Now that the first semester is over, I want you to look back and provide me with a substantial (really think about it and write a lot) reflection on what you see as A) the strengths and weaknesses of the class, B) the strengths and weaknesses of the teacher, and C) the strengths and weaknesses of your own performance. Then, I want you to D) suggest at least TWO changes that you would make, one for me to think about doing, and one for you to do to make this new semester better for yourself. So, that is FOUR (A, B, C, and D) things I want to know. Remember, I am looking for quality and quantity in your response, so make it "good" and make it "long" (but not essay-long!).
Friday, January 20, 2012
English 10 Semester 1 Reflection
Now that the first semester is over, I want you to look back and provide me with a substantial (really think about it and write a lot) reflection on what you see as A) the strengths and weaknesses of the class, B) the strengths and weaknesses of the teacher, and C) the strengths and weaknesses of your own performance. Then, I want you to D) suggest at least TWO changes that you would make, one for me to think about doing, and one for you to do to make this new semester better for yourself. So, that is FOUR (A, B, C, and D) things I want to know. Remember, I am looking for quality and quantity in your response, so make it "good" and make it "long" (but not essay-long!).
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-From Joshua
Honestly, I would like to say that this year in English has been pretty good so far. As a class, I think we do well keeping quiet during class (except maybe a few people, no names). But, I would also say that some of us don't pay attention as we should. Otherwise, I think we are a decent class. Our teacher, Mr. Korling, I think is Charismatic and great at teaching. The only problem I have is that he never seems to remind us AT ALL THAT WE HAVE READING TO DO! Otherwise, he is a great teacher. Now, my own performance is pretty good, but I wish I could pay attention just a little more, I day dream a little bit sometimes, which can interfere with the learning process.
There are a few things I would like to change too though. First of all, I would like it if Mr. Korling did give us at least a reminder of what we need to read. The only other thing I wasn't too happy about was the sheer lack of warning about the wiki, and its inconvenient timing, which this semester im pretty sure will be changing, so thank you. :)
Amanda Jerd
Period 6
I think that for the most part, class has been good. Our class is pretty focused and we do our in class work, but sometimes there is a little bit of talking and disruption. Mr. Korling, you are good at teaching the lessons and keeping us focused/on task and the movies help me to remember what we learned as well as entertain me by keeping things interesting. For the weaknesses, I also think that we are not reminded nearly enough about the reading we have. Also, on the "quizzes," we need more information on what they will be on; we could also use less homework/projects over breaks, thus the word break. My strengths are that I pay attention, for the most part, and redo things when necessary. My weaknesses are that sometimes I get distracted, don't study hard enough for assessments, and the essay style does not suit me at all. For the future, I would have more reminders about the reading homework and less projects/homework over break. On my part, I would do the reading more often and study harder for assessments.
Kealani Beltran
Per 6
1-21-12
This semester has been a roller coaster of ups and downs for me, sometimes I felt like I could handle everything, and sometimes I felt like I was losing track of which concept was the most important to focus on at that point in time. The beginning of the year is always more of an adjustment to what each of the teachers expects of everyone in the class as an individual, as well as a whole. All in all the class I believe has good work habits; there are little to no distractions when we are doing an assignment, and everyone appears to get along well. The only weakness I see is because of the lack of students in our period, it is sometimes difficult for all of us to fully particiapte (most of the time we are all fairly silent). But asking questions of us constantly has been helping everyone come out of their shell. As for the strengths and weaknesses of the teacher, I feel that your best quality is your sense of understanding. You always try your best to connect with the class on a level that is both helpful in terms of learning the content, but also entertaining and amusing. (The videos you show are usually a modern twist on the material being covered,such as music videos or animations.)However,one method I feel could be improved upon a little is keeping everyone's attention during lectures or long readings. I occasionlly find myself spacing out when we are reading a story from our anthology, at least until we get into a deeper discussion of the characters and the true meaning of it. I really enjoy debating each character's feelings and reactions, and then connecting it to our world today. I feel that by making more connections to our own lives as well as the lives of all people in the twenty-first century, it will hold everyone's attention much more effectively, while also allowing us to recall a specific lecture easily. Finally, my own performance conclusively in my opinion, was satisfying. I felt that I kept up with the curriculum pretty well, and I was able to accomplish most of what I attempted to achieve. Although one change I would have made if I had the option was to reduce a small amount of stress on myself, and study for an upcoming test as soon as possible rather than a few days before hand. Because of this, there are a couple of changes I would like to make in semester two. The first and foremost being a change to the classroom function. I belive that,(if possible) we should take short breaks in between readings and lectures. For instance, instead of reading a story all the way through without stopping like we normally do, we could instead read part of it, watch a video clip relating to the story, and continue where we left off. This may take us longer to go through a single story, but from what I have seen, the class is able to become a bit more involved this way. Lastly, in order to improve next semester, I will try my best to comment during class a few times a day since I often keep to myself. And hopefully by accomplishing each of these suggestions and realizations, we will all become better students and teachers through this form of communication. Thank-you for being concerned about our view point during class and on our own time, it means a lot.
