Help- Kaitlyn Nunnelley

Teaching to the test to me isn’t a super effective way of teaching because I feel like it only teaches us a certain area of things that are useful for that year and that test only. But that method I think worked this year because the AP test covered such broad subjects like grammar correctness, reading comprehension and essay writing.

I didn’t think Socratic seminars were very effective, even though we just did a couple. I didn’t really learn anything from them or know the point, other than analyzing readings. They were just time consuming and confusing and stressful.

Also I don’t know the point of a final based in filming and movies when that’s not what our class is about. No, it isn’t super hard, but a little challenging considering I have no background. I feel like it’s all very subjective as well, our grade on this final and the semester before.

Stress- Kaitlyn Nunnelley

My weeks of testing and stress are almost over. I took 4 AP classes this year so I had 4 big tests in the beginning of May. I took Physics, Calculus, English and US History. I wasn’t really worried about those because they don’t affect my grade and I already knew I wouldn’t do well on history. The only one that mattered to me was Calculus. Now I have finals, which involves a PSA, I haven’t exactly started yet which is really stressing me out.

I don’t have specific methods that help with stress, but sometimes I read to help it. But that just puts off whatever I’m procrastinating. So what helps the most is to go ahead and do whatever it is that I don’t want to do, get it over with. If it’s a test or something I cant do right away and am worried about it I’ll study or do whatever I can to know that I tried my hardest. After that I just distract myself.

The Future- Kaitlyn Nunnelley

Junior year is almost over and we’re almost seniors… which I find scary. Everyone says junior year is the hardest and worst year but I don’t agree. My mix of classes and teachers hasn’t been too hard on me. I had many successes and failures.

One of my biggest successes I think was maintaining my A in AP Calculus. I’m good at math in general but I got a devil dollar for getting an A on every quiz and test the first semester, which I was very proud of.

I had more failures than significant successes. Physics and AP US History were pretty bad for me this year. I should’ve paid more attention in APUSH definitely because I know nothing about history at all. Physics just was bad in general, I think most agree.

This summer I’ll just spend everyday at the pool, doing swim team and tennis. And I guess a whole bunch of AP Spanish work and English Lit.

Senior year and summer I really just want to get focused on finding the perfect school for me.

Help!-Leah Noble

Overall, I felt very prepared for the AP test this year and thought that teaching to the test was effective in preparation for the test. Although sometimes a pain, the practice tests we did throughout the year helped me get an idea of what the test would be like. I also enjoyed being able to look back at my scores from the beginning of the year and seeing the progress I had made. It's nice to be able to physically see improvement. One thing I wish we had done more of is vocabulary. Although the vocab we learned first semester helped some, I wish we had something like a list of obscure words that have shown up on previous tests because I felt like there were several times that I knew the answer to the question but didn't know what option to pick because I was not familiar with the vocabulary used in the answer choices. Concerning the essays, I liked discussing them in small groups better than as a whole class. I felt very prepared for the analysis essay, but less so for the argument and synthesis ones. When I wrote those two essays on the test, I felt as if I had reverted back to my old ways of writing those kinds of essays and forgot all that we had learned. This might have happened due to the fact that I had already taken 4 other AP tests prior to this one and I was burned out, but I also think it might have happened partly because I didn't feel like I had enough guidance in how to write these and practice doing them.

Help!- Amelia Rogers

            While I'm typically not a fan of “teaching to the test,” I feel like it worked out well for this class. Yes, the multiple choice was tedious but it was effective because it gave me a good idea of how prepared I was, and I saw myself improve over the year. The timed writings were also important for me to improve my writing, and they helped me break out of my former 5- paragraph essay standard style. I appreciated getting feedback on my writing and analyzing others’, but I think the small group discussions worked better than the whole class. People are more open to talking in small groups. Also, it would be good to encourage more constructive criticism because sometimes it felt like we were just tearing people’s essays up because it was anonymous. I enjoyed doing Socratic seminars but not writing the questions for them, and sometimes it seemed like we were discussing philosophical issues instead of analyzing style. I would keep them but change the focus.  

help! emily chavez

After taking the AP test, I really feel like the things you are doing in class genuinely helped me be prepared for it. Not only was I prepared, but I felt like you did it in such a way that didn't feel like reading straight out of the textbook because we were actually doing it. When in comes to the AP test, I think we need to practice writing the essays in the amount of time given during the actual test. I was EXHAUSTED by the 3rd essay and felt like my last essay could've been much stronger. That might not help, but it's something to be aware of.

My essay writing as definitely improved as did my reading/English sections of the ACT. I do think ACT practice tests are something you can consider/continue.

Our first semester final was a great experience in public speaking and argumentative speech. That was probably my favorite part of the year.

One thing that I thought was a little frustrating about this year were just some miscommunications. I am chatty, yes, but I listen for the most part and am aware of everything going on. There were times when I didn't upload it to Turn It in simply because I did not understand that it was expected of me to do so. I also think there needs to be more clarity on when the blogs are actually due. I turn it on a day after it was due and got half credit for it, even though I thought there was a bit of a grace period on it. I just think there need to be more clear guidelines so that everyone is on the same page. 

Lastly, I think Socratic Seminars need to be modified. The 150 word minimum was tough and I just ended up repeating myself even though I had already answered the question thoroughly in 80 words.  

you rock bestie ily!

Help!-Noah Welch

I thought your class was effective this year. In my opinion, the tests and writings were very effective but I do not think putting the tests and writings on Friday helped develop our skills further. I enjoyed the Socratic seminars, but I think that our class needed a little more prodding from you to reach our full potential. I also felt this way about several of our class discussions, in many of these circumstances several people needed more encouragement to contribute to the discussion.

 My largest complaint about the class is this semester’s final. I do not have many skills in film. I cannot edit film or act well. I would greatly prefer if we had options on what project we could undertake for our final. I think this would be fair, because some people do not have the skills to perform this project to your expectations.  Instead of a single project option, you could require us to write a paper, or take a test or make a power point or make a film.    I do not understand how this film applies to what we have learned and worked on in class this whole year.  This final seems like a more appropriate final for a film class. I understand that you want to broaden our horizons, but please consider that not everyone shares your love and talent for film. If you wanted to introduce us to film, maybe it could have been a smaller project worth much less than 20% of our grade.

I appreciate your willingness to accept constructive feedback.  I hope you will take my feedback under consideration.  On the whole I had a good year and enjoyed your class greatly. I thought you did a wonderful job preparing us for the AP test and were an effective and fun teacher.