Response To Course Material - 9/22

AP English Lit has opened my eyes to the wonders of both reading and writing. Although I’ve taken my fair share of English Literature courses, very few have taught me as much as I’ve learned in the first few weeks of AP Lit.

I think the DIDLS acronym is simply genius. I like acronyms; as a person who has serious memory issues, I can’t imagine ever forgetting to analyze the correct aspects of a piece of writing after learning DIDLS. When we analyzed David Sedaris’ “The Way We Are,” I was assigned to analyze syntax with my group. This was definitely not an easy task, especially since I’d never experienced Close Reading before. Nevertheless, we spent what felt like hours (in reality: 15 minutes) running through the entire piece, breaking down sentence structure and punctuation. I had never realized how rewarding it can be to look in depth at something so simple in a piece of writing – scrutinizing the diction, imagery, details, language, and syntax employed in a piece of writing truly says more about the author than it does the subject of the piece.

I’ve waited for years to write a thesis in more than one sentence. Finally, I find myself in a class that not only tolerates such a thing, but also embraces it. I admit it: I often get stuck with too much to say. Writing an argument in only one sentence is difficult for me. Learning how to write a thesis in class built on all of the past essays I’d ever written and all of the one-sentence-limited thesis statements that wound up in those essays’ introductions. Exploring the essay prompt as if it’s a coded message is not necessarily a new tactic in my arsenal (AP History classes have a specific style as well), but never have I delved into an essay prompt and pulled out so much info about what I’m really expected to write. I am hopeful that I won’t make the dreaded mistake of not fully answering the question because I’m now aware of how to properly dissect a prompt.  

Overall, the first few weeks of this class have been jam-packed with important info. I feel like I just re-learned how to read and write. I look forward to doing both in excess for the next several months.