YES, THE WORD PAPER WAS A VALUABLE EXPERIENCE

 

GRADE A

All rated level of work 3/5: Hard work, but no worse than should be expected for a college level course.

1) The word paper is the assignment that taught me how to write well.  Yes, it is a lot of work; yes, I lost sleep because of the assignment, but ultimately the effort I put into the assignment shows in my ability to construct language, including sentence patterns, as well as paper structure.  Furthermore, the research process is a valuable tool which will be useful in many directions later in life.  Looking back on the process, it really wasn’t that bad- the benefits outweigh the few days of late nights.

 

2) The word paper challenged me, but I learned so much from doing it.  I kept up with the deadlines, and I got an A without it being torture.  It makes me feel more prepared for college.  I learned how to balance my time, synthesize and analyze large amounts of material, and in general, learned how to write well.  I think all students of the Academy should be assigned the word paper.  If one spaces out the work, and doesn’t save it all for the night before, it’s not that big of a deal.  Many students have completed this in the past.  This assignment has been going on for a number of years and continues to because of its importance.

 

3) The word paper was like a culmination of what we learned in the Academy.  I feel like the word paper taught me how to examine and synthesize various materials into my own work, as well as use all the writing techniques we learned in previous years.  The word paper was also an opportunity to find a personal philosophy.  It was not only a culmination of academic learning, but an awakening into my own personal growth.  The word paper is essential to the Academy, and I believe that every single student can benefit from it.

 

4) The word paper has always been the hallmark of the Academy.  The part of our high school- hero’s journey where we “slay the dragon” if you will.  But I feel this is a justified and much needed battle and growing experience.  All qualities required of a high school or college student one called into play, and the writing skills learn one unmatched by any other assignment.  The Academy needs to retain a high level of excellence, and this can only be maintained by rigorous course work and high expectations.  I feel this paper is an integral part of the Academy experience.

 

5) The “word paper” of junior AP English is SO important to one’s development as a student, particularly an Academy student.  It teaches one how to synthesize multiple and diverse sources to bring them under a unified focus.  It allows for the exploration of language as a mutable force constantly shaping and shaped by the culture of which it is a part.  It includes a study of literature, but gives each student the chance to personalize a self-chosen work of literature as opposed to being taught a novel or play in the classroom.  Sure, it’s a heck of a lot of fork, and sometimes the task feels daunting.  But will it really help students to bend to the complaints by removing such a valuable project from the curriculum?  All that teaches is that whining to one’s parents and getting them to pull strings is a good way to get things accomplished.  And I would hope that’s not how they plan to operate in the ”real world” beyond formal education.  In short, the paper is an essential part of an Academy student’s development- mine, anyway- and should be kept firmly in place.

 

6) In actually sitting down, going through my research, and creating a thesis and a paper I was proud of , I considered the word paper a crucial part of the year.  It’s where I learned how to write and actually learned a few things about myself.

 

7) The Word Paper was a valuable learning experience because it is a good preparation for college work.  It teaches us how to research properly, and how to organize a very large paper.  It taught us how to handle a typical college-level essay.

 

8) Writing the word paper, while a difficult task, improves research skills and gives writing a maturity.

 

9) I felt it was incredibly valuable.  Yes, it’s a lot of work but it definitely matures you.

 

10) The word paper was one of the most challenging assignments I have ever completed, and though I sometimes felt like it consumed my life, I feel that it was one of the best things I ever accomplished.  It is the infamous “rite of passage,” so to speak, of the Academy and the lessons I learned on everything- from organization and time management to constructing sentences and maintaining an excellent flow- are priceless.

 

11) I thought that the word paper was a good experience that every Academy student should do.  I learned to organize my thoughts, learned about myself, and learned to manage time.  I think if people would spend less time complaining about doing the paper, they would 1) enjoy it more 2) have more time to do other things 3) realize the main point of the assignment.  The assignment is not torture, it’s a learning experience!!

 

 

GRADE B

Rated level of work 2/5: Moderate effort, but doable.

12) I think the word paper was overall a good experience, the fact that we dove so deep into every single aspect of the paper, from individual work selection to grammar and thesis is an essential part of what the Academy aims to teach us.  The paper seems difficult while writing it because of how much thought must be put into everything but it is truly a great feeling to look back and observe what you have accomplished in a paper is essential to the Academy because it shows exactly how much we can do when we set out minds to it.

 

Rated level of work 3/5: Hard work, but no worse than should be expected for a college level course.

