For the poetry unit, I was very excited because I love poetry! I don’t think I’ve ever been very talented at analyzing poetry but I am feeling a lot more confident. Which is making me feel a lot better about the AP exam 😉

I’ve learned that all poetry is subject to its time. There is a lot of poetry out there and I think the more I expose myself to different types of poetry the more prepared I will be for the AP exam. I’ve also enjoyed this project because it has made me read poetry I normally wouldn’t.

Ok, this last paragraph is going to be a little salty. I hate prezi and canva and all these other types of media and I know that I should just get over it and master another presentation media but gosh dang it! I love google slides. I know you said we could use slides but you would be sighing the whole time and I just couldn’t put you through that. I am disappointed in myself because I did not do the Victorian Era or Oscar Wilde justice. I will be blaming prezi, but in reality I should have just watched a tutorial or tried harder but when I tell you I cried because I couldn’t understand prezi, that would be an understatement (not to be dramatic).

Overall, I have really enjoyed our poetry unit and I’m glad we are giving poetry some love.

To prep for the AP exam I have really enjoyed the multiple choice Mondays! I feel like it will really help me and I have been using multiple kinds of strategies. I especially enjoy the positive/negative method, it has helped me a lot so far.

I also am enjoying our poetry unit. I like analyzing poetry and every day there is a new poem to analyze. I think it is helpful because I’ve been reading poetry that I normally wouldn’t. I think it will really help me during the exam. I feel like I’ve improved at analyzing poetry and I think it was my weakest point.

I’ve found that using positive/negative has greatly improved my scores. I also think analyzing the questions themselves has helped me too. I am always a little wary of writing on the “exam” but I think the more I do, the more prepared I will feel.

After reading both Oedipus Rex and Fences I have found that pride is a main theme in both plays. Both Oedipus and Troy are blinded by pride. Even though the men are from completely different worlds they act the same. When presented with other points of view they both ignore it.

Another similarity is the father and son relationship. Oedipus relationship with his father is confusing because his “father” wasn’t even his father! He killed his real one. Troy has a strained relationship with his son but no killing is involved.

Both men are given a lot of responsibility. Oedipus is the king and protector of Thebes. Troy acts as the king of his household. Under this stress comes their downfall. Both pieces followed the main male character with underlying issues of self doubt.

I think that the multiple choice section of the AP exam is my strongest area on the exam. After going through strategies and types of questions I am feeling extra good about the multiple choice. Last year I thought that reading the questions first would hurt me but after doing some practice exams I found that it really helps! I have found myself using the positive and negative strategy to choose an answer. While doing the assignment in class (the passage about the house) I am feeling a lot more confident because I understood the passage without reading it!

I liked the excerpt we read at the start too. I feel a lot better about taking the test because however I need to do it is the right way. If I need to read questions first I sure can, if not I don’t have to. I think it’s important for me to ignore everyone in the room, it doesn’t matter how many times I turn the page to check the questions, I’m doing it to get a high score and pass my exam. I need to prepare better as well, I think all the reading this year will really help me, it’s almost like this class was made for that! I also need to do some prepping on my own so I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

I wanted to like Crime and Punishment, I really did, but good grief it was ROUGH. I think I will revisit it later in life when I am more mentally prepared. I found myself getting annoyed after every chapter. Why did we have to have so many side stories? What was actually wrong with Raskolnikov? I was just confused and stressed throughout the story, I tend to struggle with reading because I am told to. I know that it will be a recurring theme through my high school and college career, but I like reading for my own enjoyment. Crime and punishment did a really good job at making me feel like I was being punished. The names confused me honestly, I tried a physical copy and the audiobook and both left me feeling confused and upset.

I actually really enjoyed reading How to Read Literature like a Professor. I learned a lot about writing and what things mean, the eating together was really interesting and the more I thought about it the more I realize that every time a group of characters eat together it is a big deal (even in movies!). I liked the writing style of Foster and I didn’t get bored while reading. I won’t lie, there were some moments that I thought, oh my God not everything needs to be a metaphor, but overall it was a good read.

Tee-hee did you see what I did there?

After reading “On Writing Well” I learned quite a lot. I write with lots of clutter. It’s embarrassing. I did learn that my writing style will come naturally and I shouldn’t worry too much about it now. I also learned that everyone has their own way of writing. When I write it isn’t about hiding who I am, my writing should reflect myself.

I never noticed clutter, but now I feel like everywhere I go I see clutter. When I watch the news I barely comprehend what is being said because it’s just clutter! I do enjoy some clutter though, in creative writing of course but when I read articles online I really think they could cut a paragraph down to a sentence. I never used to think like that but after reading “On Writing Well” I have a different perspective on writing and clutter.

Here is the essay-https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KnqSGCDZwAwPZW9d1I7zD2j8zhkeOyJeu0DxJYrXARc/edit?usp=sharing

After writing this essay, I feel defeated. This essay has made me realize that I am not a very good writer, I have no scholarship deserving qualities, and clutter is the actual devil. I also know I have to work on self confidence. I think I struggled so much with this essay because I chose a topic that is hard for me to talk about and deal with, I originally chose my uncle who affected me greatly in life but I struggled getting through a paragraph about him #notoverit. After changing my topic to piano I felt a little better about it. I also struggled with the entire premise of the essay, I do not like thinking about the future let alone writing about it. I know I could have done a cover letter but even that stresses me out. I know I want to go to college but I tend to be a go with the flow whatever kind of girl so when I have to sit down and deal with the future.

I tend to ramble so writing is always a struggle for me, I’m really hoping the blog posts can truly be my own and I won’t have to go back and revise my paragraphs etc. but if I do, oh well lesson learned. While I was writing the essay I would go on tangents that made no sense at all and I would just start going on and on about the same thing, focusing is hard for me. I also felt like I was lying the entire time while writing, am I really that hard working? or responsible? I can barely keep my room clean that is not very responsible. I do believe I am passionate though, that’s about my only redeeming quality (that would warrant a large sum of money). Don’t get me wrong I do have good qualities so I’m not trying to make a pity party blog post, I just really struggled with the scholarship essay, but I would have had a breakdown if I tried to cover letter.

I think writing the scholarship letter did help me though, it was difficult and challenging and that’s the only way to learn and improve. I really need to work on clutter though.

My name is Elizabeth Swensrud but I go by Libby. I have lived in North Dakota my whole life. I live with my parents and my brother. Here is a visual

my brother virtually refuses to take a picture with me so here is a disturbing image depicting how we look alike if we made a certain face

We have three dogs (Jack, Charlie and Daisy) and three horses (Rocky, Fancy, and Chug), I had two fish but Stevie recently passed away so now its just Nina. I named Nina after a gravestone I found (fun fact!?)

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Some of my hobbies include; playing the sims, exploring abandoned places, reading, playing piano/guitar/ukulele/violin/percussion, singing, and making art!

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Most of my pictures are on my old laptop and I am lazy so I haven’t put them on my new laptop yet so this is the best I could do.

Please don’t use my pics ❤