Help - Taylor Stewart

     This year has been a new experience for me in that it's the first AP English class I've taken. Before, it was research essays we wrote, ones that we had a ton of time to mull over and edit. I mean, we did short on-demand type writings before, but they were never as closely looked at or critiqued. So this year, I learned how to write a pretty okay essay in a pretty short amount of time. And I think it's been beneficial to teach to that time, as we do occasionally, where people aren't allowed to take the essay home and edit some more. That's nice, of course, but unrealistic in that we won't have an entire night to write an AP essay.
     In the realm of grading essays, I think what we've done has been fairly effective. Small groups seem to be less beneficial - even though it takes less time and is more efficient, many people just don't read the essays so the other students don't end up getting very good discussion or feedback. And in my experience, the small group environment has contributed to the whole overly negative thing, which has its benefits, but can be very disheartening when all you hear about your essay is "their intro was dumb lol k let's move on."
     So I hated socratic seminars. So much. That's not exactly helpful feedback, though, so let me elaborate. They achieve their purpose in reminding us that analysis is still something we should keep in mind, and help us maintain the mindset of finding the argument in a passage. However, the format is incredibly formal - usually not the discussion itself, but the typed out outline. Not that our essays should be super informal, but we just spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out what the difference between an opening and core question is. And in my opinion, the introduction and body paragraphs are largely up to the individual and shouldn't really be boxed in like how we tried to style the seminars. Things overlap, and the seminars made it difficult to retain that fluidity. A more beneficial activity, I think, would be to just look at analysis passage examples throughout the year (or the essays from 50 essays) and really just discuss them, get into them, without all the formal write-ups.
     The finals were either someone's favorite or absolute least favorite part of the class. It is an assignment in which one has the opportunity to showcase hidden talents of oration and filmmaking, but a giant embarrassment for those who lack those (or confidence). And for some people, it's a way to discover new talents - maybe someone is better with cameras than they thought, and decides to take a class. Overall, I enjoyed the experience - my topic is something I feel very passionately about and will continue to look into throughout my life. Even if people absolutely hate the project itself, it is a chance to talk about something they honestly care about.