Vocabulary: Fall List #3

accolade: any award, honor, or laudatory notice
No amount of accolades could compare to self satisfaction.

acerbity: sourness, with roughness or astringency of taste
The acerbity of the medicine made him gag.

attrition: a wearing down or weakening of resistance, esp. as a result of continuous pressure
The war of attrition left both sides weary.

bromide: a platitude or trite saying, a person who is platitudinous and boring
The bromide laden speech put students to sleep.

chauvinist: a person who is aggressively and blindly patriotic or sexist
In most civilized places, chauvinism is among the most despicable of qualities.

Vocabulary: Fall List #2

[added after lists 3-7 for the midterm]

accouterments: personal clothing or equipment
apogee: highest or most distant point; climax
apropos: fitting; appropriate
bicker: to engage in petulant or peevish argument
coalesce: to unite or grow together into one
contretemps: an inopportune occurrence

Beowulf Questions

I worked on these questions in a group.  Due to some planning issues, I actually contributed to two groups.  These particular answers are from a group with Kris Green, Justin Thompson, Jason Reinwald, Will Veroski, Ryland Towne, and myself.  From start to end, my questions took me about two hours to complete, but that was while working with group members on other questions as well.  The total time I actually spent working on my own problems was probably close to forty-five minutes.  None of it was done in person.  Text messages were used throughout the day to coordinate efforts, and we ended up meeting on Skype to solve some of the more difficult problems and get everybody's work organized.

[Prologue: The Rise of the Danish Nation] (lines 1-85, pp. 33-34)

1. The way Shield became ruler of the Danes was unusual because he was an orphan that was adopted by the king of the Danes. Shield’s funeral was one of the most magnificent and noteworthy for a king because he was laid to rest on a ship covered in gold and treasure. Shield is Hrothgar’s great grandfather.

Vocabulary: Fall List #1

[added after lists 3-7 for the midterm]

adumbrate: to produce a feint image of, or to foreshadow
apotheosis: elevation of a person to the rank of a god; epitome
ascetic: a person who leads an austerely simple life, abstains from normal pleasures
bauble: a showy, usually cheap ornament
beguile: to influence by trickery or flattery
burgeon: to grow or develop quickly; flourish

Peer Feedback #1

The 1987 AP Exam essays I wrote can be found here and here.

Feedback from anybody is much appreciated, just leave a comment on this post.  Don't pull your punches either, criticism is what leads to improvement!  Thanks.

Notes: Beowulf Textbook Excerpts

The Wrath of Grendel

• Contrast of merriment inside the hall and evil lurking outside
• Twelve years of torment by Grendel
• Grendel is described as "mankind's enemy"
• interesting way of emphasizing Grendel's monstrosity

The Coming of Beowulf

• quality over quantity: Beowulf picks out the best men, which only amounts to fourteen
• especially small when considering Grendel killed thirty on his first attack
• the watchman is quick to grant entrance to the Geats after learning of their objective; testament to the terror Grendel caused
• "My lord Higlac might think less of me if I let my sword go where my feet were afraid to,if I hid behind some broad linden shield."
• classical heroic ideal of courage and honor

Notes: Beowulf Prologue-Chapter X

Prologue

• "Famed was this Beowulf: far flew the boast of him..."
• Beowulf's introduction
• "weeds of battle"
• what is this referring to?

Chapter I

• "Then, one after one, there woke to him, to the chieftain of clansmen, children four: Heorogar, then Hrothgar, then Halga brave..."
• setting the stage: Hrothgar is constructing "a master mead-house"
• "...til one began to fashion evils, that field of hell.  Grendel this monster grim was called."
• antagonist's origins

Chapter II

• atheling: a prince or lord in Anglo-Saxon England
• wassail: a salutation wishing health to a person
• Basically, Grendel is terrorizing Hrothgar and his people over the course of several years
• still more of background information than the core of the story

The Right to Your Opinion Socratic Seminar: Thoughts

After today's Socratic seminar, I was thinking about some topics that warranted further discussion.  One was regarding the nature of an opinion.  Since defining words and phrases was so popular during the discussion, it seems odd in hindsight that nobody broached the topic.  The most memorable example of not having a right to your opinion was stopping a friend from crossing the road who was "of the opinion" that there were no cars coming.  That seems like less of an opinion and more of a perspective.  Should an opinion be purely subjective?  But then again, what is really subjective?