Edith Chavez
Period 4
I really did not expect semester one in English to turn out this good for me, but I’m glad it did. I feel like the strengths of the class are how lively everyone can be and the discussions we have, although these discussions can also turn into our weakness which our likelihood to get distracted and start talking about subjects non-related to this class. Although your charisma and the way you structure the class usually helps people focus more on whatever we may be doing at that moment. The video clips you play for us to understand the literature we are reading also help, the only problem is that you usually do not tell us if we have reading to do so the literature section of the WIKI was a bit confusing. I think I did good this semester, especially considering that I struggle most in English, I think my strength is mostly that I try to be thorough in my work while my weaknesses are grammar and procrastination. For the next semester, it would really help if you could give us a heads-up about the reading we have to do so the WIKI turned in at the end of the semester is not missing a few things that we don’t recall going over. I think I will try to improve this next semester by not procrastinating too much, since that has always been my problem with homework.
Personally, I thought this class during the first semester was good for me overall. The classes were usually all very interesting and I had no problem with paying attention. You kept most of the class focused and made what would be boring interesting and entertaining. For example, when we read certain pieces of literature like “The Iliad” or “Beowulf”, you helped explain the content in several ways that kept the class and me focused. Though I found it difficult to adjust to the amount of written assignments assigned such as the essays and finishing tests containing them, your essay format help a lot.There were times that I felt that there were a few assignments where I hadn’t gotten enough info and so I had to find out myself. This does teach a new work habit but sometimes I felt I was taking too long to figure out what to do (the WIKI project, for example). I think it would be better if we got more detail on assignments like the reading homework. I also think that some of the notes taken were a bit pointless and a few topics did not come up In the future. If there were two changes I would make to the class, I would have less notes and more clarification on the reading topics. But even though I’ve had my struggles and obstacles, I can honestly say that this is one of my favorite classes because you managed to make most of the content understandable and you really put a king of modern entertaining touch on our subjects that would otherwise be probably boring. I’m looking forward to this next semester and hope I will be more prepared for the new topics we will be learning.
Lena Rohde
Period 4
I have sincerely enjoyed my first semester of tenth grade English. It is unlike any course I have ever experienced before and so has its own unique set of pros and cons. I think my class is very dynamic and Mr. K does a good job of controlling our ups and downs. The facet of the class that makes English come alive is Mr. K's evident love of the language and of literature as a whole. The lectures, videos, and in class analyses provide clear and colorful descriptions of the key concepts we are expected to understand. Three days a week I walk into the classroom excited for the lesson ahead. If there were a couple critiques of the class that I could give, the first would be that, as my peers have previously said, a quick head's up about the reading would be appreciated, especially as the reading schedule doesn't always correspond to class discussions. The other alteration would be to designate slightly less class time to those who are struggling, in the respect that it inhibits those who are not from maximizing their class experience. In regards to myself, I would say that I am very pleased with my overall performance in the class. I have kept up my grades in a course that is less than easy. I am especially proud of my achievements in my written essays, primarily the one pertaining to the Iliad; with Mr. K's bare essentials breakdown of the persuasive essay I have reached a level in my writing I had never anticipated. One adjustment I would make would be to spend more time on the designated reading from the anthology, as I have previously done less than I would like. Going into Semester Two, I am full of anticipation and excitement. I feel that with the inherent quality of the class and teacher, combined with a few slight alterations, some truly incredible learning can take place. This is the class that I look forward to every week; my only true complaint is that I don't have it every day.
Good feedback so far. I agree, I have not been following through on actually reminding you guys about the reading assignments since I had them scheduled on the spreadhseet that I handed out at the start. I will make an effort to get those reminders out there.
The first semester has been a blast, I have had so much fun in this class. When I think of school this class is one of the reasons I actually come some days. It's like we are not just reading a piece of literature but exploring it, like we are there and it's real. The Beowulf was one of my favorite stories we went over, not because the story was a story I would normally read, but because of the way we went through it. It wasn't serious and I don't think I could ever read that story again without remembering the discussion we had about "bench breaking".
One of the strengths of this class is that I am not afraid to speak up, I know that I WILL be heard and listen to. I think that is important in a class, you give a year to the people there and I think that with a class like this I will never be able to forget anyone who was there. In my opinion there are not many weaknesses in this class maybe we need to pay attention more (especially with that Wiki) but other than that I cannot think of anything wrong with the class.
Mr. Korling is one of the most interesting teachers I have ever had (that is a compliment)he acts out the story and puts it in a way where I am actually interested to see what happens next. The only weakness I can think of has already been said by other students but I might as well say it too. I would love to be reminded when we have reading and when we don't. As for my own performance one of my weaknesses is definitely essays, I have been struggling with the different writing style you want us to use but other than that I feel that this class is actually kind of easy. My strengths don't really have much with the class itself as they do with my free time, I enjoy writing stories in my free time (haven't finished any yet) but this class helps with my writing style and see how I like to write.
Two things that could change to make the rest of the year more fun would be: Mr. K telling us about the reading or at least reminding us about it and have more creative writing portions, my journal is empty. Creative writing has always been something I truly enjoyed and if we had more of that it would make a more interesting class.
The strengths of our class are that we work together very well, and we help each other out when we need it. The weaknesses of the class are, that If one person makes a comment than someone else has to comment on their comment and then it starts this whole big discussion and It's like a never ending cycle until you calm the class down, and even while your trying to calm us down it sometimes take 3 or 4 times to get us to stop talking. Some strengths of our teacher (Mr. Khorling) Is that you are funny and keep us intrigued in the lesson we are learning. Some weaknesses are that you can get off topic a lot and go into a random story that somewhat relates to the topic we are learning. Some of my own strengths are that I listen well when I am paying attention and I try to help out and be a pleasant student, some weaknesses are that I don't pay attention 100% of the time and I don't give my full effort into everything I do in your class. One change you can make is put the chairs and tables back to the way they were, because I am extremely paranoid about people looking at me when I am turned around. One thing I can change is to give everything I do in your class my all.
