Welcome to my site! My name is Marilyn Clanton, and I have been teaching in the Arlington District for 35 years, and at Martin for ten years. I am a graduate of Texas Tech University, and have been married to Carl Clanton for 35 years. My two daughters, Christy and Kelly, are both Martin grads. My grandson, Ethan, was born last February.
My current assignment is 5 sections of AP English Language and Composition and Freshmen Cheerleaders. The goal of AP Eng. Lang. & Comp. is to prepare the students to take the AP test that is administered by College Board in May. This test can potentially earn students college credit. The course is unique to most high school English courses in that we spend very little time on literature, but the course does parallel Freshmen Comp at the College level. The focus of the course is to be able to analyze and to create argumentation. The students learn to write under time constraints effectively utilizing and recognizing rhetorical strategies.
As this is in essence a college course, the content of the course is quite challenging. However, the students typically do well in the course and appreciate the relevancy of the content for future educational endeavors. The success rate on the AP test is quite high with 85 -90% of the students at Martin receiving a successful score for college credit. Most of the students taking this course do not have to take an English course in college. The National average on the AP Lang test is around 50 %; obviously, our students do well on the test. This is an important course for any student especially those who are college bound regardless of the intended major.
The juxtaposition in my life is teaching AP Lang to juniors and coaching freshmen cheerleaders. The freshmen squad is comprised of 22 girls who are among the most active students at Martin. The cheerleaders practice off campus two days a week, and cheer for freshmen football, volleyball, and basketball. We also combine with JV and Varsity to compete at the NCA National Competition in December and at the ACA National Competiton in January.
Click here to visit the cheerleading information site: http://www.aisd.net/martin/cheerleading/index.html