Here we go, guys. I can already tell this post is going to be long, so here's a rundown of the topics I'm covering:
Extrinsic and Intrinsic MotivationWhy do we do the things that we do? As you think back on your academic career, ask yourself, how much of your motivation came from outside factors like grades? How much came from your own interests? I suspect that quite a lot of your motivation came extrinsically. You know, like grades. Such is the nature of school. As you shift from high school to college, you will find that you have more opportunity to choose where you invest your time and energy. You will get to select your classes, your major, and eventually, your career. Now is a good time to start thinking about questions like:
Languishing to FlourishingI've been thinking a lot about motivation. And, ever since reading this article in the NY Times, I've been thinking a lot about languishing versus flourishing. According to the author Adam Grant: Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it might be the dominant emotion of 2021. Grant also says that the antidote to languishing is something called flow. Flow is that elusive state of absorption in a meaningful challenge or a momentary bond, where your sense of time, place and self melts away. During the early days of the pandemic, the best predictor of well-being wasn’t optimism or mindfulness — it was flow. The WorkYour work for the 6th cycle has been designed to take into account all of this. I wanted to give you a genuine opportunity to experience intrinsic motivation here at the end of the year. You will basically be doing two things:
For now, let's focus on the personal project. Choose something that you want to work on, and work on it. Create a plan (see the project proposal below) and do it. This project doesn't have to have anything to do with English Literature. I'll be selecting something to work on as well, and I'll be writing and implementing my own project proposal to provide you with model texts. At first I was thinking about learning about and practicing the guitar, but now I'm wondering if I would rather knit a pullover sweater. I bought some green wool yarn from the Andes last Christmas, but I haven't gotten around to even starting the project. Maybe now is the time. How to Write Your Personal Project Proposal3.You will be writing a project proposal that outlines and designs a project of your own choosing. Any project of your own choosing. Can be literature related, astronomy related, skateboarding related, whatever related. Your whole proposal will be between 500-1000 words.
Here’s a list of the steps required in your project proposal:
Now let’s look at each of these sections in more depth. 1. Context WHAT are you starting with? In this section, you will explain your personal context for tackling this project. For example, if you are learning a musical instrument, what musical experience are you bringing to the project? What are your qualifications for executing this project? Perhaps, like me, you are coming to your project as a beginner. Do you have experience as a self-driven learner? 2. Challenge WHY do you want to undertake this challenge? What are your intrinsic motivations? Here you will explain your reasoning for selecting this project out of all the infinite possible projects out there in the world. Some things to think about as you address this section are:
3. Benefits WHY should we invest in this project? You need to convince me, your teacher (a role to be played in the future by your supervisor), that this project is a valuable use of our limited resources: time. Whereas in “Challenge” you define your personal intrinsic motivations, for “Benefits” you need to undergo some research to find extrinsic motivation. Use those AP Lang persuasion skills. I want to see your logos. 4. Deliverables WHAT concrete results will you have at the end of this project? Will you have a website, a song, a certain level of fluency in code? How will both of us know that your project has yielded some level of success? What will you have at the end of the project that you don’t have now? Your deliverable(s) must be concrete and measurable. Something you can show me. Each of your deliverables should also come with 500 words of written progress feedback/commentary. The register for your progress feedback updates can be casual, conversational, blog-like. 5. Success Criteria WHAT is your personal goal? I will judge you based on your deliverable stated in the previous section, but how will you judge yourself? Start thinking about that all important question and keep thinking about it forever: what does success mean to you? 6. Deadlines/Plan WHEN will the deliverables be, well, delivered? This document, your project proposal is due Friday, May 7. You will also have the following deadlines to submit three deliverables and progress updates:
7. Time Budget Now that you have your deadlines sorted out, WHEN will you invest in your deliverables on a practical, micro level? Now it's time to look at the time that you have. Just like a money budget, take stock of what time you have that you isn't specifically dedicated to other tasks. Then spend some of your time on this project. It can be a little or it can be a lot, but the time you invest needs to be specific. For example, because I learned to time budget with the Pomodoro Method, I will be knitting my sweater at least 25 minutes in the afternoons, every day. So each week I will spend around 3 hours knitting. (Probably more if my dad keeps wanting to have long phone conversations about his upcoming tomato crop.) Hello class! As I discussed on Tuesday, in today's blogpost I'll be sharing and commenting on student examples of thesis statements and conclusions. Hopefully, you'll find these helpful as you begin drafting your next Essay 3 