One of the things that surprised me the most about this trimester was the SSR projects. For whatever reason I loved the critical theory projects. I got interested in learning about my theory, READ my two books and enjoyed watching two different TED talks. The entire time I just felt engaged and the learning was fun. I think the biggest factor in me getting so involved in the project was that I was allowed to choose my critical theory topic. In the past I have been told to do different projects based on books and I never real got much out of them. I rarely read the books and just did what I had to do to get a good grade. AP Lit has been the first time that I have really tried on an english project and gotten something good out of it. Andy talks about this sometimes but AP Lit really feels like a college level class. I mean, I'm not drowning in homework or cramming for essays but expectation and the level of thinking are much higher than I have ever experienced in a high school honors english class.
I also really liked the preparation for the Pecha Kucha style presentation. I have been presenting through business professionals of America for a while now so I felt pretty confident about presenting. However, the PK really mixed me up at first. You only get three and a half minutes to do the presentation and it was hard to give an intro, explanation, research, talk about your books and conclude in a precise manor. I found myself rewriting it and knowing my presentation better than a lot of my competition presentations. I strongly recommend continuing to do those presentations.
I also really liked the preparation for the Pecha Kucha style presentation. I have been presenting through business professionals of America for a while now so I felt pretty confident about presenting. However, the PK really mixed me up at first. You only get three and a half minutes to do the presentation and it was hard to give an intro, explanation, research, talk about your books and conclude in a precise manor. I found myself rewriting it and knowing my presentation better than a lot of my competition presentations. I strongly recommend continuing to do those presentations.