Joining the four other Junior English Selectives at Townsend Harris High School, “Fantasy Mirrors Reality: Mutants, Metaphors, and the Material World,” taught by English Teacher Jude Binda and ISS English teacher Jessica Espinoza, is a recent addition.
The selective focuses on improving media literacy by merging the imaginary world with the real world while preparing students for the AP Language exam.
“We plan on covering selected clips from Black Mirror, excerpts from the X-Men comic book series, short stories from Bloodchild by Octavia Butler and many more…We will always pair our Sci-fi and Fantasy texts with a non-fiction text for the purposes of drawing direct parallels between the imaginary world and the real world,” Mr. Binda and Ms. Espinoza told The Classic.
By analyzing a wide variety of media during the school year, this selective gives students the opportunity to practice their literary analysis skills along with their media literacy skills.
Despite the selective being different from classes that Mr. Binda and Ms. Espinoza have taught previously, they thoroughly enjoy teaching it.
“This is the first class either of us have taught that is predominantly grounded in topics we are both passionate about and interested in.” They said.
Mr. Binda and Ms. Espinoza’s passion for the topics they teach is reflected in their teaching styles and students believe that their teaching styles have a great impact on their learning.
Junior Chloe Dojillo said, “Their teaching style, which is very engaging, allows me to compare and connect myself and my experiences to the lesson…They go slow to make sure that everyone understands the topics.”
Similarly, Junior Morgan Laminta said, “Their engaging teaching style helps me think critically about the message and purpose behind each example… I can tell that they are passionate about teaching this class because they put effort into incorporating video clips and written pieces to illustrate the concepts we’re learning.”
Mr. Bindha said, “We want learning to be fun, but to make that happen, we really spend a lot of time thinking about how they can use these skills in real life, beyond any exam or essay. “
Through fun and engaging lessons, Mr. Binda and Ms. Espinoza aim to prepare students for the AP exam in May. They place great emphasis on AP exam preparation and have incorporated AP skills in all of their lessons throughout the year.
Junior Sara Ahmed believes that the AP skills that she has practiced in class will help her in the future as well. She said, “unpacking the varying perspectives in texts is very beneficial to me because it helps me identify bias which will be a necessary skill for me later in life.”
Towards the end of the year, Mr. Binda and Ms. Espinoza hope to incorporate college essay writing into their class. “After AP season is over, we plan on shifting our primary focus to drafting college essays which are extremely important.”
They hope to provide students with skills that can translate over to their future endeavors whatever they may be. “In class we work on determining if an author’s text was effective or ineffective, but they can take that skill and analyze whether or not a politician or even an article in real life is effective or ineffective.” Mr. Binda said.
Junior Morgan Laminta said, “The real world connections made in this English selective have pushed me to be more aware of current events and understand the world around me.”
This course not only aims to prepare students for the AP exam in May and the college essay in the fall of senior year, but to build their media literacy and enable them to make real world connections. “We really emphasize making real world connections because it is so important for young adults to go on to be informed members of society.” Ms. Espinoza said.
