A compelling presentation, a compelling argument! Excellent job on your analysis of Knut Hamsun, someone who—I admit—I have never heard of. You did a great job in explaining his background and influences on his writing, as well as engaging the audience in your little “brain break” activity that also served to support your evidence of Hamsun’s literary techniques. Your presentation was also clear and concise, with much of your information delivered through your words; this was something I enjoyed as I would rather hear the presenter talk than simply read off of the screen.
Your poetry multiple choice questions was a welcome mix of both difficult and easy. There was a good incorporation of the themes found in the poem with the “interpret” and “infer” type questions. This makes it great practice for the AP exam, as the hard questions are those types, not the “stated in the passage” type. I also liked the varying lengths of answer sets in each, which don’t make the questions too vague or too confusing when looked at holistically. A great representation of the AP exams questions! Good job!
I found your AP Poetry Multiple Choice Questions to be significantly more difficult than some of the other Multiple Choice Questions that students had in their presentations. I specifically think that the questions were hard because they dealt with a poem by Donne—who in his typical style—relied heavily on Biblical allusions and an extended conceit throughout his poem. I actually think that you could have addressed this conceit in one of your questions, perhaps instead of looking at this aspect of Donne’s writing as opposed to the meter that he used. At the same time, I did find it highly useful to be reminded of the importance of knowledge of meter when looking at AP Multiple Choice Questions. While I was able to identify the iambic pentameter with which the poem was written, I decided to revisit my notes from first trimester after taking your quiz in order to re-familiarize myself with the other types of meter. As far as the questions that I missed, I think I misunderstood Donne’s conceit throughout the poem. For Question #2, I over-interpreted the conceit, insinuating a connection between “straits” and being trapped, when there was no such connection. For Question #4, I thought that the mentioned lines’ heavy use of Biblical allusion served as evidence of the speaker’s familiarity with Christianity. Again, I over-interpreted this to mean that, with a good understanding of Christianity, the author would be content with his fate, as per the Christian doctrine of accepting God’s commandments and wishes. In reality, this just meant that the speaker maintained his undying spirituality, even in the context of the “narrows straits” which he was braving.
A compelling presentation, a compelling argument! Excellent job on your analysis of Knut Hamsun, someone who—I admit—I have never heard of. You did a great job in explaining his background and influences on his writing, as well as engaging the audience in your little “brain break” activity that also served to support your evidence of Hamsun’s literary techniques. Your presentation was also clear and concise, with much of your information delivered through your words; this was something I enjoyed as I would rather hear the presenter talk than simply read off of the screen.
ReplyDeleteYour poetry multiple choice questions was a welcome mix of both difficult and easy. There was a good incorporation of the themes found in the poem with the “interpret” and “infer” type questions. This makes it great practice for the AP exam, as the hard questions are those types, not the “stated in the passage” type. I also liked the varying lengths of answer sets in each, which don’t make the questions too vague or too confusing when looked at holistically. A great representation of the AP exams questions! Good job!
I found your AP Poetry Multiple Choice Questions to be significantly more difficult than some of the other Multiple Choice Questions that students had in their presentations. I specifically think that the questions were hard because they dealt with a poem by Donne—who in his typical style—relied heavily on Biblical allusions and an extended conceit throughout his poem. I actually think that you could have addressed this conceit in one of your questions, perhaps instead of looking at this aspect of Donne’s writing as opposed to the meter that he used. At the same time, I did find it highly useful to be reminded of the importance of knowledge of meter when looking at AP Multiple Choice Questions. While I was able to identify the iambic pentameter with which the poem was written, I decided to revisit my notes from first trimester after taking your quiz in order to re-familiarize myself with the other types of meter.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the questions that I missed, I think I misunderstood Donne’s conceit throughout the poem. For Question #2, I over-interpreted the conceit, insinuating a connection between “straits” and being trapped, when there was no such connection. For Question #4, I thought that the mentioned lines’ heavy use of Biblical allusion served as evidence of the speaker’s familiarity with Christianity. Again, I over-interpreted this to mean that, with a good understanding of Christianity, the author would be content with his fate, as per the Christian doctrine of accepting God’s commandments and wishes. In reality, this just meant that the speaker maintained his undying spirituality, even in the context of the “narrows straits” which he was braving.