50p
Glory Days: Collis and His AP Army
It’s a bird, it's a plane. No it's Mr Paul Collis, the man, the myth, the legend behind the notorious AP English 11 course here at Brentwood.
AP English is a world-renowned course that is taken by hundreds of thousands of students internationally. The only major difference between the students of AP English at Brentwood and the students in the rest of the world is that we are taught single handedly by “The best high school English teacher in the western hemisphere” observed Hannah W, Hope ‘22. This may sound a bit hard to believe for most, but it's the pure truth. Mr Collis is probably the only reason students take AP English 11 because from what most students say, it's not the easiest course
The course is meant to prepare students for the grueling AP exams coming up in three weeks. The exams consist of 45 multiple choice questions followed by three essays: one style, one synthesis, and one argument. Each student is provided with 40 minutes per essay and one hour for the multiple choice. This may sound like quite a short amount of time to complete all these tasks - because it is. AP students have been preparing themselves by writing timed essay after essay to allow them to write more freely under the time constraints. The essay becomes challenging mainly due to these time constraints but they should be no match for the army of AP students trained by Mr Collis.
Disregarding the sweat and tears from the challenging AP exam, the course is filled with fun. A highlight, a tradition that happens every year, is the photomemior assignment where students choose a photo of their younger selves and break down the photo using rhetorical devices and beautiful language. “I don’t think a single student didn’t enjoy this assignment” says Mark L, Privett ‘22. The students with the top essays from this assignment are entered into a highlight example package for the following year’s students. Mr Collis also sends out the photomemoir’s to the Brentwood staff causing laughter and joy all around as some of these are extremely hilarious.
And that’s saying nothing about Springsteen Night. Tickets in short supply.
AP English, put simply, is a roller coaster of fun and hard work. It's set up in such a way where students who work hard, put time and effort into their work, and are diligent with their learning, are the ones who have the most enjoyable experience throughout the year. At the end of the day it's an awesome class led by an awesome teacher and almost no student would want it any other way.
Sajeev S, Whittall ‘22
AP English is a world-renowned course that is taken by hundreds of thousands of students internationally. The only major difference between the students of AP English at Brentwood and the students in the rest of the world is that we are taught single handedly by “The best high school English teacher in the western hemisphere” observed Hannah W, Hope ‘22. This may sound a bit hard to believe for most, but it's the pure truth. Mr Collis is probably the only reason students take AP English 11 because from what most students say, it's not the easiest course
The course is meant to prepare students for the grueling AP exams coming up in three weeks. The exams consist of 45 multiple choice questions followed by three essays: one style, one synthesis, and one argument. Each student is provided with 40 minutes per essay and one hour for the multiple choice. This may sound like quite a short amount of time to complete all these tasks - because it is. AP students have been preparing themselves by writing timed essay after essay to allow them to write more freely under the time constraints. The essay becomes challenging mainly due to these time constraints but they should be no match for the army of AP students trained by Mr Collis.
Disregarding the sweat and tears from the challenging AP exam, the course is filled with fun. A highlight, a tradition that happens every year, is the photomemior assignment where students choose a photo of their younger selves and break down the photo using rhetorical devices and beautiful language. “I don’t think a single student didn’t enjoy this assignment” says Mark L, Privett ‘22. The students with the top essays from this assignment are entered into a highlight example package for the following year’s students. Mr Collis also sends out the photomemoir’s to the Brentwood staff causing laughter and joy all around as some of these are extremely hilarious.
And that’s saying nothing about Springsteen Night. Tickets in short supply.
AP English, put simply, is a roller coaster of fun and hard work. It's set up in such a way where students who work hard, put time and effort into their work, and are diligent with their learning, are the ones who have the most enjoyable experience throughout the year. At the end of the day it's an awesome class led by an awesome teacher and almost no student would want it any other way.
Sajeev S, Whittall ‘22