The Final Post

So-

I think it says something truly interesting about this group of students that when arriving home from our last day of high school, the last hour on blogger notes at least ten new blog entries of dedicated students spending their first moments of freedom from high school doing homework.  It’s been a wonderful experience getting to know you all over the last two years as fellow AP English-ers and twelve years as Chagrin students.

I don’t really know how to summarize my entire English experience in one post.  So I’m going to take the traditional English cop-out and right a haiku:

English is over

Last sticker has been given

Time to say goodbye

It’s been real everyone!  I’m truthfully going to miss all of you.  Enjoy college, and have an amazing summer!  Thanks for all the wonderful, stressful, and ridiculous times- see you soon!

A Late Farewell

Hey there everyone!

So, typical me, second to last blog post and I’m a day late.  My farewell to English will be a note to all of you-

It’s been an interesting two years of AP English, and an even more interesting 12 years getting to know you all.  From the first SOAPSTone to those stressful in class discussions, so much has really changed.  For one thing, we’ve stopped apologizing for talking over each other.  At first, in discussion, it was all about the manners.  Now, we are comfortable enough to talk over each other and argue and disagree, really getting to the heart of the topic and discussing with our real opinions, not the popular opinion.

We’ve become so much closer through the late night freak outs about everything from finding quotes to discovering the meaning behind symbols to sleep-deprived ramblings about life in general.

Over the last 12 years, I’ve grown up with you all, and I can’t imagine a better group of people to create this English bond with over the past two years.  Good luck to everyone and enjoy the last few days of senior year! We made it!!!

My Top 10 Favorite Literary Devices

1. Direct Characterization: Before an Honors English 10 student steps into the slightly intimidating world of AP English 11, they are not smart.  After two years of incredibly hard work, SOAPSTones, Data Sheets, annotating, and crying over in-class essays, they are smart.
2. Foreshadowing:  Non-AP English Path- An individual will have nights full of sleep and will never know the horror of those first in-class discussions.  AP English Path- Individuals that choose this path will spend many days at school wandering around in a sleep-deprived zombie state, but will also enjoy the wonderful world of plums, arguments over what those muffins symbolize, and seeing Moushumi’s mustache.
3. Flashback:  Ms. Serensky’s Day of Sharing.  Not only did we get to enjoy the wonderful lollipops she provided, we also got to spend the period learning all about the teacher that forced us to sing in front of the entire class.
4. Parallel Structure:  Gogol, McMurphy, McCandless, Algernon, Iago, Junior, Harriet Jacobs, and the other characters who we harassed endlessly for their utterly stupid choices, ridiculous names, or just because we’re mean.
5. Juxtaposition:  Pre-AP English smartness compared to post-AP English smartness.  Whoa- we’ve really learned a lot.
6. Suspense:  Seen every day while walking into the room right before an in-class essay: I will always remember looking around the room and seeing my fellow classmates scream quotes at each other in desperately panicked voices.
7. Dramatic Irony:  The reader- Ms. Serensky.  The characters: Her wonderful students.  Feeling really dumb sometimes builds character.
8. Synecdoche:  I can’t really think of anything to apply this one to, but after two years of work, you’ll know what cool words like this mean.  Then you can sound smart when you apply them to daily life.
9. Syntax:  Why should you take AP English?  Why not!  You get to hang out for a period every day who get in passionate, heated debates about fictional characters!  And leave angry when you finally come up with the perfect comment and can’t seem to get a word in over those loud people around you!
10. Situational Irony:  It seems like all the stressful work, those three-in-the-morning Facebook chats about how your Data Sheet is only 23 pages long, and the 44 pens that have run out of ink from countless papers and notes written in the margins of our books, us seniors would be begging our younger peers not to submit themselves to such torture.  However, whenever a sophomore asks me if I would recommend AP or Honors English, I pretty much bully them into signing up for AP.  Might seem like foolish advice to an outsider, but, hey, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”  I don’t think those quotes will ever get out of my head…

A Voice, A Chief, and a Butler Walk into a Bar…

Narrator: The omniscient narrator, Chief Bromden, and Lane enter the AP English testing room.  They see me sitting near the front of the room, deeply concentrating on the booklet in front of me.  Feeling sympathy for my struggle, they decide to discuss the best advice to give me to ensure I do well on the essay portion of the exam:

Voice:  “First, enjoy this time!” (Currie 1)

Bromden: “It’s the truth even if it didn’t happen!” (Kesey 8)

Narrator: Both look at Lane, expecting his advice

Lane: “I didn’t think it polite to listen…” (Wilde 1)

V: sighing “You fall short, inevitably, inevitably” (Currie 178)

L: “Yes, sir” (Wilde 1)

B: angrily  “It’s started…” (Kesey 107)

V: threateningly, towards Lane “The choice is, in the end, yours” (Currie 3)

L: even fiercer “I don’t know that I am much interested in your… life!” (Wilde 2)

Narrator: The two begin brawling, causing quite the distraction to those attempting to write killer, 9-worthy essays.  The police are phoned, and by the time they arrive, the two individuals have taken their fight out to the hallway, much to the relief of the testers

B: pointing out the door, obviously annoyed.  He is apparently quite used to this type of drama between the pair “They’re out there” (Kesey 3)

Narrator: Both are arrested and taken off in handcuffs.  
B: "Who gets poisoned with what tonight?" (Kesey 82)
Narrator: The diligent students continue to write life changing, inspiring essays, all destined to get 5s on the exam, while Bromden continues to observe from the back, attempting to think of any helpful writing advice to fix the mess he helped to cause.

