When scheduling classes for their senior year last year, juniors saw some new options that count towards their English credit for this year. To graduate from high school, students must have four English credits. Normally, electives wouldn’t count toward these credits. A normal English elective is Creative Writing or Sports Literacy. However, last year, Digital Journalism and ADV (Art, Design, and Voice) were introduced as classes that give seniors the last credit needed to graduate. Normally, seniors would be bound to 4 classes to take that earn this credit. Those are English IV, English 100, AP Literature and Composition, and Dual Credit Communications. These two new electives that now count as an English credit for seniors have given students more options if they don’t want to commit to a full English class their senior year.
I am a senior here at Woodford County and am currently in Digital Journalism for my last English Credit. A concern about electives counting toward an English Credit is that students wouldn’t be prepared for a college course after taking an easier class. I don’t think this applies to Digital Journalism. For starters, in Digital Journalism, students write 1-2 articles every month to be posted in the student paper. Articles have to be edited by a student editor. There are 7 editors in the Jacket Journal, all of them are juniors and seniors. Writing articles is a very different type of writing than what is normal for most classes, and it is enriching to be able to branch out and polish writing skills. I can personally say I have learned a lot about writing this year, but I have also learned how to maintain a schedule and manage my time in class. If you have already published your article for the month, there is still a lot for you to do. The newspaper is more than a class; it’s almost like a business, and everything has to be running smoothly.
The other elective class that is an English credit for seniors is ADV (Art, Design, and Voice). In this class, the students pick what they learn about in the unit. Some units this year include Horror and the Self, Ai and Robots, the Revolution, and observing and understanding art. Mrs. Benton is the teacher, and this year, there are 30 kids in the class. Senior Kaylee Switzer says her favorite unit was AI and Robots, but she also liked the music one, where she listened to “OK Computer” by Radiohead. Her favorite thing about ADV is that it is slow paced and allows you to be creative. This class is great and prepares students to talk about things that come up outside of class, which would otherwise be overlooked in school.
All in all, these classes are very helpful for students. They are great options for seniors who don’t want to take a full scale, ‘normal’ English class but still want to learn and be prepared for college. Hopefully, next year, there will be more courses that will count towards the English credit.