AP English Class Reflection

Hi Mrs. Walker, First off, I want to thank you for making this year and my first honors English experience fun for me! Though this year was challenging for me, it has also been extremely knowledgeable. From my freshman year to sophomore year, I can definitely notice the difference in my writing and reading. I can definitely see how much I have grown, and I am sure you could see these improvements too. Last year, I was in regular English and jumping from regular to honors was a huge step for me, which at first, I was not fully comfortable with. But as I got to know this year’s class and of course you, Mrs. Walker, I felt like I belonged here, in an honors English class. Throughout this year, I have learnt and improved at my skills of properly annotating texts, writing a proper claim, analyzing author’s style, and also analyzing rhetorical situations.

After taking honors English for the past three school years, I now want the challenge of taking a higher level course: AP literature and composition. At this point in my high-school career, I’ve been able to take three advanced classes, and I want this class on my belt as well.

The five-minute warning bell goes off. I rush to my first class of my junior year, eager to see my classmates, who I was going to spend the rest of the 9 months with. I find myself stumbling into a classroom plastered with decorations of Denzel Washington with a Dr. Seuss book in his hand, a t and college flags galore. My AP English 11 class suddenly seemed so appealing to me. As a beautiful, curly haired short lady stood in front of me and said “Welcome to AP English 11,” I knew that I had found a treasure so much greater than just a pretty classroom. Little did I know, that short lady was going to inspire me throughout my challenge filled second-to-last year of high school.

The beginning of my junior year seems like it was such a long time ago. This may be because of how much I have grown since the start of the year. When I began AP English, my writing skills needed improvement. For instance, I often used incorrect grammar and struggled with staying on topic. In just one semester, my writing has improved immensely. The more than I write, the more I learn about how to craft a good paper. I have worked on improving my grammar, using rhetoric, addressing my subject, and many more elements of writing. In addition to improving my writing, I have gained many skills to become a better student. I have learned about effective study techniques and time-management skills that allow me to be the most successful. Since I always try my best, I know that over time I will continue to grow in my studies. This year I have gained countless skills that will help me succeed in English in the future.

When I was in the second grade we had a new student in our class named Yvonne. Yvonne had recently arrived from Haiti and knew very little English. Due to the fact that she didn’t understand English a whole lot, the other kids in my class thought it would be funny to call her names and bully her. One day we were at electives. Our class was divided into two, some going to Dance others going to Drama. The doors were across from each other so we could see what was happening. I was in Dance, as well as Yvonne. We were practicing our routine for Ciara’s “1, 2 step”. Yvonne was quick to pick up the dance and was amazing at it, which I think made the other kids in our class resent her. Our instructor dismissed us 5 minutes early to pack up our things. I quickly went to my corner and grabbed my backpack. When I looked up I saw a bunch of girls surrounding Yvonne. I remember hearing them calling her names like ‘ugly’ and ‘loser’. I noticed that no one moved to defend her. One of the girls actually pushed her to the ground and took her backpack dumping all her things on the floor; that’s when I acted. I pushed my way through the girls and placed myself in front of Yvonne. I grabbed her backpack out of the girl’s hand pushed her and called her a ‘mean witch for making fun of Yvonne’. I also told the other girls that if they messed with Yvonne, they would have to

“Finally!” I thought to myself as summer is slowly approaching, “I am done with this high school forever.” I honestly am so excited for summer that each day I count down the number days I have for school. Moreover, I constantly think of the activities that I will do during the summer that sound a lot better than school. Despite being overjoyed of leaving high school, I certainly would not deny that I have tremendously improved as a writer. True, as mentioned in all of my previous reflective essays, I still despise English; however, I have to grudgingly admit College Credit Plus English 1010 refined my writing skills from my junior year in AP English class. My classmates and teacher pointed out some ways that I could brush up my essays, which

The grade that I think that I should receive for the first semester of AP Seminar is an A. I believe that I should get an A for multiple reasons, such as I complete all my work, I have always given my full effort throughout the class, and I work

Ever since I was a child, I never really enjoyed the subject of English. Aside from me considering the subject to be boring my vocabulary always seemed to be lacking compared to my peers, and the time I spent on reading passages and answering questions about those passages was much longer than my classmates’. However, my literacy skills started to slowly develop, and I ended up appreciating English in my junior and senior years of high school.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (R and G…) by Tom Stoppard is a transformation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet that has been greatly influenced due to an external contextual shift. The sixteenth century Elizabethan historical and social context, accentuating a time of questioning had specific values which are transformed and altered in Stoppard’s Existential, post two-world wars twentieth century historical and social context. The processes of transformation that are evident allow the shifts in ideas, values and external contexts to be clearly depicted. This demonstrates the significance of the transformation allowing new interpretations and ideas about reality as opposed to appearance, death and the afterlife and life’s purpose to be

Stoppard brings two relatively insignificant characters for Hamlet into focus in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Common man into the ‘spotlight’, as he represented the majority of society- 1960s’ audiences were interested in characters that they could empathize with and relate to. By focussing on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Stoppard brings offstage Hamlet onstage. This change in orientation gives audiences a new perspective on Hamlet and a different interpretation of Shakespeare’s most famous play.

William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is one of the most influential texts in western thought. Tom Stoppard took advantage of how widely known the play was and wrote his own play entitled, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, as a ploy off of the final lines of the play Hamlet. Stoppard’s play

Disputing the Canon I was in the best of settings when I realized that Shakespeare was indeed great. My freshman year in high school, I had English class with an esteemed teacher, Mr. Broza—hailed as the Paul D. Schreiber High School Shakespeare aficionado, founder of Schreiber’s Annual Shakespeare Day, and, perhaps

Despite knowing the powerlessness it would give him in doing so, Shakespeare surrendered thematic interpretations of Hamlet to the audience through their vassal characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Or perhaps, being the accomplished playwright that he was, the Bard recognized the inevitability the audience taking interpretative and critical power away from his written words. Regardless of the author’s support, future dramatic performances, Burlesques, and literary critiques reworked what he had already revised from popular stories into Hamlet. Having died in 1616, the Bard of Avon hardly has the last say on the interpretation of his works, and given the cultural significance and enduring story of Hamlet, no one may ever get the pleasure.

This essay will discuss several literary criticisms of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. After skimming through several articles, I ended up with four peer-reviewed journal articles, each a different critical perspectives of the play: feminist, psychoanalytical/freudian, moral, and new historicism. My previous studies of Hamlet, as well as my rereading of the play this semester, has collectively given me a general knowledge of the text. My familiarity of the play made it easier for me to decipher the academic journals and see the connections each critic made with the play.

The tragic play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” by Stoppard were retold from the story of Shakespeare famous play “Hamlet”. The two insignificant characters in “Hamlet” became the protagonists in Stoppard’s play, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” and Hamlet as a minor character. The author’s different perspective of Shakespeare’s two minor characters made the audience realize that being control like a puppet by Hamlet might have led them to their death. Throughout the play, Hamlet’s presence effected the two protagonists’ life.