Wednesday, June 3, 2015

TOW #29: Letter to a New APELC Student

Dear New APELC Student,
            Hello! Welcome to a year filled with successes, struggles, sadness, and triumph! Despite all of the rumors about the class you might have heard, you will find out throughout the year that success will prevail eventually. Therefore, stay calm, keep up the hard work, and you’ll be OK. However, that synopsis must not be enough for you, so let’s delve into the specifics of my experiences. Hopefully you’ll get a better sense of how the class is from my actions and experiences.
            At the beginning of last year, I was definitely not a great writer. It was difficult for me to brainstorm ideas, form arguments, and analyze texts. I came into APELC with a determination to succeed from the very beginning and did not prepare myself for some failures. As a result of me wanting too much success too quickly, I was rewarded not with that success, but with a low grade for the first marking period. I had to summon resiliency when coping with the grade, but after discussing my status in the class with Mr. Yost and Ms. Pronko extensively, I chose to loosen my grip on the class. I stopped worrying about my final grades and concentrated on improving my writing, absorbing information from texts, and practicing rhetorical analysis. In this way, I was able to improve my reading and writing skills extensively, therefore boosting my grade and helping me prepare skills for the AP Exam. If you are coming into the class expecting Armageddon, tone it down, and don’t worry about it. Just focus on learning and improving your skills. It may seem like an old cliché to say not to worry about grades, but in my case, the technique certainly helped. Hopefully, it will work for all of you as well.
            Now that you have some idea of how to attack the course, let’s discuss some of the course specifics itself. You might be expecting stacks upon stacks of writing and two take home essays a month. That is definitely not how the course goes. While there is certainly plenty of reading to do over the course of the year, Mr. Yost and Ms. Pronko will give you lots of time to complete the assignments. For a long reading assignment (such as Socrates in the winter), you could expect around a week and a half to complete the assignment. That being said, don’t save all of the reading to the last minute. The texts assigned in the class for reading are often very dense texts that require time to digest. Now this isn’t meant to scare you, as your teachers will provide excellent guidance on these texts, but make sure that you stay on top of all of you assignments. In that way, you will stay organized and remain confident throughout the year, instead of becoming stressed and worried.
            One final word of advice I will give is to use your TOWs extensively. TOWs are “Text-of-the-Week” Assignments that require you to post a blog entry about a particular nonfiction text (written, visual, or independent reading book), regarding the purpose and rhetorical strategies the author uses in the text. Use these to your advantage by picking texts to read that are challenging, and practicing analysis of the text quickly. This will help you improve your reading and analysis skills, and prepare you for the AP Exam in May. Additionally, try to choose texts about a variety of different topics, so that you have plenty of new exposure to ideas. In this way, you will have a large pool of ideas to choose from when you create arguments for essay.

            At this point, you might still be thinking about a supposed large workload and difficult readings. Don’t worry about it. Focus on staying calm throughout the course and improving your reading and writing skills. Finally, remember that the class is surely a marathon, not a sprint, and that your teachers are there to help you. Mr. Yost and Ms. Pronko are great reasources for help, support, and information. Ask them for anything you might need related to the class, and they will do their best to help you out. Best of luck in AP English Language and Composition! You are at the beginning of the road to success. You will do great!