As we start the ending of the school year, expect a slight uptick in the number of instructional posts here. We need to hack the exam you take in May, set final goals for your Pareto Projects, and make our way through the usual reading, writing, and thinking1. Read everything posted here carefully, as always, as you would an assigned textbook or a posted lecture.
Next Year First
It’s time to make course recommendations and selections for next year. As this is English, we’ll be looking at your choices for the core ELA credit you are required to carry. Electives will be part of the discussion, but you’ll be able to make those choices on your own. I’m going to push you to take any English electives you can. Creative Expression, for instance, is one of the best courses you’ll find in this building, and any of the new 12R courses, if you go that route, are fantastic.
You have a chance to take exceptional courses from exceptional teachers, so if your schedule permits it, and you have even a passing interest in being a better writer, thinker, human being, etc., consider the electives available to you. When you feel like you’re pushing a boulder up a hill, it’s important to look for the good stuff.
As for the core courses, you have a choice:
- English 12
- AP English Literature & Composition
- DCC English 101
Over the weekend, I’ll recommend you for one of those. But it’s up to you, as it always is, to learn about the choice by asking questions and sorting rubbish opinions from good opinions.
One almost invariably true thing: If a student only complains about a class, that person isn’t trying to help you with your decision. He just wants to vent, or he wants his frustration validated. Pay attention when you hear the language of blame. Think back to the supplemental readings at the end of this discussion we had, and avoid people who sound like that. Be empathetic toward them, but don’t invite them into your decision-making process. As always, you want folks who are thoughtful and insightful and specific, because that’s how you’ll find the shades of experience that separate all of your different choices.
Two things about the college-level choices:
- That AP course ends, as you might guess, in an AP exam, and you’re expected to take that.
- DCC requires you to have an 85 GPA or higher, and you have to pass an Accuplacer test, which will be scheduled soon.
When you’re ready, fill out this form:
Loads in a new window.
Just in case, this is the direct URL: https://goo.gl/forms/N773Q8aDmOWcymQ73. Get your choice in as soon as possible, and we’ll compare notes and make a decision together.
More Concrete Stuff
The classroom’s been slightly rearranged. You need to do more of that yourselves, because there’s always a reason to reconfigure a makerspace, but I had 30 minutes this morning.
Right now, one of our U-shaped tables is lined up with the TV mounted on our wall. That TV has a Chromebit attached to it, so you can log into it as you would any Chromebook. I’ve used it during our brief lapses back into traditional lectures. Use it more collaboratively as we delve into sample essays and practice exams. Let’s see if it helps you in small-group situations.
Otherwise, you all need to use the whiteboards and more often and more effectively. Choose to sit where you’ll get work done, whether that separates you from your friends or not. Put your phone away, if you know it’s disrupting you2. Move the furniture around, too. If nothing else, that’s a great metacognitive prompt: What role does the physical space play in your learning?
Take a look at the bookshelf by my desk, too, for a complete set of prep materials for both exams you’ll take this year. Your final calendar is there, as are a number of other useful handouts.
AP Timed Writing
As of this afternoon, you should each have three prompts, three sets of model responses, and three timed essays of your own. Put them together somewhere safe and accessible. These are your baseline for the written portion of our test prep.
If you haven’t done the metacognitive and reflective requirements for the first two timed essays, you’re behind. Let me help you attack the problem. For the next few months, you need this foundation. The rest of our prep for the AP Exam depends on it.
One more thing: if you want individual feedback, you may have it. Not yet, though. You need to spend a lot more time with the model essays, rubrics, and structural components of these assignments.
When and if you ask for individual feedback — traditional prescriptive and proscriptive commentary, done in colored ink — you are required to use it to teach others, and then you have to write about what teaching taught you. Keep that in mind. Remember what we’re really learning here.
More Readin’
Return your copy of 1984 as soon as possible. The book numbers are posted near the door to our space, where we can line the books up on a rolling cart to return them to the English Department’s book room (Which is a good place to visit, if you like the idea of a room filled with books. It’s always interesting to see what hidden treasures are lined up in class sets in there.)). If you can’t or don’t find your copy of 1984, you’ll owe the school a little money until you find it.
Our next novel will be The Catcher in the Rye. I’m looking into how this site could help us, and if you’re intrigued by that, let me know why in the comments. More on that soon.
The Course within the Course
Use the updated calendar to keep track of what you’re expected to do in here. Here is another link to it:
This is an organizational tool, sure, and you can see that you’ll be busy until June. But you should try to see beyond those units and lessons. That’s why I listed out goals by content and skill. As long as we hit those marks, there’s a conversation to have about how we hit them.
So there is always flexibility built into our learning. It’s the course within the course that got a mention way back in September:
If you missed it the first time, each of the subheadings in that instructional post link to a piece by an artist I’d like us to study again in April, during National Poetry Month3.
You have specific goals for the tests you’ll take this year, and you have specific goals for next year. For most of you, that calendar’s how you’ll meet your goals: completing whatever’s assigned, getting feedback keyed to your needs, etc., until you move on to the next boulder/mountain combo.
I hope, though, that you all see the opportunities to break off from the beaten path, as they say. Try to embrace the opportunities you have here.
