Why can't we accelerate English the way we (try to) accelerate math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a rapid reader with a nearly photographic memory, can write and research appropriately, and is easily bored and under-worked in English courses where lots of other students are just messing around. If math can be accelerated, why can't English? Is the best we can do for DC to take AP Lang as a junior and AP Lit as a senior, or is there something earlier or better that is possible?

What is your end goal here? Take college English classes in HS?

No, just be challenged to learn to read, analyze, conduct research, and write at a truly college level - and start and practice doing that before senior year.

College level writing should be covered in AP Lang Junior year.

As others said, look into RM and/or the Humanities magnets.

FYI I find that most truly gifted kids don't complain about being "bored" since they will come up with challenging tasks for themselves on their own in their subjects of interest.

[Anonymous]

I have a high school senior taking a college level English class. She loves reading and writing and has wanted to major in English and be a writer since she was a little girl. This class has sucked all of the joy out of English and she now intends to go a different direction in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a high school senior taking a college level English class. She loves reading and writing and has wanted to major in English and be a writer since she was a little girl. This class has sucked all of the joy out of English and she now intends to go a different direction in college.

Creative writing is a fine art, not the academic study of English. Obviously there is some overlap, like math and engineering have overlap.

Many high schools have creative writing classes.

[Anonymous]

OP, it’ll never happen. Just enroll your kid in an AoPS English course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Possibly AP Seminar in 10th grade in lieu of Honors English 10.

Can you do this? Is AP Seminar credited towards English credit?

About 10 schools offer the English 10 version. But there are also schools that offer the version that doesn’t count toward English 10. It is confusing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:9th grade: Honors English 9
10th grade: AP Seminar
11th grade: AP Lang
12th grade: AP Lit

Can also take AP Research in 12th

If your child isn’t in high school yet, apply to a Humanities magnet.

I think you mean “Honors” English 9.

[Anonymous]

I learned more about English grammar in French class than in English class.

We studied literature and drama and creative writing in English class.

[Anonymous]

What does a photographic memory have to do with English class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a high school senior taking a college level English class. She loves reading and writing and has wanted to major in English and be a writer since she was a little girl. This class has sucked all of the joy out of English and she now intends to go a different direction in college.

To be fair. I had the same experience at a top college. Reading literary criticism and writing lit crit and approaching everything from a post modern or critical gender or whatever different lens took all the fun out of reading and writing. I became a lawyer because the writing was more fun than lit crit, which really says something about how mind numbing college lit crit classes can be.

I also disagree with PP that said you can’t learn writing by reading. You actually can learn a lot by reading really well written books, fiction and non-fiction. Acclerating thorugh lots of APs will teach you less than just reading the classics, writing something on any topic, putting it through multiple drafts and then giving it to a good writer to critique.

I do wish the McPS HS classes read more books, though, plus more classics. Seems like the standard honors course reads on book per quarter and they are almost always recent publications (my 10th grader has read one published in 2017 and one published in 2018 so far this year, and I think last year was similar — one in 2012, and I can’t remember the others). They could double the number of books read so they could still include the recent stuff but add back in some of the 20th century or 19th century ones. Would it kill then to read Steinbeck, Hemingway, or Hawthorne?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a high school senior taking a college level English class. She loves reading and writing and has wanted to major in English and be a writer since she was a little girl. This class has sucked all of the joy out of English and she now intends to go a different direction in college.

To be fair. I had the same experience at a top college. Reading literary criticism and writing lit crit and approaching everything from a post modern or critical gender or whatever different lens took all the fun out of reading and writing. I became a lawyer because the writing was more fun than lit crit, which really says something about how mind numbing college lit crit classes can be.

I also disagree with PP that said you can’t learn writing by reading. You actually can learn a lot by reading really well written books, fiction and non-fiction. Acclerating thorugh lots of APs will teach you less than just reading the classics, writing something on any topic, putting it through multiple drafts and then giving it to a good writer to critique.

I do wish the McPS HS classes read more books, though, plus more classics. Seems like the standard honors course reads on book per quarter and they are almost always recent publications (my 10th grader has read one published in 2017 and one published in 2018 so far this year, and I think last year was similar — one in 2012, and I can’t remember the others). They could double the number of books read so they could still include the recent stuff but add back in some of the 20th century or 19th century ones. Would it kill then to read Steinbeck, Hemingway, or Hawthorne?

