Conventional English Classes
September 6th 2008 11:22
As I'm waiting for a response from my editor, I'm going to be here today and possibly tomorrow as well. And in the spirit of the start of school, my first post is going to be about the evils of grade nine English.
As some of you may remember, I disappeared for quite a while last year from Orble, as I was stressed out to an extreme level; well, I disappeared from school, too, and as a result I'm retaking all of my grade nine classes (with minor changes) this year. Which means I'm taking English.
I may be crazy-in fact, I'm pretty sure I am-but English class bores me almost to tears. I have had incredible experiences in English classes. I have had great teachers, and in fact if not for English class I would never have gotten into poetry. Would you believe that I started reading 'late'? But that's another matter altogether. Now I'm at university level English.
Which makes my life incredibly dull. I am in the hardest level of English possible, and I'm still bored out of my mind. We're doing some poetry stuff, and it's good, it isn't where they make you write haikus or anything horrible like that. But we're also doing essays. And essays bore the hell out of me.
Especially when the teacher expects us to dissect one, and then write our own, and plan it, rough draft it, and then hand in a polished final draft. I have a hard time working in drafts. Every single post on this blog is my first draft. In grade eight, I was 'good at editing and revising', and I never had time for a rough draft, because I was a last-minute type of girl.
I guess it's just that my brain works in severely different ways from the norm they're supposed to teach for. I just wish there was some alternative English program that I could take; this class is so far exceedingly dull, and it promises to be so for the rest of the semester. Especially because I think I might have to read Romeo and Juliet. I hate Romeo and Juliet. I really do.
That said, I have to take it, and in the upcoming years English will hopefully become less dull and I'll actually enjoy myself. Not necessarily find it challenging, but enjoyable. I guess that's a part of being a writer-English class can get boring.
How does any of this actually pertain to writing? It does, in a way. Because I love to write, and so I have a passion for some of the work we do in class; but I don't love essays, and thus class can be dull. Personally, I'd much rather take a specific writing-focused class. In fact, I would love to take a ten day writing class.
Like Alpha, which is in the states. But that isn't an option for me at this point in time; so I will soldier through the boredom and hope for better days.
As some of you may remember, I disappeared for quite a while last year from Orble, as I was stressed out to an extreme level; well, I disappeared from school, too, and as a result I'm retaking all of my grade nine classes (with minor changes) this year. Which means I'm taking English.
I may be crazy-in fact, I'm pretty sure I am-but English class bores me almost to tears. I have had incredible experiences in English classes. I have had great teachers, and in fact if not for English class I would never have gotten into poetry. Would you believe that I started reading 'late'? But that's another matter altogether. Now I'm at university level English.
Which makes my life incredibly dull. I am in the hardest level of English possible, and I'm still bored out of my mind. We're doing some poetry stuff, and it's good, it isn't where they make you write haikus or anything horrible like that. But we're also doing essays. And essays bore the hell out of me.
Especially when the teacher expects us to dissect one, and then write our own, and plan it, rough draft it, and then hand in a polished final draft. I have a hard time working in drafts. Every single post on this blog is my first draft. In grade eight, I was 'good at editing and revising', and I never had time for a rough draft, because I was a last-minute type of girl.
I guess it's just that my brain works in severely different ways from the norm they're supposed to teach for. I just wish there was some alternative English program that I could take; this class is so far exceedingly dull, and it promises to be so for the rest of the semester. Especially because I think I might have to read Romeo and Juliet. I hate Romeo and Juliet. I really do.
That said, I have to take it, and in the upcoming years English will hopefully become less dull and I'll actually enjoy myself. Not necessarily find it challenging, but enjoyable. I guess that's a part of being a writer-English class can get boring.
How does any of this actually pertain to writing? It does, in a way. Because I love to write, and so I have a passion for some of the work we do in class; but I don't love essays, and thus class can be dull. Personally, I'd much rather take a specific writing-focused class. In fact, I would love to take a ten day writing class.
Like Alpha, which is in the states. But that isn't an option for me at this point in time; so I will soldier through the boredom and hope for better days.
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Comment by katyzzz
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child, oops, sorry.But Dianna, I understand your boredom and frustration, schools aim for the norm, but stick it out, when I was at school I didn't read the books, took little interest, obviously tuned in at all the right places, that was in English, of course, but subsequently became very good at English for a period of time, anyway. Nothing in the world is a constant, life will change as will you, and that inevitably brings both pleasure and pain, do as well as you can but don't stress if you don't meet your teacher's expectations, they can be incredibly dull.
It's a pity you're not turned on by languages, mathematics and science, ( in reverse order ) as I was, English was just a necessity to me and yet I went to a Selective High School and my mother was exceptional at English, obviously I inherited some different genes.
At school there were a very select few who excelled at English but not other things. That was the era.
Although I was a dutiful student, school came very easily to me and with things that didn't I just tuned out, I'm still rather like that, but in a much broader field of course.
I loved school, but there were no boys to worry about, which was a blessing.
I escaped many of the troubles girls experience nowadays, lucky me.
Relax and enjoy yourself, you're doing great and do try to get on with at least some of the girls at school.
Comment by Dianna G
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Hmmm... a lot of my friends are guys... or from the alternative school attached to ours. I think I'd go insane at an all girls school. Most of them are so shallow!
I am relaxing. It's the weekend.
~Dianna