Christensen Untracking English

I went to a small school that did not have many choices as far as advance or remedial classes. There were a few AP classes available. You had to have the teacher's permission to join the class and I believe a B or better. I did become part of this class, and I felt that It really prepared me for college. It also gave me college credits towards my English Major for passing the exam. The other English class that everyone had to take their senior year was College English. So both were pretty geared toward college anyway.



I had a great experience being part of the AP class, but I do agree with Christensen that classes should generally be untracked. The benefit to this seems to be taht you can and should teach in a variety of ways that benefit students. They should be designed to challege all levels of students, and "create desire to write instead of desire to complete work" (Christensen). This is what a teacher should strive for in both advanced and average students.



I do believe that AP classes should be kept. But they should be open to any student wishing to join the class. I think all students should be able to choose where they want to go. AP English I felt was beneficial because I wanted to pursue English in my college education. Many students won't have an English major, and minor so it wouldn't be in their interest to take AP English, unless they wanted a challege or liked reading and writing.

One last thing about Christensen's ideas on how to promote writing. I loved her idea on Dialogue journals while students are reading. They seem like a great tool to get studnets thinking and questioning. Pre-writing activities like this usually are a great way to promote discussions in class too. Over-all she does a great job in showing that all students are capable and can give a lot of insight to any English class, and therefore should not be tracked by grades and prospective student abilities.