Instead of writing a book review, I decided to write about the changes being made in my English class as to what themes and concepts should be discussed on a particular novel.
Our required reading novel is All Quiet on the Western Front. In September and October of last year, I would have read the entire novel and taken quizzes on chapters of the book every week. This year, however, my teacher told us that the English department wants to “try something out.” Instead of reading the entire novel, we are only reading one chapter of the book.
We are also completing a project to learn about the different perspectives of war: we are going to interview someone we know about their experience with war from different perspectives (mother of soldier, child of soldier, soldier, war protestor, politician, etc.) And then we are going to create narratives using our interviewee’s story as inspiration.
Although I am pretty bummed that we do not get to read the whole novel- reading that one chapter makes me want to read the whole thing- I think this is really exciting because my sophomore class and I get to “test out” new teaching methods that, based on our responses and feedback, may or may not become the new standard for all other 10th grade English accelerated classes to come!
I love English (it’s my favorite subject) so I’m anxious to see how different these new methods will be. I just thought I would share with other students because I find it fascinating the way the teaching board decides how to teach certain material. Hopefully, this experience will be educational, enriching, AND FUN‼
-Kelsey H., 10th grade
Mission Viejo Library Teen Voice 