At the beginning of this school year I dreaded walking into class at eight in the morning to write with the stress to perform well for my peers. To be honest, ten months later and I like it no better. That being said, I walked into my AP test at eight in the morning feeling confident because all in all it was just another day in class. The sheer volume of essays we practiced was excellent and I appreciate being made to do them, even if it would be lying to say I enjoyed working... who does? Something obscure but that has improved my writing in general were the vocab quizzes in first semester, you should definitely keep these and perhaps do mini grammar lessons and quizzes in second semester to the same extent. One of the greatest challenges I feel I and my peers faced was a fuzzy grasp of English mechanics in the first place.
The only thing I would absolutely change for next year is the summer reading of The Teenage Brain. Don't get me wrong, I think the forced self acknowledgment of our flaws at this age is both healthy and constructive. That particular book however focused more on advocating an autocratic parenting style that (in mine and my mom’s opinion) detracts from any positive message. It is also not particularly related to the AP test and class. These are big words for me to say without having an alternative to offer you though, which I don't.
Overall I believe all the strategies used in class were effective. I appreciated the group grading and discussions to critique my writing, and I found the Socratic seminars were a good way to practice forming and rebutting arguments (although I wish they had been more spread out over the year). All in all this was one of my strongest classes of the year in terms of productivity, thank you, we all appreciate it.
The End.
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