I’m most excited about teaching you all poetry in April. Of course, my excited face looks exactly like every other face I make, which is to say it looks like a frail lumberjack struggling against existential terror. ↩
Especially if you’re told it’s disrupting you. Use the back corner to store your devices for 30 minutes. It’s got to be your choice, but I am strongly suggesting you make a specific decision there. ↩
Also, here is what boggles my mind: That post, from September 7, 2017, lays out in exact detail everything you’d need to do to get a 100 average in here, which is the same as what you’d need to do to become highly skilled and insightful and so on. That post showcases exactly how this kind of instruction works, how collaboration works, how to be metacognitive, etc., in about as transparent a way as is possible. It’s a bit much to read, sure, but so is the contract you sign for a job. So is the guide to the SAT you force yourself through. So is the reading required for that first driving test. When you’re given exact instructions for getting what you want, you should study them. So the mind-boggling thing is how many students missed the blueprint, despite how often it was posted, photocopied, given in a traditional lecture, rewritten and reposted and re-lectured, etc., from the first day of school until now. There’s a reason we end up talking about self-control and blame as often as we do. ↩
What are the main differences between our class and AP Literature & Composition? What is an Accuplacer test?
Use Google to track down the course description from the College Board, just like you did for our class. You’ll see how the two curricula balance each other. The nonfiction/fiction focus shifts, among other things.
Look up the Accuplacer test, too. It’s a test of your proficiency in the basic skills of reading, writing, thinking, etc., but you’ll want to see the format.
A note on the site, genius.com, and how it can aid us in reading The Catcher in the Rye–
I personally benefit from reading an actual, tangible book. I like the feeling of physically flipping the pages and keeping my hands moving. However, looking past the fact that the book is online, the site seems like a great resource. The “Genius Annotations” seem like a great way to keep us, the readers, focused and engaged. There is even an option for us to suggest improvements to the annotations. This adds another level, giving us yet another resource to get our thoughts and ideas out into the real world for others, outside Brewster High School to see and comment on.
A couple of my friends are in AP Lit, and they have a had a really positive experience so far. I know that the class is a lot of work but if you enjoy being challenged in school and enjoy reading and writing, I’m sure you would enjoy it. From what I have heard I can say that you do a lot of work with your college essay in the beginning of the year and get a lot of the needed guidance when it comes to the writing and revision process.
I agree that it’s important to consider the source when asking for information about a class. Over the summer, I asked one of my friends (who is currently a senior) for his opinions on the courses I had selected. He said that he didn’t enjoy taking AP English & Language, and he highly recommended that I just take English 11. He seemed genuine, but I had to remind myself that he was a math and science-oriented student, and he didn’t have anything good to say about any of his past English classes. This class turned out to be a great fit for me. This isn’t to say that all sources are untrustworthy, though. My brother, for example, helped me immensely by laying out the pros and cons for multiple courses. So we just need to be careful with how accepting we are of people’s opinions, because they may not apply to everyone.
Very well said.
This is very important to keep in mind. I had a similar experience as well last year…I heard from many past students that the AP English Language and Composition course was a pointless class and was too time-consuming. That may have been a turn off for me if I had not had an older sister with her own positive experiences with the class. It is true that my sister spent a lot of time on her work for AP Lang, but this was voluntary. She wanted to be doing this work because it had an impact on her life. She learned so much from this course and made sure to pass that knowledge down to me. Yes, not everyone has the same work ethic or motivation, but this is where judging yourself and your goals comes into play. Being that she knew the kind of student I am and strive to be, she encouraged me to neglect what others said because they just had a blindfold on still. They couldn’t break through this barrier blocked by “too much work” in order to see the bigger picture of what the class had to offer. It shouldn’t be even seen as work, it is really carving a new way of learning and thinking to help you be the most successful version of yourself. Unfortunately, not everyone has the luxury of getting the best insight on a class before making their decision. That is why, like Charlie said, you should be mindful when determining what path you choose to go down based on the suggestions of others.
Going back to an earlier comment, regarding The Catcher in The Rye, I too enjoy reading a real cover to cover book. The physical aspect of holding a book, can help me to focus more when I’m reading as opposed to an online book. I think in order to best suit the classes as a whole we should continue to have the option to read a hard copy, or the online script. I have heard great things about The Catcher in The Rye and am very excited to take a closer look at it.
You’ll have the option of signing out a hard copy, whether or not we experiment with that online annotation site. We’ll also set aside time early and often to talk and write about what you think of the book. I’m interested in what you’ll have to say.
Like Julia, I also enjoy reading a physical book over online or even on devices such as Kindles. I like having the book in my hands, and it pulls me away from devices. Sometimes it can feel like an escape from devices and such. When I pick up a book, I put my phone away, along with my computer. When I have read online in the past, I feel like I can drift away from reading and instead go on Youtube and watch endless stupid videos. I think for Catcher In The Rye, I may read the book in both a physical copy and an online copy, just to see how both of those work out. I look forward to starting this book, because I have heard things about it and it seems like a classic book that everyone should read.
Like Julia, I also enjoy reading a physical copy of a book rather than an online version, or on a Kindle. I find that physical copies can help more focus in on the book more, and I like actually holding books. Physical copies eliminate the use of any technology. When I read a copy of a book, I put away all my devices, like my phone, and just read. When I read online, I sometimes drift off and begin searching Youtube videos and watching those, wasting time. The physical copy has always worked better for me. For the book Catcher in The Rye, I may try reading both online and in a physical copy, to see how I do with both ways of reading the book. I am excited to read this book, considering I have heard good things about it and that it seems like a classic book that everyone should read at some point in their life.