Zachary Vavra
Period 4
This semester I have done fairly well in all my classes, English is no exception. Hilariously funny presentations combined with intelligent, insightful lessons made this year’s English 10 World Literature both enjoyable and productive. As a whole, the class that I am apart of is fairly prolific, with that being said there are some people that disrupt the reading or lesson that Dr. K is presenting, but this is to be expected in any class, though. Everyone is guilty of disrupting the class at one point in time; therefore no one can be singled out in this example. Mr. Korling, you have a great job making classes interesting and informative and I applaud you for the effort and time that you have spent making our class time the best it could possibly be. The only thing that I could possibly find that is wholly up to par, is the fact that a rubric was not given to us before we were assigned the WIKI. This caused unnecessary stress on my part, but in the end, I felt was made right. With regards to my own personal strengths and weaknesses, I know that I can definitely improve on my general writing skills, but specifically writing essays in class is an area in which I struggle. As for the two suggestions that I am supposed to make concerning changes that both you and I should make to better prepare for the year to come, I think that you should slow down when going through power point presentations so that there is time to write the large quantity of information down. If that happens then I will take notes on the power points (which I currently don’t do). Overall I think that this semester was great and I cannot wait to start the next one.
Krizelle DeGuzman
Period 6
For me English has been one of my favorite classes even though sometimes I forget it's English and not History. My class is usually quiet, sometimes too quiet, and there aren't many people. We do get a bit off topic sometimes but that happens in all my classes but least in English. The videos and short movie clips you show us during class helps with keeping everyone interested especially since it's the last period of the day but you should start giving us reminders on the reading that I know I forget about although I can't say about everyone else. As for my own strengths and weaknesses , I think I usually do decent in English because I usually get A's and B's but I should work on my writing skills more. A change that you could do for the new semester is maybe assigning reading as homework or just reminding us of it. A change that I can do is working on my writing skills before we get any future essays. Overall I think our period is very efficient and I like English.
Brynn Villa
Period 6
I think the strengths of my 6 period English class is that we all help each other out in different ways. The weaknesses would have to be the fact that we have a harder time interacting with the teacher in class such as when the teacher asks a question we are not quick to respond. The strengths of the teacher would have to be that the teacher is excellent in catching the students attention and is also great at explaining the lesson. I can not find any weaknesses for the teacher except for when the students take notes the teacher tends to speed up a little causing the students to fall behind. The strengths of my own performance is that I understand how to do the essays and I am able to keep up in class, however my weakness is that I am a horrible test taker and occasionally have a hard time paying attention in class. If I had the chance to change one thing in the class I don’t think I would change anything because I’m okay with how it is. What I would like to change about me is how I pay attention in class.
As of Friday, maybe it was the last one, the one before that, or this upcoming one, semester one is over, leading us students to look back with fond memories of the time spent in English 10. In the year so far, Mr. Korling has ignited the passionate fire within me to aspire toward great things. This made English my new favorite class, closely followed by art, because it’s ART and that grade does not really matter. Back to the topic of reviewing Mr. Korling’s class. Firstly, I have noticed the persistent problem of the blue comfortable chairs, and the fact that you have to keep reminding people in your class to not sit in them. To provide a solution to this importunate situation, (as much as it pains me to say), I would advise exiling of the chairs in question from your class and move on from there. Secondly, I feel that the free mobility of the seating chart is very beneficial to the individuals in the class. It allows for those willing to focus and learn to sit next to someone with the ability to help and further implant the lesson into that individuals head through comments and or key remarks. As a teacher I see Mr. Korling as top notch with more then enough capability to successfully teach our class. I especially appreciate his ability to embed movie clips and over modern references into the original boring California state standards. If I were to have but one critique, I would recommend projecting the presentation slides on the board for a longer duration of time, so that we students can successfully transfer the information into our notes more productively and orderly. Now moving on to the critique of myself, I believe that I have taken down notes of a satisfactory level, have always paid attention in class, and have provided new incite be it good or bad, to the conversation of the class. I have also noticed my outstanding irksome habit of extreme procrastination towards most projects given to me, as you Mr. Korling have surely noticed from the time stamps located on my Wiki assignment. Continuing down the path of semester one I reflect. One change that I would make to the class, is the system of assigning reading. This system started off as a beneficial and time saving method of assigning the class reading. After time it became ineffective as the order of class lessons began to deviate from the original plan. To repair this mildly upsetting problem, I would suggest a kindly verbal reminder of any reading given to the class as an effort to ensure the completion of any reading given. Finally, the change I would make for myself, as stated earlier, is to cure my extreme procrastination. So that I can improve my learning capability and still get the required ten hours of sleep that I require.
