Beckett's American Literature Blog

  Prompt: People sometimes feel the need to step away from their normal routines or environments in order to better understand themselves. Describe a time when you needed distance from a situation, place, or group of people in order to think more clearly or gain perspective. What did that experience teach you about yourself? Prompt Response:  One time where I really needed to distance myself was in sophomore year's tabletop club. This was my first time really getting involved with an after school activity and so I was thoroughly disappointed when my group members started acting... weird. The leader of my group had blatant favorites and would cater towards them while ignoring the rest of us. One other member was very loud and was outright rude to many of us. One time in particular this individual even straight out  called people ugly, ranking everyone in the group based on how attractive they thought everyone was. After a while I dreaded going to that club and eventually I...

Prompt: After reading Chapter 1 of  Into the Wild , consider your first impression of Christopher McCandless. Based solely on the events and details presented in this opening chapter, do you believe McCandless truly understood the risks he was taking when he entered the Alaskan wilderness? Why or why not? Prompt Response:  Based on what little we went over, I feel that Chris McCandless did understand what he would face when he entered the Alaskan wilderness. I think that because he knew of the dangers he almost wanted to die or put himself in a position where death was a likely outcome for a reasons unknown. Due to him traveling across many other places in America with the same resources he had in Alaska, I don't think it's reasonable to assume he didn't know what he was doing. Summary: Today in class we were introduced to the book "Into the Wild." Reflection:  I think the book is going to be very interesting and I'm excited to find out exactly why he did what...

Prompt:  Today you worked on creating your  Vocabulary Digital Cards  in Adobe Express. In one well-developed paragraph, reflect on the assignment by explaining which vocabulary word was easiest for you to understand, which word was most challenging, and how creating your own sentence and selecting an image helped strengthen your understanding of the vocabulary. Use specific examples from your work. Prompt Response:  I would say that the easiest vocabulary word for me to understand is provocative as I already knew it prior to the lesson. The most difficult is probably soporific as it doesn't even sound like it relates to its meaning. Creating sentences and choosing images increased my understanding as it allowed me to relate unknown words to images and scenarios that I'm already familiar with. Summary: Today in class we completed a vocabulary flashcard assignment. Reflection: I found the flashcards to be somewhat easy, however it was hard to find synonyms and or anto...

Prompt: After viewing your classmates’ digital posters and reading the feedback comments left on your work, what new ideas or perspectives did you gain about your poster? Reflect on how the feedback influenced the way you think about your creative choices and describe what you learned about the creative process while designing and presenting your poster. Prompt Response:  I found that many thought my poster was well organized and had good  expressive images. This shows me that my creative style is more appealing to others than I originally thought. The feedback I received boosted my confidence somewhat and I learned that there are many different ways people go through the creative process. Summary: Today in class we commented on each other's simile/metaphor posters. Reflection:  I found the feedback assignment to be quite fun as I could see what all of my fellow students did. I think that my poster holds up fairly well in comparison to some of the others I saw as well.

Prompt: Reflect on the simile and metaphor worksheet. Which topic challenged you the most when creating your figurative language, and why? In your response, explain what made that topic difficult and how you worked through the challenge (or what you might do differently next time). Prompt Response:  The topic that challenged me the most was definitely the one about how other perceive me and my appearance. It was just very difficult to put all of my thoughts and feelings into one sentence and most of what I wrote just didn't feel right. To get through it I just stopped with what I had and waited for the next day, in which I was able to write one that was satisfactory. Summary: Today we created a poster using our six similes and six metaphors. Reflection:  I found the poster to be a somewhat fun assignment as I was able to exercise my organizational and creative skills in an artistic manner. Even though I was unsure of my similes and metaphors in the beginning, at the end I was ...

Prompt:   Today you created similes and metaphors that reflect your struggles, growth, and resilience. In a well-developed paragraph, reflect on the process. What did you learn about yourself while writing your figurative language? Prompt Response:  I found that creating metaphors and similes was extremely difficult for me, with some of the ones I made being definitely better than others. I do however think that they helped me express some of the things I've experienced in a more creative way which was somewhat helpful in regards to understanding myself. I learned that I do feel some sort of pressure from society in regards to being "productive" but at the end of the day it is my life and I shouldn't let expectations define me. Summary: In class we started writing our similes and metaphors inspired by the poem we read. Reflection: I think that the assignment should be easier for me but I just can't come up with good ones for certain topics. Hopefully I'm able ...