Final Exam Study Plan

For the English final, I have a really consistent plan, overviewing everything we've done second semester, plus important ones from first semester. I decided I want to go through the more familiar and difficult concepts first, and then go back to things like papers, literary element, and rhetorical situation. Even though the dead days don't start until Wednesday, I'm going to start planning ahead:

Saturday, 5/12

• Review reading notes from Macbeth up until Act 5 (character and plot) ~ 30 minutes
• Go back over poetry test ~ 10 minutes
• Review all terms (including the ones got right on test) and make notecards ~ 30 minutes
• Practice sound patterns like assonance, alliteration, and consonance - where are they found? What effect do they have on the poem? ~ 15 minutes
• Try and finish the missed scenes in Macbeth, if not just re-read annotations, confusing parts or significant parts ~ 45-60 minutes

Sunday 5/13

• Read through first scenes of Act 5 in Macbeth, paraphrase lines ~ 30-45 minutes
• Go over final Wordly Wise words; apply them to Macbeth ~ 25 minutes

Monday 5/14

• Review all Macbeth notes (character, plot, theme/motifs) including drama terms ~ 45 minutes
• Review all poetry vocabulary after test corrections ~ 20 minutes
• Practice with poem effects by analyzing a poem. ~ 15 minutes

Tuesday 5/15

• Review all Nervous Conditions notes (character, theme and motifs, psychological setting, postcolonial literature) ~ 60 minutes
• Study Prezi on post-colonialism and literature ~ 30 minutes
• Go over all Nervous Conditions guided reading questions ~ 30-45 minutes

Wednesday 5/16

• Go over all paper rubrics from second semester (literary analysis and research paper) ~ 15-20 minutes
• Begin reading about the guidelines and expectations of the papers by reading pages in Norton ~ 30 minutes
• Start thinking: what do both have in common in terms of support? How can I show an audience that I can support a point? What were questions to think about at the beginning of the year that relate to books we've read? ~ 10 minutes
• Begin planning for literary analysis paper and think of themes of books we read ~ 20 minutes
• Study the steps to analyzing a rhetorical situation ~ 30 minutes

Thursday/Friday 5/17 and 5/18

• Continue planning for literary analysis essay ~ 10-15 minutes
• Review notes on theme from Nervous Conditions and Macbeth and what they have to do with community and culture. ~ 30-45 minutes
• Review the rubrics of research paper, practice with paraphrasing and study plagiarism. ~ 20 minutes 
• Study the literary elements and compare to books we read ~ 30-45 minutes

Sunday 5/20

• Review all notes from Macbeth and Nervous Conditions ~ 60 minutes
• Think about all the literary elements in Macbeth and Nervous Conditions and the biggest significance each one has in the story ~ 45-60 minutes
• Give examples of literary elements ~ 15 minutes

Monday 5/21 (day of first exams)

• Go over all poetry terms, drama terms, and effects in poetry ~ 30 minutes
• Continue practicing with poem analysis ~ 15 minutes

Tuesday 5/22 - I don't have any exams this day, so I'm going to use the whole day to study all English materials, including last semester plus literary analysis.

• Review all Macbeth notes and drama terms ~ 45 minutes
• Review all poetry terms, sound effects, line breaks, and poem analyses ~ 20 minutes
• Review all rubrics and notes about literary analysis and research paper ~ 45 minutes
• Study Nervous Conditions guided reading questions and notecards (character, theme, postcolonial literature) ~ 60 minutes
• Last-minute planning for essay: Think of first claim of how each book we read relates somehow and how you'll support. First, what do each have in common? What big motifs have we seen all year? How did each theme contribute to major topics we discussed? ~ 60 minutes

Participation Evaluation: 4th Quarter

General Procedures:

During fourth quarter, I mostly always come to class prepared. With an exception of forgetting my outside reading book or paper in my binder, I had all my materials. And besides that, I would borrow a book from Dr. D and just read that consistently if I ever forgot my book. I had a lot of problems with waiting to be dismissed, especially before lunch. It was a class issue, but I as well wanted to be dismissed early and always got impatient if I wasn't. This is something I need to learn and understand I can't do next year. I never leave class to go to the bathroom or other excuses to get out of class, and that's why I find time to do it throughout other breaks in the day. I never had any problems with getting out of class because I never did that. I also check the email and web a lot during the day, and try to email Dr. D as respectfully as I can if I have questions. I turn in my assignments when she asks for them, and if I don't have them I'll just turn them in the next day. In class, my participation has grown with the attitude I have toward activities we do in class, and I've learned to like them a lot better. When we have discussions, I pay attention, because I like to help guide them in class so I can understand what we're doing.

