Mrs. Ruedinger is the only teacher teaching Advanced Placement language this year. Although she has taught it for 8 years, this is a new challenge.
“Three AP Lang classes last year was okay, It was manageable,” she said “With five, I have 135 students so I get 135 papers per week or 135 of something per week and then sometimes a little bit more depending on what they do. It’s a lot… It’s stressful.”
Originally there were two teachers for AP language: Mrs. Ruedinger and Mr. Coppernal. However, Mr. Coppernal left, leaving the school to offer the classes to Mrs. Ames. Until she also left, and the school didn’t hire anyone to fill the position, leaving them no choice but to hand all the AP language classes to Mrs. Ruedinger. “I did think about it too. I really did because it’s a lot of work,” Mrs. Ruedinger said.
When asked why she teaches AP language she said, “I love it, I absolutely love it because there’s a lot of grammar, and I love grammar.” Also, stated she loves seeing the improvement in her students’ writing.
She sometimes has students who are better writers than herself. From teaching AP language, she has grown in her writing and continues to be amazed. “It’s nice to know I had a little part in that,” Mrs. Ruedinger said.
For those who don’t know, AP language is a college-level course with college-level work. It’s a class that teaches to a test. In this course, the students are taught three different forms of essays: argumentative, synthesis and rhetorical analysis. These students focus on how the author writes instead of what they’re saying. From this course, she states her students without a doubt do better than others in the writing portion of the ACT.
In the end, Mrs. Ruedinger said. “It’s a lot, it’s stressful … but it’s also worthwhile… It’s rewarding so … it’s worth it.”