Cynthia Arocan
period 6
First off I would like to say Mr. k, you have been a wonderful teacher and I enjoy being in your class. You have numerous strenghths, and wonderful qualities. I think one of the reasons your such a great teacher is, you really connect with us students and get on our level of understanding.On the other hand I am having a hard time to find some weaknesses. I think one of your weaknesses is you didn't remind us about the reading and as a result the wiki was bit of a challenge. We have a very strong class and one of our strenghth is we can really buckle down and do our work. For exsample on the wiki the majority of got it done in time when you gave us short notice. On the other hand one of our weaknesses would have to be, that we talk in class and it is distracting other from their learning. Now on to my personal strenghths and weaknesses. I have many weaknesses. One of my weaknesses is, I have a hard time focusing in class. I get destracted by the most idiotic things. I am like the dog in up "SQUIRREL!" When I focus and pay attention in class I am really smart and i know what i am doing. There aren't many things I would like to change. One thingIi would like to see inprovment on is, to have Mr. k give us a little more of a warning on up coming events and to remind us about our reading. One thing I need to change to make this semester better for myself is, Pay more attention in class and to not procrastinate. In a whole, so farr this year has been a combination of challenging and easy. We are a very strong and Intellgent class.
i think this year has gone pretty good even with the essay problems i have had. one thing i think the class has had some troubles with is focusing and not talking, although we are not the only class that has had that problem at one point in time or another so no one can be singled out on that account. Mr. Korling i think has been a wonderful teacher. he makes the classes fun and enjoyable as well as educating. one of the things i think would have helped out is reminding us about the reading assignments, because i know some of us are not always aware we have them and that can affect the performance of our quizzes because we would not know that portion of the chapter. other then that i feel Mr. Korling has done a good job of teaching. one thing i feel that i have been having troubles on is writing essays rather then summaries. i feel though that typing these blogs can help with that which is another thing i find Mr. Korling is doing a good job on. 1 of the things that i would change would be for us to go a little slower on the power points so i can get more of the information written or typed out. other then that i honestly find the year to be going very well.
Hailey Wall
Period 4
Like everyone else, I look forward to English class. I love the atmosphere when I enter the room; it is nicely decorated and as a visual person, I really appreciate that. As a class, we have room for improvement. Our greatest weakness is staying focused while listening and following along in our literature book. During that time, it is very easy to get distracted when there is not much required from us. Our strengths are found when we are attentively watching a movie that goes along with what we are learning, or engaging in Mr. Korling’s entertaining presentation. Discussions about what we learned in English often follow us out of class. The only thing I would suggest to you, Mr. Korling, would be to include the WHOLE class in discussions or jokes; some of us might not comment aloud, but that doesn’t mean we are not engaged in the conversation. Other than that, I thank you for making English 10 an enjoyable class that makes my “gold” days truly golden :). You really bring out the other (fun) side to learning. As a student, I know that I could be quieter during class and more focused. I will strive to correct these bad habits for the second semester. Besides that, I am pleased with my English grade and the work I turn in. A change I would suggest for this new semester would be to figure out an effective, engaging way to read our literature—a lot of us zone out during this time. The change I would make for myself to reach my full potential would be to give my very best in everything I do (that includes staying focused during class). That is my semester reflection; I look forward to making this next semester even better than the first.
As a class, we show our strengths when we work together to make something happen. A good example would be the end of the semester party that we organized during lunch. However, we show our weaknesses with the unspoken tension and outbreaks of unnecessary and slightly immature arguments(completely different than debates and discussions). While the reasons for the dislike are hardly my business, I hope that we could all just agree to disagree because the outbreaks are generally a disruption to the class and make learning for the rest of us difficult.
I've spent about an hour thinking over the weaknesses of our teacher and have come up with nothing but probably lighten up on the projects. While the assignments themselves are really good, they tend to pile up on each other and those assigned in different classes. I enjoy his straightforward attitude and how he tries to prepare us for computer courses and such in college. The one thing that has made an impression on me was at the beginning of the year when he said "I'm not trying to waste your time, so don't waste mine.".
My own strength is how much work I enjoy putting into our assignments, however, it is also a weakness for me because I have a bad habit of overdoing the writing assignments past the point of
"impressive length" to where I neglect other subjects and assignments because of it.
1 suggested change for Mr. Korling: While keeping the big projects at the same quality, try to limit the quantity and how they overlap. We know you can't help it when they're on top of other class assignments but please try to consider the work overload, ahead of time. :)
1 suggested change for me:
I will try to use most of the diligence focused on English assignments for other subjects, as well, and not overwork myself.
I think that my 4th period english class has a lot of strengths, I don't see many weaknesses at all. We are all on task for the most part (sometimes I talk but It's not because I don't care, and not that I don't respect you I just lose track of what's going on and I get completely lost- just by dozing off for a minute) I doze off (not because you're boring or anything, you're actually really entertaining, I just can never stay focused. Our class has a lot of very smart people, so it makes things a little easier, but a little harder as well. Easier, in the way that they help explain things better and I can use their examples and connect them with what is going on (sometimes all I need is a little connecting and I'll understand things a little better). Sometimes It's harder having a lot of very smart people in the class because It makes you connect everything you do to what they do (that's just a personal thing not a class conflict). Mr. Korling, I really can't think of any weaknesses in you, you know what you're doing and you explain things really well, you know what you're teaching, and you know exactly how to teach it. Strengths of my personal performance could be that if I know what I am doing for a project and know how to do it, I do it to my fullest to prove that I know what I'm doing. Weaknesses of my personal performance include; me not being able to focus all the time, and procrastinating on somethings (that just digs me a deeper hole, and I am NOT letting myself get in a deep hole like I did last semester). Changes I would make, would be maybe having to read out loud more often when reading out of the literature book (it forces me to read along). I would also like when we do read the greek mythology stories, if they could be elaborated a little more? For myself, I'd like to make a change this semester- I would like to be more on top of things so my life isn't turned upside down for the next couple of months!
ps- you should move moriah into 4th period english woot woot.
