AP TW#6 LOF
Okay, with seven timed writes under your belt… is the timed experience getting less stressful? What have you discovered about tackling prompts successfully? What have you learned about prewriting and drafting your work in a timed setting? Advice for others? After reading sample essays and scoring comments, what is your plan for revising this particular work? Use specifics when answering. DUE 10.19
October 14th, 2009 at 7:05 am
Despite doing so many time writes, I don’t really feel like it’s getting easier, I feel like the more we do, the more pressure is on me to improve, which I really haven’t. For this essay esspeically I thought I did a really good job on, I was pretty excited to get it back, but I didn’t do so well. I’ve discovered that all the 8’s or 9’s that I have read have tied something other than plot in for examples. The other Lord of the Flies essay I read made an allusion to World War II that was going on while the story was, to demonstrate how the author made children out to be. I don’t usually do those kinds of things, unless it specifically states too. I still do not like the idea of being timed. It’s hard for me to concerntrate when I know I’m being timed to write something, when I usually write essays I spend a lot of time on them to get a good score, not write on in forty minutes. I don’t have any advice because a five isn’t that good of a score. My plan is too show how the novel ties in with the real world or how it ties in with other things happening in the world compared to the boy’s island.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:05 am
I have found that when the prompts are given to me I have a difficult time thinking of specific examples right away and that I cannot find the right words to explain what I think the deeper meaning of the novel is. With such a short amount of time, I am limited to a very small amounting of prewriting and drafting, mostly consistent of jotting down my ideas for examples and how they relate to the theme. Often I have no time for an actual rough draft. I think this does not effect my work very much because some of my problems deal with my grasp of the novel and that could not be fixed by multiple drafts or prewrites. After reading the sample essays and scoring comments, I have found that I did grasp the deeper meaning of the text. Though I wrote about how even children will behave savagely when stripped of their ammenities and without adult supervision, I did not come up with a purpose and the novel actually paralleled World War II. In my rewrite I am going to have to make sure I word my examples so that fit to what the purpose of the novel truly is.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:06 am
After several timed writes, I think the experience is getting less stressful as a whole. The level of stress definitly depends on the promt and what novel we are supposed to be writing about. Over these last few timed writes, I have improved at managing my time and choosing the right words in a timely manner. I always try to write down my initial thoughts and insights on the sheet with the promt question. That way I at least have a somewhat orgainized brainstorm/prewrite to draw the rest of the essay from. I try to do this quickly, so that I am sure I will have enough time for the rest of the essay. My advice for others is to keep a level head and write as well as possible in the time alloted. In revising this essay, I need to include more about Golding’s deeper meaning and the parallels between the children’s war on the island and WWII going on in the outside world. I included most of my sentences about Golding’s overall point in the conclusion paragraph. When revising, I will show how my examples contribute to his overall point throughout my entire essay. I will also include another example from the text, the scene at the end of the novel when the military comes to resue the boys and are horrified at what they find and how that example relates to Golding’s overall point. I will also include the irony between what is happening on the island and WWII in the outside world.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:07 am
The timed writes are a bit easier, I’ve been focusing more on the prompt and answering the dreaded “how does this contribute to the work as a whole” question has gotten less vague.
I’ve learned I don’t prewrite or draft at all, making small revisions as I’m writing or spending time to think the sentence out before it goes down. On this essay, I wrote out some notes to make sure I hit them – points about the boys killing Simon or huntign Ralph – but I really didn’t need them.
Advice for others would be to research the historical background fo the novels before reading them. That would have helped make/prove points on many of these essays. For this one, I didn’t even talk about the connections the boys had with their adult counterparts in the World War.
