At the end of the year I always give my students a survey - typical stuff really. The following is a collection of some of their responses. Included are responses from students in English 11 Enriched, College English, and English 12. As always my comments are in ( ).
Of the
six papers in (College English) English 101, which was the hardest to write and why?
- I think
the hardest thing was picking a topic, not really writing one over another.
-
Definition paper was the hardest for me to write. It was hard to come up with
three pages defining one word.
- Well,
definition until I wrote about procrastination. Then it was easy. Other than
that, definitely the research. I am pretty good at pulling stuff out of my
butt, but I couldn’t do that on the research. (I am horrified to know where your papers came from.)
In this
class I learned:
- how to
write a persuasive essay persuasively. (As opposed to?)
- I
learned that I suck at getting to school on time. (True. In this class I made this student's first name a euphemism for "late," as in, "Why are you so Julie to class today?" P.S. Her name wasn't Julie.)
- I
learned that when writing papers, it is important to express one’s opinion on
the subject and not just cram the paper with information.
- I began
to learn the art of Bunburying! (Any Oscar Wilde fans in the house?)
- I
learned writers write mostly depressing books.
-
Students in this school have the attention span of a squirrel. (Squirrel!!)
What was
your favorite work we read and why?
- I
enjoyed Three Little Words and Room. They were my book club books, and I liked
that we didn’t have to rip them apart to find meaning, we just read. (Yeah, finding meaning is a drag.)
- I
didn’t have a favorite because I am (name removed) and I wanted to be
different. Like the song, “I’m different, yeah I’m different.”
What was
your least favorite work we read and why?
- Poetry.
I still detest poetry so much Mr. Chaffee. I figured you would know that since
I spent all last year and this year complaining about poetry.
- My
least favorite work was poetry. I hated poetry because I am a very literal
person and had trouble seeing the different underlying themes.
- My
least favorite was Emily Dickinson. That woman had issues and just confused me.
- The
Scarlet Letter because I had to read it over the summer.
What did you
like the least about this class?
- I
didn’t like when I realized that I’d just spent the last 30 minutes talking
loudly and opinionatedly, probably alienating & boring everyone. (Right! That's the teacher's job!)
Do you
have any suggestions to make this class better?
- Instead of poetry, schedule a month of the year for admiring the patterns on the carpet. (Ok, I get it. High schoolers don't like poetry.)
- Instead of poetry, schedule a month of the year for admiring the patterns on the carpet. (Ok, I get it. High schoolers don't like poetry.)
- for our
class in particular – do something to make people stop being afraid to open
their mouths.
When did
your senioritis set in?
-
freshman year
- 9:27
a.m. September 28th, 2012… approximately
- Well,
pretty early, then I fought for a long time… but I eventually lost. (True story.)
- I
didn’t get senioritis, but I have been this bad about getting stuff done since
the 6th grade.
Is there
anything else you would like to say on any topic whatsoever?
- will
miss you… kinda. (That is heart warming... kinda.)
- Don’t
forget me :) I’ll be back. Know my name.
- Do you
watch Doctor Who? If so… I congratulate you and believe that you are on your
way to being a complete person. If not 1. I am sorry for you; 2. please do.
- No, I’m
not that creative. Here’s a giraffe. (Drawing of giraffe saying, “Ello there
Chap!”)
Congratulations to the class of 2013!
J
