Response to Course Material #2

           Over the past few weeks, we have read The American Dream and The Century Quilt, analyzed close reading and DILDS, and learned about different literary movements. In such a short time, we have done so much. I think this fast-paced schedule will properly prepare us for the AP Exam.
             My favorite piece of literature we have read so far is The Century Quilt. I liked how we first skimmed the poem, then read it more carefully, and finally analyzed it with DILDS. Through the vivid imagery, I could clearly imagine the quilt, with different colored patches. Using DILDS and annotating the poem, I was able to see that the quilt was a symbol for the author's family tree. The colored patches were the leaves that represented each family member and the stitches were the branches that brought the family members together. I think that DILDS and How To Read Literature Like a Professor helped me see the symbols quicker. I liked how this poem had an underlying meaning in that even though the family members were of different or mixed race, they were still a family. I think that meaning is very important, especially in the huge melting pot that we currently live in.
            Another thing that we have studied is different literary movements. It was a nice refresher for me because I realized that I had forgotten most of the movements from my American and British Literature classes. I vaguely remembered that The Great Gatsby was from the Modernist Literary Movement, but I think that was because it was my favorite book that I read in American Lit and I was eager to learn more about it. I also liked filling out the literary movement chart because it helped me see the differences and the evolvement of the movements over time.
             We have also done peer responses to blog posts. I thought writing the responses helped me critically analyze the blog posts. In addition, the responses I got from my peers were also helpful and made me see my prompt, article, or book from a different point of view. I noticed that many of my criticisms were to use more examples in my blog posts and to connect different ideas together.
              I think that the blog posts, literary movements, and close reading practices we have done in class are really beneficial. I hope to use my new knowledge in my future blog posts, annotating, and writing.