MASTERPIECE ACADEMY ESSAY

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Jacob Fowler

Dr. David Preston

AP English Lit/Comp

1 June 2014

Masterpiece Academy Essay

Over fifty percent of marriages in the United States end in divorce, that means many people fall in love only 

to fall out of it. This is true about learning too. Everyone is born with a passion and love of learning, only to 

have it drained by school and the strains placed on us by "education". This year (specifically in this course) I 

was able to fall back into my love affair with learning. For the first time in years I was able to be married to 

learning without worrying about it all falling apart.

In this class I was able to read fiction, write fiction, and analyze fiction. After rigorously being involved with 

fictional tales I can now confirm that fiction, does in fact, tell the truth more than most. This year's reading 

selection did not follow the traditional chronological order but was rather curated 

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in order that we could extract the most from each selection. Because of this we were able to analyze fiction 

instead of just going through the state mandated motions of reading and creating outlines. Edmond Yi and 

Connor Albright understood this fact and were able to create very true statements through the fiction that 

they wrote in the form of their novels. The truths that fiction told me this year were incredibly personal and 

real.

This year was a chiasmus in many ways but particularly in the form of passion. We began over the summer 

talking about passion in the form of our Big Questions and ended the year talking about passion in the form 

of our Masterpieces. So for me I never really had to get reconnected with my passions because I was 

always around my passion, which is teaching. I know the same is true for Kristen Crockett and Kendall 

Villa, who exemplified their love of teaching all year through either the Mentor Group or their Masterpiece 

presentations. This year I was able to teach and learn in the same setting and it was very valuable for me.

My favorite novel that I have ever read is Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. That book can truly make me 

laugh out loud with some of the main characters wit and sarcasm. Some elements of the book, however, are 

not intended to make me laugh (i.e the end scene with Holden at the school) but they do because they spark 

a memory. For the same reason I laughed at Miranda Nillo's video because it reminded me of so many great 

memories this year.

All in all, if this class was a story all of the memberss of the class would be characterized with bilgunsroman 

as very dynamic characters. Our passions changed, our learning styles adapted, and the way we 

communicated improved. This course (along with the Masterpiece Academy) has personified the perfect 

marriage with learning. And now I must be led to believe that college will be the honeymoon.

Masterpiece Experience/Notes

The masterpieces in class (for the most part) have been outstanding and I for one have been impressed by everyone's work. I think we can all agree that today Erica knocked it out of the part with her demonstration/presentation/video about the campesinos in our community. I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us.

MASTERPIECE VIDEO

I decided to take down the video because we used first and last names and I want to protect the privacy of those who were in it. If any one wants to view it you can email me and I'm sure we can arrange something.

Masterpiece Update

The video is complete! My partner and I cannot wait to present on Friday, we really think this project will help us find the differences between learning and education.

AP Physics Hack #2

Final Project Proposal


For my project I will be attempting to create a coil launcher using disposable camera flashes. 

Materials Needed: copper wire, 4 disposable cameras (with their flashes detached), glass tube, 2.5 mm nail, 4 1.5 V batteries, and holders for the glass and the batteries

Concepts Demonstrated: Powering tools using electric forces and using a parallel circuit to facilitate charge

Basically this is something a lot of people build on the internet to different extents where they set the flashes from disposable cameras and set them in series with an alternate power source which creates a way to shoot things. I will be doing this at a very small scale and trying to shoot a small nail (which according to the internet can go up to 25 m/s).

Masterpiece Prep

As AP testing dwindles down (with this class' test being over) it's finally time to give the bulk of my attention to the video/presentation Kristen and I are curating, I am very excited for the final product.

Prose Preparation

   As I study all of the prompts under the prose section of the course blog I realized that most of the prompts are very similar and as long as you understand literary techniques and are able to talk intelligibly about the way authors use them to create tone, theme, and their message.

   This was the essay question I was most nervous about but after preparation I feel very confident.

