Hey guys, Allison again.
About a week ago, Mr. Lazarow mentioned how we should review the course and make some suggestions for next year. So here goes..
As far as the course goes, it's very different from all the other English classes I've taken at the high school. Unlike past courses, I was actually encouraged to share my opinion about the literature and how I interpreted it. Throughout the course of the year, I've personally seen a huge improvement in my writing. In my last TWO years of English classes, I have written a TOTAL of TWO essays. Pretty pathetic. So when I was told to write essays on an almost bi-weekly basis, I wasn't surprised to see improved writing skills. One thing I would probably change about the course would be to have the assigned blogging throughout the course of the year so that we always stay on top of the blog and so it never dies for days at a time.
As far as the term paper goes, when I first realized that it would have to be between 8 and 10 pages, I got extremely anxious. The longest paper that I had ever written was probably no longer than five pages, so I didn't see how i could possibly find enough things to say to fill a ten page paper. The process turned out to be extremely helpful and, in the end, I found myself having to cut information to make the paper fit on just ten pages. The only part of the process that I didn't find incredibly helpful was the annotated bibliography. Having the MLA formatting checked before we turned it in with the final draft was definitely beneficial, but I didn't find the annotations to be quite as helpful.
What did you guys think of English III?
P.S. We're still more special than AP IV :)
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I've accomplished a lot this year: I earned my driver's license, took the SATS / AP Exams / SAT IIs, was a softball captain and earned gavels at model congresses. I'm very proud of these achievements, but I'm proudest of my success in AP English III. My writing skills have improved so much since the beginning of the year. I've seen the class as a whole mature from intimidated sophomores to confident juniors, more than ready to take on AP IV. I knew this was going to be an interesting class the moment that I opened Hayakawa's book. I'll admit that I was a little apprehensive in the beginning of the year when we began our class discussions of Language in Thought in Action (my head was spinning when I learned that a stapler isn't really a 'stapler'), but I quickly became emersed in the world of semantics. I now have a deeper understanding and appreciation for language than I ever thought I would have. I'd like to pursue a career in journalism, so for me this course was essential. I have gotten out of it all that I hoped that I would, and have only a few suggestions for next year.
- Blogging was definitely a good idea. It kept the class connected outside of the classroom, and it really helped having a summary of the day's discussion online when I was absent. It should remain a requirement of class participation next year
- I liked reading short stories, but I wished we had focused a bit more on other novels. There are so many other works out there that we did not explore.
- I liked the method we used for completeing the term paper. It was slightly meticulous to follow for a 10 page paper, but when I'm in college and need to write 20 pages, I can see myself using this pattern. But I wish we had written the paper in the winter instead of the spring, because it was incredibly hectic trying to balance studying for AP Exams with writing the paper. I also did not like having to find extra information only to cut it out. Instead of focusing on finding the best 10 sources, I spent time finding 20 that were only adequate. And instead of creating 60 or so perfect cards, I exhausted myself writing over 100. I know we do this to practice evaluating the relevance of sources / understand how to eliminate inappropriate choices, but it just seemed like am unnecesarry step to me.
- Finally, I wished that we had done a few group projects this year. Our only opportunities this year to demostrate our creativite abilties were our scrapbooks and various essays. This class is very unique and talented - I would have loved to see what we could have come up with.
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