Jessica Wirth
Period 4
English this year has become one of the classes I look forward to every day because of the great atmosphere in the classroom. We are able to have fun while still learning which is usually not possible in a school environment. I love all the movies, videos, and lectures during class and have even come to actually kind of liking taking notes. I think that we have a pretty strong class(as you have mentioned before) with not many overall weaknesses. One of the only things I would ask to change is to be told what the reading assignment is because most of the time the handout you gave us is very vague or doesn't fit with the current lecture. Mr. Korling, you have created English to be a mixture of learning through entertainment(ex. the reading of Beowulf) and i would say this style of teaching is definitely working for me. I have learned more about different pieces of literature and ancient stories in this semester than in any other school year. I have kept my grade up all semester and am determined to continue to do so next semester. My writing has also improved so much this year due to the format you gave us. While writing my WIKI, I read the Superman Journal Write from the first week of school and then read one of our more recent essays and I was happy with the amount of improvement I saw. I hope to become an even better writer in this next semester. One change I would make is to actually read the literature because most of the time I read the first few pages and then skim over the rest of it. English has become one of my favorite classes and I am looking forward to semester two.
-Anne Broussard
The strengths and weaknesses of the fourth period english classes are few, we have the strength to stay on task (for the most part) and to do the best we can possible accomplish, one of our weaknesses is that we talk, a lot. There is almost always a side conversation going on, I'm not saying that I don't take part in those, but I am saying they happen, a lot. I personally think that Mr. Korling has few flaws in his teaching, he connects with his students, keeps us on track, and treats us like we are equals. He treats us like we are young adults, not like we are young children. Personally for myself, I need to work on getting my work done in a timely manor, doing the readings, and keeping up to date on current assignments. I have been working hard in this class, but I feel as if I can improve my over all performance in this class. One change I would like to make for myself is trying harder, and one change for Mr. Korling is to maybe remind us to do the readings more often, I often forget to do the readings and almost never read when I am needed to.
P.S I agree with Annelise, Moriah should be moved to the fourth period english ten class, it would make the world a better place. :)
I think that the English 10 class has had a successful first semester. Most of us have greatly expanded our intellectual capacity because this class in much more interactive and engaging than most. The weaknesses of the class are vague to me due to the fact that I am so fascinated with all that we are learning. One of the greatest attributes of Mr. Korling is his ability to teach with methods that students are able to appreciate and understand better. We actually WANT to pay attention in class. I just think we have to be more aware of when we are assigned reading before the next class so we can come prepared. My personal performance could always use improvement, and I have realized that I am capable of applying myself more in not just English, but in my other classes as well. This is what I will change regarding my personal performance. The only other change I would make in the class is a better notification system on our homework or reading assignment.
I believe that our class is a little bit all over the board, some people pay attention and some don't. Although, like Mr. K. I believe it is their choice to pay attention, because it is their grade and this is how it is in college. WSCA is a college prep school and have the same policies as colleges. A boost in participation as well as energy would be a healthy change for our class. I believe that Mr. K. does a good job at reading and presenting the literature. He makes it very interesting and relevant to this day and age. Mr. K. is a funny and relaxed teacher, which I believe are good qualities. Although, I believe is sometimes too relaxed when comes to telling the students the length of the assignment or what it entails. He needs to be more structured with the assignments. I believe that the wiki was a poor planned project; the students didn't know what was required. I think Mr. K. meant it in good intentions, although it took too long. It me 30 hours, in two weeks and a break, although I believe it is called a break for a reason. Then I figured out I didn't even have to do because I already had an "A." Other then this project I believe that the class is a very successful one and has taught me and the other students a lot. I believe that I could improve on parts of my writing as well as my grammar. My strengths are interpreting the literature as well as working hard. As a suggestion It would help if you gave us at least a basic outline of the project. For myself I am going to spend more time putting the frame of our essays in place.
