Were you an honor's student? Were you careful and impeccable about your work? What did you get out of high school English class?
I just graduated high school. This year, I had a 95% average, and have done fairly well in the past years. In grade 10 English, I got 100% on my final exam, which greatly surprised me because I didn't take the class seriously and was a pothead. One should always be impeccable about their work, especially in school. Education is a beautiful thing. I wished I learned to appreciate the whole gamut of academia, when there was still time. Calculus and Advanced Functions kicked my ass because I always hated and shunned math.
I was a terrible high school student who didn't get his act together until Junior college. After junior college I got into a real university and started working toward a better life. I have trouble paying attention and didn't learn to conquer this until after high school. I was, therefore, very careless about school. Seperating what I learned about English, reading, and writing between the elementary, high school, and college level is too difficult. But since I can write fairly well, am a huge reader (despite being told in Kindergarten I'd never learn to read...probably due to my attention issues) and have a good talent for foreign languages (which require, first, understanding of your own tongue), I'd imagine English taught me alot. Like above I was awful at math. Honestly...horrible. And unlike above I never even touched Calculus. My math loving fiance finds it hilarious.
I failed English, every year, in high school and took it every year, in summer school. As a senior, I took it in night school. In college, I passed out of Eng 103 and 104. One of 4% of the students who took the tests. I find that a bit odd. :-|
English was one of the few courses where I excelled in high school. A big part of it had to do with my teacher in junior year, Mr. Wortendyke. I had him again as a senior in AP English. He was that special teacher for me. Awesome guy.
[MENTION=3885]Wreybies[/MENTION] Aren't those teachers great? I'm lucky enough to had three of those teachers, and they were true mentors and friends and inspired within me a love of learning. I've resolved that if I ever become rich, I'm donating a lot back to that school.
I did extremely well in high school English, which is kind of weird because I did no work in those classes at all. At the time, my focus was on math and science because I intended to study engineering in university. (This turned out to be a mistake. I haven't really enjoyed my engineering career much, and I'd much rather have studied creative writing and literature.)
I did well in all of my HS classes, all honors classes. I was lucky enough to get As and Bs without any real studying and just paying attention in class. It was nice in HS because I was lazy at the time but screwed me over for several semesters in college because I did not know how to study since I had never studied before. My 11th grade English teacher was a very special guy who helped spark critical, creative thinking while my senior English teacher hammered us with diction and grammar until we were loony. They were both great teachers in their own way and both played a part in my interest in writing and teaching.
English in high school was really easy for me, and I did really well. Most of it was simply reading something and writing a paper on it. We had discussions as well, though most of them were disappointing because it was obvious that a lot of the students either hadn't read the piece we were discussing or didn't understand it. Most of my teachers were good, so that helped. The few English classes I took in college were a lot more enjoyable. There were better discussions, and your essays were held to a higher standard.
I got bored, failed to hand in half of the assignment and passed anyway in grade 10. Skipped grade 11 English and passed grade 12 English with flying colours. Would have gotten a higher mark, but I had a bout of severe depression in the middle. I was told that 95% of people that do what I did with English class fail and that I should go back and take grade 11 English. I think I ended up with the highest mark in the class...
I hated school in all its forms. I loved to read but hated that I had to write about things I didn't care about. I also hated certain assigned reading like The Great Gatsby. But when I read it later on, I still thought it was an overrated bore-fest.
Took the IB courses for english, got high grades, enjoyed reading, discussing, and analyzing novels. We didn't create nearly enough though. Essays, but those were VERY formal.
Fraking hated essays. Had to be so bloody structured. The essay was always where I got my worst marks. Creative writing? No one could beat me.
I am of this ilk. I dropped out of school in 1983 at the age of 15 without any formal qualifications. My education began in the bars and the back-alleys. I liked reading books of my own choice at home but, as some here have said, the education system surrounding English classes ruined my enjoymnent of it. Schools these days look better to me, there seems to have been improvement.
Less structure and more support support support, that was their emphasis. Of course, tailoring your essay to the subject also mattered, since you needed an essay for every subject.
I'm only 25. Sure wasn't any improvement on my end. If I could burn down every school, I would. I learned more doing my own thing than I ever did at school.
I liked having essay assignments because they were fairly easy to write. As long as you followed a particular structure/the guidelines and stayed on topic, you did just fine. I think essays are a good way to show what ideas/interpretations you've come up with after you've read a book, and I actually prefer them over quizzes/tests. They're also a good way to improve your formal writing skills.
