Dylan Loves This Class.
Dylan started hating English class in 7th grade, when his teacher used improper grammar … to teach grammar. He had hours and hours of class time to work on assignments that he finished in less than one hour. He read a couple of books that he’d already read (in elementary school) and wasn’t the least bit challenged.
In our zeal to keep him engaged and interested in school, we sent Dylan to private school for 8th grade – and his English teacher wasn’t interested in helping kids succeed. Dylan’s 8th grade English teacher was a strict disciplinarian who didn’t fit into the “Friends” mold. He chose books that suited his personal agenda – specifically, to teach the history of downtrodden people – but did nothing to help Dylan love literature. (The teacher has since been fired from the school.)
In 9th grade, Dylan loved his teacher – but by then, it was too late. Dylan had stopped reading for fun. There were no more requests for library books about cars, physics and neurology. In fact, after two years of bad teachers, Dylan stopped going to the library. Too many books, articles and stories had been forced upon him in an unpleasant way. He couldn’t see the forest anymore, with all those dead trees in his way.
When he was little, Dylan loved the library; he loved books. The whole English saga made me sad.
He struggled through 9th and 10th grade. He had great English teachers, but a bad attitude. He got some B’s and a C, and wished every day that he didn’t have to take English. In fact, the entire reason he dropped out of the IBCP program is that he couldn’t bear the thought of taking two years of college-level English.
Then – this year, thanks to a friend’s recommendation – Dylan quite suddenly switched into an AP Language class, which is college-level English.
Dylan LOVES this class.
On day one, I asked him how it went.
“I love it,” he said.
“Really?” (I thought he was being sarcastic.)
“Yeah, it’s really good.”
“Well what are you guys doing in there?”
“Too much to really talk about,” he said. “But it’s great!”
Since that time, Dylan has told me not once, or twice, but many, many times how much he loves his new English class. He likes his teacher, but mostly he likes the challenge that it’s offering him. He likes that there’s more than just reading and spitting back information. He likes that he has to think and analyze. He likes that there is intelligent, heated discussion.
“I’m really going to love college,” he said.
In other words, Dylan has finally rediscovered the kinds of challenges he found when he went to the GT program in 4th grade. He’s finally found something that suits his intellectual level. He is engaged in his learning.
And I haven’t seen this reaction from him since 4th grade. He’s not just focused – he’s interested in what he is learning. I can remember him telling me way back then, “I love school now!”
It’s the same reaction he had when he came home from his first day of AP Language.
While he was “stepping back” away from the honors level classes, afraid of more busy-work, what he needed was more of a mental challenge. He needed to be stimulated.
And now, at least in one class period, he is.