English department offers three classes for college credit

Options include speech, composition and literature

With the school year coming to a close, most CF students think they have their schedules for next year all figured out. However, recently the English department solidified new Hawkeye courses to offer seniors and juniors for the 2013-2014 school year.

English department head and teacher Judy Timmins listed the different types of classes available to students. “Right now we are looking at three different types of classes: one is the lit class, one is the composition class and the other is the oral communications class,” Timmins said.

Susan Langan, guidance counselor, said she believes the new classes are a great opportunity for students. “They would be very good opportunities for our students to take, especially if they are thinking about going to one of the three state universities or community colleges because they will pretty much transfer into some good college credit. Any other colleges, the student is responsible for checking how it would transfer, but they are pretty basic classes that would pretty much transfer to general ed classes,” Langan said.

There are still openings for the classes, and if students are interested they should make sure they meet the prerequisites. “They either have to have a 19 on the English and the reading on the ACT, or they have to take the Compass and have a 65 on the writing or an 82 on the reading, or a combination. We are offering the Compass here in a couple weeks as well,” Langan said.

Part of the reason the late sign up for these classes is due to the efforts to make sure CFHS English teachers were able to teach the classes. “We wanted the Cedar Falls teachers to be teaching the courses because they’re here, they’re in the building, they know the students and they know the department, so we wanted our teachers teaching the courses. That meant that teachers had to have certain qualifications, so we had to make sure those teachers had the qualifications, and that was part of our delay,” Timmins said.

Different teachers in the department will be teaching the courses. “Mrs. Flaherty is teaching oral communication, Mrs. Lubs for the composition and Mr. Lawrence-Richards for the literature,” Langan said.

If students are interested in taking these courses next year, they can still sign up even if they’ve already scheduled their classes. “This is kind of a pilot for us. Next year it is going to be very different from the standpoint of these courses. Next year you’ll be able to sign up at the time we do scheduling, not after we’ve already scheduled,” Timmins said. “Next year it will be much smoother. It will be much clearer. There will be more opportunities for students to start thinking about it and considering it before the fact.”

If students would like to sign up for a dual-credit English course to take next year, there is still time to sign up in the guidance office.