Goals

As the days grow shorter and the summer nears its end, the inevitable reality of school starting back up starts to become more and more real. Along with the realization of school resuming once again comes the realization that my days of ignoring anything and everything that is at all school related are coming to a close. In other words, In about three weeks I’m going to have to start using my brain again. In the small amount of thinking I have done this summer in regards to school, I have come up with three concrete goals that (if accomplished) should lead to a fun and successful year in A.P. Literature. I hope to learn to enjoy classic literature, shorten the length of my essays (thats a big one), and pass the A.P. test at the end of the year with a score of four or (god forbid) a five.

I really want to learn how to enjoy classic literature, I mean like really bad! There are so many books out there that tell fabulous stories but are so bogged down with old English terminology that reading them is worse then trying to read old hieroglyphs off the side of a pyramid. If I could figure out a way to better understand these books so I can actually enjoy them I would be thrilled! On top of that, I just hope to learn how to enjoy reading in general more. I’m not to sure if its possible to learn how to enjoy something, but hey, I figure its worth a try. This is kind of a side note but I think it would be awesome to get to read some horror stories this year! I saw frankenstein and the Invisible Man on the list of books that were on the A.P. test, and if we get the chance I definitely think the class should read them!

I also really want to learn more on how to shorten the length of my essays and ultimately make them more concise. I won’t lie, sometimes I just kind of go off when I write, and sort of rant for a paragraph or two about things that do pertain to my topic, but don’t necessarily have to be in the piece of writing. I would love to learn more on how to weed out the unnecessary parts of my writing. I mean there have been times when the class has been assigned  500 word essay and I go off and write a 1000 word essay. I’m not saying thats a bad thing, but I would really like to be able to say all I say in 1000 words in 500 words. I know I can, its just a matter of practice.

On top of all of that I have one extremely generic goal. I’m sure everyone in the class (who plans on taking the A.P. test) has this same goal. I want to pass the A.P. exam with a 4 or a 5, that way I can save myself some time (and money) next year when I go off to college. I’ve come to realize that college is freakishly expensive and that every dollar saved counts. That being said, I’d love to knock off the costs of a few textbooks by getting college credit for an English class this year (while its still free).

All in all I feel like I’ll be very satisfied with my year if I can make these goals happen! I forgot to mention above that I also want to have fun this year! This is my last year EVER in high school, so I want to make sure its my best year. I don’t see how thats possible if I’m not having fun. Really, as long as I figure out a good balance between fun time and work time this next year, I see no reason as to why this won’t be the best year of high school yet.