Welcome to Engish IV Honors/Dual Credit
Instructor: Kimberly Athans Room 234
Spring 2012 Schedule: Period 1: Dual Credit/English IVH Period 2: Conference Period 3: Dual Credit/English IVH Period 4: Dual Credit/English IVH tutorials: 2:00-3:00p.m. every day
(936) 273-4837; X8209
***Summer Reading: Frankenstein (Mary Shelley), Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), and Inferno (Dante). Please purchase copies so that you can highlight/annotate the texts.
Please click on the "Resources" link for the course syllabus, the letter to my students, my Curriculum Vitae/resume and copies of handouts I disseminated in class or placed on the document camera.
Dual Credit: You can also access the course syllabi for English 1301 and English 1302 and my CV on the Lone Star College Montgomery website. Welcome to my class. I'm looking forward to a great year!
Read for a Better Life! In addition to our core curriculum, we also read four free reading novels a year (two per semester) with our lit circle groups. You will select your novels with your group members in class. Please get your own copies of these books.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Seniors are busy. The hustle and bustle of senior life includes work, practice, extracurricular activities, meetings, clubs, friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, assignments, tests, family, classes,
college applications, visits, essays, standardized tests, and research papers!
Is it summer yet? Where is the time for introspection, reflection, savoring the moment?
First I was dying to finish high school and start college. And then I was dying to finish college and start working. And then I was dying to marry and have children. And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough for school so I could return to work. And then I was dying to retire. And now, I am dying...and suddenly I realize I forgot to live.
- Author Unknown
"Education has for its object the formation of character."
A Letter to my Students Welcome to my class. I am your teacher. I have wanted to teach since I sat in a classroom, eyes darting around at faces, posters, chalkboards. As a student I hungered for knowledge and wisdom. I loved to read and write. I listened to my teachers and thought about my classes hours
after the school day was over. I was the type of student who understood the value of an education while in school, partly because I was a very inquisitive child, and partly because I recognized early on, the power and beauty of words.
I wasn’t always that way. I have come across old report cards where my elementary teachers chided, “Kimberly cannot work without disturbing others”. The classroom was not only a place of discovery, creativity, and expression, but of punishment, scorn, and humiliation. I was a child of the seventies. Classrooms were different then. In retrospect, that was good for me. I went to school before the self esteem push emerged. Before technology dominated the classroom. Before instant gratification usurped our youth in the clutches of its wayward arms. I learned to listen, to question, to express myself. I learned the value of my teacher and what they could give me in my journey, and of my peers and what their
perspectives could offer me.
Sometimes life gets in the way of an education. I have lost my grandparents, parents, friends, my son. I have treaded rough waters in the waves of two divorces of my parents, as a child and again as an adult. I have driven miles to attend classes, taken courses at eight in the morning and seven at night, and have always sought out the college campus in every city I have ever lived: San Diego, Las Vegas, New York, Houston. The academy has shone as a beacon in a fog, a place where I can shape my perspective and open my mind and gain new experiences that mean far more than anything in my wallet or purse. It is often these experiences that have helped me live the day to day in my life, because they have kept me reflective, optimistic, engaged, and
fully aware.
One of the great things about being a parent is the joy of watching your children navigate the world around them. The first time they see a butterfly, play with bubbles, or feel the sand between their toes is a delight. Children see the world with a keen sense of perception. They notice more than we do, they listen better than we do, they ask “Why?” of everything. Babies make you new again. They remind you of life; they help you enjoy the ride. I am hopeful each and every one of you will continue your education and go to college, but don’t go for what it will do for you. Unfortunately colleges have begun marketing to students. They sell you on their schools and how it will help your career, your future. The
wise and discerning student keeps this in mind: your education is entirely up to you. Your attitude, philosophy, effort, and ambition will dictate what you “get out of college”. Go forth with pride, yearning, and a little bit of hunger. Make the most of every experience, class, and day that you get up to be a college student. Live in all those moments, and slow down to really enjoy them. Enjoy the JOURNEY. Learn outside the walls of the classroom, too. Be that kid again. This is a new world for you. Remember it really isn’t all about the money or the job. A real education is about the kind of person you will be as you embark on that career. That’s what matters. . .
Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated that “what we have learned from other becomes our own reflection.” I harbor a great responsibility as your senior English teacher. I need to prepare you for that journey. I am hopeful that in my classroom you learn how to look at life in a way that adds layers to your vision. That you feel confident in your ability to write and to express yourself and your ideas. That you figure out what those ideals are. I am hopeful that I can foster a love of reading in you. That you will begin to appreciate literature and all its gifts. . .I am hopeful that you will discover the power of language, of what you can gain from your peers and their perspectives, and the value of really listening. I hope you walk
out of my classroom with a smile on your face. One that says that you enjoyed your time here, and that you will take a few daily lessons with you as you make your way through life. I hope that in our time together you find your voice, sharpen your thoughts, and are inspired by the presence of others, both in the class, in the writers we study, and in the concept of our larger community. But in the process, I hope you find some butterflies to awe you, some bubbles to pop, and a grain or two of sand between your toes.
With Warmest Regards, Mrs. A
To remind students to savor their final year of highschool, laden with moments of joy and pain, bursting with moments of realization and epiphany, I disseminate this passage by Nadine Stair at the beginning of the year. If I Had My Life to Live Over, I'd Pick
More Daisies Nadine Stair
If I had my life to live over, I'd dare to make more mistakes next time. I'd relax, I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I'd have fewer imaginary ones.
You see, I'm one of those people who lived sensibly and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I've been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have.
If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.
Why English?
There are two ways of looking at education. Some students choose to see education as a means to an end. In this perspective, the clases they take have the purpose of introducing them to specific skills that will help them find employment or get a better job. Other students prefer to see education as an end in itself. In this perspective, the main purpose that classes serve is one of enrichment. Such students believe that the most important things that we learn in any class are not necessarily measurable. In these student's views, education allows us to better understand ourselves and others, thus preparing us to participate fully in the worlds around us. Most students would probably describe their own outlooks as combining elements from the above two. However, no matter where you fall in
these categories, the study of English will benefit you in inumerable ways. Many English majors have gone on to work in a variety of fields, such as film, business, communications, education, advertising, and law. Why? Because talking and writing about literature, in all its forms, require and hone one's creative, communication, and criticial thinking skills, and all of these skills help make someone a more attractive job candidate. Moreover, studying literature helps us to see and understand the world. As Nadine Gordimer contends, "Writing is making sense of life." TWHS English Department offers a diverse and stimulating range of writing and literature classes. Each one reflects the unique undertanding and approach of its teacher and students. There is one constant among them, however. All of these classes, the ideas that they raise, the questions that they address, and the thoughts that they help express will stay with
you, in a variety of ways, long after the final class has met. |
Conroe ISD
