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HijinksAndSue
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Posted: Fri Aug 17th, 2007 12:30 am |
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I wonder when the kids who start really early in August take final exams, then? It would seem (math not being my strong point) that finals and APs would come very close to overlapping if they have the same number of weeks in the school year ... I would think that would be a problematic issue (at least in the cases where kids have to take finals AND APs)
We start the week before Labor Day here ...
Anyway, I guess your kids' school is a lot more on top of things than my DD's. Their workload just isn't that intensive or difficult (which may or may not contribute to the less-than-stellar scores across the board LOL).
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DesperateDad
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| Joined: | Tue Mar 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 849 |
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Posted: Fri Aug 17th, 2007 01:02 am |
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H&S:
Since we start after Labor Day, I can't answer for August starters, but most of our AP courses have a "final" right before the AP exam in May. After the AP exam, every class has a project of some sort which typically counts for 10-15% of the semster grade, so no slacking off. The May "final" is heavily weighted as well. However, these classes do not have a final during the June finals period.
P.S. Due to our Sept start, every AP class has at least 3-4 chapters of reading (history-language) and problem sets (math-science classes), with tests on the summer material the first week of class.
Last edited on Fri Aug 17th, 2007 01:04 am by DesperateDad
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scoop
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| Joined: | Wed Oct 4th, 2006 |
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Posted: Fri Aug 17th, 2007 02:53 am |
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It's been so interesting hearing your stories. Thanks for sharing. My D has done 3/4 of the work now but it is consuming her day. There is not time for anything else, drivers ed, loading the dishwasher, putting away her laundry I just had a look at her syllabus and she has 8 written assignements to go along with the reading. We start school on August 28. She did have some fun with an assignment yesterday. She had to choose something that was improbable for her to do, try it and write about it. She went to the mall and tried on clothes at Abercrombie. It may sound tame to some, but it was huge for her! We even took pictures in the dressing room and in front of the giant posterboard of the nearly naked man.  Last edited on Fri Aug 17th, 2007 12:16 pm by scoop
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Lupine
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Posted: Sun Aug 19th, 2007 05:53 am |
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My D is taking AP Lang & Comp, and the summer reading was a mixed bag. Angela's Ashes was required for everyone. Then there was a pick 2 of 5 list: she chose Honky and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. Now we know why so many English teachers wear black. They're in mourning from the depressing books they have to read.
Then she got to pick a memoir, and she chose David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day, which was a mix of great humor and pathos.
School's started (Ick. Nobody should have to start school in mid-August.) After the writing assignments on Angela's Ashes, it is off to The Scarlet Letter, so many of the kids have already started on that, particularly if they play a fall sport. Then comes Huck Finn. Meanwhile they're also reading and analyzing essays from an anthology.
The annotating has gotten a little less painful. I think that it is pretty pointless, because most kids, including mine, aren't willing to read a book twice, and so you can't possibly know that something is foreshadowing a future happening, or pick up early on recurring themes, images, ... Her 9th grade teacher expected that each and every page would be annotated, and the whole book tabbed. That took a truly ridiculous amount of time, and yielded very little that was useful. Luckily her teacher last year didn't have that kind of arbitrary requirement. I hope that the same will be true this year. If she gets stuck doing detailed annotations again, my advice will be to get the Sparknotes, read it, and then read the book & annotate based on what you learned from Sparknotes. I'm an avid reader, but I think that annotating a book while you're reading it sucks the heart out of the book, and is turning kids who love to read into kids that don't love it that much.
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hummingbird
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Posted: Sun Aug 19th, 2007 01:02 pm |
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| For those of you with kids starting in August, when does school end in the spring? My kids always start the day after Labor Day, and school gets out in mid-June for all except seniors who graduate right around the first of June. This year 07-08, our seniors will graduate on May 30, but the others don't get out until June 13.
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scoop
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Posted: Sun Aug 19th, 2007 01:26 pm |
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My D would concur with the "sucking the life out of the book" statement. She is getting through 400 pages of "And Still We Rise". It is the story of 12 students in LA. She has to take notes on all 12 students so the reading has to be done somewhwere you can spread the notes around. All her writing for these 5 books is to be done before the start of school. She had no choice of books.
We start school on August 28. The projected last day for 06-07 was June 18 but we went until June 25 due to snow days - we don't have any added into the schedule.
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Lupine
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Posted: Sun Aug 19th, 2007 03:36 pm |
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Our school began 8/16, and kids will get out 5/30 (might be the day before), with seniors finishing a week earlier.
Part of the aggravation with the August start is that most rooms are not air conditioned, and it is HOT. We wouldn't have to start so early except that the school moved a few years ago to giving the entire week off at Thanksgiving, extending Winter break by two additional days, and making Spring break two days longer as well. Add to that conference days, in-service days, and the numerous holidays, state proficiency exams in March, and that's why they're starting the school year so early.
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mathmom
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Posted: Tue Aug 21st, 2007 02:02 pm |
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We're in NY so there is always summer reading for AP courses. Most teachers do try to put in more enjoyable selections. I know my son read Josephine Tey one summer - though I can't remember which course it was for since he didn't do AP Euro. For AP Econ he had to read a mystery book that also is an intro to economic ideas and a book called New Ideas by Dead Economists.
Way back when I remember having required reading for my freshman year in high school, though I can't remember having it any year after that.
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HijinksAndSue
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Posted: Wed Aug 22nd, 2007 02:54 pm |
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We're on vacation at the beach and I guess it's just as well that it's raining since DD has enforced inside time and is halfway through "Poisonwood Bible" and the annotation. If she can get it done in the next three days, "all" she will have to do this weekend is write up the 25 paragraphs (five characters, five key quotes for each character, paragraph apiece explaining why she chose those specific quotes) in time for first day of school on Monday.
Oh, and read her poetry (which she's doing intermittently in between).
Just found out yesterday that she got the AP Lit teacher she really wanted so she is even more inspired to not only finish the reading but do a not-half-a$$ job on the writing and have it ready first day of school ... there are two AP Lit teachers, one is just not considered very good and the other is widely considered one of if not THE best teacher at the school and she has the latter both semesters so she is thrilled. He's basically considered to be very tough but really outstanding ... the kind of teacher students talk about for years afterwards.
Also, asked her what the second AP Lang book she had to read last year was (with the required "Scarlet Letter") and she reminded me it was "Color of Water" which was outstanding.
I will say that while "Scarlet Letter" could be a tough go, she was able to use it anecdotally and quotally (my new word) during many of her SAT practice essays and racked up the points for doing so (sadly, her actual SAT prompt did not allow for ANY use of good book examples and it cost her bigtime on her writing score).
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limner
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| Joined: | Sun Jul 16th, 2006 |
| Location: | Tennessee USA |
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Posted: Wed Aug 22nd, 2007 04:57 pm |
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| My 5th-grade D started school on Aug. 9 this year. The kids got out on May 25 last spring, so you get the gist of the schedule. I really don't mind the summer schedule, but my sister is now leading a crusade to change school start to after labor day.
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