This essay’s revisions will include commenting on the connection of the children and the adults. I need to better explain the parallel for the struggle of power without enforcement. I have to SHOW how the conch symbolizes respect and order and relate it as a theme of the piece – or at least lack of. Mostly, I need to set back to the adult world: fear of the unknown causing hysteria, the tribal politics of the boys, the faction in the boys early on, the chaos and animalism that comes with not having rules or enforcement, the two kinds of people (Jack and Raplh) existing, and how power corrupts. I also need to elaborate on some points of disorder without boundaries and blind power.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:08 am
I think that the essays are becoming easier to write because I now know how to back up my points, and give a visual of where i am coming from.In the beginning of this class, I panicked very frequently, but now i can relax a bit more, and my grades are improving because of it. i can now find the exact words that I want to use in my essay the describe how I feel and what I am trying to analyze. I also noticed that summarizing is not a bad thing, just after summarizing, the writer should analyze his point in the text, giving a clearer view of what is trying to be said. though I got a five, this score shows that I am improving. I am one step closer to getting that covetted nine.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:10 am
The timed writes are getting less stressful probably because im getting better at using the time. To answer a prompt successfully one should go over every paragraph and make sure it is answering it. I have learned that it is easier to write an essay once i have brainstormed or written an outline. My advice for others would be to write down what you are going to write about in an organized fashion.
For this timed write i recieved my third 5 in a row, and partly because of the same problems. This essay i think is my best though, probably because i really like this novel and i remember a lot of examples that i could use.Once again i did not go into adequate depth or development. I stated how childhood shapes the meaning of the work as a whole, but i did not do this throughout the whole essay. To recieve a higher grade i need to go into depth and analyze the meaning of the work as a whole. Like sample 3B i wrote with underdeveloped detail.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:12 am
Yet again, i have blundered in the essay world, i feel lost when it comes to whether or not i can stay on topic. My supporting text lacks detail and i think that is my main downfall. this analyitical writing is becoming much more familiar, but i know have a pattern of writing mistakes that i can attack the source of. As the familiarity of writing analytical essays increases i find it easier to score better, better yet, the writing seems to be getting a little bit easier, but here is still much more for me to improve on. my only advice is for people to avoid superficiality in their writing, that seems to be the downfall of teenage writers.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:12 am
After this timed write I feel about the same as before. Every timed write’s success is based on the prompt and novel, if I cannot answer the prompt fully, then my essay will automatically be weak, so it is hard to improve when I keep leaving the prompt out. The stress level really has not changed, because I never know what the essay topic is going to ask of me. However, I have begun to organize my prewriting better in order to make the actual writing of the essay flow smoothly. When I was reading the sample essays I knew that I had missed the larger meaning of Lord of the Flies. When I rewrite this essay I must include the comparison and contrast to adults and children, and the stresses that society places of childhood and innocence.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:19 am
I dove a little to far into story summary, with this essay. In doing so, I managed to leave out some relatively important details. I neglected to even MENTION the war that the boys’ parents were fighting, and how this induced the havoc that was let loose on the island. In my rewrite, I’ll remember to address those points, and sow how they affect the story as a whole.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Overall I feel like i’m really improving, but very slowly. I would not call the experience stressful anymore but rather unsurprising. I know that i’m giving the essay’s 100% but it has yet to show that, i’m not really surprised anymore at the fact that I have to rewrite something because although I feel like I am progressing it is not enough to actually be acceptable. What I have learned from working under a timed environment is that I need to organize my thoughts better, besides that I have really learned that working in an untimed environment is the only possible way for me to form my thoughts correctly and concisively and if I can do that during the A.P. Timed Essays I think I will be fine, but of course that is easier said than done. Because if how porrly I have done on these essays I don’t think my advice will be very useful, but, for this next rewrite I will focus more on the parallel’s between adults in that time and the children of the island. Specifically, I will be sure to include how that war has affected the children’s views of the world and how they themselves should act.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:22 am
This was my best timed write yet and while i am grateful for the score I recieved, I pictured myself doing better on this essay. Lord of the Flies was my favorite book of the summer readings and I felt I knew it well, and I think I did, my problem was I did not say how the society of Lord of The Flies paralled the adult society, also I think my word choice was rather confusing. I think when I am under a time limit I forget that I have a diverse vocabulary and use the same words, or pick confusting words. I need to read about the history of the book and work on being more consice in my writing to raise my score from a 6 to an 8 or a 9. I am happy that I am getting better at these timed writes, for a while I thought I was always going to be stuck in the 3-4 range.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Even after doing 7 essays, I still think that it is equally, if not more, stressful. My scores don’t seem to be going up even though I am prewriting and using more examples from the books.