13) I do believe that the ‘Word Paper’ was a very valuable learning tool/experience.  The students have plenty of time to complete the various stages of the assignment.  My experience with the Word paper bestowed upon me a new understanding of what I stand for.  I was exposed to a multitude of innovative thinkers and ideas that I never would have come across without the Word Paper.  Forthcoming students of the Academy should have the same opportunity to enrich their understanding of the English language, and themselves, through the Word Paper.

 

14) I felt that the Word Paper was a valuable experience due to the magnitude.  The paper didn’t particularly enhance my writing skills, but it enhanced my ability to put information of that scope together in a capacity larger than a typical paper.  I felt it was akin to a college paper and the effort required to write one.

 

15) By doing the word paper many lessons were learned, such as time management, writing skills, resource skills, etc.  The rigorous deadlines, research and writing involved taught the Juniors the college level work that they soon would be experiencing the paper helps the students grow as a knowledgeable character for future papers.

 

16) Without the Word Paper, students would enter college without the essential skills involved with researching and writing a research paper.  The variety of sources that the paper touches on broadens the student's horizons for research, and the philosopher that the student chooses broadens the student’s horizons for thought.

 

17) The word paper is a great learning experience. It’s hard work, hard enough that the word paper is legend even in other schools.  However it is because of the word paper that I know I am prepared for college.  It also helped me find a voice and a claim a work proudly as wholly my own.  It would be a travesty to deprive generations to come of this challenging and defining assignment.

 

18) Yes, the word paper was hard.  Yes, we had to think.  Yes, I would do it again.  The word paper was incredibly valuable to me.  Also writing this paper I feel that I can now write anything.  If I was asked to revise it again or to write another one this year I would.  I feel better about my education and myself because of this paper.  It gave every Academy student the chance to watch a movie they loved or read a book that delighted them.  We learned how to research an how to truly write and revise with this paper.  The Juniors will really miss out if you take this paper away.  How will they know they can do it if they are never asked?  Yes, it is a rite of passage.  A rite we can all pass easily if we really want to and work hard.  This paper gives us a chance to make our teachers proud of us and to make us proud of ourselves.  Turning in your final draft is one of the most relieving and incredible feelings ever.

 

19) One of my college application essays uses the experience of the Word Paper as a central topic, including what it taught me about thought and writing.

 

20) With the word paper, I was able to gather all my thoughts together and organize them to create a work that had no boundaries.  Only minimal restrictions were put on to this paper, and with that, I was able to explore my own mind to create my own masterpiece with the help of Mrs. Longhenry.  This paper has taught me how to use extensive creativity in to all my other papers in order to enhance the content in my paper.

 

21) I thought the paper not only helped me a ton on my writing skills, but it also taught me more about life in general.  When you write the paper, you select your own word to use, and in that process, you learn some interesting things/ideas.  It is a lot of work to do it and do it well, but it’s well worth it.

 

22) It was a good breakdown of a college level paper.  The teachers were very helpful with helping us gather the necessary materials and resources needed to put together this paper.

 

23) No comments.

 

24) Doing the word paper was difficult, but the experience was, I believe, an extremely valuable one which will continue to benefit me throughout college and life.  It is not just a lesson on writing a paper- It is a journey, a rite of passage important for all Academy kids to experience.

 

 

GRADE C

Rated level of work 3/5: Hard work, but no worse than should be expected for a college level course.

30) The word paper gives us a taste of reality that we should look forward to in college.  Therefore, I see it only as beneficial to those who plan on attending colleges.

 

31) While very challenging and a little annoying, I feel that the word paper gave me a good feel of what I am capable of and what will be expected of me in college.  I could have worked harder to enhance my personal skills, but it is a fair assignment and it has a lot of value!

 

32) The Word Paper was a valuable learning experience because it improves reading, writing and researching skills by making the student do in-depth examination of a particular concept.  This prepares students for college and enhances high school performance.

 

33) Even though I was not a big fan of the assignment, I felt as though it was valuable.  The experience of writing the word paper will benefit us greatly in college.

 

34) No comment

 

35) I believe the word paper is the closest piece of work we have to college level and removing it would hurt student’s ability to write well in college.

 

Rated level of work 4/5:  I had a very hard time getting through this assignment.

36) The word paper provides overwhelming preparation for college.  Not only does it open your eyes to various sources of research that are available, it helps build your paper writing skills.  The entire process, although arduous, provides an experience that is enormously helpful for the future.  If the project is cut, students will lose a valuable experience that cannot be ignored for successful college workload and to experience the meaning of the Auburn Academy itself.

 

37) I turned the Word Paper late, but not because of it being too much work.  This was the first time I found I literally couldn’t do the entire assignment in one weekend, which has been beneficial in the long run- I finally try to start papers long before they are due.