Lecture, announcements, and whole-class discussion:

Whenever Dr. D talks about an important topic that is on-task, I am always listening, but sometimes during talks I drift off. I think it could be side conversations or I just lose focus. I don't ask questions or comment with things that aren't relevant or even matter. Occasionally, whenever a peer comments, I have learned not to interrupt and let them finish what they have to say. Our class in particular has had problems with side conversations. Most of mine had to do with body language or sometimes spoken, if I was close to my classmate. Otherwise I was mostly paying full attention.

Individual and Group Work:

We had a lot more group assignments than individual in class, and compared to individual work I find we get off task more often in groups. We all do the work assigned, but it isn't as consistent because we talk off-task about other things. I agree that our group may talk, but never to where it distracts others. I help the group and try to cooperate them whenever Dr. D knows we're not on-task, or if we're running out of time and have to get the work done. Doing the work by following instructions is easy for me. Aiming beyond the minimum expectations can be harder because I usually don't know what to expect from doing extra work: it could be beneficial or unnecessary. Usually I like to focus on getting the main objectives done in a group or individual project. 

Growth:

Compared to the last three quarters, I'd say I have grown with participating. At the beginning of the year, I was more introverted because I didn't want to participate, but I quickly outgrew that in English class. Getting more comfortable with the class and discussions in class about assignments, novels, or even plays has helped me grow more aware of how I should act in class, and what I should contribute. I've learned that this year I can grapple topics a lot easier than in the past, and until now I have grown from the beginning to what I can contribute from my knowledge to the class.I hope that next year I can bring a great attitude and keep focused to what we're doing in class, so that way for English II I can be a more active participator. 

Macbeth: Act IV, Scene 3 Questions

1. Malcolm tests/tricks Macduff - How?  Why?  How does Macduff prove himself to Malcolm?


Malcolm tests Macduff's loyalty to the king. Malcolm thinks that if he can make Macduff believe he has Macbeth's character qualities as king, then Macduff might change his mind and follow Macbeth as king. He also calls himself (in lines 71-73) "deceitful, sudden, malicious, and smacking of every sin that has a name." By testing Macduff to see what qualities fit a king from Malcolm's perspective, then he will believe Macbeth is true as king. However, Macduff proves himself by saying that "In nature is a tyranny" and ruling like Macbeth will only lead to the fall of kings.



3. Macduff has 4 reactions (group his first two lines together) to the news of his family that Ross brings.  Paraphrase each (lines 248-276, only Macduff's parts).  What conclusions can you draw about his emotional process here?


"He killed my wife and children too? And I wasn't there when he did it?
Macbeth doesn't have any children. My beautiful family?
All of them? Oh, goodness! All?!
My wife and kids all died 
All at once by one murder?


I will fight back,
But I should fight from the heart and with what I believe is manly.
I haven't had anything
This sacred to me. Were they all banished
From heaven as if it overlooked them? Oh sinful to me,
They were killed because of me! The wicked one that I am,
They didn't die from their own faults, but from mine,
Which made each of them be murdered. May they rest in peace.


I could weep now,
And say how I will get them back! But, heavens, 
Cut the delay for the facedown between Macbeth and I! Bring him
Face to face with me.
Within a length where I can kill him. If he gets away,
He can be forgiven."


His reactions throughout the news reached to him about the death of family are first confused and shocked that they all died in his absence. He repeats the word "all" to emphasize that they were all gone in an instant. Next he wants to take vengeance for what Macbeth's murderers did, so he proclaims his manliness. Then he blames himself because he is responsible for their deaths. Finally, he feels both regretful and sorrowful that they died, but remembers his goal is to get back at Macbeth.





2. What is the subtext of Ross's lines to Macduff when Macduff inquires about his wife and children? (lines 203-208)  How might Ross say this onstage?


In Ross's lines (203-208), he says that Macduff's family is doing well when he asks immediately. What he really means in the subtext is that they have all died, but he wants to allude to that carefully so Macduff doesn't get angry. On stage, Ross might sound depressed or bringing bad news when he says, "Why, well" to Macduff after he asks how his family is.

