Why Do We Take English Class?

Hello, students, parents, and staff!  I'm a new teacher at Orcutt Academy.  I've come from teaching and working with college writers and I'm looking forward to bringing those skills to the high school classroom.  My goal is not only to create students that go to college and/or get their ideal job, but also flourish while they do it.  I'm planning on keeping this blog as a place to reflect on my classroom and keep everyone in the loop about what is happening.

So far, my AP and English 11 students have both been learning why we take English classes.  I never fully considered this question until I got into graduate school and was paying extravagant prices for the pleasure of going to English class  for 4-8 hours a day.  I've reflected on the question throughout my career and what I have found is that, as humans, we are the only organism on the earth that has been given the gift of fully-developed language.  In fact, almost everything we think about that makes us human revolves around this gift - creating poetry and works of art, planning the building of skyscrapers, learning to play basketball and chess.  English class allows us to develop this human gift so that we can better thrive and flourish as human beings.  I've attached a link to a presentation I gave in class to give you a better understanding of exactly what I am talking about.

http://prezi.com/ib65zctqru9f/why-do-we-take-english-class/

We also spent some time reading and discussing a short selection from Walt Whitman's famous poem "Song of Myself".