The first thing that we did was our final exam project. First off, I love how open ended these are. I always have way too much fun with creating games, and when it doubles as a school assignment, I can feel productive while having fun. I spent too much time on this game for homework, but it was worth it and a ton of fun in the end. I think that most of the class enjoyed it, and if we have an open ended project for Hamlet, I can’t wait to create “Stabby Hamlet”.

I have created Stabby Macbeth, Stabby Boys (this one), and I am working on a more full featured game for a class I am taking at MSU. I always love how there are well written games, that make it more of an interactive literature experience.

After that, we covered a bunch of poetry. Hearing my classmates debate and talk about the different viewpoints made me realize that there is rarely one “true” answer for any given piece of text. There are bad answers that may lack evidence, but there are a lot of good ones, influenced by prior readings.

We then started a Shakespeare unit, with Elizabethan theatre, before jumping into Hamlet. Hamlet is a good story, albeit with some missing parts almost (I really wish that Shakespeare had written an addition for it that explained more of the plot). He died in his fifties, so it isn’t unreasonable that he may have had a sequel or prequel in mind. We read through the play, which is always nice. Polonius’ lines were a pain. He didn’t have that many, but they were literally tongue twisters.

We also did the multiple choice creation exercise. Learning what it is like from the other side does better prepare us for the AP. I had a few learning moments where I realized just how College Board designs questions, and how to exploit that to do better.

The poetry projects were very cool. I loved seeing how many people were able to have different opinions on something as short as a poem. Just being forced to sit down and analyze something isn’t something I have done since middle school. Since I have learned a ton since then, it was fun to read something and give myself time to mull it over.

My goal score on the AP exam is a 5. I need to work on my writing skills a ton, I think that I have been underperforming recently. I don’t often write out the connections I make in my head, or my thesis morphs as I write. Most of this is just practice. The only way you could help me is by grading extra AP essays that I fill out by myself, and leaving helpful feedback.