on Thursday. The number one thing we struggled with was integrating thematic elements into our essays. So, let's get into it. Strong Student Example #1Thesis: Caliban’s mysterious origins alienate him from the people around him, suggesting that cultural differences are often impassable obstacles that keep different groups of people from accepting one another. Above, I've made the concrete plot analysis blue and the abstract thematic analysis red. A thesis statement can set you up for success by including the impact of the plot analysis on the theme of the work. In this student example, the writer very clearly and cleverly added the thematic analysis on with the word "suggesting." I hereby grant you all permission to magpie this word. If you are struggling to come up with theme, see what happens when you stick the word "suggesting" on the end of your thesis. Conclusion: In The Tempest, Caliban’s origins as the son of Sycorax and a native of the island have only done him a disservice. Caliban has lived on the island for longer than anyone else yet has no control over his home or his life. He was enslaved by Prospero, which was justified by societal standards, and exploited by Stephano and Trinculo. This is similar to how the Native Americans were treated by European Colonists during colonial times. Natives were forced off their lands and many who stayed were enslaved or killed. The colonists justified the mistreatment of the natives by portraying and viewing the natives as “savages.” This mindset persisted in American society for many years and served as justification for more discrimination against the natives. Even with the passing of many generations, many of these atrocities haven’t been forgotten and the relationship between the Americans and Natives has struggled to be resolved. Through Caliban’s character arc, Shakespeare condemned the actions of early European settlers and illustrated the grave social consequences that are caused by racism. Besides the thesis, the other big opportunity you have to expand the plot of the work into theme is your conclusion. Here, the student writer has included previous knowledge of history to bring the implications of the plot onto the world stage. When you broaden the implications of the plot to include the real world, you are creating thematic analysis. Strong Student Example #2Thesis: After his upper class community excludes and even vilifies Heathcliff for his mysterious origins, he becomes vindictive and abusive, which underscores the novel’s premise that strict social hierarchies only serve to further antagonize people of different backgrounds. Again, the student writer has included a plot analysis that responds to the prompt in the thesis, as well as a thematic analysis drawn from the plot. On a syntactical level, this writer accomplished the feat with the phrase: "which underscores the novel's premise that..." Magpie? Conclusion: Heathcliff’s unknown background causes him to be ostracized by the elite, which results in his descent into insanity and rage. In this way, Bronte manages to provide social commentary on the pitfalls of social class, showing how the strict traditions of the upper class outrage lower-class laborers. Heathcliff is the ideal vehicle for this message, because his unknown background allows him to be treated as lower-class by much of the elite, while still being partially accepted into upper class society due to the work of Mr. Earnshaw. The transformation of the protagonist into the villain also subverts the reader’s expectations of a usual rags-to-riches story, where the peasant finds wealth, status, and happiness; instead, Heathcliff manages to become rich but also increasingly unhappy as a result of his pursuit of that wealth. In this way, Bronte notes how even the existence of social hierarchies at all makes people unhappy, as they continually try -- and oftentimes fail -- to scale the social ladder. Another example of using the conclusion to make effective thematic analysis. Almost There Student Example #3Thesis: However, it becomes clear this is but a façade and that Dracula has a malicious intent that he unearths as his scheme for vengeance and power is revealed to Johnathan Harker and the other protagonists. This is good stuff, strong plot analysis. But the student didn't include any thematic elements in the thesis. As you can see, the conclusion is also just plot analysis: Conclusion: In conclusion, Dracula’s mysterious history, intent, and aura lead directly to the main conflict of the novel. That is both the need to stop Dracula’s plan for power and realizing that he is in fact a vampire. Only after the protagonists are able to locate Dracula and find out his weaknesses are they even able to stand a chance as they split up and trap him. Exposing Dracula’s mysteriousness was the way the protagonists were able to beat him. So what if this student revised his/her thesis to include another clause after the word "suggesting?" Let's try it: However, it becomes clear this is but a façade and that Dracula has a malicious intent that he unearths as his scheme for vengeance and power is revealed to Johnathan Harker and the other protagonists, suggesting that truth is the strongest tool humans have in the battle against evil. Sum it Up, Sum it UpJust remember: plot is concrete, theme is abstract. In the thematic analysis I added above, the specific characters "Jonathan Harker and other protagonists" becomes the more generalized "humans." "Dracula" becomes "evil." We are moving up the ladder of abstraction.
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AuthorI'm a Houston high school teacher. Welcome to my adapted, socially-distanced, quarantined AP English Literature and Composition classroom. Archives
May 2021
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