Leighton's Lang/Comp Blog

    So far, my experience in AP Lang has been pretty okay. I haven't been experiencing many challenges in this class and have found the work to be pretty easy. The class setting is comfortable despite being pretty cold and I don't find it too hard to focus on what we're learning. I'm happy with my grade right now, and I hope that this class continues to go pretty smoothly as the year goes on. Summary: Today in class, we started the writing portion of our assignment on Writeable after reading the story "Ambush" by Tim O'Brien.  Reflection: I found this assignment that we did in class to be fairly easy and I don't think I'll have any problem doing more assignments on Writeable. I've never used it up until this school year, but I like the format. 

    The last situation I can clearly recall where I gave an opinion and was asked "Why?" was when I was unfortunately breaking up with my ex-boyfriend. He asked me why I was breaking up with him, and I provided him quite a lot of reasons and evidence to back up it up. A lot of this included times where he did something that upset me, and I made sure to be as clear and concise with my wording as well, and went into detail on these events to rack his memory of them. Because of this, I do believe explaining your evidence is just as important as providing it, because it shows your credibility on the point you're making. By explaining the evidence you provided, it exemplifies the knowledge you possess, which has usually be gained through experience. Summary: Today in class, we read "Ambush" by Tim O'Brien on Writeabe to introduce us to the prompt of our assignment. Reflection: There is a vast variety of situations where someone might be required to provide eviden...

    I don't think I will ever be able to understand people who are so unnecessarily rude to others and choose to be ignorant about others' struggles. I have seen quite a lot of people, especially online, who will automatically assume something about a stranger and then say incredibly disrespectful things about them. Whether it be online or in person, I believe everyone should have basic respect and manners towards everyone, whether they want to interact with them or not, or initially like them or not. Summary: Today in class, we dived deeper into rhetorical situations and used former AP Lang free-response questions to practice.  Reflection: I think that sometimes to properly understand someone's perspective, the devices taught with rhetorical situations could help some people explain their stance. I think that to avoid clashing with others, a mutual understanding of one another would make a big difference. 

      I personally prefer hands-on activities the most when it comes to learning methods. Even though hands-on activities within the classroom usually require conversations with others, which tends to make me nervous and isn't quite my ideal as I prefer to work by myself, being able to learn through experience has always been the best way to get something to stick to my brain. Class discussions can sometimes be hard to pay attention to, and the same case goes with worksheets sometimes too. I also find it helpful to be doing hands-on activities because it usually means I can observe what others are doing and follow their lead to understand what works best for me and in general what a real situation of something may look like. Summary: Today in class, we continued working on rhetorical situations and used another former AP Lang free-response question to practice with again.  Reflection: I enjoy how during our assignment in class today, it technically counted as both a ...

      Living around the city of Atlanta and becoming very familiar with the city itself, I've become very connected to the city's people and culture. I've seen how many Atlanta residents are incredibly proud of their city and the way it runs, and aren't afraid to voice their love for their home. To me, that is extremely honorable, because I do think it is important to have a strong connection to a place you consider home, whether it be where you were born or where you feel most comfortable and seen. In Atlanta, I feel the most free to express myself without judgement, and that is what I would tell any outsiders; Atlanta, from what I've experienced, is accepting of all types of people and will always have a community built for anyone and everyone.  Summary: Today in class, we worked on an assignment regarding rhetorical situations and rhetorical choices, using the speech "Go Home" by Keisha Lance Bottoms as reference. Reflection: The speech "Go Home...

     I believe one of the most creative things I have made is an alternate universe for an anime I'm super interested in at the moment. Even though it is currently unfinished and still in the works, I consider it one of my most creative and thought-out works. It also means quite a lot to me since my best friend has tremendously contributed to the making of it. I'm super motivated to continue working on it and hope that someday I'll build up the courage to put it out there for others to see as well.  Summary: Today in class, we discussed the mnemonic SPACECAT, and analyzed a speech by Donald Trump as a reference. Reference: I'm honestly not sure how to connect my response to what we learned in class today... I think maybe in some of the things I end up writing in the future, I could potentially use SPACECAT to further elaborate my ideas maybe.

      After reading this prompt, I pondered for a few minutes, trying to remember a time where I felt completely lost. I'm sure there have been hundreds of times where I had no clue what to do or how to go about something, but of course, a lot of times when I try to remember an example for a question I've been asked, my mind goes blank. But, then something clicked; right now, trying to decide on a topic to write, I do feel completely lost! Sometimes writing is super hard when your brain just decides it doesn't want to work for a moment or two, but I also know that I'll always find a solution in the end, just as I've done now. Hopefully, next time I'll have something better to write about... Summary:  Today in class, we expanded on different types of claims as we previously discussed on Friday, August 14th, and completed an assignment on claims of value. Reflection: Sometimes I think it can be difficult to come up with five criteria points when creating a claim o...

     If you're familiar with the term "Creepypasta," I'm sure you most definitely know who "Slenderman" is, as he has pretty much been the face of it for quite a while on the internet. As a child with pretty unlimited internet access, I ended up being extremely interested in all the different stories people were creating, their characters, how fans perceived them, etc. Of course, this naturally caused my childlike imagination to run wild with ideas, one of which genuinely placed me under the belief that Slenderman lived in the woods behind my house. Yes, it's silly, but seven-year-old me was dead set on this idea and used to spend hours staring out the window to see if he would pop up... to which he obviously did not. That belief only vanished after I moved away from that old house when I was around nine-years-old, but sometimes I think back to that time and giggle about it.  Summary: Today in class, we went over different types of claims: claims of fact...

     This school year, I have a few goals that I wish to achieve. First, I've always been super adamant about keeping my grades as high as possible, so I will strive towards mostly straight A's---no less than five. Second, I hope to build my social skills at my own pace and interact more with others, as I usually tend to be a bit shy and mostly prefer to keep to myself. Third, I will continue to diminish any urges of procrastination, considering last year I made it a point to work on this issue and have noticed improvement, but I am always open to even more improvement. Overall, I think that while I won't know what's coming my way throughout the year, these goals will be fairly easy to achieve.