Bella Crosson
Period 6
This year has been very good so far. Mr K, you have made this class interesting and fun to be in. I think our class overall is very good and attentive. There are a few times where people including myself get off topic, but you do a very good job steering us back toward the lesson. One of the only negative things about your class is the fact that you do not remind us that we have reading to do. When I was competing my WIKI, I was surprised to see that there were things I had not read because we didn't go over them in class. Mr Korling, you have done a very good job by incorporating your lessons with modern day attractions and events. The one thing I think you could work on (besides the reading reminders) is the essays. I would appreciate it if you would help set out exactly what you want for them, and help explain this new style that is still hard to grasp. Some of my weaknesses are not paying full attention in class, and procrastinating. It would be better for me to plan ahead for exams, study more, and spend more time on the essays. I will try to improve these for the next semester
Sonia Mendonca
Period 4
Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed our English 10 class this semester, and also would like to point out I don’t say this about every class. I am pleased with what I have learned, and how I learned the information. Mr. Korling, I would like to point out that you are for sure an amazing teacher and also one of my favorites. The fact that our AP World History class and our English 10 class intertwine makes these subjects ten times easier to understand. While I learn plenty of information and facts from Mr. Pitz, I enjoy how Mr. Korling can relate almost everything to everyday activities and movies while staying on topic. As we all know, this doesn’t last for long. Once we get into deep conversations about a certain subject, we all tend to stay off topic and give our own opinions about everything. It is also very difficult to put in our opinions at times because I feel like someone always has to “rain on my parade” once I give my opinion. Also, what makes relating English with every day movies is having them relate to movies I have never watched! Don’t get wrong, I know I cannot put the blame on Mr. Korling for this (even though I would like to), I can only blame myself for not watching enough movies, and l try my best. I find our class to be tolerable when it comes to learning, at times. True, we aren’t always a quiet class, but really who is nowadays? At least we can control ourselves quickly when it’s time to focus. I also find that we need some improvement when it comes to us reading out of our literature books, because we do tend to get a bit distracted. To be completely honest it’s difficult to always pay attention and read along and also understand completely what the story means. Besides that, I find that my grade pleases me and I know I tried my best this semester, but I know I could do much better for next semester. A few consequences I face are trying to pay more attention in class and not get so distracted with the environment around me. I also wish to be able to impress Mr. Korling with one of my essays with a perfect score, but I now know I need to improve immensely on that dream. A change for me is to be a more efficient student and not be such a procrastinator when it comes to big assignments, such as the WIKI final, which I should be already starting knowing how much stress it will cause me later. Overall, I hope to show some improvement this semester and I look forward to a wonderful rest of the year in our English 10 class. (:
FIN
Cammie Gelbuda
Period 4
I think that my English class is good but we do talk alot and sometimes people do not listen to what Mr. Korling is saying and other students get distracted. I think our strengths in our class is that we understand alot of the information that Mr. Korling is explaining to us, our weaknesses in our class is that many students don't know how to be quiet when the teacher is talking, and we also don't do the reading that is assigned, and we get off topic alot of the time. The strenghts and weaknesses of myself that I have in your class is, I understand alot of the material you go over, and the weaknesses I have in your class is that I do get off topic alot of the time, and I also don't also understand the concept of what you are explaining. The strengths and weaknesses of the teacher is that, the strength Mr. Korling has is he explains alot of the material and he also makes the class interesting, and the weakness of the teacher is that, he does not explain the reading/homework of what we need to do, all the time.
Our class, for the most part, stays on topic and pays attention during class. But there are some moments during class where we socialize too much. Mr. K is a relatively a good teacher, he does a good job at answering our questions and tries not to go off topic during lessons. I pay attention in class, I try not to socialize too much and I take good notes. I sometimes procrastinate on doing my homework and I forget to do the reading assignment.I do not ask as many questions as i should and I don’t take detailed enough notes. I think I could ask better questions, take the time to study more, and remind myself to read. Mr. K could remind us in class to read the assignments, because (it may be just me) I know not everyone reads the assignments.
English 10 has been a challenging and also a rewarding class for and I have learned so much from the first semester.The class is very interesting because it covers a broad range of literature that have significant meaning. Overall there were no weakness significant enough to mention. Mr.K has done a great job of keeping the class interesting and fun. He was also willing to answer my questions and help me when I needed it. He tries to make the literature we read relate to us because in many English classes the teacher fails to engage the student in their material. By keeping the class more engaged we learn more and make more deeper connections in our books we read . Again no major weakness worth mentioning. My performance as a student was good because I studied and worked hard. One of my greatest weaknesses is that I procrastinate and this has made the class more difficult. Two thing that would help our class would be to have our reading more organized than last semester and I like to see more of class notes be done in a powerpoint form. Overall English 10 has been my favorite English class.
Tristan Mauricio
Period 6 English 10
1/23/12
Semester 1 Reflection
Semester 1 for me was a huge change from the previous English classes I have had. Maybe it was because of the essays that we had every other week or just the small size of my class. The strengths of my class outweighed the weaknesses and we were able to go through all of the lectures with few problems. Our class is small and I’ve never had a class that can talk almost all the time and how open we can be and the frequent jokes made by the teacher and students alike. However that can lead to problems like comments being too open and we losing work time but that rarely happens. Mr. Korling is a kind of teacher I have never seen before his teachings always seem to be interesting and no one gets bored plus he’s efficient. His assignments and tests seem stressful with short amounts of preparation which just makes it that much harder. With me being like every other student I have my strengths and weaknesses but they don’t exactly even out like others would. I tend to focus on one factor or field and kind of know little bits of others and when there is a big project or assignment I have trouble starting but if I’m in a group I’m very efficient. If I could change two things in my English 10 class it would be the amount of time for assignments and a bit more explanation in confusing areas.
Steven Fraser
this last semester in english has been one of the most fun classes i have every had and am very glad with the classmates i have. our class is very strong so if needed we have a support system to help eachother but we're not super serious as to were we dont have fun. on the flip side we as a class could do a better job of not dozing off at times but overall we are a very good class. Mr. Korling is very funny and brings chrisma to the class room. I find myself acctually wanting to pay attention to want he is saying instead of taking a afternoon nap. the only problems i have were that he never reminded us that we had reading assignments and that we did not get the wiki rubric beforehand otherwise i have no complants and am fully looking foward to another semester of comical versions of liteture in Mr.Korlings own words. i must admit that i sometimes drift off in the middle of a presintaion or powerpoint and need to work on fixing that along with developing my writing skills more. on the positive side i am very pleased with my preformance this semester and hope to improve on the good scores i recived on my essays and exams. one change i would make for myself is to stop procrasinating and try and get my work done before the last second. the only thing i can think of to improve upon Mr. K's preformance is if he would start reminding us of reading assingments. i am looking foward to all of the fun times we have ahead of us in the coming semester.
