Assignment 26- Jessica Nelson

     The biggest suggestion I have is to switch the order you teach the essays in. The analysis is at least to me the hardest and most technical on the test so I wouldn’t teach it first. It needs to be a little closer to the test so it is fresher in the minds of students when they get to test time and so they aren’t intimidated or discouraged when they are starting out the year. I would teach it second. That way it wouldn’t be first and it wouldn’t be last when kids are panicked, busy, and not really focused. Also it would split the teaching of that essay into both semesters. Since it is typically the lowest scoring essay splitting it between both semesters would even out the grades for both semesters and let it compete with higher scoring essays in the test category. Ideally students would score well on all three essays but this is not the reality and one type of essay that may not be a strong suit for a student should not be the sole type of essay determining their grade for the semester.

     Another thing I would change is the projects you use for finals both semesters. I don’t understand any connection they have to anything you’ve taught this year. Sure they are kind of fun, but for people who have no experience in speech or film they aren’t really a fair assessment because you don’t  teach anything about them and students are left guessing on how to do it. For the most part we are just walked through the rubric and we may have one class period telling us how to do one small part of these projects but I don’t think it’s right to base 20% of a student’s grade on that when it isn’t really assessing what they’ve learned that semester. The PSA seems more like an assignment meant for your film class. Students not into film likely don’t know the terms you are throwing out in class or how to use editing software or other equipment. Students in that situation don’t have much time to learn how and aren’t being giving much instruction on how to do those things so it’s a little harsh to base 20% of the semester grade on that in my opinion.


   Finally I don't find Socratic seminars helpful at all, honestly I think the whole premise of Socratic seminar is kind of flawed and frustrating. I really enjoyed doing blog posts though, especially the first semester prompts!