It seems strange that already a quarter of the year has flown by. Already, we’ve tackled another book, Death of a Salesman, as well as explored more ways to approach the closed prompt.
While I loved The American Dream, I have found Death of a Salesman to be even more powerful. Maybe its because the characters are founded more in reality. Or maybe it’s the fact that their struggles are more relatable than those of the detestable Mommy and Daddy. Either way, Arthur Miller’s work is brilliant and provides a heartbreaking representation of the American Dream.
Our revisit of the closed prompt has also proved useful. The first time we did the closed prompt, I was a little lost. Even after the second time we re-wrote our Eros essays, I felt like I was making no improvements. It was only after we did the closed essay the third time did I begin to understand what a good closed prompt should look like. Through our careful analysis of the prompt and then our examination of the two poems, I started to understand what I had been missing. Thanks to my previous classes, I had gotten into the habit of rushing through the prompt and getting to writing as fast as possible. However, I’ve since learned that I need to spend more time with the prompt in order to see the subtle nuances of the piece and to use them in my work.
The last few weeks seem to have gone by in such a blur- it’s strange to think that it’s almost December. Nonetheless, I feel like I’ve leaned a lot and that I’m starting to see improvements in my skills.
While I loved The American Dream, I have found Death of a Salesman to be even more powerful. Maybe its because the characters are founded more in reality. Or maybe it’s the fact that their struggles are more relatable than those of the detestable Mommy and Daddy. Either way, Arthur Miller’s work is brilliant and provides a heartbreaking representation of the American Dream.
Our revisit of the closed prompt has also proved useful. The first time we did the closed prompt, I was a little lost. Even after the second time we re-wrote our Eros essays, I felt like I was making no improvements. It was only after we did the closed essay the third time did I begin to understand what a good closed prompt should look like. Through our careful analysis of the prompt and then our examination of the two poems, I started to understand what I had been missing. Thanks to my previous classes, I had gotten into the habit of rushing through the prompt and getting to writing as fast as possible. However, I’ve since learned that I need to spend more time with the prompt in order to see the subtle nuances of the piece and to use them in my work.
The last few weeks seem to have gone by in such a blur- it’s strange to think that it’s almost December. Nonetheless, I feel like I’ve leaned a lot and that I’m starting to see improvements in my skills.
You have nicely summarized all that we have done recently in class. You may want to explain your impression of the Death of a Salesman in greater detail. What are some reasons that you liked this piece over the The American Dream? Did you see any similarities or differences worth highlighting? You might even use your blogs to present any queries that you had while reading the two books and try to incorporate the ideas of others into your own reasoning. With regards to the closed prompts that we did in class, how were you able to modify your past habits while writing essays to accommodate for AP style essays? Overall, great job on summarizing what you have been learning in class.
ReplyDeleteDeath of a Salesman is powerful, but too depressing for me. I liked American Dream better.
ReplyDeleteClosed prompts: The two poems format is killing me because number of places you can potentially mess up is doubled. Can't wait for a prose prompt.
We are almost half way through the year at this point. Scary.