POETRY BOOTCAMP

Discipline

by DH Lawrence 

IT is stormy, and raindrops cling like silver bees to the pane,
The thin sycamores in the playground are swinging with flattened leaves;
The heads of the boys move dimly through a yellow gloom that stains
The class; over them all the dark net of my discipline weaves.
It is no good, dear, gentleness and forbearance, I endured too long:	5
I have pushed my hands in the dark soil, under the flower of my soul
And the gentle leaves, and have felt where the roots are strong
Fixed in the darkness, grappling for the deep soil’s little control.
And there is the dark, my darling, where the roots are entangled and fight
Each one for its hold on the oblivious darkness, I know that there	10
In the night where we first have being, before we rise on the light,
We are not brothers, my darling, we fight and we do not spare.
And in the original dark the roots cannot keep, cannot know
Any communion whatever, but they bind themselves on to the dark,
And drawing the darkness together, crush from it a twilight, a slow	15
Burning that breaks at last into leaves and a flower’s bright spark.
I came to the boys with love, my dear, but they turned on me;
I came with gentleness, with my heart ’twixt my hands like a bowl,
Like a loving-cup, like a grail, but they spilt it triumphantly
And tried to break the vessel, and to violate my soul.	20
But what have I to do with the boys, deep down in my soul, my love?
I throw from out of the darkness my self like a flower into sight,
Like a flower from out of the night-time, I lift my face, and those
Who will may warm their hands at me, comfort this night.
But whosoever would pluck apart my flowering shall burn their hands,	25
So flowers are tender folk, and roots can only hide,
Yet my flowerings of love are a fire, and the scarlet brands
Of my love are roses to look at, but flames to chide.
But comfort me, my love, now the fires are low,
Now I am broken to earth like a winter destroyed, and all	30
Myself but a knowledge of roots, of roots in the dark that throw
A net on the undersoil, which lies passive beneath their thrall.
But comfort me, for henceforth my love is yours alone,
To you alone will I offer the bowl, to you will I give
My essence only, but love me, and I will atone	35
To you for my general loving, atone as long as I live.

Title- clearly discipline is a harsh word with a lot of implications

Paraphrase- to be disciplined you must be one with nature

Connotation- passive voice, a lot of imagery

Attitude/tone- nature is the only real teacher

Shift- line 22

Title revisited- makes a lot of sense how you have to discipline yourself to love nature and understand how everything works

Theme- NATURE

MASTERPIECE PREVIEW

Kristen and I are making a video so there isn't too much that we can show without giving it all away, the creative process has been exactly that, a process. But we've received a lot of help from people who know more about making videos than we do.

And here is something we can show you, a blooper from one of our interviews!

SPRING BREAK ASSIGNMENT

I'm glad that I was tied with Sam Wellard for second place in the game on the last day before break, because of this I only had to comment on six literature analyses, the six I chose are:

1. Allyson Brown (To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf)
2. Edmond Yi (The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexadre Dumas)
3. Erica Marquez (Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia)
4. Hannah Savaso (A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway)
5. Kendall Villa (The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan)
6. Serena Nichols (Siddhartha by Herman Hesse)

FIVE STEPS

1. Finish the interviews for the video that Kristen and I are curating for our Masterpiece.
2. Begin editing and creating the final version of the video
3. Talk intelligibly with people who have extensive knowledge of video editing
4. Go back and re edit the video
5. Start analyzing the video for content, quantity, quality, and theme

MACBETH PRESENTATION

What are most people struggling to understand about Macbeth? 

• Incorporating the "Fair is foul and foul is fair" theme to the entire play
• Why Lady Macbeth seems to be "running the show"
• How the Chain of Command fits into to all of this
• Why Macbeth feels so guilty
• Simply following along with the plot

How we can help

• Review time! 
• Ask questions 
• Understand how monarchies worked back then
• Using literary techniques to dive into the themes of the play

Tools to use

• Last year's blog
• Our literature book might help
• There are a lot of good resources just a google search away
• Each other

MGOTM

Kristen and I are making really good progress on our video comparing the thought process of kids and their older counterparts.

We have all the recording we need, we just now need to curate a video.

The analysis of the tape is the most interesting, we are finding some interesting things about the way we all think...

