My previous English experience has been traumatic. Ok, maybe not that dramatic, but it has never been my favorite subject. I typically procrastinate on writing papers and despise the books we read in class. The majority of the books we have to read are fiction novels. When I do read, I prefer poetic pieces or non-fiction books or blogs about philosophy, religion, sociology, or interesting people. As far as writing goes, I’ve done everything from research papers to creative writing assignments. I don’t have a preference for either, but I suppose I feel obviously more restricted by the formalities required of research papers.
My least favorite papers to write are the highly structured ones, at the same time, I do not enjoy being told, “Go! Be free and write about whatever your heart desires!” An enjoyable paper would consist of specific expectations, but few guidelines. As far as books go, again I really dread having to read almost any fiction book. The fiction books I will read are very few. One of my all time favorite books that I have read was, The Tao of Pooh. The philosophy aspect of it caught my attention and the Pooh Bear part was a special bonus. I have yet to read a book required by my English class that I actually enjoy.
My freshman English class was a blur. To be honest, most of freshman year was a blur. I had just recently moved and I think I blocked out that first year. Sophomore year I chose to go to a charter school across town where the class sizes went from 25-30 in a public school to about 5-12. My teacher was very good at his job. I still didn’t care much for english as a class, but it was bearable. Junior year my teacher was a very nice person, but the only challenge was to see how long the class could keep her off topic. I wrote a lot of papers I enjoyed doing, but they took very little effort. Actually, I think that was a rather productive year. We did a lot of timed writing assignments, at least two a week, and by the end of the year, I could knock out a quality paper within the teachers time constraints. I finished my senior year that following summer. Possibly the easiest class I've ever taken. It was an online course and I actually did my assignments on time, so the teacher was pleased.
It is fair to say that I can succeed in an English class, but so far my experience has not been very enjoyable. So far I’m looking forward to this semester and can’t wait to get it rolling.
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ReplyDeleteI can relate to your high school experience a bit. I never really enjoyed the writing part of English class, but I did (for the most part) enjoy the reading part because of the texts we were required to read. Anyways, my first two years of high school English classes were not fun in terms of writing because the teachers were so strict on the structure of the paper (number of sentences, paragraphs, etc.). However during my juniors and senior years the teachers gave us a grading rubric and pretty much allowed us to write without strict step-by-step rules to follow. My senior research paper was a nightmare of an assignment because I also really hate when the teacher tells us to think of a topic/theme we like, connect it to two books we’ve read/multiple outside sources, and write a ten page research paper about it. English classes are fun most times but can be rough during the essay portions, but I feel that this college class is easier to relate to than most of my high school English classes. I think that this class will be more useful in our lives/futures because it deals with a variety of ways to write and communicate through different types of media. (ENGL 106)
ReplyDeleteI completely understand your English experience; especially your junior year. We learned to produce great and imaginative papers that fit the criteria of the teachers in record without breaking a sweat. Courses should be moved around to somehow make eleventh grade English classes be taken in twelfth grade.
ReplyDeleteUp until junior year, I dreaded English class. Freshman year is also a blur and I think that year consisted of group reading and grammar tests. Sophomore year, my class was introduced to poems and short stories and we all had to write our own poems which was one of the most traumatic moments in my life. Senior year English class was easy for me also. It could have been the teaching of the previous year or Senioritis kicking in, but either way, class flew by.
I dislike highly structured papers too but at the same time, it is also comforting knowing someone is “spoon-feeding” you, making it not difficult at all to write the paper.
I agree that it is quite difficult to learn a subject in a crowded setting. For me, this was especially true for my English classes. Luckily, in my English IV class, my class size consisted of only about ten people. This made the class a lot more fun because we moved through the lessons faster, which led to more time for review before tests, and the course felt more like it was one-on-one.
ReplyDeleteI have also had classes where the students tried to keep the teacher off topic. However, instead of English, it was Spanish. We also kept our Chemistry/Physics teacher off topic by bringing up politics or asking him which branch of the armed forces was better (he was Navy).
I actually enjoy reading some, even though I don’t read on a regular basis like some people do. Usually, when we would start a book, I would think of reading as a chore, but once I get into it, I really start to enjoy it. (ENGL 106)