I was surprised to see that one of the scored essays was Lord of the Flies. It was interesting looking at it and thinking, “Wow, that isn’t what I wrote about at all.” I still can’t handle writing the essay to ‘contribute to the work as a whole.’ I do not know why I cannot comprihend that. I did not even realize that World War 2 was happening of the island. How did I miss that? Once again, I need to start refreshing myself on the books.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:25 am
I feel that the timed writes are getting a little less stressful, only for the reason that I know how to draft out what i want to say and elaborate on that before I actually write. otherwise I still get stressed thinking whether I am able to relate the question to the novel. The way that helps me write better would be making little notes instead of sentences for drafting; for me, I feel I can freely do what I want with them when I either change my mind or idea, its easier than changing sentences. I have learned from these prewrites that it does not matter how much you know about the book, but how well you can relate the question asked to the novel. My advice to others would be to draft small ideas down before writing and then expand on them as you get more ideas when writing. This time around I had recieved my highest score, so I feel I am getting a better sense of how to write these timed essays. Next timed write I am going to do the same, just put even more detail into the work ( using more support than i already have to answer the question.)
October 14th, 2009 at 7:25 am
After the fourth timed write, i stopped freaking out about the timed writes. I started calming down and it really helped on my timed writes because i could think clearer and i was getting higher grades. I discovered if i broke down the prompt, i could really find better examples and it was easier to write the essay. Instead of looking really deep into the prompt, i kept it simple and my grades started going up. I dont really make drafts on my timed writes but for the pre write i write down what i need to do and what i need to focus on. I think especially for the kids coming up, you dont have to freak about timed wirtes. They arent as big of a deal as you think they are. I look at the works, and i didnt think anything was super good, so i will change my use of language and get better examples.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:25 am
I’m definitely getting more comfortable with the timed writes. I’ve figured out how much time to spend brainstorming and I’m beginning to see what topics are best to brainstorm with. The first thing I think of is always the author’s name and the names of important characters because without these things the essay usually sounds like I’m making something up. I’m starting to see that it’s ok to use the first idea that comes to mind (something i never do with personal essays) because it usually has the most obvious examples to support it and is a common idea that others woudl most lkely share. My first essays failed because I was trying to be too creative and approach topics in an unconventional way, my views were less common and when a weaker example was used, it wasn’t always clear how it pertained to the essay. I finally understand how to bring my thesis back to the work as a whole, which was another thing i really struggled with. I have my highest grade yet, and i think this essay deserved it. For this essay I referenced a lot of current adult behavior and participation in the war in afghanistan when comparing the boys with adults. Even though it parallels current conflicts, I need to reference the time in which it was written because that is what the author was referring to when he wrote it. I also forgot a lot of names in this one, which made it weaker.
October 15th, 2009 at 5:28 am
After completeing the seventh timed write, it is definitly getting less stressful. I am getting used to them better and I have a better sense of how I can write them. I know now that we have to be able to write using good details that support our thesis, but also not to plot and anaylze the novel itself. I keep doing that and I know it is affecting my grade. I think that prewrting is very important to do before we start our essays. It will keep us from babbling on in the essay and keep us focused on the main points. My advice for others would be to not anaylze or plot the novel in the essay. After reading the scored writes, I need to make a better prewrite, take out all the plotting of the novel from my essay, and actually focus on the main thesis and idea.
October 15th, 2009 at 6:24 am
Compared to the very first timed write i think that i have definantly gotten alot better at successfully writing these essays, but i’m certainly no where near where i want to be. I still do not fully develope my statements, and in this essay i tend to summarize the plot. I also do not have a very soild prewrite, therefore i really didn;t have much to work from. I felt like i jumped the gun on this essay because i went right into writting it feeling as though i knew the plot line well enough to not have to scatch down my ideas.(DEFINANTLY NOT A GOOD IDEA)If i had to say i learned one good thing about prewriting throughout these past couple weeks it would most certainly be actaully doing it. It’s hard to get yourself to make a “sloppy copy” before going into the real thing, but it truly does change/help a TON in your final essay. Therefore my advice to upcoming seniors would be to take your time and to put as much thought into your drafting process. This is the step that alot of times goes unlooked at, and to tell them the truth, it is without a doubt the most important one of all.
