Unfortunate Assignment #3- Group Roles

Considering what an obnoxious and loud person I am, it may be surprising that I would consider myself a coordinator/energizer when I am placed in a group setting. The job of the coordinator, essentially, is to not so much make sure everyone gets their opinion heard, but to work out differences among the group members, to solve disputes, to make sure there is good communication, and to above all make sure the group functions in an efficient manner, and does not waste its time with internal squabbling. An energizer makes the group work and prevents it from getting stagnated. This may sound odd, but I would relate my combined role as coordinator/energizer to the role of Jesus. His purpose on earth was to help humanity get itself together, and to focus on what really mattered: getting into heaven. He tried to resolve the old feuds, to dissipate the anger, to guide and direct and teach, and in general give mankind a kick in the pants. He wanted what was best for them. He wanted them to get into heaven. I am a coordinator/energizer because I am able to begin with the end in mind. The "end" that our group is trying to achieve is to get an A on the project. Jesus' "end" was to help people get into heaven. It doesn't matter whose ideas we use, or if Fred did his share of the work, or if Sally really did kiss Jim, only that we get the A. To do so, the group has to work with each other, not against each other.

Perhaps the more obvious role that I serve is as the tension reliever. I crack jokes, laugh, lower the stress, relax people, and make the group a more friendly environment conducive to more efficient work. No one works well when they don't feel comfortable with the people around them. I go to battle like Hercules, fighting the monster of awkwardness and formality. And in many groups, especially when no one knows each other, the battle I do in the group, trying to get people to be friends, to interact, to talk, is just as difficult as killing a mythological beast. Some people are just plain unsociable, and are very tough nuts to crack. But I can talk and joke all day long, and eventually can get through to even the most reclusive individuals.

Unfortunate Assignment #2- Exam Reflection

My strong suit in analyzing literature most definitely lies in being able to skim a passage quickly and be able to answer most of the questions without really looking back at the passage. I am good at determining authors purpose, especially for individual lines or words, and hardly ever have issues with those problems. I also typically pick up on what is going on behind the scenes, the unwritten messages, especially with poems. I am good at picking up hints in the poem that point to authors purpose, setting, and other details like that that are often not specifically stated. I also do not usually miss problems that ask you to infer something from the passage, or that ask what blank refers to.

And my weak points. Too many to talk about. I am absolutely terrible at identifying tone. For some reason, I get questions about tone wrong all the time. That has always been a big problem for me. Also, I have no clue what the lyrics and sonnets and ballads and dramatic monologues and odes and elegy's and whatevers are. Not even a smidgen of an idea. I also don't get the questions where it asks you to identify what blank refers to, or what blank is parallel to. I seem to have a hard time drawing connections between separate lines in passages. I also usually get wrong questions that ask me to translate old english into modern english, or what the old english really means.

My first, most obvious, and (hopefully) easiest goal is to have learned all of the types of poems and passages by the AP Exam. All of the lyrics and sonnets and all that jazz. I need to do this because there were several questions about them on the practice exam, and I got them all wrong. But those are easy questions that are a piece of cake if you know the answer, and impossible if you don't. I need to get those easy points.

My second goal is to be able to get 100% of the questions that talk about referring, paralleling, and inferring correct on one of the practice exams we take in class. It doesn't matter which one, I just want to be able to show that I improved my skill in that category. Even if I don't get exactly 100%, I would be happy with a high percentage of those questions, since they seem like they should be easy. I think I just need to take more time going through the passages so I remember more of it, instead of rushing through the questions like I usually do. My third goal is to get 100% of the tone questions correct on one practice exam. I like these two goals because they sum up the majority of my weak spots in analysis questions. I don't think the tone questions are that hard, I just need to make sure I pay more attention to the authors purpose, and the adjectives the author uses to find out what the tone is.

Unfortunate Assignment #1- Blog Design

I wanted to make my blog look handwritten, more like a diary than an essay you would write in microsoft word. That is why I chose the fonts that I did. The font of the title looks like a more formal handwriting, as if more time and effort was spent to make it look nice, while the blog text is messier handwriting, which is quite similar to my own. The title of the blog makes you think of the book series about young kids who are plagued by a villainous authority figure. In other words, AP Literature and Composition. But instead of stopping someone from taking our money, we have to write essays. The story of my life for the next few months is going to involve a lot of writing, hence the title.

I chose the background to be a piece of lined paper because it fits in with the whole handwritten diary theme. The font is handwriting, and the background is paper. The blog will be filled with writing assignments. The whole theme ties together. The text is white to contrast with the dark grey background, in the same way that dark grey graphite contrasts with the white background of paper.