Outside Reading Reflection + Times

This year, I've learned so much about myself as a reading. Coming into English I, and even before that, I had a need to gain knowledge from my reading. From the beginning of this year, I've been called a "scientific" or an analytical reader. I must have carried some initiative when reading that me think deeply, because I think it's important. This is because I once liked to absorb every aspect of literary devices or just information that sounded important from reading. Now, I have learned more about myself, and the best way for me to read, although it may not be the most effective.

Before English I, I really didn't know how to annotate, or I just wasn't finding the time to take notes after reading a significant passage. I don't want to say that all the analytical aspects of reading, like character, setting, and theme stress me out. But when reading, I find it kind of overloading to have to force myself to highlight those parts, and it's more of a burden when I can't sort out what's important from what isn't. Now I'm more grateful to know and accept that this slows down my reading, and I'm trying to force myself away from doing this when I read a book for enjoyment or even for class.

I'm still trying to find out how to be a successful reader. After having to annotate two novels throughout this year, with one of them being one of the most analytical ones I've ever read, Lord of the Flies, I've actually managed to pick it up as a force-of-habit when reading books that I just want to enjoy. I still can't decide whether it's a good or bad thing. It's been an obsessive thing where I have to highlight parts that sound important, though I am working through it. My biggest struggle as a reader has been learning to focus on easier aspects when I do want to annotate so that I can be a faster reader, or just find a way to enjoy whatever I'm reading.

Overall, I don't think I've always been a slow reader. However, I do know that it does take time for me to process information. After being forced to read so much throughout the year, you eventually learn something about the way you read. I will admit that I am slow when reading. I also know that the room for improvement here is for me to try and enjoy the book, and not take it for some kind of "double-meaning" story where you should find the infinite meaning behind the literal denotation. In other words, I'll just have to make myself focus on the big picture and read faster that way. 

Reading Times for 4/30 - 5/6:

Tuesday 5/1

Macbeth: 10 minutes reading 1.7

Wednesday 5/2

Macbeth: 20 minutes reading 2.1-2.2

Sunday 5/6

Heaven Is For Real: 150 minutes (from prologue to Ch. 11)

Pages Read from Heaven Is For Real: 62 pages

Free Post: The Macbeth Story

I, the newly crowned Macbeth, have been thought of as a battle warrior. At least, that's the perception I've gotten from a lot of my trusted peoples. I should take pride lately, but it feels like my manly wife, Lady Macbeth, has taken a lot of my pride away. There's a part of me that is selfish, and wants to keep her pride for myself, but now I actually feel that she has "unsexed" me. Since she already feels like a man by plotting such evil things like taking down a king, she targets me as weak and non-manly. All because I'm too afraid to kill a worthy king? I know I should feel superior in my position, but now that the worthy Duncan is dead, that gives me the title of King of Scotland. What will that make my wife? Just a servant? I think that suits her best, and I'm sure I'd feel more confident if she were below me.

If my wife gains too much power from this newfound glory of mine, her rage could be used to make Scotland a town of misery. I can already tell that she's been mad, and making excuses for my hesitation and for my so-called "ungratefulness" at being King. I can show her that I was meant to rule. Did I not take enough power as Thane of Glamis, and then as Thane of Cawdor? I already have so much power; I don't want to lose it to her because she thinks she's man enough to face me. Her evil is too much for me to handle. She might as well have killed Duncan herself! If the Witches were right in the first place, the title of King could have just been given to me; none of this needed to happen! I wonder if I'm next in line for my wife to take down, so that se can possess this manly power...

Bonus Post: Reading Lunch 4.25.12

Coming into English I, Dr. deGravelles has instated these Reading Lunches, where we discuss books we're interested in. I have to say, it's been pretty successful, even though there have only been two! I missed the first opportunity to go to the first one last semester, so I knew I had to see what the second would be like. I was one of the first to sign up, and since The Hunger Games has been one of the most popular books, especially in 2012 with the new movie, I wanted to discuss it among my closer friends that were interested too. 

Reflecting on my experience, I actually truly engaged with the group and learned a lot from discussing! I knew the hardest part would be listening to others' opinions, even if they weren't true or accurate. Our main discussion focused on comparing the book to the movie, and a lot of the questions raised by our leader were things that I wanted to know. For example, we talked about casting choices, and how we visualized the characters in the book at first, versus how they were portrayed in the movie. Also, I remember learning about setting and how we visualized aspects like the arena in the movie. The experience was great altogether and I'd like to see more of it happening so we can all vent about book discussions in more creative ways more often. 

