AP English teacher never read Orwell?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She probably was an education major NOT an English major.

Not if she's certified to teach in a public HS. That's not how education certification works in this country,

Actually, it is. I'm a certified math teacher but I wasn't a math major. Some states require you to major in the subject you teach (Maryland), but many do not (virginia), and once you have a license in one state it's relatively easy to transfer to another. I could transfer my license to Maryland with reciprocity and not have a math degree.

What did you major in?

Business. My masters is education. I just needed so many math credits, but I somehow got credit for them through things like "logistics optimization" and "business statistics". My calculus credits for my initial licensure are literally from AP calculus when I was 17.

Of the 20ish teachers in our high school math department, only 1 was a math major. Several were engineering, but some of us were business, nutrition, agriculture, Spanish, or even physical education majors. Once you are licensed in one subject, all it takes to add a math license in Virginia is passing a subject matter test.

I reacted to a poster that says that she probably had an undergraduate major in Education. I have never seen a university program that had an an undergraduate major that led to high school level certification, other than in special education, or a subject like Music Education or PE where people are certified K-12.

I agree that you can major in one subject, and get certified to teach another. But you can't major in Education as a sole subject and teacher High School English.

You can major in "Secondary English Education" though in many states, without being a straight up English major.

[Anonymous]

It seems odd, I agree, but schools aren't reading the same classics that most of us read in the 1980s or 1990s. I'm not sure when things shifted (I graduated from HS in 1996) so it's possible that a teacher in their 30s might have read completely different books in school. Maybe HS literature is no longer about Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, Joseph Conrad, the Bronte sisters, the Odyssey, George Orwell, and the like. Of all the books my kids have read to date in middle school, the only one I knew was The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

[Anonymous]

I also think this is an issue related to location - I know we all complain about DMV schools but the truth is that our kids are better educated than lots of other areas of the country for many reasons, including the teachers, the curriculum, the parents.

My brother lives in the midwest and his kids were reading books senior year of high school that my kids read in middle school and many less of them.

I also think the quality of the teachers is not as good - DC is a mecca for the educated but in other places, you might not get someone with a PHD in literature teaching English.

I would be annoyed the teacher hadn't read AF because its a classic, short, easy and most people have read it, but weirder that she admitted the fact. In any event, good for your kid for knowing it.

AF is one of my family's favorite books - we listened to the audio version on a road trip when one of my kids was assigned it for summer reading - the other kids got to listen too and we have funny memories of the trip. The teacher should read it over the summer and teach next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does everyone need to read the same books? Surely the idea behind making kids read "1984" is to talk about themes like extreme government, propaganda, manipulation, etc. If they read Handmaid's Tale, they could discuss the same themes, no?

It has to be pretty boring for an English department to teach the same books for decades when there are so many good books to read, and new (more relevant?) books being written.

The curriculum at our school includes:

Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

The Handmaid's Tale (1985)

Never Let Me Go (2005)

They also read books like The Scarlet Letter (1850) and Kindred (1979) that aren't specifically dystopian but touch on many of the same themes.

You can study dystopian literature, without reading Animal Farm or 1984. Including a mix of books from different time periods, by authors with varied identities and experiences is powerful, but it means letting go of some of the old canon to make room.

[Anonymous]

Also, Op's 11th grader is suggesting Animal Farm as a high school curriculum option. I read it in middle school a gazillion years ago, and my MCPS 8th grader is also reading it in 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

I went to high school starting in (almost "literally 1984") in a well-regarded PA district.

At that time, Animal Farm was taught to the gen ed English sections in 10th grade because it was short and easy to analyze. I don't remember what the honors sections did instead. However, we covered "1984" in honors senior English in 1985 along with another dystopian work ("Anthem" by Ayn Rand).

It took me a long time to get around to "Brave New World", "Catcher in the Rye", and even "Things Fall Apart" on my own. And I haven't yet got around to "Lord of the Flies". I did really enjoy Animal Farm when I finally got around to it.

I have read a lot of the older classics but short, modern, and depressing are easily noped.

I think what's surprising is that someone starting to teach HS English wouldn't just read it "in case". But the popular references pretty much tell you what you need to know.

On an Orwellian scale, this is ungood but does not come close to doubleplusungood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, Op's 11th grader is suggesting Animal Farm as a high school curriculum option. I read it in middle school a gazillion years ago, and my MCPS 8th grader is also reading it in 8th grade.

OP here. Yes, we moved here from DC and my son had also read it as a middle schooler. His teacher was looking for suggestions for the general-level 9th grade English class, not the honors English class.

That said, our first year here, DC was in 9th grade, and took Honors English. That teacher decided it would be too hard for the students to read the Shakespeare play they were required to study under the district syllabus, so instead they watched the Leonardo DiCaprio/Claire Danes movie. In Honors English.