Steven Fraser
Cori Brunet
ELA 10
My English class this year was very different from any of my previous ones, and I think the fact it mainly focused on literature played a key role in that. I really liked how we learned about literature through more interactive and enjoyable means like movies, Mr. Korling’s “reenactments,” and discussions. I noticed quite a few students have already commented on the issue of being reminded on reading assignments, but I think a further issue lies deeper than that. Even if we were given a heads up on what we had to read and by what date, it would still be very challenging to sit down and read large chunks of literature. That’s just my personal opinion based on my struggles. In-class reading has already proved itself a challenge for me because I get distracted pretty easily! A lot of the writings we read are rather boring, and are sometimes in Old English or have a lot of vocabulary I do not understand. The literature I remember best is actually the ones we watched movies on, or Mr. K did a little skit on (The Iliad for a movie example and The Judgment of Paris as a skit example). Staying focused and procrastination are two things I need to work on this semester. I cut it close with a couple essays last semester, pushing them off, which in the end made it harder. Something our English teacher last year really excelled in was teaching us how to write. What I learned then had helped me greatly and I still use what she taught me to this day. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking for more essays! No way, Jose. But as we get older, papers, essays, write-up, etc. are required, and it would be beneficial for us to learn more in depth writing strategies and techniques other then the basic CM CD structure. I think our class as a whole has done pretty well so far this year, and our WIKIs are great examples of our hard work and all we’ve learned. That was an intense assignment and proves we’re not your average, everyday students. Though our personal decisions, diligence, and drive was reflected in our overall grade, our teacher obviously has an impact on our performance as well. I think Mr. Korling does an excellent job at breaking things down to our level so we can understand the material. He is also great at answering questions and clarifying things for me when necessary. I think we all can agree this semester has been quite a challenge; it has forced us to push ourselves beyond our comfort zones but at the same time helped us to grow on many different levels. Often times when we endure pain and pressure, we grow in ways we never thought possible. Sam Ewing said, “Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all.”
Evelyn Pantoja
Period 6
For the first semester, this class has been great. Honestly, I have never really enjoyed English as much as I would like and I am guessing it has either been because of the teachers I have had and their way of teaching or simply the amount of workload given by them. But so far, my liking for English has changed; this is my favorite class now.
Our class has its strengths in that the students get along well, are not loud and actually pay attention from what I know of. I personally love how there is not that many students in that it makes it easier to get to know each other more that way. But the weakness of the class is that every time when you ask us one at a time about our opinions on a topic, a couple of us are shy, do not know what to say, or simply do not want to tell the class. It would be nice if we could all be more open around each other without feeling awkward or shy.
You have strengths in that you are understanding and try to find a way to keep everything fair enough. You always seem to find a way to make it interesting and fun while teaching it to us. I love all the replies you give to the class because you find a way to make us laugh no matter what the questions are. I like it how you ask a question and give us all a chance to speak of our opinions towards it. You do not just simply ask the class and let whoever wants to reply, reply but you actually ask us one at a time making us all speak but also not forcing us. You show us videos now and then to make the class even more enjoyable. Finally you let us sit wherever we want and that helps me a lot because I can sit next to my friend and be able to ask a question and take notes off of when I can not finish. But as of weaknesses, I feel like most homework assignments are sudden especially the WIKI. From what I remember the first blog felt like it was just thrown at us before we could really try out the blog system first and I did not want to do it because I did not want other people seeing my blogs. Also the WIKI felt like it was too sudden and then to add more, the 25 count down began right away and our winter break being part of that count down was pretty bad. Second semester is sounding good because you already gave us the next WIKI ahead of time.
The strengths in my own performance are that I do not daydream and I can pay attention during class while having fun. But as of my weaknesses, doing the WIKI during winter break was a total fail for me and if it were not for the whole “does not affect your grade in a bad way,” I would have seriously failed the class. Also, at the beginning I did not like the blog system at all.
Some changes for you could be to remind us to read from our book and maybe read a couple pages and explain what is going on so far. Also, giving us the WIKI rubric from the very start would have helped a lot instead of at the end but I understand you wanted to see how we could do with little instruction.
Some changes for me could be I need to also pay at least some attention to the reading schedule you gave us. I need to work on the new WIKI every weekend so I do not fall behind.
In my opinion, I think that this 10th grade English class this year has been one of my favorite classes. To be honest there isn't any weaknesses or anything negative I can say about this class, but since my English (6th period) class is very small and I don't have any social distractions I think that, not having that helps me focus more and understand more of what's going on in class. I think that my only weakness is my homework and not knowing exactly what's due and when, i'm slightly disorganized so that I would need to fix to start off but if Mr. Korling if you maybe put it up on the website the homework that was due and when I would find that a lot more helpful. Other then that I think Mr. Korling is one of the best teachers that i've had, thats being totally honest, I come home only saying positive things about you and your class. I think you teach the class really well and I seem to grasp it more by the way you teach and how you incorporate videos into the lesson that we are learning. You don't just do power points and make us copy down what's on the board, you change things up and we always do something different which I think is good because then we don't bored as easily as we would if we did the same thing everyday. I only focus on myself when it comes to school work so i'm not entirely sure what the classes strengths and weaknesses are. I know that even though the Wiki was extremely hard and very time consuming, it did help me understand more of what we had learned by looking back and writing about it again. This class has been one of my favorites and i'm looking forward to a good rest of the year having this class! Thank you Mr. Korling for being such a great teacher!