ACT IV ACTIVE READING NOTES

• Foreshadowing (something wicked this way comes) Ray Bradbury alludes to this later
• Asks if Banquo's kids will rule and he is told to stop asking questions
• Macduff is in England planning a rebellion
• Macbeth acts like Lady Macbeth and decides to kill Macduff's whole family
• Also he says he's gonna do whatever he wants to do
• Macduff's wife is complaining that he is gone
• They murder Macduff's son
• Now Macduff wants to kill Macbeth after Ross tells him what happened

THE CROSSROADS BETWEEN SHOULD AND MUST

   The similarities between life and roads been drawn upon for centuries. Robert Frost took the one less traveled, Vladamir and Estragon waited for Godot on the side of one, Jesus rode a donkey over a palm-covered one, and now we have another one, the crossroad of should and must. 

   Should. A poorly constructed command. My aunt (a well known psychiatrist in the North West) calls should a shame word. Saying "should" is the way that others shame us in to doing what they want. To take that a step further, it is the way that we shame ourselves for not acting in the way we perceive society wants us to behave. Acting off this word is detrimental to our own mental health and success in the real world. If we intend to live happy lives we not live by the Creed of Should, but rather the Calling of Must.

   Must. A succinct phrase that creates an ethos of determination. The word "must" behaves in a manner that leaves the listener of said word wanting to achieve something. However Elle Luna uses this word in her article The Crossroads Between Should and Must as a synonym for "calling" so to incorporate both meanings we will just refer to it as the Calling of Must.

   Deciding the difference between these two can be very difficult if you are unwilling to ask yourself the very real questions about what makes us who we are. As Mark Twain said, "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." What Samuel Clemens failed to point out is that finding out "why" is the hardest thing we have to do on this earth. And sometimes when we do, we are wrong. I firmly believe that Adolf Hitler's "why" was not to create a master race, but he did. And the truly frightening thing is that we might be wrong about our Calling of Must and not figure out that we were actually just calling the Creed of Should our entire lives. We aren't all as lucky as Miss Luna to have dreams or visions to tell us our Calling of Must and while no one reading this will be as far off as Hitler was (hopefully) we can only be certain that what we want is really our calling if it answers all the questions we ask ourselves at night.

   All in all, we may have our white rooms we have to chase or we'll have to settle for our own Mavericks, but whatever the case the moment you start shaming yourself because of what others pretend to want is when you stop living. Do not die to society but rather live by your own Calling of Must.

MACBETH ACTIVE READING NOTES

• 3 witches (audience of one liked witches)
• Presented by characters with one version of Macbeth
• Shakespeare presents another (more somber) version
• Banquo is more of a realist, slower to believe the words of the witches while Macbeth is a romantic but he is trying to be humble
• Macbeth is constantly praised by everyone except Lady Macbeth
• She enters reading a letter and is rude to the messenger 
• Macbeth and lady are fighting?

MEET MACBETH

  We are led to believe that Macbeth is a soldier of great stature that will one day become king, we are directly told that he is a good man that should be respected. However, Shakespeare indirectly warns us to be wary of Macbeth's brutal capabilities.

   The witches tell us that "Fair is foul, foul is fair", that is some pretty blatant foreshadowing about how the rest of the play will be conducted.

   Macbeth is so far full of exposition where we learn who Macbeth is portrayed as (and indirectly who he really is) and how the supporting characters feel and act when they are around Macbeth or the three witches. 

   

MACBETH RESOURCES

http://www.oracle.com/splash/thinkquest/down-189973.html
http://www.gradesaver.com/macbeth/
http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/macbeth/
http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/html/mac.html
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/macbethresources.html

IS THERE AN EXPERT IN THE HOUSE

I have two experts that I have convenient access to.

Sherry Grant: Children and Family Ministries  Leader at OPC- she is the one who helped me get into Sunday School teaching, she is a really good resource who is good at her job and has been doing it for over twenty years.

Mr. Horton (6th grader teacher at Alice Shaw)- One of the teachers I had the pleasure to meet while I was at Outdoor School, he is very good at his job and helped me a lot that week and offered to help me more if I need it and I intend to take him up on his offer.

IT'S ONLY A TEST

My goal for my masterpiece is to set me up for my future so test my masterpiece, there is really only one question to ask: "Is this setting me up for my future?"

Now this is question is actually very hard to answer (trust me I tried) so I broke it up into its basic components and answered those with those answers I was able to answer the big question.

How does this set me up for my future?

Who can help me set up my future?

Am I sure that I want this to be my future?

I answered these questions at home and now I can clearly see that my masterpiece is the right course of action and I am on the right path to make it successful.