Letter to Newbies (Last Year's)
Dear Frightened AP English Student,
So, you signed up for AP English Language and Composition… and after that summer work, I bet you’re starting to question that decision, aren’t you? Wondering if you can really handle the course load that you’ve heard horror stories about… the packets of work… the rhetorical analyses… the long essays you’ll have to write… the all nighters spent filling out Reading Sheets watching the hour hand inch closer and closer to 6AM… and Oh God, the Research Binder! The terrible, godforsaken and unholy Research Binder; a fate no man should knowingly choose for himself… RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN! Why are you reading? RUN!
Sorry... Let’s try that again shall we: Feeling overwhelmed about the amount of work you are going to receive this year? Well don’t worry because I know you can do it! OK, maybe not “know,” but… I mean, it’s not that much work if you consider… that... Well, I’m sure that if you just… OK fine, I have no words of wisdom for you except: Embrace for impact...
Now that I have your attention and with all joking aside (and yes, believe it or not the above was in fact a joke) the blunt truth is that you will receive more work in this English class than in any other one you have taken as of yet in your entire school career. There really will be relatively large packets of work and rhetorical analyses that you will have to think critically about. And yes, in November you will start in-depth work on a Research Binder, investigating the life and work of an author of your choice. But, contrary to popular belief, it really is not that bad…
In some of the packets you are going to receive, you will read about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears and discuss if they really are corrupting society. You will read about what makes a serial killer and discuss the “near epidemic proportions” of which serial killings are becoming today. You will read about Greek Week on college campuses and discuss how you just could not stop laughing after the first paragraph. The range of topics covered by the packets you are going to receive will certainly have you reading something you enjoy, regardless of your interests. Best of all, you will find yourself receiving high grades in the frequent class discussions for arguing your claim that Paris Hilton is in fact the devil.
And though it is true that you will be writing six or seven page essays (or longer depending on the assignment) you will find yourself enjoying the process. You will have the opportunity to write a humorous argument that both persuades and entertains. You will analyze a website of your choice and try to find out what exactly it is convincing you of.
This, I must admit, was my favorite part of the class: the writing. I came into Ms. Pettit’s class knowing very little about the choices I was making in my writing. For example, though I might have been making the choice to use contractions in an essay, I did not understand how that choice was affecting other’s opinions of me. Now I know and my writing is more calculated… and yours will be too. The writing in AP classes is unlike the writing you are used to from your honors English classes too. Before, you were told what to write; now you have the freedom to make your own claims and at times write anything on any topic you would like. And in what other class could you start a sentence with “And” over five times in a letter to other students and get away with it because it is seen as a stylistic choice? Through this freedom you will improve your own ability to think and write independently and purposefully.
To address your (and my) greatest fear- yes, the research binder- I will only say that you will actually enjoy it. If you do what Ms. Pettit says and chose an author that really interests you- and believe me you will find one that does –then you will have no problem enjoying the reading. And by the time you have passed in your research binder you will be so proud of your work that all those sleepless nights will almost seem worth it.
However, with this great course load comes the need for greater discipline. The greatest concern I had with AP English was time management. Managing my time is not a skill that I am blessed with and I struggled (and continue to struggle) finishing homework before 3 A.M. For the first couple of months of the school year, I blamed my late night homework frenzies on the teachers and classes. It is Ms. Pettit’s fault for assigning the homework, I thought, not realizing that I had not even started the homework until 1 A.M. Speaking from a plethora of experience, let me just make something very very (VERY) clear to you: an all-nighter is something you do not want to undergo. Put aside whatever romanticized notion you may have of an all-nighter and realize that it is the most grueling of all experiences. There is but one thing worse than the all-nighter: the two consecutive night all-nighters. Though there is a lot of work that comes along with being part of AP Language and Composition, it is not more than you can handle.
However, what should make you more excited than anything for taking AP English this year is the freedom, opportunities and friendships that come along with it. As part of an AP class you are exempt from suffering through the school wide curriculum for 11th and 12th grade English. Instead of having to read about some wrathful grapes you will read Plato and practice Socrates’ discussion methods. As I have already mentioned, you will read about Paris Hilton’s I.Q. rather than books that will not interest you. Every now and then you will venture outside into the courtyard to read for an entire class and you will spend your lunch having pizza in Ms. Pettit’s room while discussing a book of your choice. You will come to know your classmates more closely in this class than in any other class and even be able to recognize their unique style in their writing. Before you know it you will be able to tell who wrote an essay by the diction and style alone.
Now I am not completely naïve and clueless; I know you are probably not believing a word that I wrote about “enjoying” doing your research binder or writing your ten page essays, and I accept this. I accept it because it is not until the fourth quarter, I believe, that you look back and see that all that work you did not only helped to improve your writing but was actually enjoyable. On that note, I wish you the best of luck with all of the assignments to come and hope that you have as much fun in AP English as I did!
Oh and by the way, if you noticed that the first two paragraphs were sarcastic before I told you in the third paragraph, well then you are already half way there: you’re analyzing! WELCOME TO AP ENGLISH!