The Importance of Being Smart

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple” (6).  Well, in regards to my favorite book of AP English 12, I’d have to say the truth is both pure and simple- I really enjoyed the final book we read, The Importance of Being Earnest.  I loved the ridiculous, over-the-top drama and laughing at the characters while they struggled through such unrealistic issues.  However, the oddly wise assertions the characters made still hold true in today’s society- the characters spoke the truth most are too polite to acknowledge.  When Jack is forced to come clean about his lies, he whines, “It is very painful for me to be forced to speak the truth” (40).  Where it is socially acceptable to appear honest, Jack’s comment points out the dishonesty of not only the Victorian upper-class, but society as a whole, giving this play both humor and applicable insight on life.  And, of course, reading as a class was one of the more entertaining AP English experiences I can recall.  It also reinforces the need Ms. Serensky always reminds us of- “Be smart, people.”  This play gives us some serious support on the problems of stupidity- not only could we fail the AP test, but we may approach the level of dumbness exhibited by Miss Prism: “In a moment of mental abstraction, for which  I can never forgive myself, I deposited the manuscript in the bassinette, and placed the baby in the hand-bag” (51).  Be smart, people.

My Top Ten

1. Getting through freshman year midterms.  I was unbelievably stressed at this new experience and getting through felt like a huge accomplishment.  Now, I would like to travel back and tell myself, “Enjoy this time!” as school would get a little trickier in the coming years (Currie 1).
2. Finishing my first SOAPSTone.  Those 9 pages felt like the most difficult school related task I’d ever have- that is, until I was introduced to the data sheet.  Now, it’s “hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it” in comparison (Kesey 8).
3. On that note, turning in my first data sheet.  Flipping through the typed final copy was an amazingly satisfying feeling, especially in that giddy, sleep-deprived high we AP English students know so well.  And even though one lovely narrator stated that “no one likes change unless it is from something bad to something good,” the emotional pay off for this assignment was exponentially bigger (Curie 7).
4. Writing the last in-class essay for English.  Walking out of the room and feeling completely done with that extremely stressful “task, burden, privilege, whatever you call it” was a relief that was almost (again, ALMOST) worth the stress (Currie 9).
5. Learning antiderivatives in Calculus.  It was the first math that looked completely like a different language, and it made me feel extremely accomplished to know what it meant.  Usually, at this point, “‘I can’t bear looking at things” math-related, but this was fascinating (Wilde 17).
6. Reading my first word in Arabic.  Although it was three letters long (and extremely simple- “bab” means door for anyone who’s interested), it was amazing to look at what had previously been squiggles and see meaning behind it.  Although I do fear that “I look quite plain after my [Arabic] lesson” because, now, I have no idea what’s happening in that class (Wilde 21).
7. Developing my first actual picture in photo.  Like Arabic, it was a completely new experience, and it was mind blowing to see the image appear on the blank piece of paper.  At first, you had to “strain and look at the things that appeared in front of you,” but then it became clear, a really interesting transition to watch (Kesey 131).
8. The first time using a Bunsen burner in Chemistry.  It was where I learned how to light a match and, truthfully, playing with fire is just plain fun.  It was “funny orange.  Like the tip of a soldering iron” (Kesey 4).
9. Failing my first actual quiz.  It was math, freshman year.  It wasn’t, by any means, a highlight of my academic career, but I will surely remember it.  Thank goodness that, according to Lady Bracknell, “Education produces no effect whatsoever” (Wilde 13).
10. My first sticker on a paper in English.  I pretty much freaked out.  In regards to me and stickers in this class, “The two things rarely go together” (Wilde 8).

The First Taste of Plums

Throughout my life, I have never been a real poetry fan.  In fact, I would often comment on how much I despised this genre of literature in general, as I believed, and still often do, that most poetry is "fluff," and overdramatic portrayal of everyday occurrences.  So when I saw the first poem of the year, and saw it was about fruit, my skeptical side kicked in.  I was ready to be critical, to say the least, and, at first, I was.
Then, our discussion began.  For the entire period, we talked about the implications of the poem, the real meaning behind what the poet was talking about.  And, although "it is very painful for me to be forced to speak the truth," I found myself enjoying the simple poem and the elegance of exposing deeper emotions through a short, simple, and off-topic poem (Wilde 40).
However, as wise Algernon noted, "The truth is rarely pure and never simple" (Wilde 6).  Reading this wonderful poem did not convert me into a poetry lover.  Many poems still have that same, original effect- I despise them, laughing after the first three lines at the poet I imagine, sitting their comparing love to a teapot and thinking they are wildly deep.  It is true, however, that this first poem really did a great deal to improve my opinion of poetry, especially modern.

So, “At last!”  (Wilde 54).  My appreciation for poetry has finally emerged.  I hope you enjoy this flashback to our early days of AP English 12- now we’re almost done!

This is just to Say

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

William Carlos Williams