Acknowledgements

    Looking back on this year, I’ve truly realized that time flies by in a flash. While in class, honestly, there were a few days where it seemed that the clock couldn’t hit 8:18 fast enough. However, looking back, and realizing how fast time has flown and how almost a year of my life has flown by, I sometimes wish I could go back to the beginning of the year, when I was still young, innocent, and carefree. I wish I could go back to when the only thing I had to worry about was how to finish my summer reading 2 days before the start of school. Therefore, seeing how fast the year has gone by and especially this class, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of being in the moment. I’ve also come to appreciate everything I have learned in this class. This class has helped me not only with the obvious benefits you’d get from taking an AP English course such as better writing and analysis, but also with better articulation of my thoughts and socializing with strangers. After taking in and reflecting back on everything I have learned, I have come to be thankful for most aspects of AP English Language and Composition.

    First and foremost, I’d like to express my minimal gratitude for the in-class essays that were the core contributors of a decrease in my grade and an increase in my anxiety. It was definitely enjoyable seeing my progression in writing over the numerous essays we wrote in class. Looking back on my earlier essays, such as the synthesis essay I wrote on museums and artifacts, I can see a clear improvement when comparing it to my more recent ones. In my old essays I seemed to just blabber on and on about something without any clear purpose or evidence, hoping that the words would miraculously fall together into an exquisite and eloquent piece that would blow the reader’s mind. For example, within my museum/artifact essay, where I intended to argue that a museum should take into account but not obsess over an institution’s financial status/security and accurately represent the true interpretation of an artifact in its exhibit, my understanding of synthesizing my opinion with sources was to simply cram in as many citations needed to fulfill the requirement. Most of my sources lacked clear analysis and connection. This was evident when observing the source I used within my first paragraph. In Source A, I used the quote describing how a museum’s “recurring operating deficit approached $1 million a year and was worsening.” Thus, I simply restated the information that was already provided through the text and failed to think about the purpose of the source and its bias. My analysis was also limited as I mentioned how through this “lack of adequate resources” the museums would “lose the ability to even purchase the artifacts/pieces.” I could’ve expanded on this further by explicitly stating and discussing the threat of bankruptcy and how any museum that simply disregards this reality would be a museum rooted in inevitable failure and financial ruin. This would’ve allowed for me to relate these statements back to my claim, further emphasizing my argument and stressing the importance for the necessary consideration of finance from museums. Unfortunately, I was not able to do these things and thus failed. Now, however, I feel as if I started to truly grasp what it means to have writing that not only describes but flows and analyzes. To further explain, in my most recent synthesis essay on challenging, qualifying or agreeing with the benefits of eminent domain, I was able to analyze the sources in a way that connected them not only to the claim but also to each other. I first mentioned, through the citation of Source D, how the apparent benefits of eminent domain had led to Douglas R. Porter to claim that “Freetown,” a place that had undergone a noticeable decline before the redevelopment process, was now “a different place” teeming with life and prosperity. However, I qualified this piece of evidence by using it in conjunction with Source B, where I discussed how in other areas such as “Long Island Sound,” eminent domain had failed to “bring jobs” and success. Therefore, I was able to use the two sources in conversation with one another, with the second source qualifying the information of the first. Additionally, through this qualification of the benefits of eminent domain, I was able to qualify my initial claim that expressed that it was a harmful process. Thankfully, because of this, I was able to receive the sophistication point. Thus, as my understanding of using and analyzing evidence grew, it was gratifying to see my essay grades get higher and higher as the year progressed. However, this is as far as my gratitude extends for this portion of the class. I still can’t forgive the essays for giving me the jitters every Thursday night as I mentally prepared myself for my fate the following morning. Nevertheless, they were a good benchmark in terms of measuring the quality and development of my writing.

    To the seminars, the only reason I’m slightly more thankful for you than for the essays is because you weren’t as time consuming and demanding as writing a paper. Although it was awkward at times, especially because of the fact that most of us had awoken from our slumber 30 minutes prior and our brains were fried, it didn’t require as much effort on my part to simply talk and discuss my findings with the rest of the class. However, it did get pretty nerve-wracking when I couldn’t find a respectable place to jump into the conversation as the clock ticked and my grade for the seminar began to sink further and further into oblivion. Nevertheless, I’d like to thank this part of the class for pressuring me to properly and adequately analyze the pieces we took home, even forcing me to play detective to find certain parts/moments that other people would be less likely to notice. Consequently, I’ve learned how to analyze a literary piece beyond the obvious.