The PP who said to appreciate the education available in DC has a point!

[Anonymous]

Dumbed down movie coming out, so it's a good fit for English class


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm_(2025_film)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, Op's 11th grader is suggesting Animal Farm as a high school curriculum option. I read it in middle school a gazillion years ago, and my MCPS 8th grader is also reading it in 8th grade.

OP here. Yes, we moved here from DC and my son had also read it as a middle schooler. His teacher was looking for suggestions for the general-level 9th grade English class, not the honors English class.

That said, our first year here, DC was in 9th grade, and took Honors English. That teacher decided it would be too hard for the students to read the Shakespeare play they were required to study under the district syllabus, so instead they watched the Leonardo DiCaprio/Claire Danes movie. In Honors English.

The PP who said to appreciate the education available in DC has a point!

Wha do you mean "instead"?

It takes weeks to study a play, but 3 days to watch the movie.

Also, FYI, Shakespeare wasn't a novelist. Shakespeare was a playwright.

[Anonymous]

I’m an English teacher. Yes, I have taught Orwell: 1984, Animal Farm, and an extensive collection of his essays

…and I’m saddened by OP’s question. There are so many works out there. So many. This teacher shouldn’t be criticized because she isn’t familiar with one of them.

I had a parent call me out for not being intimately familiar with Tolstoy. I recall being horrified that my 20 years of successful teaching were being erased because I wasn’t ready for an impromptu discussion about Anna Karenina. Somehow that became such a fault, as if I couldn’t teach a proper thesis statement because Tolstoy was absent from my nightstand.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I think every college-bound HS student should read 1984 and Animal Farm in some HS class.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PPs that everyone will have gaps. I never read Lord of the Flies for instance or invisible Man. But I agree with OP that not having read any Orwell is unusual for a HS English teacher since it’s such a common HS assignment. Like not having read any Shakespeare.

But for PP, the parent who gave you crap about not having read Anna K is a jerk. No one assigns Tolstoy in HS because it’s too long and also kids don’t really have the right social context for it. We read crime and punishment in HS and it took forever and I think most kids didn’t really get it. I was a Russian major so read a lot of that stuff in college. Dickins is another that is rarely assigned in HS (although my HS read great expectations) because it would take so much of the year to get through something like Oliver Twist or tale of two cities.

I’m really curious about whether any HS English classes are teaching huck Finn together with James. That seems like such a great way to hit the old and the new and have a real dialogue. But I admit I haven’t read Jsmes yet!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, Op's 11th grader is suggesting Animal Farm as a high school curriculum option. I read it in middle school a gazillion years ago, and my MCPS 8th grader is also reading it in 8th grade.

OP here. Yes, we moved here from DC and my son had also read it as a middle schooler. His teacher was looking for suggestions for the general-level 9th grade English class, not the honors English class.

That said, our first year here, DC was in 9th grade, and took Honors English. That teacher decided it would be too hard for the students to read the Shakespeare play they were required to study under the district syllabus, so instead they watched the Leonardo DiCaprio/Claire Danes movie. In Honors English.

The PP who said to appreciate the education available in DC has a point!

Wha do you mean "instead"?

It takes weeks to study a play, but 3 days to watch the movie.

Also, FYI, Shakespeare wasn't a novelist. Shakespeare was a playwright.

By “instead” I mean that instead of reading even one act, they read nothing and watched a movie as a substitute for reading the play. That is not an adequate substitute for reading the play.

I’m not sure why you are pointing out that Shakespeare is not a novelist, but you are correct. Shakespeare was a playwright. 👍

[Anonymous]

I think it's important to understand that teachers in high school specialize. This teacher may teach 9th grade regular English and AP Lang and nothing else. In my school, Orwell wouldn't be taught in either of those courses. English 9 focuses on older literature -- the Odyssey, and Greek Myth, and Shakespeare. All the English 11 options focus on American authors. So, even if Orwell were taught in her school, it doesn't mean she would teach it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, Op's 11th grader is suggesting Animal Farm as a high school curriculum option. I read it in middle school a gazillion years ago, and my MCPS 8th grader is also reading it in 8th grade.

our first year here, DC was in 9th grade, and took Honors English. That teacher decided it would be too hard for the students to read the Shakespeare play they were required to study under the district syllabus, so instead they watched the Leonardo DiCaprio/Claire Danes movie. In Honors English.

In middle school now they are reading whole books first and then watch the movie. In 7th grade they did this with “The Outsiders” and then “The Giver”.

In 8th grade they start reading Shakespeare and interested kids can try out for the yearly Shakespeare play. My son got a part in “The Winters Tale”.

Separate but equal I guess in terms of types of reading each grade works on.