Assignment 26 Hannah Pauley

The test prep has been done pretty well. The ACT prep was very helpful, so I would keep doing the same thing for that next year. Even though some people didn't take the multiple choice AP prep seriously, I think that was also done well, because people will either choose to try on the MC and the exam, or they'll choose not to try on either, or they won't try on the MC all year and end up weeping over the AP exam for not prepping themselves in class. Taking a grade for it or doing the practice more often wouldn't really do much in the way of making test preparation more effective, so that would also be a good system to continue. In socratic seminars, I understand the importance of mostly student-led conversation, but I do think the discussion could be more full and effective (and maybe a little deeper or more helpful) if you helped the direction of the conversation more often, maybe asking more questions from specific people, and asking questions directed at more of the students who don't usually participate or are quieter. I think engagement could improve in socratic seminars, and I think more teacher involvement might help that. During essay scoring, I think comments like "it flows nice" or "they have good diction" should just be prohibited, because I think they hold back the discussion of problems or overall effectiveness in an essay, and they don't really help the writer (except to boost their self esteem).

Overall, I think the course did a pretty good job of preparing students for the test, and some of the topics were pretty interesting, but I think discussion could improve, and maybe some free class time could be spent reading articles or practicing identifying rhetorical strategies.