I spent four amazing years at Stevenson High School in Livonia, Michigan. I experienced a variety of English class experiences that have worked together to shape the reader and writer that I am today. It all started in ninth grade, when I entered Mr. Holt's advanced 9th grade English class.
Mr. Holt had been teaching for many years and was nearing retirement, and his teaching reflected it. He had a habit of saying "Um" and "Uh" (often more than two hundred times per class period) and was constantly either stroking his tie or stuffing his hands in and out of his pockets. He had little enthusiasm left for the subject. Our class consisted entirely of going over impossible-to-remember literary terms and dissecting old short stories to the very last detail. My excitement wore off, and the flame of love for reading and writing that burned inside me nearly extinguished. Luckily, it all changed second semester when I switched classes and entered my school's Global Education program.
Global Ed was a two-hour block of English and Social Studies classes. The teachers of each class worked together to plan a curriculum that would be relevant in both classes. I improved my skills in reading, writing, and speaking greatly during my time in the program because I was required to make written, oral, and creative presentations about three cultural events I had attended each semester. Grading was difficult, so I was forced to kick up my writing to a whole new level. I was no longer able to save papers and assignments until the last minute. One of my favorite Global Ed assignments was studying a Supreme Court case that had already been completed and debating with a partner against another team of students taking the opposite side. While I can no longer recall the specifics of the assignment, I remember being so excited about the assignment, and overjoyed and surprised when my partner and I won!
I decided to switch back into the mainstream program after one year spent in Global Ed. In my junior year, I entered Ms. Lamb's Composition class. Ms. Lamb will forever stick in my mind as one of my favorite writing teachers. She had (and still has) so much passion about English, and she connected with students better than any teacher I had yet had. Composition class was the first class in which I can recall using online forums similar to ones used in English 4790. Ms. Lamb allowed her class to have some creative freedom, and she introduced us to how technology could be used to add a different dimension to the typical classroom experience.
The next semester, I took a Short Story class with Mr. Weisberg. He was an older man in his seventies who was very old-fashioned. We took a weekly spelling test, and anyone who was caught chewing gum in class was made to stay after school and scrape gum from under all of the desks. I cannot remember much about Mr. Weisberg's class, so it was probably not great and not awful.
My senior year, I had much more freedom in selecting my classes. I took a Radio and Television class during the first semester that year. It was wonderful, because I was able to practice writing in a multitude of different genres (such as writing copy for radio presentations). I also learned how to use camera and editing equipment. I also came out of my shell as a person, so to speak, because I was forced to perform in very embarrassing ways in front of my peers.
My final English class at Stevenson was Lit Appreciation with Mrs. Ladd. Lit Appreciation was literally an hour-long silent reading session each and every class period. The only homework assignments were occasional book reports on books we had chosen to read. I expected that silent reading for an hour a day would eventually get old, but the class ended up being a welcome break from all of my other obligations. It was nice to be able to sit in silence and read on a daily basis.
Although my English experience in high school was somewhat unusual and made up of many different components, I became a much stronger writer throughout my years at Stevenson. Reflecting on my high school experience leads me to a deeper understanding about what may and may not work in my own classroom.
Mr. Holt had been teaching for many years and was nearing retirement, and his teaching reflected it. He had a habit of saying "Um" and "Uh" (often more than two hundred times per class period) and was constantly either stroking his tie or stuffing his hands in and out of his pockets. He had little enthusiasm left for the subject. Our class consisted entirely of going over impossible-to-remember literary terms and dissecting old short stories to the very last detail. My excitement wore off, and the flame of love for reading and writing that burned inside me nearly extinguished. Luckily, it all changed second semester when I switched classes and entered my school's Global Education program.
Global Ed was a two-hour block of English and Social Studies classes. The teachers of each class worked together to plan a curriculum that would be relevant in both classes. I improved my skills in reading, writing, and speaking greatly during my time in the program because I was required to make written, oral, and creative presentations about three cultural events I had attended each semester. Grading was difficult, so I was forced to kick up my writing to a whole new level. I was no longer able to save papers and assignments until the last minute. One of my favorite Global Ed assignments was studying a Supreme Court case that had already been completed and debating with a partner against another team of students taking the opposite side. While I can no longer recall the specifics of the assignment, I remember being so excited about the assignment, and overjoyed and surprised when my partner and I won!
I decided to switch back into the mainstream program after one year spent in Global Ed. In my junior year, I entered Ms. Lamb's Composition class. Ms. Lamb will forever stick in my mind as one of my favorite writing teachers. She had (and still has) so much passion about English, and she connected with students better than any teacher I had yet had. Composition class was the first class in which I can recall using online forums similar to ones used in English 4790. Ms. Lamb allowed her class to have some creative freedom, and she introduced us to how technology could be used to add a different dimension to the typical classroom experience.
The next semester, I took a Short Story class with Mr. Weisberg. He was an older man in his seventies who was very old-fashioned. We took a weekly spelling test, and anyone who was caught chewing gum in class was made to stay after school and scrape gum from under all of the desks. I cannot remember much about Mr. Weisberg's class, so it was probably not great and not awful.
My senior year, I had much more freedom in selecting my classes. I took a Radio and Television class during the first semester that year. It was wonderful, because I was able to practice writing in a multitude of different genres (such as writing copy for radio presentations). I also learned how to use camera and editing equipment. I also came out of my shell as a person, so to speak, because I was forced to perform in very embarrassing ways in front of my peers.
My final English class at Stevenson was Lit Appreciation with Mrs. Ladd. Lit Appreciation was literally an hour-long silent reading session each and every class period. The only homework assignments were occasional book reports on books we had chosen to read. I expected that silent reading for an hour a day would eventually get old, but the class ended up being a welcome break from all of my other obligations. It was nice to be able to sit in silence and read on a daily basis.
Although my English experience in high school was somewhat unusual and made up of many different components, I became a much stronger writer throughout my years at Stevenson. Reflecting on my high school experience leads me to a deeper understanding about what may and may not work in my own classroom.