October 16th, 2009 at 11:56 am
This timed write was probably the easiest for me so far because I knew right away what I needed to write about. My beginning was pretty weak and a little scattered but as I went on I became more confident and I developed a really good thesis with strong support. Probably the biggest mistake that I made with this essay was that I made it seem like adults would have handled this situation in a better, less violent way. The only reason I implied this is because I completely forgot about the war that the adults were involved in while the boys were fighting each other. My rewrite will definitely have more organization, and it is going to draw more attention to the similarities between the children’s behavior and the adults’.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
The timed writes are getting a little easier for me. I have been staying around a 4 or a 5 which I consider much better than then 2’s I was getting. I read the sample essays through, but still I don’t feel like I completely know what I am doing. I think it would help if I actually got a 8 or a 9. Then, I will have something to really go off of. I think it being my own essay will make a difference because it will be my thoughts. I won’t have to be like someone else. As for prewriting, I have found it very helpful. I feel if I plan the topics of my body paragraphs, the essay is much easier to write. For my rewrite, I think I need to relate the essay to World War II. It was writen on my essay as a critique and also the sample essay mentioned it. If I do that, I should succeed.
October 18th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I don’t really find the timed writes very stressful, a little aggravating, but I’m not freaking out over them. I’ve learned that the prompts are really the one thing that messes me up every time. I’ve been staying in like the 5-7 range on my papers, but I seem to always find a way to mess up part of what is asked of me. In this essay I thought I did a pretty good job of analyzing the boys childhood and how the lack of adult society basically transformed them into savages, but I completely left out the parallel to the real life adult world and WWII which they were fighting in. I think that I should probably try to work on my brainstorming a little, because I really don’t do any I just kind of start writing and make it work. My advice to others and to myself would just be to make sure you do exactly what it is that the prompt is asking and you tie everything back to your thesis and maybe you’ll get an eight.
October 18th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Being timed is not that stressful at all. The stress arises when I have nothing to write about. The key to tackling the prompt is to tell how it helps with the book as a whole. It is easy to give examples of the prompt but it’s a little harder to show how it contributes to the book as a whole. Pre-writing is some what important. It allows me to see how i can rearrange my essay to better organize it before rather than winging it. I have no advice for others because I have yet to get a good score so anything I know obviously isn’t working. This was my best score yet. I am missing a few minor details and missing some key tie in points. I’ll need to make a few more references to the war going on outside the island.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
The more timed writes i do i don’t seem to get anywhere. I feel dense when i look at my grades. They have been consistent threes and fives since my first essay and it’s getting frustrating. This time around my entire essay was off base and my point was irrelevant. I find this very confusing because the question is technically asking for my interpretation of the book and how the author presents the information. I don’t understand how i view the book has anything to do with how well i write. I thought these essays were only based on writing, but apparently i not only cannot write a lick but my thought process is flawed as well. I’m getting more and more frustrated because every time i seem to get more confident i do something wrong i’ve never done wrong before in previous essays and i don’t know how to fix it. The thesis i’ve been fed does not make any sense to me so my rewrite is frustrating because i don’t understand the analysis i was supposed to conclude to. I feel like i’m not learning a single thing and that any advice i would give to other’s would only worsen their grades. I have no plan to revise because i’m basically starting from scratch which is frustrating because i’m not sure what is expected of me.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Although this timed write was my hightest so far, i still think that the timed essays are quite stressful, but not as stressful as the first. During the first timed write i was stressed about writing a powerful essay in time, which actually reflected poorly on my essay, but after much experience with writing these essays, i am not as stressed. I still find it hard to write a strong essay in such a short amount of time, but i am improving. In this timed write, i merely mentioned the war occuring, but i did not focus on that throughout my essay, which i should do to improve my score. My biggest problem in writing essays is to come up with a strong thesis and relate to it repeatidy in the essay. My advice for others when writing timed writes as well is to make sure that when writing your essays, you must go back to the prompt and make sure that you addressed all the points it is asking, which i sometimes fail to do. After reading the example essays, i need to explain how to use of childhood relates to the theme of the novel while also using that to show a parallel to world war two.