For example, imagine a discussion between friends about whether chocolate or vanilla is the superior ice cream flavor.  Assuming the ultimate goal of ice cream is to provide enjoyment, it's impossible to come to an accurate conclusion.  To one friend, chocolate is the best flavor, and to him that is an undeniable truth.  In a side by side comparison of chocolate vs vanilla of equal caliber, chocolate provides him more enjoyment.  Nobody can know this but him, so nobody can deny it.  I don't think this necessarily gives him a right to the opinion (in the sense that he is entitled to it), but it certainly doesn't excuse the other friend imposing his vanilla-favoring opinion on others.

I'm sure there's some faults in my points, but it would have at least made for interesting discussion.

Reflections on Week 1

Assuming Week 1 was an accurate representation of what the rest of the year will look like, there should not be any factors that will severely limit (or aid) my participation in the class.  The only thing that comes to mind is my unreliable internet, which seems to cut out every fifteen minutes or so.  Still, it generally only stays down for a minute or two, so it's more of an annoyance than anything else.

I wish I had some awe-inspiring story about enlightenment, but my "awesome" learning experience was a mundane classroom occurrence.  The summer before junior year, I took Basic Computer Imagery as part of Hancock's free "College Now" program.  As an interesting side note, this was a direct consequence of sophomore year's career project, which got me really interested in graphic design.  There wasn't any single thing I learned that sticks out, but I was just surprised be the sheer amount of information I absorbed during such a short course.  It almost seemed overnight that I went from having no experience to knowing the fundamentals of design (and then some!).  I don't mean to say that I became exceptional--I'm still pretty mediocre--but the before and after comparison of my work was surprising.  The other people taking the course were in a similar situation as me.  There were one or two other high school students, several college students, and a handful of adults, but everyone was there primarily for the sake of learning a new skill.  During the class I discovered that I learn much more effectively through action.  No matter how well I think I comprehend text instructions, I've found it impossible to actually understand material until I've tried it myself. Now whenever I start something new (learning a new program, for example) I play around for a few minutes before diving into tutorials.

There is one aspect of this year's AP English that concerns me.  Admittedly, I'm used to not trying very hard in English.  I put in effort, but it's always been an easier subject (compared to something like math, for example).  Last year was particularly relaxed.  During the first week, this class made up a majority of my workload, which was something I'm definitely not used to--its impact showed on my sleep schedule.  Project Infinity and the entire open source aspect of the class is something I'm both excited and concerned about.  I love the idea, but I feel like I'm being pulled in too many directions.  I suspect this has a lot to do with me still be off balance from starting school again, so I'll reevaluate my position at the end of this week.  That said, I'm looking forward to the collaborative working groups.  Seeing a variety of skill sets working together toward a single goal is always exciting.  Additionally, I'm not very good at sticking with long term projects.  Hopefully this will be a good opportunity to fix that.

1987 AP English Exam: Wrap Up

Predictably, the most trouble I had with the multiple choice section was the readability of the later passages.  Many took some time to interpret; probably more time than would have been possible on the actual AP exam.  The only specific questions I found difficult were regarding styles of poetry, which I have almost no knowledge of.  Besides that, a combination of common sense of and educated guesses served me decently well.

The most difficult part with the essays was how similar to the prompts were.  I had to make an effort to avoid ideas spilling over between the two that would muddle my writing.  For the second essay, Grapes of Wrath, Catch-22, and Nineteen Eighty Four were the only books I was familiar with.  I decided on Nineteen Eighty Four mostly because it's my favorite of the three (there are actually quite a few quotes from it in this blog's background) and I thought it had a variety of elements I could easily write about.  My conclusions were weak on both essays, as I couldn't find a way to effectively restate my ideas without seeming redundant.

For the essays, I attempted to keep to a time limit (hence the four paragraphs) but still ended up going over the recommended 35 minutes by 10-15 minutes.

1987 AP English Exam: Essay Question 2

1987 AP English Exam:
http://drprestonsrhsenglitcomp12.blogspot.com/2012/03/1987-ap-exam.html

Like all great novels, Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell has an important message wrapped in its plot.  It simultaneously espoused independence and warned against the dangers of authority.  The novel proposed a (then futuristic) world in which a government sought to create the perfect society through absolute control.  While the idea is appropriately other-worldly, Orwell saw its applicability to the society he lived in.  As technology progressed, the government would have increasingly greater options to exert authority.  Where should the line be drawn?  How much should freedom be restricted in the name of societal perfection?  These are the questions Orwell challenged his readers to think about, with the ultimate goal of inspiring free thought in a society that seemed to be increasingly subservient.  He communicates these ideas by personifying his speculations in the setting as well as focusing on a single character.

