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Eye. Name. Eye. Name. Another eye, another name. People begin entering the classroom, and their user name appears out of oblivion with a small sketch of an eye beside it. Gradually more eyes and names pop into existence, and the excitement in the chat box increases. “The Domino Effect,” though not occurring as frequently as it did earlier in the year, ensues. For instance, after I enter I am greeted with “Hi, Kristen!” or “Hey, Kristen!” by almost every student present. The “Hi, Kristen!” “Hey Kristen!” “Hi Kristen!” often resembles lined-up dominoes releasing their potential energy, and so it is thus named.

 

But when it is promptly 1:15 EST, the chatter is forced to die down. Mrs. Thomas or a student opens with prayer, and thus the week’s lesson begins. During the months English 8 has been progressing, Mrs. Thomas has expertly led an amazing class through a stunningly wide variety of topics. Papers, ranging from memoirs to fiction pieces to cause and effect essays, are written; grammar, covering topics like auxiliary verbs and relative pronouns and the perfect tense, is taught; the intense literary evaluations of books such as Anne of Green Gables and The Miracle Worker are also conducted. The content of such studies varies with the week, but there are always a few things that stay constant.

 

Take, for example, the “writing process.” The first step with any writing assignment in English 8 is to pre-write. That is, to brainstorm. To think about ideas for the assignment. There is no specific formula for this, but Mrs. T has introduced certain techniques, such as clustering. After pre-writing comes the “D1,” or “Draft 1.” This is the equivalent of a first draft, where the young writer will create order to his brainstormed ideas and commit them to paper. Once the D1 is written, it is sent off to Mrs. Thomas who sends it back a day or two later, “all marked up.” The student then edits his or her paper according to the comments left by the teacher, and it becomes a “D2,” or a second draft. The next step is to send it to a fellow student, who also sends it back with suggestions and praises. The comments given by the teacher and student are recorded on a “conference sheet,” and each person who gives comments is said to “give a conference.” After that is done, a section on the conference sheet is devoted to the writer’s personal changes he made to his work. That is filled out, and the final paper along with the conference sheet is shipped off to Mrs. Thomas!

 

Though the writing process is consistent, the actual assignments varied widely. My class started off with memoirs, moved on to “personal choice” pieces, nudged forward with cause and effect essays, went back to personal choices, continued on with fiction stories, and is currently at work on a literature cause and effect essay. Personal choice papers, more of which will be assigned in our second semester, are just what they sound—writing assignments under a topic of the student’s choice. Memoirs recounted a personal experience in our lives, and cause and effect essays described the causes or effects of something. Fiction pieces were fictional stories we students created.

 

This could seem like a lot, but English 8 students are required to handle it maturely with weekly logs. The minimum writing time is forty-five minutes, five days a week. If the logged time adds up to be less than the minimum, that is detracted from the student’s grade. However, there was an exception to this. When English 8 began its literature study, the student was allowed to use a fraction of that time reading.

 

The literature analysis of Anne of Green Gables was rigorous, requiring much of my time for serious study. We devoted three weeks to studying Ms. Montgomery’s book. That time was filled with discussions of the characters—their growth, their relationships, how they influenced each other. We were also instructed to note instances of the main character’s personality and/or changes, new vocabulary, and phrases that “grabbed” or “hooked” us as readers. While we read through AOGG, Mrs. T showed us how Montgomery employed her literary knowledge to create characters, structure plot, integrate themes and conflicts, and how she incorporated symbolism into AOGG. And by seeing that, we were able to apply it to our own up-and-coming fiction pieces.

 

As you can see, English 8 is demanding, and Mrs. T shows no sign of lowering her standards. Without the grace of God guiding both teacher and student alike, this class would be nigh impossible. The diverse and challenging material Mrs. T covers makes it excellent; more importantly, though, is the quality of scholars and instructor. They heighten English 8 to the level a textbook and assignment cannot reach.

 

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