Those are white make authors. I do think that Of Mice and Men is n option for 9th with the updated curriculum. But the trend is away from those. My kid reads those kinds of authors in the summer. I’m lucky that I have one that is a voracious reader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Accelerate English to what/where exactly? At a certain point it's not about acceleration of English but choosing a focus or topic of study. That's why there are so many English electives.

The problem is not accelerating English further, its creating full year/semester electives that go towards graduation requirement.

I'd say 'accelerate' English to the point of requiring actual research (with proper method, documentation, and citation), academic writing, multidraft editing, and formal presentation skills (not just reading disconnected commentary from the notes fields in Google Slides). Kids who find it comparatively easy to read a novel and dash off a character study or a comparison/contrast paper should be introduced to higher-level academic discourse sooner. Even AP doesn't do this.

They may not get this from a high school English class. I got more of that kind of writing practice in history class than in English, which focused on novels, plays and poetry.

High school English classes are not courses in technical or academic writing. Going in the school science fair would provide more opportunities for academic writing than English class.

If you are the OP, did you grow up outside the US? Do you work in a science field?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a high school senior taking a college level English class. She loves reading and writing and has wanted to major in English and be a writer since she was a little girl. This class has sucked all of the joy out of English and she now intends to go a different direction in college.

To be fair. I had the same experience at a top college. Reading literary criticism and writing lit crit and approaching everything from a post modern or critical gender or whatever different lens took all the fun out of reading and writing. I became a lawyer because the writing was more fun than lit crit, which really says something about how mind numbing college lit crit classes can be.

I also disagree with PP that said you can’t learn writing by reading. You actually can learn a lot by reading really well written books, fiction and non-fiction. Acclerating thorugh lots of APs will teach you less than just reading the classics, writing something on any topic, putting it through multiple drafts and then giving it to a good writer to critique.

I do wish the McPS HS classes read more books, though, plus more classics. Seems like the standard honors course reads on book per quarter and they are almost always recent publications (my 10th grader has read one published in 2017 and one published in 2018 so far this year, and I think last year was similar — one in 2012, and I can’t remember the others). They could double the number of books read so they could still include the recent stuff but add back in some of the 20th century or 19th century ones. Would it kill then to read Steinbeck, Hemingway, or Hawthorne?

Those are white make authors. I do think that Of Mice and Men is n option for 9th with the updated curriculum. But the trend is away from those. My kid reads those kinds of authors in the summer. I’m lucky that I have one that is a voracious reader.

My kid did read Of Mice and Men in 9th, but yes it was the only book that quarter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a high school senior taking a college level English class. She loves reading and writing and has wanted to major in English and be a writer since she was a little girl. This class has sucked all of the joy out of English and she now intends to go a different direction in college.

To be fair. I had the same experience at a top college. Reading literary criticism and writing lit crit and approaching everything from a post modern or critical gender or whatever different lens took all the fun out of reading and writing. I became a lawyer because the writing was more fun than lit crit, which really says something about how mind numbing college lit crit classes can be.

I also disagree with PP that said you can’t learn writing by reading. You actually can learn a lot by reading really well written books, fiction and non-fiction. Acclerating thorugh lots of APs will teach you less than just reading the classics, writing something on any topic, putting it through multiple drafts and then giving it to a good writer to critique.

I do wish the McPS HS classes read more books, though, plus more classics. Seems like the standard honors course reads on book per quarter and they are almost always recent publications (my 10th grader has read one published in 2017 and one published in 2018 so far this year, and I think last year was similar — one in 2012, and I can’t remember the others). They could double the number of books read so they could still include the recent stuff but add back in some of the 20th century or 19th century ones. Would it kill then to read Steinbeck, Hemingway, or Hawthorne?

Those are white make authors. I do think that Of Mice and Men is n option for 9th with the updated curriculum. But the trend is away from those. My kid reads those kinds of authors in the summer. I’m lucky that I have one that is a voracious reader.

My kid did read Of Mice and Men in 9th, but yes it was the only book that quarter.

Books are not the only medium that kids read in English. There are poems, plays m, short stories, speeches.

[Anonymous]

We do; it's called foreign language immersion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:9th grade: Honors English 9
10th grade: AP Seminar
11th grade: AP Lang
12th grade: AP Lit

Can also take AP Research in 12th

If your child isn’t in high school yet, apply to a Humanities magnet.

Not all schools have AP seminar.