YES! You all have made it through your first six (but really almost seven) weeks of AP English. A lot of you have displayed the desire to challenge your own thinking and to take responsibility for some aspects of your education. I've spent the first six weeks evaluating you through quizzes, essays, discussions, etc. Now, I want to give you an opportunity to evaluate some areas of this class and to set goals. Please answer both prompts below.
1. Please post any and all comments--positive and/or negative--that you have regarding different aspects of the class. You can focus on items such as what's being taught, specific assignments, classroom procedures, and grading practices. If you have suggestions for how I could do things differently to help your learning, please comment.
2. Set at least two specific goals for yourself in regards to what you’d like to accomplish in the next six weeks. Consider your weaknesses and strengths, and set your goals accordingly. These goals should relate specifically to critical reading and/or critical writing.
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11 comments:
1. The first six weeks of the class have been completely different from what I excpected them to be. I figured the class would focus on all aspects of English and not just on the literature portion of it. The content being taught has given both a postive and negative input from me. The way in which the assignments were taught and graded have been completely fine with me, however some of the content that we have learned hasn't been my favorite (mainly the poetry unit). I am also not a big fan of CRJs, however I understand the reason for doing them.
2. Two goals for me in the next six weeks are going to be very simple ones but ones I feel will help me tremendously. First, I need be sure to continue to improve my writing skills in my CRJ and on my essays. I have to continue to fondle the details in the things we read and elaborate on the points I make. Secondly, I need to begin annotating the literature we're presented with. I still haven't really done this because it hasn't been a habit for me in the past.
The first six weeks has past rather quickly. The class went about as I had expected with some frustrations but also a new learning growth. I do enjoy the class discussions that we have to help understand the material. However, much of these first six weeks has consisted of reading material and analyzing it. I would like to do more creative writings using what is in my mind not on a paper.
Two goals for the next six weeks:
1. Expand my horizons with the CRJ's and give more in depth answers on questions where that opportuniny presents itself.
2. When I am aware of a test or up coming quiz take more time throughout the week to prepare myself instead of craming everything into a one night study session.
1. The first six weeks of this class has greatly challenged me, but I have learned a lot from it. I enjoy the class discussions very much because I can see everyone's point of view, which helps me understand the topic better. I personally do not like the format of the tests being completely essays and nothing else, but I do understand that it is necessary for our preperation of the AP test.
2. The first goal that I want to reach is to expand on my points more. I have a tendency to address the topic, but leave some of my points vague and not completely supported. The second goal of mine is to not use passive voice in my essays. This will probably be a more difficult goal to achieve since a bad habit of using passive can be seen in my writing.(haha get it?)
1. I have enjoyed the first six weeks of the class overall, some parts more than others, but the sections that were not my favorite had valid reasons for learning them which I understand. Reading the Awakening was not my favorite but it did broaden my horizons and improve my reading skills. Poetry was also not a favorite section of mine however it helped me improve my CRJs and my understanding of the interpretation of poetry.
2. My first goal for the six weeks is to provide more thorough CRJ responses and to spend more time annotating and thoroughly understanding what it is I'm reading. My second goal is to work on managing my time better both in and out of class. When I know an assignment is due in the future, I need to spread the work out over several days instead of procrastinating and having it pile up.
1. I have found within these first few weeks of school, that this is probably one of the most influential classes I am a part of. The manner in which we go about analyzing poetry, articles, and stories is something I believe to be vital in the thought process. I have, in six weeks, significantly improved my critical reading skills, and learned to appreciate literature much more (not that I didn't love it before). While the grading is strict and firm, I find it fair. It has challenged me to push myself further and to work harder. I do not see how this class could be run in a better manner than it already is. Good job on being an awesome teacher! :)
2. While I do not struggle with putting my thoughts onto paper, I do often feel as though I fail to provoke the full desired effect from the reader. I think I need to be more bold in my statements, and organize my thoughts more efficiently. I also struggle when it comes to creating a well-written statement in a timed environment. I become overwhelmed with all the ideas that I want to write about, and waste so much time trying to sort them out and re-write everything. This is something I need to practice greatly.
1. Being a part of AP english was way different then I had expected. I figured the class would be boring and focus more on all aspects of English. However, the class has been alot of fun, and I enjoy all of the arguments that we have. The articles and novels we have read have been interesting and create some very interesting conversations. I am not a big fan of poetry so that part wasn't all that enjoyable, but in order for me to better understand poetry then I guess I should study it.
2. For the next 6 weeks I am going to be focusing on writing more and being more descriptive in my CRJs, and also annotating more. I feel that these two things go hand in hand, and that if I become a better note taker than it will be easier for me to fill out my CRJ.