1987 AP English Exam: Essay Question 1

1987 AP English Exam:
http://drprestonsrhsenglitcomp12.blogspot.com/2012/03/1987-ap-exam.html

Every year that goes by seems faster and more efficient, with even menial tasks being carried out with mechanical precision.  According to George Eliot, this efficiency is the death of leisure.  By comparing society of her time with what she calls "old Leisure", she attempts to articulate her reasons for thinking that innovation is not necessarily to be sought.  On one hand, she presents an idyllic time of life before the rush of modernity, on the other is a stark appraisal of the world around her.

1987 AP English Exam: Multiple Choice Answers

1987 AP English Exam:
http://drprestonsrhsenglitcomp12.blogspot.com/2012/03/1987-ap-exam.html
Answers with an asterisk are ones I got wrong.  Question marks indicate ones that I either had significant trouble with or made a wild guess.
1. C
2. A
3. C
4. E
5. D
6. A*
7. E
8. B
9. E
10. E*
11. D
12. B
13. C*
14. C
15. A
16. B
17. C
18. E
19. B*
20. B

Additional Thoughts: Austen/Montaigne Essay

I am not a fast writer.  Even in a limited time situation, I still find myself spending too much time trying to recall specific words.  As a general rule I've found that four paragraphs is my ideal.  Knowing that today's (yesterday's?) essay would be even faster paced, I decided to go down to three paragraphs.  In spite of this, I didn't reach my concluding paragraph.

That said, I feel like I got at least the basic structure of my ideas onto paper.  The points I really wanted to press were that communication naturally imposes restrictions upon "free thought" (meaning, what the mind would think about without direction).  Different pieces of writing have different limitations.  Pride and Prejudice's limitation is that it is a story with a very specific plot.  All of Elizabeth's thoughts are required to be related to her developing relationships, or else the plot would be diluted.  Montaigne had more freedom in that he was writing about his own mind, giving him liberty to jump between topics.  However, even the lengthier chapters only give an overview of his thoughts.  It's safe to assume that the reader does not know Montaigne as well as he knew himself simply by reading a few pages.  Given more time to write, I would have developed the difference between what I was calling "free thought" and "restricted thought", and how one more accurate shows the vastness of the mind.  As it is in my essay, the concept is vague and conceptual, lacking much concrete evidence (due in part to the fact that I was fleshing out the idea on the fly).  In the entire essay, I think I included two examples, one from each book.  With the limited time, I felt it was more important to communicate my core ideas than dig up examples.  More time to build up support for my arguments would have made them much more credible.  To be specific, I really wanted to include a sentence referencing Montaigne's thumb chapter to illustrate the greater freedom he had in writing than Austen.

After I left it occurred to me that I had all but forgotten David Foster Wallace's quote.  I made a passing mention of it in my introductory paragraph, then jumped off to my own thoughts.  I should have tied my arguments back to more clearly express my agreement with the quote.  I focused much more on comparing Montaigne and Austen.

The interruption actually helped my thought process.  Due to a less than ideal sleep the night before, I began writing without much vigor.  When we left for the library I had a little over two sentences written and no idea what direction I was going to take the essay.  During the walk down I didn't really think about the essay much, but the short time away from it was enough to clear my head.  As soon as I started writing again, I came up with a reasonable idea to base the essay on.  It should be noted that this was a very particular circumstance for me.  Most times I would hate the interruption, but I was so out of it today that the short walk went a long way in organizing my thoughts.  Of course, the time restriction was still inconvenient.

Notes: The Poisonwood Bible

Initially, these notes were written in the margins, making them much more concise than my other notes.  They also relied on color coding to cut down on having to repeat my thoughts in similar circumstances (pointing out things such as character development or family crises):

By the end of the novel I found the color coding to be counterproductive, so opted for more conventional separate paper notes for the other two books.  Hopefully this explains the brevity, even if it doesn't necessarily excuse it.  Anyway, here are the notes.

Notes: Essays of Michel de Montaigne

Chapter 1

• Introductory analogies: pushing the point that routine and custom deafens the senses; the unusual becomes commonplace
• pg 8: "'Custom,' replied Plato, 'is no little thing.'"
• pg 8: Cozen: to cheat, deceive, or trick
• pg 10:  "...he asked me, what privilege this filthy excrement had, that we must carry about us a fine handkerchief to receive it..."
• still "nauseous and offensive", but it's a good point
• pg 11-13: Are the "customs" being written of real, or made up to prove a point?
• Montaigne is opposed to novelty, but also warns of customs' danger
• Are the allusions to Greek mythology common for philosophers of the time, or a particular interest of Montaigne?