9th Grade English Writing Reflection

My writing this year has far improved, more than in past years, as I have been thorough in each of my assignments. Even before this year I have strived to explain important facts in expressive details.  However, as some topics had to be specific in order to be original & make sense, I had problems with expressing details in a simplified way. I always wanted to sound sophisticated, so it became more difficult to simplify everything I wrote to where I couldn’t be as “expressive.”

When it comes to my writing, it’s mostly been issues with clarity and typically – as Dr. D told me – it’s not common for most 9th grade English students to have problems with being too "adult" in writing. However, I think my problems were mostly in word choice and sentence fluency. A lot of the phrases I’ve used were either overly sophisticated to where they didn’t make sense, or I never truly understood them. Sentence fluency is a major issue as well, mostly because I commonly build on my sentences to add more detail, and that clouds the main points with other useless information.

Starting from the beginning of the year, I was able to plan my topics well. In particular, I could write topics in short times. Our first assignment for summer reading responses had to do with the books Nation and The Housekeeper and The Professor. With those assignments, I was pleasantly surprised that I could expand on them so efficiently. This newfound ability also helped me succeed in the WrAP test, because I learned how to plan in limited time. I had always struggled with time management, and now that I have the confidence to plan topics, it’s easy for me to expand on them, whether they are vague or interesting.

First, my WrAP test was better than any results I’d ever seen. I had improved tremendously, going from scores of 3.5 and 4.0 to straight 5.0’s across the board. I took a lot of pride in my test because I didn’t know I had the willpower or stamina to develop a topic so well. This was truly a writing test that focused on how well you could develop it, but the genres we focused on in class required much more than how much you could write about something. The next major assignments got tougher for me. Although the literacy narrative was my biggest strong point and achievement this year, I didn’t find the next genres to be as open or free in writing. The comments I received on the narrative were little, but only good things were said to compliment my work. This assignment was perfect for me because I could express all of my real feelings of writing experiences in vivid details.

            I thought that if I carried the attitude of being able to write with personality throughout the year, I would succeed in each writing assignment. Of course, if I had had more knowledge of the rhetorical situation of specific genres, I would have been much better in the rest of my topics. For example, in the profile the purpose was to show the feelings I wrote about, and not just describe them.  I received the worst grade of all on the profile. The only reason for this mediocrity was because I didn’t follow the rubric. I struggled in voice, because apparently I lacked in “using vivid sensory details to bring the reader to the scene,” according to the rubric. There were also many misused words that I tried to make seem sophisticated, but they ended up being confusing.

            Besides voice and word choice, the ideas in the paper definitely were “clouded” but I think still gave readers a relatable interpretation. The problem in the profile – like most of my papers – is clarity. I have found that voice and word choice related a lot to ideas in my papers because I made everything more than what it needed to be. The over-sophistication of my words and sentences just made everything confusing, and I regret that. Going into the next years, I will make the best effort I can to be as clear as possible in what I mean to say, and do this by planning out my topics repeatedly.

            The next two assignments didn’t come to me as easy as the narrative or even the profile did. It required a lot more logical thinking and support to be successful papers. The main obstacles for me in Literary Analyses or Research Papers were creating a thesis. This step played a key role in both of those assignments. As easy as it may seem to create a thesis, I had to narrow it down, and I know I struggled with this because I wanted to make it as clear and as evident as possible. I said after making a thesis, “okay, now I’ll just have to find information relative to it.” In the Literary Analysis, it was most challenging throughout the whole process, and this is because my thesis looked at a broad view of literary elements. Looking back at these two major papers, ideas definitely played a major role in describing details with evidence from other sources. Now I’ve learned that in-depth assignments like the Literary Analysis or Research Paper require the use of other ideas the help get a main point across, rather than just using your own voice. It has been a growing process to learn about each genre and mode so that I can understand what I should do to present my information.

My biggest struggles overall were in voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and ideas. Voice, primarily because most of my genres required a formal tense with writing that was still made clear. Word choice, not necessarily because I wasn’t rich in words, but they were used in the wrong context. And sentence fluency was difficult because I built sentences that were commonly confused at some parts. Ideas were the most agonizing because it took time for me to learn how to distinguish what I mean to say between how I want others to respond when I say it. It was all a challenge of making my ideas clear in the quickest way I can say them, and that’s the motivation I’ll carry with me through English II. I think these priorities in writing were said a lot in the rubrics. I probably missed something that was key in succeeding in writing. I know that if I carry my skills in English I, and be aware of the genre so I know what I’m writing, I’ll be able to make myself a stronger writer.