1. The first portion of this trimester has been very enjoyable and enlightening in some aspects. I appreciated the units and had a lot of fun in discussion. In regards to changes in the curriculum or grading, I believe everything is working in exceptional order. I especially look forward to this class because of the variety we facilitate. Our group is very different and I am not sure how interesting the class would be without such an outspoken, creative bunch.
2. The next six weeks appear promising as we all have a chance to improve our AP skill set. I feel that in order for me to improve I need to become more open to suggestion. I have been guilty of "sinning" against Nabokov and it's time I repent. Reading literature with an open mind is where my struggles lie and I intend to change that as soon as possible. Also, I feel my writing could improve as well. I need to incorporate more facts and less figurative language. This should be difficult but I am excited for the challenge.
The first six weeks of class was much different than I had expected at the start of the year. I actually have to do work outside of class on my own time which is very hard to do. I thought that there would be more writing of papers in this class than the analyzing of literature part. The group discussion has helped me understand the assigned reading.
Goals I am going to set for myself are:
1. Try to complete my CRJ fully before class instead of just filling it what we say in the group discussion.
2. Actually read the assigned reading for that night other than just looking it over.
1.Walking into AP English, I had a mindset of the amount of difficult work the class would make me endure. After six weeks of vigorous work and study, I have come to realize that I have made strides in the right direction. The class has been taught very thoroughly and I feel more confident in my writing and analysis of pieces of literature.
Our study of the poetry unit was very well prepared and the study was very useful to start off the class. I felt that the “Canterbury Tales” prologue could have been studied a little further into detail. The study of individual characters was a very creative way to go through the unit in an interactive and useful way. When it comes to our last two units of epic heroes and feminist/individualism, I felt that the unit could have been taught in a different way. If I were to teach the units, I would have read “Beowulf” outside of class, allowing for students to teach themselves an easier unit about an epic hero. With “The Awakening”, I fell that understanding an outline of the story and then reading excerpts would have been a more understandable use of class time. This would have made more time to discuss whether people believed Edna did the right thing and more various themes of the novel.
Overall, the class has been very beneficial and has lead to greater thinking. Grading has been tough, but this pushes students to think outside the box and to “fondle the details.” Personally, I feel that the use of Blogs and internet grading of papers has allowed for many students to want to further the knowledge and work in a way they are more interested in.
2.Though there are several different aspects of the class that I feel like I could improve a little bit on, I feel like there are two aspects that I really need to focus on during the next six weeks of this AP English course.
a.When I write in my Critical Reading Journal, many times I try to simply answer the questions and move on to further studies and questions. As a “good reader”, I need to start answering the questions more thoroughly. Putting more detail and observations could help in this realm of knowledge. Inserting examples from the texts and my feelings about the answer could strengthen the answers in which I put in my CRJ. I simply want to be able to get a better grade when Stump grades them. Therefore more work, bigger words, and more thorough explanations I hope to reach this goal.
b.As a young boy, I always loved to read. Growing up in to a busy young adult, I have found less time to really enjoy reading. This is why my second goal is about my reading habits. I find that when I read I start to day dream. I need to be able to clear my mind and take in the details more correctly. When I read the beginning of “The Awakening” the first time, I did not clearly understand because I was not thinking about the story. The second time I understood what was happening because I sat in a quiet place and had no other worries. What I need to do is focus on my reading and be able to note specific points that will need to be looked at later. I have trouble remembering all of the textual evidence of each page and need to learn how to take good notes. In conclusion of this point, I need to read with a clear mind and be able to read more critically.
1. When I first came to the AP English class, I believed that I would be swamped with endless amounts of work that would be close to impossible to get done. I found my self to be correct. Seriously though, there is a large amount of work that is given to the class, and I believe that it will prove to be a positive part of the class. I'm not saying that I like all of the work, but i belive that it is going to prepare us all better for the future. I really enjoy the group discussions as well because many times the group discussions help in understanding things we've read.
2. In the future I want to make sure that I thouroughly read the materials assigned no matter how boring and pointless they may seem. Along with this, I want to make sure that I completely answer all aspects of questions that are asked in our CRJ papers. Many answers aren't very deep thoughts, and I hope to improve this in the future.
The beginning of AP English was rather terrifying to me. Having never taken an advanced composition class graded the way the Point Nazi graded I was worried I would be behind on my writing level, and was I ever right! It seemed that try as I might my writing scores were never quite what I expected them to be. I always considered myself a decent writer, however it was obvious that compared to some I was lacking in some areas. The first trimester of was one of difficult readings and insightful discussions. I greatly appreciate the way the class is so open, and how so much responsibility rests upon the shoulders of the student to do well. My goals for the next six weeks are to improve my writing by providing more textual evidence and creating a more coherent sentence structure. My second goal is to write CRJs that are answered completely.
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