    To the blogs, sometimes they were absolutely painful to choke out especially during weeks where I had trouble thinking of what to write, but I did enjoy writing them most of the time. I most definitely had to be creative, thinking of how to craft them in a way where I didn’t seem like an idiot and someone who was just squeezing a paragraph out with no real purpose or passion. Nonetheless, it was entertaining and fun to have a piece where I could write with a loose structure/format. I enjoyed having something where the only requirement was that I simply had to write. It could’ve been the most atrocious paragraph that I had written in my life but I would still get the points. This creative freedom and lack of pressure allowed for me to freely apply what we learned in class to create pieces that went beyond or further expanded on our lessons. Although our pieces weren’t graded on quality, I think it was an aspect of the class that helped to further my literary skills and cultivate my imagination. It was also fun to look at what other people were coming up with and how everyone had different ideas, especially during weeks where there was no specific question or prompt.

    To the pieces we read in class, I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of you, maybe. First of all, to “MAUS,” I love you. I want to thank you for being an entertaining read that shed light on the complexity that comics could hold through symbols and motifs that expanded beyond the simple illustrations and literal portrayals drawn by the author. It was interesting to analyze you from front to back, from picture to text. You definitely broke the stereotype I held about comic books. I had initially believed that they were indeed entertaining novels but at the same time believed them to be cheap in terms of profoundness and complexity. You absolutely sucker-punched that opinion, stepped on it, crumbled it up, and spat on it for good measure. Then you handed it back for me to reshape. Therefore, I enjoyed reading you and developing my own interpretations of what your creator was trying to say or portray. I enjoyed discovering a new valid interpretation seemingly every time I’d flip back to a page I had already read. Your illustrations not only showed what was going on in your story, but they wove stories within the stories. They helped to create symbols that were significant throughout the entirety of your pages and spoke to the reader. Now, to “The Great Gatsby,” I love and hate you. I think you did a fantastic job at weaving a story that portrayed the historical significance of the Roaring 20s. You also taught me a lot about your author’s rhetorical choices and how they came together to showcase one big message. In terms of literary choices and style that I could’ve learned from, you absolutely smashed it out of the park. However, in all honesty, I didn’t really enjoy your story. I didn’t appreciate how pathetic Jay Gatsby was, and how his heart was so set on someone who did not feel the same. I didn’t like how such a person, who had achieved so much beyond the scope and potential of what the average individual could do, had thrown it all away and let it go to waste because of his silly, basically unrequited love for a MARRIED woman. Nevertheless, you were great at using allusions and symbols to portray your main message of how wealth highlights the corrupt nature of humans.

    To the forced participation, thank you. I’d like to express my gratitude for forcing us to talk to more people. This helped us to bridge the gaps between the room and build connections with new people. This also allowed for us to share and gather ideas that expanded beyond the limitations of what our tables could muster. Collaboration was encouraged and cultured through this process. Additionally, as we were forced to walk around the room, I am grateful that we had the opportunity to stretch our legs and wake ourselves from the drowsiness of first hour.

    Moreover, I would like to thank the people within the classroom. To my table, I love you. Thank you for always waking me up instantly with your laughter and smiles. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting next to all of you. To be more specific, thank you David He. You were the guide to our conversations and analysis. It always seemed as if you held the key to the secret trove of all the accurate answers. You were legitimately the light in the darkness, especially when the rest of the table was absolutely lost and confused on what we were supposed to be noticing. You always took the torch and the lead, and guided us all to the hidden treasure of knowledge. To Edison Lin, thank you for being a good sport whenever we would put you on the spot when asked to provide an answer. Your responses were always enlightening and often humorous. To David Chen, thank you for existing. Also, thank you for always responding well to whatever I had to say, both comedic and academic. You always built onto whatever observations we had and enhanced them. To Tyler Weitzel, thank you for being the strong pillar and cornerstone that held up the foundation of our table. You always contributed to the core, often fervent discussions we had at our table, often encapsulating our jumbled-up thoughts into a simple, yet well-thought-out summarizing sentence.

    Finally, to Mrs. Valentino, thank you for being such a great mentor and teacher. Our entire table greatly enjoyed being in your class this year. It was fun, challenging, and enlightening. We almost always walked away from your class with a new nugget of information that we had simply failed to conjure up with our own analysis. Thank you for making the class fun and engaging. Your methods of active teaching made the class entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed AP English this year, much more than I thought I would from all the rumors and ideas that were implanted in my head by the seniors. It was always a pleasure to walk into the class first thing in the morning. I wouldn’t want to have any other class to start off the day. Furthermore, thank you for encouraging us to socialize with others. It was nice hearing opinions and input from people we weren’t used to sitting next to. Thanks to your encouragement, I made multiple new friends this year as a result of the shifting of tables and seating. Thus, this wasn’t a class where I only garnered the common skills an average student in the US derives from this course. Sure, I’d like to think I made a few improvements in my writing and analysis skills. However, I also believe I became a better student overall and a deeper thinker. This was a class that impacted me beyond the English language. And for that, I am forever grateful.