Taylor Kirk

Growth Over Time

The academic preparedness competency I chose was analysis. This allowed me to

break down concepts and phenomena and explain the relationship between those parts.

The first artifact included is the AP icon deconstruction. I completed it on September 14,

2017. For this artifact, I had to go to certain websites and explore them. I had to analyze

an art piece and write a brief, informal paper on the general and subtextual meaning of

the illustration. I also had to discuss how it relates to the class and how well the artist

depicted the purpose and meaning to the audience using certain details. The second

artifact included is a paper on the flamingo icon in Rihanna’s music video for “Rehab”. I

completed it on October 23, 2017. For this artifact, I had analyze the lyrics and music

video for a song called “Rehab” by Rihanna. Mainly, I had to discuss my understanding

of the plastic, pink flamingos in the video and how they correlate with the meaning of the

lyrics and tone or message of the video. These two artifacts demonstrate growth because

in artifact 1, I was merely analyzing small details and I did not need to explain in depth

on how they related to the message of art piece. I had to come up with a simple meaning

of the picture and later discuss the subtextual meaning. But in artifact 2, I was expected to

do all of what I did in the first artifact except in a more advanced and correlated way. I

was asked to write a formal paper in which I could only talk about the more advanced

meaning of the the icon. I was not allowed to just point out interesting things about the

icon but rather analyze the icon in whole, from the unusual things about it to the deeper
meaning and the relation to the music video. I was simply taking baby steps into what I’ll

have to do more of in the future.