Welcome to College Prep English
Welcome! This rigorous, college bound class will offer you several great opportunities to do the following: THINK. READ. THINK. SPEAK. THINK. WRITE. That’s it, in a nutshell. Oh…and a little bit of THINKING!
Obviously, thinking is an important ingredient to the success you will have in this class. I am not being facetious when I say to you that you (can) think more in this class than perhaps you ever have before. In fact, I encourage it! We all have much to share, think about, consider and reconsider, and this is the type of place to do it. Now, clearly thinking is the cornerstone for the class. What next?
Of course, we have to spend time reading. Sure, we all have lots to say about a lot of things (some of which we actually know nothing about-and isn’t that curious…). But, if we want to expand our understanding of the world and our roles in it, then we have to grab on to as much as we can and read it! Fortunately for us, we have some terrific novels, plays, essays and even a few movies to explore. (Yep—we will “read” film just as we might a novel). Anytime we start thinking that we understand the human condition and don’t need to read “that old stuff,” we will quickly see that good literature is timeless and amazingly insightful into how we tick. And, after all, aren’t we all on that journey of self-discovery? Don’t we all long to figure out just who we are and what we want? If we hope to be successful, complete and happy during our lives, then we are constantly searching for answers to these (and a few more) questions.
Ok, next step- speaking. If we sit here each day, each with our own incredibly insightful thoughts, or our own curious/humorous notions, or our own “embarrassing” confusions and we never share them with each other, how sad for all of us. Simply put - talk. We need to talk to each other, share our thoughts, attitudes, and opinions. I myself only want one thing from you this year. I want to learn. I want you to teach me.
Writing is a key part of this class. The writing enables you to express your views in another form (other than speaking or just thinking to yourself). Writing is curious stuff. Some folks find it is very difficult to express themselves on paper. Others find that it is the medium by which they feel complete freedom. Some folks have a good handle on how to send their message. Some folks struggle. I don’t know which category you fit into. All of us, however, can improve in our writing. There is no perfect paper (sorry).
Writing is hard work and it takes time. Sure, some of you are masters at procrastination and discover that you “work best under pressure.” But those 3:00 a.m. drafts can get a bit draining…I would very much like to think that you will share drafts with me before the final draft. I can make suggestions and maybe clear up confusions. Sure, there’s nothing more annoying than showing a teacher a draft you think is just fine and discovering that he thinks it “needs work.” If you’re like most, you will (grumbling under your breath) take your abused masterpiece away, clean up a few mechanical errors and submit the draft – convinced that once he sees it again, he will recognize he was looking at a perfect paper (sigh). Ok, I can’t (and won’t) make you check drafts with me. I hope you find value in doing so, on your own. I am willing to help if I can. Enough said.
So, in closing, I very much look forward to this class. I always learn so much from students; I can’t help but be excited by it! Let’s have a stimulating, energy-crackling year of sharing, learning, and growing with one another!
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