade.

Blog Post #1: Design

     "Every day is a new adventure," my dad would tell me as I got out the car to wait for the school bus.  My father told me this simple little saying every day, a tradition, I would carry on to my blog so I could track and document all the big and small adventures AP Literature has to throw my way.  The background in itself has distorted shapes, with bright colors.  When I think of an adventure I think of bright, lively colors that promote excitement and readiness to set out on a new experience.  The blurred lines and distorted shapes show that we never distinctly know what to expect as we step out the doorstep every morning.  Especially in high school, us students tend to plan everything, but in reality, anything is possible. 

     Like I said before, this blog is to document all my adventures, therefore I chose a font that would resemble handwriting, so that it looks like a handwritten diary with a collection of adventures I’ve taken through the trimester.  The bold text represents my personality.  I’m not afraid to show who I am or who I perceive myself to be.  I wear bold colors, I’m not afraid to step out of the normal boundaries.  I’m out of the ordinary, just like my blog.