You may be wondering about the blog title, thinking “what’s up with the pearls and onions.” Let me attempt to explain the dual analogy of pearls and onions to AP English Language and Composition:

On Onions…

Classic novels and stories have endured generations, remaining popular for the truths about life and the human experience we find in them. Strong characters—Hamlet, Harry Potter, Edward and Bella, Atticus Finch, Jay Gatsby, Tess D’Urberville, Hester Prynne—still move us. In them we see ourselves, our neighbors. In them we see a person we strive to be or a person we hope to avoid becoming. The stories impart truths we can still identify with—truths about friendship, loneliness, sacrifice, bravery, love, betrayal. The wise words of Shrek (you know—the big green ogre from the Pixar hit) are applicable to the reading process. Shrek says many people never get beyond his ugly exterior, but ogres are, says Shrek, “like onions—they have layers.” Just as you would peel an onion, one layer at a time, you must peel away his ugly exterior—his funny-looking ears, his big clumsy hands, his crude manners—to reveal his beauty and complexity—compassion, loyalty, humor, love. When we read, we must peel the text, one layer at a time, revealing the truths that often lie hidden beneath the surface. To “see” these truths in a text, we must actively engage the text, constantly ask questions, make connections, read like a writer, voice our ideas.

Becoming literate–what English class is all about–means learning to see the layers, learning to READ actively, THINK critically, ENGAGE others in dialogue, WRITE skillfully.

So, I hope our journey together will inspire you to begin digging: peel those texts, one layer at a time. Expose their cores: the language and ideas that move us to laughter, to tears, to action.

On Pearls…

Basically, a pearl is produced when an irritant such as sand gets caught inside the oyster. To protect itself, the oyster secretes a substance akin to mucus. This substance builds up around the sand and hardens. The end result is a pearl…As you can well imagine, it’s a long, tedious practice to find oysters that have ingested a piece of sand to produce a pearl. (WiseGeek)

AP English Language is all about creating pearls: crafting stylistically rich sentences that dazzle and delight, fashioning insightful bits of commentary that give the reader pause, constructing arguments that move minds and hearts. Learning to create and string these pearls begins with that grain of sand–that irritant–and requires a long, arduous process. That process can be burdensome at times, even excrutiating. The pearls that emerge, however, can be priceless, well worth the excrutiating workload required of AP English students.

Here’s to Pearls and Onions: May we all begin peelin’ and stringin’!