October 18th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
After the seventh time write, I feel that these are getting a lot less stressful. I know how to write everything I need to within the time limit, and I feel much less overwhelmed. I have learned to take my time in reading the prompt, and also that underlining the essay question helps me to keep focused in my writing. Although I have still not received and eight or a nine, my scores are slowly improving. I received my highest score yet, and it somewhat boosts my confidence to know that I am improving and learning. For this re write, I have to focus a lot more on adults in the same situation as the children. I barely mentioned adults in my first write. I mentioned the war maybe once or twice, but for my rewrite I will have to mention it much more. After reading the sample essays, I need to explain the representation of childhood better. I need to talk about how Ralph and Jack’s foils represent two kinds of adults in a time of crisis. Hopefully this essay will score an eight or a nine.
October 18th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
This is the first essay where I have not gotten the same score or worse, so I was rather pleased with myself. Still, I need to raise it. I feel like I am finally realizing what the questions are asking me. I have also found that the most important thing for me to do well is to have a more organized pre-write. Now that I finally am comfortable with the alotted time, I am able to pace myself better. My biggest problem is being thorough in explaining myself. I tend to touch on my point and not go into greater depth. In my opening paragraph, I simply stated that the children portray “the beast in all of us.” I need to tie this to the history of the time during which the novel took place. I think if I incorporate more knowledge of the novel and the background into my essay I can do a bit better.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Writing these timed essays has become less stressful for me. The only problem I have is that I do not put more details into my work. I just get straight to what the prompt wants, which could be a good or bad thing i think. Even though this essay was my highest score recieved, I still missed some pretty major details. For example, reading the sample essays, it totally went over my head to relate the story to what was going on in WWII at that time. I will definately include that.I have found that I do write these essays better when I jot down some inital thoughts about the prompt, before I begin the actual essay. I may not have a full web diagram or whatever but my little “remembrances” help get my brain going for the essay. I would highly recommend people to at least jot something down before they jump into the essay.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:36 am
By now I would have to hoped to have gotten better, and in some ways i can see my improvement, such as I am getting slightly away from summarizing and more toward annalyzing, however they are not stressful, but I still find them difficult to grasp the right concepts when doing my timed writes. I have learned that it is helpful if i take the time to look back over my timed write and look at the question more than just in the beginning, also to write out a much more detailed pre-write so that I have a set plan on what i am setting out to do, because i tend to stray from the topic often. The time has not really effected my writing, I chose not to think about the time, which may not come in handy later during the test when i don’t have a set class period to do it, but for now the time factor does not hinder my pre-write or final draft. I would love to offer helpful advice, however my writing is not that great so I cannot really be of any help, except for maybe just to relax. As for this writing i need to go back and look at the prompts.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:46 am
After completing seven Timed Writes, I have been noticing that I am becoming more and more confident each time that I write. I have learned that I need to do everything I can to stay with the prompt and make sure that I write enough about it. I have learned that a prewrite in these settings is important to make sure that I have all my ideas in front of me, that way I do not forget anything. After reading the sample essays and overlooking the comments on it, I need to connect my essay to World War II more. I also need to analyze the plot more, because I am still restating it.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:27 am
After completeing seven timed writes, I deffinatly feel less stress and relaxed while writing. Im not rushing for time or watching other people write while im day dreaming. I have found a writing format that works good for me and im getting better and better everytime I use it. I feel like the prompts to these essays are very simple to anwser you just have to get creative with your response. I did a good job on this essay, I just need to critique my wording a little and that will get me to an 8 or 9 level for sure.
October 19th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
One of the biggest problems I have in time writes is not having the ability too stick too a plan. Usually this is not a problem with me, for I can just go back and edit my paper Tto better organize and improve what I wrote (usually the entire first and second paragraph) The problem with timed writes is I can’t do that, there fore I have to stick too what I want too write and try too not let my ADD writing get the best of me. In this essay I failed at that, my plan was to analyze the boys behaviors and characters and show how they showed the evil inside mans heart, unfortunately it took me two paragraphs of summarization too get too that point.When I rewrite it I need too make sure that I analyze throughout the paper. Overall though my papers are improving as I managed to squander out a 6.