After reviewing the essays you gave me to comment on, there are some good results and common themes emerging. A number of you have written it was not until this year you felt genuinely invested and engaged in learning; you also noted it was not really necessary, until now, to work hard. For students to whom school comes easily, it is possible to get through a lot of high school without really knocking yourself out; but once in grade 12 or university, the challenge increases. Some have suggested reading Francine Prose, or having the right teacher has made a big difference to your thinking, but I suspect to a large extent, your new-found interest in learning is directly related to your increasing maturity. As you grow up - and you are - you start to see how your hard work translates directly into your success. You get out of something what you put into it. That goes for not only your hours of, say, writing and rewriting an essay, but also into the depth of thought you generate for what you read. Of course, being older, you know more than you used to, and you have more experiences and ideas to connect to your learning. Further, you are motivated to learn for your own reasons. With university looming, most of you have a clear goal in mind for next year, and you know what kind of effort it will take to get there. In contrast, in grade 6 or 8 or 9, school might not have had the same direct relevance to your lives.
Anyway, back to your essays - I can see a number of you have really spent the time to write a solid rough draft, and you have incorporated the peer reviews. With my reviews too, that should help you shape a top-notch product.
Finally, a word or two about Eric Liu. His essay is a good model, as was Edmunson's, for real clarity of structure. He effectively leads us, his reader, through his story in chronological order, and in each section identifies exactly what he will write about. We'll carry on with the work on his essay on Monday, so I can review more essays. In the meantime, you might like to see who Eric Liu is - he worked as a speech-writer for Bill Clinton, and was a White House policy-adviser, so he is fairly accomplished to say the least.
I'm down two daughters tonight, as they are off to Camp Olave, so I'll try to get a lot of marking done - it's much quieter around here!
Enjoy the weekend!
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