In the 5th and 6th week of AP Literature and Composition we finished our "What is Literature?" presentations and essays. As I have said in previous blog posts, I think this project has helped me learn and grow as a reader. I can better recognize theme and symbolism in literary fiction. But I also believe that this project made the entire class contemplate many other aspects of the assignment. The first is the fact that the Prezi is not worth any points. I could have said not worth anything but I do understand that that part of the assignment was designed to help us learn and ascertain a more in-depth understanding of our elements of fiction. But I don't hate grades. Grades are a way of evaluating the understanding and effort of a student. They also serve as an incentive to work hard and as a way to reward students for producing excellent work or reprimand students for producing unsatisfactory work. It is also hard to switch from the "all grades all the time" mindset that most precollege students have to the "learn for the sake of improvement" mindset that this class is based upon. I think this switch is made even harder by the fact that we are getting a grade for this class and in the season of college applications that seems to become the most important thing. Another thing that the style of this assignment made the class consider was the theory of pressure. "You can't make diamonds without pressure. What does this mean for the classroom? Is it about due dates or authentic audiences?" -@aschoenborn Honestly, I think most people work better under pressure. A very lax schedule may seem to be the best thing from the student's point of view, but does it actually advance their learning? Even though we had almost a month to put together a presentation and 2 essays the large majority of the work my group did was done in the last week. Is this wrong? A time management issue? A lack of foresight? In any event pressure in the classroom forces me to focus and think critically.