English Literature & Composition

What would you say is the difficulty level of this class?

“Medium.” (Rachel Merino-Ott, teacher)

“On a scale of one to ten, I would give AP Lit a seven or eight.” (Nicole Morris, alumna)

“It’s a difficult class. It is not the class for kids who just want to read poetry, you have to analyze and stuff. If you’re interested in that kind of stuff and you are very engaged and if you are willing to put in the effort and pay attention, it’s an interesting class.” (Phoebe Tran, student)

What is the workload like?

“[The difficulty level is] medium, there is homework but it is not given on a daily or consistent basis. It consists of reading, questions about the reading to prepare for in-class conversations, extended written assignments.” (Rachel Merino-Ott, teacher)

“It was a lot of reading, and mostly the workload was light, but there was sometimes a lot of essays or practice. It was intermediate level.” (Nicole Morris, alumna)

“It’s reasonable. Our teacher, thankfully, luckily, fortunately, is a reasonable woman, who doesn’t give us a lot of homework and when she does it’s very effective. It’s like a lot in a little bit of time, so you don’t waste anything.” (Phoebe Tran, student)

What kind of student should take this class/Why would a student want to take this class?

“The kind of student who will thrive in this class is one who loves reading and discussing what they read. Be open to ambiguity: we read about people as they exist in all their messy, illogical, and contradictory humanity. Be willing to work at reading difficult texts—many of these are not works that can be skimmed over.” (Rachel Merino-Ott, teacher)

What kind of careers could this class lead to?

“All of them. A parent who is a lawyer approached me at Back to School Night to let me know that his literature course remained important to what he does today. And in the words of Steve Jobs, “technology alone is not enough—it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.” (Rachel Merino-Ott, teacher)

Any tips for students looking to take this class?

“Annotate your books. Buy the book and annotate it. Even if the annotations are dumb, you’ll remember it.” (Nicole Morris, alumna)

Is there anything you would have done differently now that you have taken this course?

“I read the book over the summer … “How to Read Literature Like an English Professor,” [I] probably would’ve liked to reference that more.” (Nicole Morris, alumna)