1. What classes do you teach?
English 9 CCA and AP English Lang.
2. How long have you been teaching at Irvington?
Almost 5 years now.
3. What are 3 of your favorite books at the moment?
This is hard. Okay. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, and then another recent really good read: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, a Polish writer, and This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff.
4. Any authors that you love?
John Steinbeck.
5. What is the biggest difference between AP and non AP courses English courses?
I think it is the expectation of having to learn different essay types in AP English, and then the expectation of having to really write like a published writer, and then, in Lit, to write like you’re part of the discourse and understand literary theory.
6. How many hours per week can a student taking AP Lang expect to spend on assignments?
I hear a lot of mixed answers to this question. I think students who already have reading stamina probably only spend 30 minutes to an hour a night. But then I also hear some students spending double, triple that amount a night.
7. What are some benefits to taking a non-AP English class?
I think non-AP English classes have a stronger literature focus, so students who care more about reading fiction and exploring the narratives and the stories that we love in ninth and tenth grade, they will do better in a non-AP English class.
8. How can a student judge whether or not they’re ready to take AP Lang?
I think the straightforward answer is to check your iReady score and see if you’re at least at the 12th-grade level at 10th grade. As a sophomore, you should be one or two levels above. But I see students bring in different assets to AP Lang. People like parliamentary debaters who are constantly up to date on current events. They know so many international and national issues, are well-versed in what’s going on around them, can access a lot of texts, and their reading tends to be much stronger because they have so much background knowledge. But then there’s also this weird dynamic I’ve seen over the years where band kids, not always, but in general, are the best writers. Something about being in a band and having that be your main extracurricular, and understanding how meaning is constructed through small shifts in how you play and how the band and orchestra work together. They tend to understand how craft is built through different skills, which translates into their writing being a little more intuitive. So, band kids surprisingly are some of my best writers. Then there are the students who read a lot for fun, and so they already have the reading stamina to keep up with our 150 pages a week or 125 pages a week. Different students bring different assets.
9. Do you see a lot of students who struggle to transition from 10th-grade English to an AP class?
Everyone.
10. What do you say to your current juniors who want to take AP Lit next year?
Do it if you have been keeping up with my reading pace, because the reading load is going to be similar, and do it if you liked Death of a Salesman. It’s the first fiction read we’ve had all year, and if you enjoyed that more than all the non-fiction, then do it.
11. How many essays do you need to look through at your busiest, and how long does it usually take you to grade them?
At my busiest this year, I had around 500 essays to grade in like two weeks. It took me too much time.
12. Has students’ handwriting been getting worse over the years?
I don’t think so. My students know my penmanship gets really scraggly. So, for me, my bar is low, and most people have nicer penmanship than myself.
13. What are the pros to a gradeless system?
It depends on the implementation. I told all my students that system and implementation are two different things. For me, I think the biggest pro is forcing metacognition.
14. Last year all the AP Lang teachers switched to the gradeless system. How did that work out?
I don’t know how it worked out with other teachers or for other students. I only know that last year’s cohort seemed to enjoy it and their independent projects were really outstanding. I think they were pushed as emerging scholars, and I was pushed as their teacher, having to guide them through so many unique projects. I think this year, what I’m seeing is that independent work is spent a lot more on test prep, which is okay because if that’s where the student is and they feel they just need more test prep, that’s okay. But I’ve seen students really apply their English skills to their own interests and go above and beyond.
15. Do you feel that literacy has been going down in recent years?
Yes.
16. What is one area you feel students struggle most in?
Reading comprehension.
17. How often can you be sure a student is using AI or is the majority a suspicion?
You can never be sure, right? Sometimes I’m walking around and I see them on it. Sometimes students are not using it, but they use it so much in general that their writing starts to mimic the syntax of AI. I’m never sure, but I think I’m okay with that because AI is not good enough yet. It’s just not. And I think all of my students see how I evaluate writing, and they can see that AI is just not good enough yet.
18. What is sufficient “evidence” to call out a student?
I don’t know if I even care to call out. If it’s not good, it’s not good. And then I’ll tell you why it’s not good.
19. Do you believe AI has any place in education or English in general?
No. I mean, I give my students a one-hour rant about how they’re limiting their brain development, and it’s affecting everything. I don’t think it has a place in education. Can it be used for educational purposes? Sure. But I think by and large, people are better off without it. Right.
20. Do you have days when you feel lazy or really don’t feel like teaching? What do you do on those days
I will pick something to read out loud to you guys.
21. When you were in school, who was a teacher or professor who had a big impact on you?
I think every teacher, every professor except my accounting professors. I didn’t enjoy my accounting professors; no, the professors were okay. I just didn’t enjoy accounting. It’s probably the one subject I really did not enjoy, but I think every teacher had an impact on me.
22. What are your favorite gifts to receive?
I love it when my CCA students draw for me because I’m terrible at drawing, and so it’s always so impressive and touching.
23. The most crazy gift a student has tried to give you?
Someone gave me a rolled up ball of their hair.
24. What is the craziest story you have from your time as a teacher?
I don’t have a crazy story. I’ve had really crazy freshman groups that were just really high-energy, but no horror stories for the most part. I think students are really nice.
25. Who do you think are the hardest teachers or courses?
I really can’t tell because I hear different stuff, like everyone seems to have a different hard teacher. I don’t know. Okay, I’m going to say I think it’s me because writing is just hard, and people don’t anticipate how hard it is. So people come in and get blindsided. So I think because of that context, I’ll say it’s me.
26. How aware are you of student gossip/drama?
It depends. Every now and then, people will tell me stories, but I’m not very aware.
27. Is it obvious when a student has a crush in class?
Sometimes. I’m sure I’ve missed a few crushes. Sometimes it’s very obvious, especially with freshmen. Sometimes it’s very obvious.
28. Will you seat them next to each other?
Yes. Yes I will.
29. Something you would like to say to your current students?
I will say to my freshman, you did a great job surviving your first semester of high school. To my juniors, don’t be so tough on yourself, but at the same time, uh, I take you all very seriously, so you should take yourselves more seriously. Be more rigorous than you are competitive.
30. Would you seat Cynthia next to a really good-looking guy if she asked?
Yes, but I think everyone in her period, she’s way out of their league.
