By Sai Sailaja Seshadri

Staff Writer

@saisailu97

Coppell High School AP English Language and Composition Travis Washmon is implementing lessons from his own college education into his lesson plan for this year’s juniors.

For their long-term project, each student was asked to pick an issue in society that they are passionate about. Some of the topics that they picked included fracking, government spending on education and animal abuse. Students have then taken their topic and completed a multi-step project.

“I took a course in college about American protest, and it was about the American mindset that we should speak our minds and create change,” Washmon said. “Nowadays though, I feel like a part of our society is slipping away from that, so I think it is important to look at what we want to change as citizens.”

The first step of their project was to write an extended research essay regarding their topic. They then researched different styles of protest, and what factors can turn a non-violent protest into a violent protest. Using the information from those two facts of the assignment, students then created a final product to demonstrate their understanding of the topic and help gain awareness about it.

After finishing their projects, the students set up tables in the library on Thursday and discussed their topics with one another. Other students and teachers were also encouraged to come in to hear what the passionate kids each had to say about their controversial issues.

English III junior Weston Bliobenes used the last 16 weeks to solidify his beliefs about how film piracy harms the economy, and what can be done to change it.

“We all created different things such as posters, websites, and all to portray real problems that are relevant in our society,” Bliobenes said. “I wanted to talk about film piracy while my friend did music piracy, and we had to justify the side we chose, whether we are for or against something.”

Through this assignment, students were not only able to learn about the different English writing strategies that are part of the AP curriculum, but were also able to get hands on experience with how protests work.

“It gave the students the opportunity to not only learn to speak their minds and make a case, but also learn different rhetoric appeals, so I thought why not combine the two,” Washmon said.

Type the hashtag #APLACProtest on Twitter to see more about the students and their projects.