Congratulations to all grade 10 English Scholar Writing students who have completed the January 2014 English Provincial Exam. The average mark is 90.75%. All the marks were fairly close with Daniel Li scoring the highest: 93%.
The grade 12 English Provincial average so far is 87%. This average is based on results from the November, January, and April exams. Well done everyone. The highest mark was accomplished by Tiffany Lee: 97%.
I would like to thank all the students who took the time to nominate me as an “Educator who has enabled students to reach their Post Secondary Educational Goals“. I feel privileged to have been a part of your Post Secondary journey. I would like to invite all prospective University students to submit their applications directly to me for editing and so that I can oversee the admittance procedure. I wish all of you an amazing discovery.
Registration for Fall 2013 will begin in August for current students and those on the waiting list. I will be notifying everyone in August of the specific date. Please register early to avoid disappointment; classes are limited and they fill up very quickly. In September, registration will be open to everyone.
I will also be posting the Fall class date/time on the web site prior to registration so everyone has a chance to work out their schedule before they make a commitment. The class information will be posted in July.
I hope you all have a wonderful summer and I look forward to another amazing year of continued academic excellence.
Registration is now open to students wishing to improve their essay writing over the summer, or those who wish to start preparing for the English Provincial Exam. The summer course will run every Monday and Wednesday for 2 hours and will focus specifically on the specialized writing skills provincial exam markers are looking for in the 6/6 paragraph, comparison essay and original composition.
Knowing the specific themes that run through the Provincial Exams will give students an enormous advantage; they will have a variety of thematic concepts to draw from that they can apply to their writing. Please note that this is a highly rigorous course intended for ambitious students who are self motivated and can handle the work load.
Students are more worried now than ever before, and they have every right to be. The truth is frightening: the gap between provincial marks and class marks is widening. In fact, teacher reported grades are so inflated that it has forced UBC to actually change their admission policy to address the discrepancy between the two grades. UBC now maintains that if the difference between the school mark and exam mark is 20% or greater, they will use the exam mark exclusively.
This needs to be a real eye opener for teachers. If we, as teachers, do not want this gap to continue, we must provide our students with the proper formats for analysis. Instead of simply asking them to answer discussion questions, we must equip them with the tools for analysis. Most importantly, we must show them the difference between a 6/6, 5/6 and a 4/6 and teach them the specific skills that will enable them to move up in the marking scale.
Perhaps if we can pay more attention to teaching the students how to write well, instead of just simply assigning essays, there will be less fear and more confidence in our graduates.