WHS students strive in AP courses

Students in Don Cox’s AP English class discuss answers to the weekly vocabulary quiz February 13. Senior Valle Ledtke joked that she likes the way she said some of the words as opposed to how they are really pronounced. The class will learn 450 words over the course of the year. Cox said even if they need to look them up in a dictionary later, he hopes they will remember they once knew the word. The second Advanced Placement (AP) class at Wahkiakum High School doesn’t require students to get as dirty as Environmental Science, but nonetheless, the students work just as hard.

AP English teacher Don Cox alternates the class syllabus. One year, AP Language concentrates on rhetorical devices in literature.

“We play around an awful lot with editorials and works of non-fiction,” he said.

This year is AP Literature. In this class, students concentrate on American and British works. Students have three major readings a quarter, plus many short stories and poetry that “will enhance the general theme of the quarter” depending on what the students are looking at.

In a typical week, Cox said, students spend 50-60 minutes writing. He said students do a lot of analysis of other writings and explore literary devices and see how those affect their own writings.

In one activity, “grading by committee,” each student will be given an essay written by someone else in the class. Cox has removed the name, so only the writer will know it is their work.

The students will then critique the paper's grammar, spelling, sentence structure and general theme and come up with a numeric grade with one being the lowest and nine being the highest. He said that the students are usually pretty honest and know what they are doing. One student who was given his own paper, even rated it low, which, Cox said, he found interesting.

There are eight people in the class, and each week, Cox will find a student who has not yet had their paper critiqued by peers.

“This was something that they came up with,” Cox said. “They wanted to get an in-depth analysis of their own writing and they felt this was one of the best ways to do it. It’s one thing coming from a teacher; it’s entirely different when you get a peer review of your work.”

Cox doesn’t just sit back while the grading by committee is going on, but will often ask what is the rubric for the grade they are giving? “A rubric is criteria for meeting a certain grade level,” he said.

One thing Cox does in his class is step back and “tries not to teach.” By doing this, it is his hope that the students will find the tools to critique themselves and find depth in their own writings. As Cox puts it, “I teach them to aim for a continent.” He wants them to be able to find their own direction.

The summer before school starts, students wanting to be considered for entrance must read two books. “Grendel,” by John Gardner, and “Beowulf,” by Seamus Heaney, then they must pass a test about the two books.

AP English is limited to juniors and seniors, and to be considered for entrance to the class, students must have a ‘B’ average or higher in other English classes and, of course, Cox’s permission.

Junior Kari Schillios said that she plans on attending a private university to study business and event coordinating. She believes her experience in AP will be very beneficial.

“In college, I already feel that I will be capable of writing big, long essays, also making them fully developed,” she said. “By having a challenging course and a great instructor so early in my learning process is an awesome opportunity.”