What It's Like to Be a Super-Fan -- Amy Arora
This month, alongside doing a developmental edit for an extremely cool bit of speculative fiction, and outlining a novel of my own, I am working as an examiner for the International Baccalaureate. I have been given 60 Extended Essays to work my way through and to mark as I see fit. It’s surprisingly enjoyable. The Extended Essay is one of my favourite elements of the IB programme. Students can choose any subject and any topic, then they need to write 4000 analytical words putting forward a line of argument. It’s like a mini dissertation, only the students in question are 17, and they are also studying six other subjects (the IB is hardcore). Essential accompaniments to essay marking For the students who choose English, the possibilities are endless. So far, I’ve marked essays on classic works of literature ranging from Oscar Wilde to Homer, from Shakespeare to Virginia Woolf. I’ve read about magazine advertising through the years and a whole range of political speeches as we...