Dear Future APELC Student,
Wow, you’re finally a junior in high school. No longer are you an underclassman who everyone blames for ruining the school but the one doing the blaming. You have made it through the past two years of high school, and hopefully you are still relatively sane. You have taken challenging classes. You have aced a test. Maybe you’ve even failed a test. The point is, you’ve made it through to junior year. Most importantly for the intent of this letter, you’ve made it through to take AP English with Mr. Yost. Now that you’re here and sitting in my former chair, take some advice from a retiree; make the most of this class! In order to do just that, attempt to do the TOWs to the best of your ability, speak up in class, and get help when the going gets rough.
In order to succeed in this class, you must try to complete the TOWs to the best of your ability. Now, you’re probably wondering what a TOW stands for. I’ll be honest; I don’t remember. It’s something of the week. Though, maybe? Anyway, during the school year, you are going to have to write a blog post every single week Sunday that has to be in at either 11:59pm or 9:59. I know you probably think that sounds ridiculous, and honestly, I agree. We shouldn’t have to be stressed to get something in at a certain time and possibly have to work one of our two free days around a TOW if we’re super busy. However, Mr. Yost’s intentions are good; he wants us to get sleep because unlike a lot of other teachers, he shows that he cares about us. Anyway, I personally found the TOWs the most monotonous assignment, but I don’t want you to feel that way. The TOWs are meant to broaden what you read so you have ideas to draw from in your own writing and to help improve your writing for class and for the AP exam. If you put a lot of effort into these TOWs instead of just going through the motions to complete the assignment, your writing WILL get better, A LOT better. In terms of the TOWs, put your best foot forward and do whatever you can to work your writing. Focus on both your strengths and weaknesses because there is always something to refine. I’m sure you’re already a good writer, but working hard on the TOWs can make you be a great writer.
One thing that you must do in order to make the most of AP English with Mr. Yost, and occasionally Ms. Pronko, is to speak up and speak out. Although I do talk in class, I didn’t really speak up as much as I should have, and it made it harder for me to enjoy the class. You see, I noticed that whenever someone spoke up and their ideas weren’t agreed with, the whole class would sort of come down on them and make them realize how wrong they were. That obviously makes someone feel bad and ruins their confidence. I’m telling you that no matter what, express yourself. Even if your ideas aren’t always in accordance with the rest of the class, defend your thoughts. NEVER be afraid to let your voice be heard like I was. If you talk more, you are bound to feel more comfortable in the class and with Mr. Yost. From what I’ve witness this year, Mr. Yost tends to be a lot closer and friendlier to the students who speak out more, so if you want a strong relationship with him, talk!
To be successful in this class, you must seek out help when you’re feeling down or feel like you’re not living up to your potential. One thing that Mr. Yost said throughout the year was that the class was not a race but more of a marathon. You might not get the grades you want right away, but if you keep working hard throughout the year, you’ll steadily improve and end up with a good grade. At least, I think it was something like that. Anyway, the marathon is a bit tiring and it does take up a lot of sweat and tears. You see, we have numerous in-class writing prompts that make everyone nervous. Everyone worries what the prompt is going to be and if they’ll do well. Although you think you may have done extremely well or extremely poor, you never truly know because your peers will be giving you your scores. Your peers, as intelligent as I’m sure many of them are, don’t know exactly what to look for when grading and don’t always give out accurate scores. When you think you did well but end up with a really bad peer-graded score, you feel very unconfident and like you have no clue what you’re doing. At least, that’s how I felt when it happened to me. Luckily, Mr. Yost and Ms. Pronko are always there to wipe away the sweat and the tears. Mr. Yost looked over my work and said that he would have graded it higher and really made me feel like my writing wasn’t worthless, which is how I felt. Ms. Pronko, the one time I actually spoke to her about english, listened to my problems and offered great advice. I just wish that I hadn’t waited until March or April to speak with my two coaches. Please, don’t do what I did. Talk to Mr. Yost and Ms. Pronko whenever you can because without them, you’ll never get to the finish line at a decent place.
One thing that I can’t stress enough is to be yourself, both in person inside the class as well as in your writing. Even though there might be times when you think that you can’t be creative or express yourself because the class is based on non-fiction, there are always ways to incorporate your unique ideas and thoughts in everything that you do. Don’t let anyone get you down and try not get too discouraged if you get a bad grade. Keep trying and improve because, remember, writing is actually a skill that you’ll use when you graduate.
Sincerely,
___________
P.S. Don’t write in the sloppy way that I did because you will get a bad score. Be more organized!
