what is typical for 10th grade english class?

[hpymomof3]

My oldest dd is a sophmore at a private christian high school this year. She is in honor's english. Even though is currently getting an A it has really been a struggle. What worries me is that reading and writing have always been her strong points. I'm very nervous about how my other dd will do at this school. She is currently in 7th grade and will go to that school freshman year. I only have one year to prepare her.

Last year when my dd was a freshman at the public school english class was a joke. They wrote one or two papers along the lines of "describe a make believe animal". Other than that they had simple vocabulary tests and during their grammar unit they had to circle nouns and verbs. The only literature unit was on Romeo and Juliet but the teacher led all of the discussions and it was very simple.

This year dd's class is the complete opposite. I realize that she in honor's english so it is more challenging but we've heard that even the regular english is very tough. Right now she is working on a term paper on Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream that is more difficult than anything I ever had to do in college. The problem is that each section of the paper is very difficult and lately a different section is due every few days. It seems that many of the kids really have no idea how to write it. The teacher has spent very little classtime actually discussing how to do the paper. The type of analysis and writing that she has to do is actually behind anything that I feel I would be able to teach her.

On top of this they are also studying Macbeth and having to do other work for that at home, which is also very time consuming. Of course this is just for one class. Tonight she has another section due and there is no way that she is going to be able to complete it for tomorrow unless she ignores her other subjects.

I'm wondering what is typical for this grade level. The public school seemed to be way too easy but this school is at the other end of the spectrum. The bottom line is that if this dd is struggling I have no idea how her younger sister is going to be able to handle it.

She does well in math and science but is very weak in writing. We have used many different writing curriculums along with dictating, narrating, etc. when she was younger with little or no success. This year she is doing Jump In. She is doing fairly well but I still feel she is a little below grade level and way behind where she will need to be for the level of english at this school. I'm starting to panic because I'm not really sure if she can get to that point in only a year.

[Brenda in FL]

Well - it's been over twenty years - but from what I remember honors english classes in high school were tough. I spent many a night into the wee hours writing out papers (this was before computers or word processors!!) But the pay-off is huge once you hit college. I felt I was very prepared for the writing that was expected at the university.

However, more than one writing assignment at a time seems a little much. And further, unless you are actually in the classroom - I bet the student's perspective is a little biased (commenting on how little the teacher has prepared them for the paper). I could be wrong though.

I wouldn't worry about your younger daughter - she doesn't have to be in honor's english - just do the best you can in her writing instruction now - support her when she gets to the high school - but let her take charge of her class and her grade.

I think the writing classes and writing assignments for any classes were always the tough things to do for school. They take alot of time, can be stressful, they aren't any fun, and kids would rather be doing anything else!! Just encourage them to do a good job regardless!!

This was probably no help at all - but it really did bring me back to those days so long ago - when it seemed like doing another paper was really going to do me in!!! (And I was an honors student!)

[gardenschooler]

My oldest (the one that is in ps) is in Pre-AP 10th grade English. She's kept an A in there, and it hasn't been a struggle for her. They're doing a term paper this quarter, too, but they were definitely taught *how* to do it. She has seemed a little stressed about it this week, but she'll figure out how to manage her time to get it done.

If you really want your younger one to be well-prepared, go talk to the 8th grade honors English teacher, and the 9th grade one, and try to figure out exactly what you need to work on. I'd also make sure she's doing lots of different kinds of writing. Maybe a writing class or workshop over the summer would help? Mine have always done more writing and *better* writing in classes than they would do just for me.

I've got an 8th grader who would rather die than write her own ransom note. I've been having her write every day this year, and while I think she's improved a lot, she's no more interested in writing than she was before - it's just easier to accomplish for her now. She'll go to an IEW writing workshop this summer, to be able to enroll in it at a co-op this fall. I really think that will do the trick - she'll hate me for it, but she'll thank me later. She actually told me today that Latin was easier than English!! Crazy girl!

[Marie in Oh]

they might just be preparing your daughter to go to college. :hurray: That doesn't happen in most high schools, private or public. Ask me how I know? Becasue I taught Freshman English at 2 different colleges/universities and my students were ill prepared. The first was a private Catholic university were at least 50% of the students went to private catholic schools and many of them were not parish schools. I would have 1 or 2 students out of 20-25 who could write. It was rediculous. :ack2: I would suggest that you have her go to the teacher, make sure she knows what she is writing, and be happy that your daughter seems to be in a school that is challenging her. That is worth celebrating right there. :party:

[hpymomof3]

The lesson plans are posted online so I was able to check out what they were doing in class each day. The instructions for a particular section are handed out before that section are due but usually the teacher goes over it only briefly. It is mentioned in the lesson plans along with other things to be done that day. Class time is only 45 minutes so I doubt she spent that much time going over a particular section. It seems like the teacher might read over part of the packet but doesn't really teach the students how to do the paper.

The instructions are very confusing. I've always considered english to be my strongest subject but I am lost trying to figure out what she is supposed to do for the section she is working on now. Each student also gets a day where they have a conference with the teacher and can ask specific questions. My dd's conference is today (the last day before spring break) and it turns out that the teacher has something completely different planned for the day. Besides that, the section dd is having trouble with is due to day so it will be too late to ask the teacher questions.

I also realize that this is an honor's class so it will be more challenging but it seems like the material they are working on is something I would expect senior year or at least junior year. This is the first year that they have sophomore honor's english and apparently all they did was switch the work that is normally required of junior's and put it in the sophomore english class.

Since it is so different from what dd encountered freshman year at the public school it makes me curious as to what really is typical.

My younger daughter will not be taking honor's english but I'm still worried that she will be in over her head since this school seems to much more challenging. I want to be sure that she is prepared.

[Marie in Oh]

what does the assignemnt say? Maybe I could offer some help. Like I said, I have taught college level English, have an MA in Rhetoric and Comp and a BA is English Lit. I am currently teaching a Sophmore level English class to 3 homeschool kids. I would like to think I am doing rigouous assignments with them. I would be glad to offer some help if you could give me the link to the assignment.

[hpymomof3]

I will have to post later when dd gets home. She took the packet with her. I wish I could remember some of the things that it is said but I stayed up late with dd and my mind isn't working too well this morning.

I do know that this is the style section. For example: They are supposed to do a character analysis but there are certain things that they are supposed to cover. They are supposed to find a quote. Then they are supposed to use that quote to help analyze the character. Then they are supposed to find another related quote that has two literary devices within the same quote and use that to further describe the character. My dd was easily able to find quotes and analyze the character but since most of the quotes were only 1-2 sentences long they didn't have two literary devices within the quote so she had to try to find something else.

This is just a very small part of the style section. The actual section doesn't need to be more than 2-4 pages long but the instructions alone are 4 pages long covering everything that they need to include.

It's not that the instructions don't have a lot of detail but that the teacher didn't really go over them well enough for the students to understand. She also discusses a particular section while the students are still working on a previous section. So even though the style section isn't due until today she discussed the style section 8 days ago. The history section was due the following day so most of the students were busy thinking about that.