P.S. (Referring to Annelise and Annie) It would be great to be with you guys, and all my other friends in 4th period! But I like being in 6th period because I have no friends to talk to so I don't have any distractions at all :)
Anthony Gaddy
period 4
I think so far class is going pretty good. As a class, we are mostly quiet, but we do get distracted a lot. Some of the classmates don't pay attention and somtimes I don't pay attention, either. The teacher explains the material well. I don't think he has any weaknesses in how he teaches the lessons, and I think he's a great teacher. I'm struggling with doing the essays and blog entries and getting the homework in on time. I'm getting better at taking notes. This semester I'm going to try to not get distracted by people who walk by the window, and pay more attention instead. It would help if Mr. Korling could keep some people quieter.
Good comments that bring up important observations and doable suggestions for improvement. Not all of you have submitted your entries, yet, so hopefully I will see the rest of you represented here by tomorrow morning.
Manisha Dail
Period 4
This first Semester in English has been a combination of both good and bad. I didn't realize that time would go by so quickly, one moment it was the start of school and now it is the end of one semester. For the strengths and weaknesses of class in my eyes are basically that the class as a whole is pretty great. Since our numbers are so large we have many students who can share their opinion and insights on certain topics, and for me that is great because then most of the topic is well covered by continuous questions and answers. As for weaknesses in the class I can't really seem to find any. As for the strengths and weaknesses of the teacher, In my opinion I think that Mr. Korling does a fantabulous job at teaching and getting his point to the students by connecting with us by putting the curriculum in "modern terms" and by also showing us videos that correspond to the lesson by also grasps our attention and has a point of interest. The only thing that I would ask is for Mr. Korling to maybe remind us at the start of class or the few remaining minutes before class ends of our reading that we have to do for homework. Sometimes I am so preoccupied with all my other classes that I just put the in the back of my mind and then seem to forget about it all together, and only recall it next class or when I look at my English binder. Overall he is a great teacher. The strengths and weaknesses that I feel that I have in English 10 is that if I take the time and put my mind to it I can accomplish a lot more than I thought I could and most things are "easy peasy lemon squeezy!" (<--If that is how you would spell out the phrase.) The weaknesses I would say that I have in English would be that I seem to get behind or so busy with other classes that I have to smash all of my English homework together at the last possible moment. If I was able to have more time then I would be able to do things right the first time around. The only change I would request Mr. Korling to make is maybe remind us of the reading or post it on the website sometimes, and not the actual assignment but maybe something like "do your reading" but not in that blunt and abrupt manner but I hope you are getting the gist of what I am saying, maybe. The other change that I would like to do for myself is to stay caught up, it will totally make my life a smidgen easier. I am just going to have to take some serious time management classes. All in all English is still my favorite class and if I had it my way I would take English everyday. Alas I only have it thrice a week and I guess will have to settle with that.
The first semester of English has been pretty fun. I think as a class we do a pretty good job of paying attention and not talking too much. I think Mr.Korling is a good teacher because he is really good at making class fun and interesting. He is also really good at making it easier to understand what is going on in the stories we've been reading. He makes connections between the older stories and the newer stories we're more familiar with. I can't really think of any weaknesses that haven't already been mentioned by other students. I think he's doing the best job he can. As a student, my strengths are not being disruptive in class and paying attention. My weaknesses are that I'm lazy when it comes to doing the homework and I don't participate in class discussions. I think a good idea for next semester would be to have reading groups for all of the reading we have to do. At the end of class we can break into reading groups. Other than that I've enjoyed this English class more than any other English class I've taken before. We get thew oppurtunity to make real life connections in confusing stories and it's prettty exciting for the most part.
Well another semester com and gone. It was difficult to get use to last semester now I know what I am doing I am going to do my best to do better with my grades. I will be better prepared now since I know what the challenges are. Mr.korling saw that I was the clumsy one in the class. He is the best English teachervin the world he made everything funny and fun. But he loved essays and making me misarable. He loved reading and assigned it a lot . I really need to pay more attention. He exspectations are high. So that is my reflection.
by Lindsay murray
Well another semester com and gone. It was difficult to get use to last semester now I know what I am doing I am going to do my best to do better with my grades. I will be better prepared now since I know what the challenges are. Mr.korling saw that I was the clumsy one in the class. He is the best English teachervin the world he made everything funny and fun. But he loved essays and making me misarable. He loved reading and assigned it a lot . I really need to pay more attention. He exspectations are high. So that is my reflection.
by Lindsay murray
Nick Palmares,
This semester of English has been pretty fun, as a class, i think we do a good job listening and paying attention but we could be more well behaved, but besides that the class is good. Mr. Korling is an awesome teacher, he has a sense of humor and is straight to the point "no fluff' and is overall my favorite teacher, the only small issue is maybe a better heads up on the reading we have to do but besides that hes great. my proformance the semester has been ok, i could have been better at trying to meet my deadlines for assignments and this semester ill definitively work on that but besides that i'm usually a well behaved kid, i listen and i don't interrupt while Mr. k is doing his lectures. the only thing i hated was the wiki assignment, it took up so much of the day for me i didn't have a life outside of school because of it but i'm happy with the results. i'm excited to see what holds for us in the upcoming semester! :D
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