Today in English, Ms. Serensky mentioned how differently the 11th and 12th graders act to her ten minute warning during in class essays. She noted that the juniors all seem flustered and freak out, while we seniors simply go about our essays, most of us not even glancing up from our work. What I found most interesting from this analysis was my own personal reaction to this comment. I laughed, as did most of my class, especially, when Ms. Serensky went on to say that one of the students even said that at the ten minute warning, he/she had finally decided to move onto the examples in his/her writing. Most of my class was in shock at hearing this, and could not believe anyone could know so little about writing a formal paragraph.
After school, as I drove my sister to swim practice, I brought up this subject with her, interested to see her opinion. When I told her the story she laughed and said, "Yeah, most of my class didn't get to a lot of examples." I was surprised and told her she better get used to it because by the end of the year she was going to have to be able to write an entire essay in 40 minutes, and in AP 12, without her book. She then said to me, "Well, last year you were in the same boat as all of us." This made me think about how hypocritical my reaction was in class and how I mocked all the juniors for their lack or writing experience. Last year, I was the kid who freaked out at the ten minute mark, and who had heart attacks before every in class essay. Even though I still get nervous this year before essays, it isn't half as bad because I know what to expect. The juniors don't. I learned not to be so quick to judge others, and hopefully in the future, I will be able to empathize the juniors because I was once in their shoes.
Cat, I also laughed when Ms. Serensky said this to us about the reactions of the Juniors, mainly because that was exactly how I acted last year. However, they will continue to stress out because looking ahead at the AP test, writing three 40- minute essays seemed impossible to me last December. It is amazing to me how much we have grown as writers and thinkers in such a short amount of time. I hope the juniors will realize that everything will work out in the end!
ReplyDeleteEmpathize with the Juniors?! Not. A. Chance. We should relentlessly punish them with ridicule and mockery. After all, how else will they feel the pressure and learn to move to audience and purpose after the ten minutes is called? Other wise is just absurdity that should be laughed at. Mere empathy will only lead them to accept their struggles and take comfort in them. Of course part of me is employing some "verbal irony" here (bam, lit term). But in a way the only reason we progressed beyond the 2 previous years of high school English was the 50 minutes a day, 5 days a week pressure from Ms. Serensky. I definitely relate to the Juniors' struggles, but they do have to figure things out in the end.
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