 

 

GRADE D

Rated level of work 3/5: Hard work, but no worse than should be expected for a college level course.

38) I thought that this paper was a good assignment.  Even though I didn’t do very well I was able to learn a lot in the process of it.  I think that it is a very good example for what we might encounter in college.  It was definitely a lot of work but it was definitely worth the experience.  But this paper took up so much time.  It was vey demanding and hard to do work in other classes at times.  It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

 

39) I learned a lot doing the word paper but I wish I had seen more papers from previous years so I could have done better.

 

40) I thought the Word Paper was an excellent assignment, as it gave us a chance to find our own voices and learn how to manage time on a very large scale.  My own results on the paper didn’t come from the difficulty of the paper itself, but my own choices made in the process./  However, I also think that the paper is a large time constraint on students and all Academy staff.  They consider that the paper is give out, and other staff can feel constrained by the paper’s requirements.  It puts students under large stress, when deadlines start to cram together.  Even if spaced apart, the Word Paper is nothing to scoff at./  All in all, the Paper is a valuable tool, as you get out what you put in.  However, I don’t believe it’s critical to the Academy curriculum.  There are many merits that the Program contains that don’t rely on the paper.  DO NOT take this as a recommendation to throw out the Paper.  I think it’s very beneficial and informative to our development as students.  I just don’t believe that it would irrevocably cripple the Academy if it were taken away.

 

Rated level of work 4/5: Very hard time getting through the assignment.

41) One reason I had a very hard time was because I procrastinated way more than I should have.  I should have been more mindful of the deadlines.  I turned it in way too late.  This survey should be for slackers like me.  This is an AP English course and I truly believe that the word paper will significantly help us in college.  If one does not procrastinate, then it is perfectly manageable.

 

 

GRADE F

Rated level of work 3/5: Hard work, but no worse than should be expected for a college level course.

43) The assignment was different and challenging, and I liked it a lot.  I didn’t work very hard on the paper and I learned the lesson when I received the grade.  But the paper was interesting nonetheless.  This was the first real research paper and it will help me with papers in college a lot.

 

44) It is a good paper to do. Enlightening to the effort and our own abilities and potential.  I just had problems that slowed me.

 

Rated level of work 4/5: Very hard time getting through the assignment.

45) I imagine that the word paper would have helped me a lot more than it did had I finished it.  The length expected is still fairly alarming with the information I had gotten from the library.  I was not able to finish the whole thing. 

 

 

 

NO, THE WORD PAPER WAS NOT A VALUABLE EXPERIENCE

Grade B

Rated level of work 3/5: Hard work, but no worse than should be expected for a college level course.

25) Word Paper is something I am proud to have completed, though I did not find/achieve any significant benefits.

 

Rated level of work 4/5: Very hard time getting through the assignment.

26) It was helpful for my English education, but it really hurt my learning experiences in other classes.  I think that Mrs. Longhenry forgets that we have other challenging classes too.  Not all of us want to be English majors.

 

27) It takes a lot away from your other classes and only shows one aspect of a research paper.  I’m sure we can accomplish the goals of the research paper in a more concise manner and instead explore a more broad area of study.

 

Rated level of work 5/5: Torture!

28)  It’s a bad assignment because it didn’t really help my writing ability and it was hours of tedious page-filling that was unfairly graded and ultimately a waste of time.  It didn’t help me learn and I consider it purposeless drudgery.

 

 

GRADE C

Rated level of work 2/5: Moderate effort, but doable.

29) I thought the various aspects of the word paper were good such as exposure to all of the sources, writing a paper on a movie, philosopher, poem, etc, but combining them all into one is pointless.  Also, I thought that the teachers tried to make it much more stressful than it needed to be.  Also, whether we had Mrs. Longhenry or Ms. Floming shouldn’t matter, we were all juniors in the Academy.  There is no reason for one class deadline to be so much later than the other two classes.  Basically break it into smaller pieces, spread them throughout the year and CHILL OUT!

 

 

GRADE D

Rated level of work 3/5: Hard work, but no worse than should be expected for a college level course.

42) I didn’t have enough time or drive to do the paper well.  I really didn’t learn much extra or have fun doing the paper.  But just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean others didn’t enjoy it.  It merely depends on the work you are willing to put in and the word you choose.

 

 

GRADE F

Rated level of work 4/5: Hard time getting through the assignment.

46) I don’t feel that I learned a whole lot from it.  However, I put very little to effort into it.  So, it was not the assignment, it was me.  I almost didn’t want to learn from it.