I had one teacher named Mr. Mongello (pronounced mon chello). If I had had ANY sense of humor back then I'd have nicknamed him "Lem" as soon as I could. Lem Mongello. He was a great teacher. He tried to use writing as a treatment for student's emotions which probably worked most of the time. Dr. Wiest was another one. ENORMOUSLY obese, she had a boundless passion for literature and writing (and possibly cupcakes) that overflowed out of her and into us. Even me. She caught me hooking school once and looked so hurt and disappointed and sad that I had skipped her class (it wasn't just her, I skipped the whole dang thing). I can still remember the look on her face. Ouch. It was like kicking a puppy. How could I be so mean?!?! I never skipped another day. Which, for a high school senior, is saying something.
I was a B student with a few A grades scattered about in English through both high school and college. I majored in Biology and minored in English (although I had more semester hours in the latter) and am now a high school English teacher at a career technical school.
...they didn't call it that back then, but i was at the top of the class from grade school to hs graduation and always made what was then called the 'honor roll' in grade school and jr high... plus was a member of the 'honor society' in high school... ...not with homework and term papers... usually just tossed it all off at the last minute and it simply 'came out' better than anyone else's... though i was both, when writing columns and editing other's writings for the hs newspaper... i was drafted to be its editor for the 3 years i was in high school... ...nothing i noticed... didn't really learn much i hadn't already known by then... and pretty much all we were assigned in lit class i had read years earlier, on my own... such as having ingested the complete works of the bard by about 10 or 11... [/QUOTE]
[MENTION=405]TWErvin2[/MENTION] How did you do this in Ohio (Ohioan myself)? I've often thought about going back as a history teacher after the military but not sure how to do that with an unrelated degree (international studies). I'd like to go back for a master's in history and start teaching, but I'm sure it's alot more complicated than that.
I had to leave school at 15 but sat my 'O'Level a year early. I got the highest mark in my year. That was before the difficulties I face now became a problem. I loved English class and spent more effort on it than any other subject. Thinking back, the only subjects I had any natural leaning towards were creative ones. Music and Art are the only two other qualifications I possess. I have found since then that much of what I was taught with regard to English language was an absolute crock, though perhaps that can be attributed to a shift over time. But one thing I do remember was out-of-date text books, and the teacher instructing the class to ignore what was printed and only to do as we were verbally instructed. Confusing to say the least.
I didn't do overly well in English during high school. Overall, I ended up with a D. The creative writing assignments were easy enough for me and I did quite well in them but when it came to Shakespeare I struggled a lot. I never could wrap my head around the language so when we were asked to write about Romeo and Juliet, I failed miserably. Even the movie didn't help...Mainly because the dialogue was taken from the original play yet it was set in modern times...I'd like to know what went through the directors head when he thought that was a good idea.
You'd have to get a teaching licence. You could find out the exact requirements on the Ohio Department of Education website. You may be able to get a temporary licence, or teach under a subsitute licence as you have a four year degree. I will tell you that currently it's difficult to find a job in Ohio, teaching, especially for history teachers, for a number of reasons. A lot of students graduating from college are seeking history teaching postions, as compared to say math or chemistry. (It's the same for English. Having my certification in Life Science and Reading helped me secure a job). Plus, the way the retirement system has recently changed, teachers are working longer, thus there is less turn over. It's not impossible, but if you were able to earn a dual certification/licence, you'd be far more marketable, especially to a small school district that would find the flexibility very useful. I hope you're able to accomplish getting your studies completed. Good teachers are definately needed. Those with experience outside of education, especially military experience, I think benefits the students.
I slept through many classes in freshman year. Always a voracious reader, I think I absorbed a great deal of knowledge of language and grammar and writing through osmosis. What I didn't understand, I asked an older sibling. (Unfortunately, I couldn't ask my mother since she seemed to disdain my lack of enthusiasm for those things a typical pre-schooler "should" be pursuing, like picking my nose or something.) I was bored to tears in high school - cursed with mediocre teachers. I did well enough - top 20% of class for someone who never took a book home and did each day's homework that I could not complete at the end of class in homeroom and study hall. Like JetBlack, however, I excelled in college classes and by second year was taking advanced level writing courses. Easily bored I guess. But I enjoyed the challenge of something that I could not conquer in twenty minutes or less! Many years later, of course, I was diagnosed with ADHD which may have had something to do with it.