Survivor of AP English Language & Composition Class of ‘07-’08,
Dario Sava
So, you signed up for AP English Language and Composition… and after that summer work, I bet you’re starting to question that decision, aren’t you? Wondering if you can really handle the course load that you’ve heard horror stories about… the packets of work… the rhetorical analyses… the long essays you’ll have to write… the all nighters spent filling out Reading Sheets watching the hour hand inch closer and closer to 6AM… and Oh God, the Research Binder! The terrible, godforsaken and unholy Research Binder; a fate no man should knowingly choose for himself… RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN! Why are you reading? RUN!
Sorry... Let’s try that again shall we: Feeling overwhelmed about the amount of work you are going to receive this year? Well don’t worry because I know you can do it! OK, maybe not “know,” but… I mean, it’s not that much work if you consider… that... Well, I’m sure that if you just… OK fine, I have no words of wisdom for you except: Embrace for impact...
Now that I have your attention and with all joking aside (and yes, believe it or not the above was in fact a joke) the blunt truth is that you will receive more work in this English class than in any other one you have taken as of yet in your entire school career. There really will be relatively large packets of work and rhetorical analyses that you will have to think critically about. And yes, in November you will start in-depth work on a Research Binder, investigating the life and work of an author of your choice. But, contrary to popular belief, it really is not that bad…
In some of the packets you are going to receive, you will read about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears and discuss if they really are corrupting society. You will read about what makes a serial killer and discuss the “near epidemic proportions” of which serial killings are becoming today. You will read about Greek Week on college campuses and discuss how you just could not stop laughing after the first paragraph. The range of topics covered by the packets you are going to receive will certainly have you reading something you enjoy, regardless of your interests. Best of all, you will find yourself receiving high grades in the frequent class discussions for arguing your claim that Paris Hilton is in fact the devil.
And though it is true that you will be writing six or seven page essays (or longer depending on the assignment) you will find yourself enjoying the process. You will have the opportunity to write a humorous argument that both persuades and entertains. You will analyze a website of your choice and try to find out what exactly it is convincing you of.
This, I must admit, was my favorite part of the class: the writing. I came into Ms. Pettit’s class knowing very little about the choices I was making in my writing. For example, though I might have been making the choice to use contractions in an essay, I did not understand how that choice was affecting other’s opinions of me. Now I know and my writing is more calculated… and yours will be too. The writing in AP classes is unlike the writing you are used to from your honors English classes too. Before, you were told what to write; now you have the freedom to make your own claims and at times write anything on any topic you would like. And in what other class could you start a sentence with “And” over five times in a letter to other students and get away with it because it is seen as a stylistic choice? Through this freedom you will improve your own ability to think and write independently and purposefully.
To address your (and my) greatest fear- yes, the research binder- I will only say that you will actually enjoy it. If you do what Ms. Pettit says and chose an author that really interests you- and believe me you will find one that does –then you will have no problem enjoying the reading. And by the time you have passed in your research binder you will be so proud of your work that all those sleepless nights will almost seem worth it.
However, with this great course load comes the need for greater discipline. The greatest concern I had with AP English was time management. Managing my time is not a skill that I am blessed with and I struggled (and continue to struggle) finishing homework before 3 A.M. For the first couple of months of the school year, I blamed my late night homework frenzies on the teachers and classes. It is Ms. Pettit’s fault for assigning the homework, I thought, not realizing that I had not even started the homework until 1 A.M. Speaking from a plethora of experience, let me just make something very very (VERY) clear to you: an all-nighter is something you do not want to undergo. Put aside whatever romanticized notion you may have of an all-nighter and realize that it is the most grueling of all experiences. There is but one thing worse than the all-nighter: the two consecutive night all-nighters. Though there is a lot of work that comes along with being part of AP Language and Composition, it is not more than you can handle.
However, what should make you more excited than anything for taking AP English this year is the freedom, opportunities and friendships that come along with it. As part of an AP class you are exempt from suffering through the school wide curriculum for 11th and 12th grade English. Instead of having to read about some wrathful grapes you will read Plato and practice Socrates’ discussion methods. As I have already mentioned, you will read about Paris Hilton’s I.Q. rather than books that will not interest you. Every now and then you will venture outside into the courtyard to read for an entire class and you will spend your lunch having pizza in Ms. Pettit’s room while discussing a book of your choice. You will come to know your classmates more closely in this class than in any other class and even be able to recognize their unique style in their writing. Before you know it you will be able to tell who wrote an essay by the diction and style alone.
Now I am not completely naïve and clueless; I know you are probably not believing a word that I wrote about “enjoying” doing your research binder or writing your ten page essays, and I accept this. I accept it because it is not until the fourth quarter, I believe, that you look back and see that all that work you did not only helped to improve your writing but was actually enjoyable. On that note, I wish you the best of luck with all of the assignments to come and hope that you have as much fun in AP English as I did!
Oh and by the way, if you noticed that the first two paragraphs were sarcastic before I told you in the third paragraph, well then you are already half way there: you’re analyzing! WELCOME TO AP ENGLISH!
Survivor of AP English Language & Composition Class of ‘07-’08,
Dario Sava
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