Dear Mr. Luizzi,
Well sophomore English has now come to an end. Looking back I can't believe how much work we got done this year. I never thought we would finish it all.
If I had to think of one word to describe this class it would be work. I choose this short word because we did a LOT of work this year. It was often hard to complete it by set deadlines, but one way or another it worked out. The work we did was mostly helpful, but some assignments were too lengthy, like vocab lessons. However, fortunately you came to recognize when there was too much work to be done and you cut the assignments shorter.
This class surpassed my expectations. When I came into the class I was hoping to have a great year, however I never thought this expectation would be lived up to because I had a bad English experience freshman year, with a woman teacher who was not put together. However, in the class I found that we learned a lot. I expected to do a variety of different assignments which we definately did. I was very happy this year because I was actually learning, and what I learned was beneficial information, like making web pages.
In a few cases the class fell short of my expectations. One instance of this was receive assignments when they were least expected. This happened at the end of the year when the final portfolio project was given during the middle Of the Julius Caesar unit. Therefore, in the future this can avoided by assigning the final portfolio at an earlier date in order for students to have more time to finish it.
In twenty years when I think back about Honors English II, the thing that I will remember learning is how to make web pages. This is because learning about html and web pages is going to be a tool that I use twenty years from now and beyond. It will be of a lot of use to me throughout my life because the internet has become more and more important.
When I leave this classroom the one thing that I will want to forget is the English CAPT tests and practice tests that went with it. I will be happy to know that I will not have to review anymore CAPT criteria ever again, because I hate those tests.
My advice for you next year is to keep doing what your doing and staay the webmaster. I enjoyed your class a lot and feel that if you teach it the same way next year, your students will benefit a lot. My only suggestions are to cut the workload down slightly and not to give pop quizzes. However, other than that everything is good. I feel that the material covered was of a much higher quality than previous assignments I have had and you should stick with it.
My advice to freshmen in your class next year is to manage their time. That will be the best way for them to complete all the work that there is to be done. They will find that if they do a little bit of the work at a time it will be over with faster than they expected.
As I leave here, my final thoughts are that I enjoyed Honors English II. It was my favorite class this year, whereas last year English was my least favorite class. I had more homework in English that any other class, but I feel that it paid off. I learned a lot and will continue to use the information throughout my life.
Sincerely
Nicole LaFrancesca