My school offers dual credit classes through an arrangement with a local community college. Last year we expanded into junior English by offering American Lit for college credit. We knew it was “iffy” — the local community college would offer it in the fall, but if they didn’t have enough students to fill a section, we weren’t allowed to have a section — but we offered it, and students signed up.
This fall, however, their section didn’t fill. We are scrambling to see if a different regional campus will work with us, and I’m keeping the kids posted on status. Since our school started ahead of the college, I have been teaching our regular college-bound curriculum instead of the collegiate one, but we are reaching a point at which I have to go one way or the other.
Today I mentioned that fact in class and said, “I don’t think it’s fair to make you do college-level work if you’re not getting college credit.”
The room became very quiet, and then one girl spoke up. “I think it would be good experience for us and would help us when we get to college.” Well, that was one voice. I looked around the room. They were nodding.
“Are you sure?” I asked. The nodding continued.
“Well … OK … Scarlet Letter, here we come!”
As I turned to close the classroom door, I would have sworn I heard someone say, “The Scarlet Letter? I’ve always wanted to read that!”
It’s going to be a great year!
I am, to this day, still baffled by how many of my AP Lang juniors cite Scarlet Letter as one of their favorite reads of the year. Seriously. And, it’s such a rich book. I actually blew it off my junior year (25 years ago) and blamed it on a truly bad teacher. But, I love teaching it and re-reading it each year.