Advanced Placement English Language and Composition teachers will explore strategies to improve and enhance junior English courses by focusing on the five curriculum areas of essay writing: close reading, language analysis, rhetorical analysis, constructing an argument, and personal voice development. Emphasis will be placed on non-fiction selections and methods to approach the Synthesis Question. Participants will work to refine major units to more closely reflect Advanced Placement goals, will review and discuss the Advanced Placement English Language and Composition exam, and will brainstorm what AP teachers can do to help students achieve necessary skills.

What participants should bring:

• Standard supplies (highlighters, Post-its, etc)
  
• One activity or lesson that has worked in the classroom; we will tweak the activities to make them applicable for a rigorous AP curriculum
  
• If possible, a copy of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
  

Presenter -

• Ronessa McDonald, Smithson Valley HS, Spring Branch, TX

AP® English Literature
July 23 - 26, 2012
James Madison High School, San Antonio, TX

Course Description:

Participants will focus on methods and materials for teaching a course in AP English Literature and Composition.

Topics:

• · Participants will examine the structure and scoring of the AP English Literature and Composition Exam, including 2009, as well as the skills students need to succeed on both the multiple-choice and free-response sections of the exam.
• · Participants will focus on literary analysis, writing the analytical essay, analyzing poetry, and working with stylistic analysis in general.
• · Other topics include close reading, annotation of texts, reading and responding to drama, handling the grading load, and teaching full-length works.
• · Participants will receive activities that foster student involvement, and will work with a variety of literary texts, new and old.
• · Best practice models will be shared to help course participants acquire new ideas and enthusiasm for teaching the course.

What participants should bring to class:

• A willing spirit
• Best practices, particularly in teaching poetry reading skills and strategies for improving student writing
• Materials necessary for devising a unit (for teaching Hamlet, let's say, or the Middle Ages - it's your choice)
  • English literature text
  • Literature anthology
  • Your own handouts

Presenter -

• Jerry Brown, Round Rock High School, Round Rock, TX

This Course Description:

This course will provide Pre-AP™ High School English teachers practical help in making classes successful and is arranged to make certain that participants are familiar with the types of activities and content necessary for students in Pre-AP™ and AP®. Skills which are necessary for AP® exams and strategies used to teach them are emphasized. The agenda includes sample units that are actually used in Pre-AP™. Emphasis is placed on strategies that will help Pre-AP™ students in both literary and language analysis. Participants will gain an understanding the scope of AP® English Language and AP® English Literature classes. Time is set aside for sharing with other participants and for using the computer lab to search for helpful sites and to plan an actual lesson.

Topics will include the following:

• An overview of the Advanced Placement Program
• Curriculum structure and assessment
• Vertical Teaming
• Scoring AP exams
• Strategies to teach skills including analysis in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama
• Emphasis on questioning techniques, tone, voice, essay writing, writing essay and multiple choice questions, close reading, grammar, projects and novel choices
• Sample units for novels, poetry, drama and nonfiction
• Computer lab time to explore web-sites and to create new units
• Preparation for assessments such as AP exams, ACT, SAT and TAKS
  

Participants should bring:

• Syllabus for the Pre-AP course
• Textbooks used to teach the course
• A unit that needs work or ideas for a new one
• Hi-lighters
• Sticky notes
• A list of useful web-sites
• A list of works being taught
• Titles of works that might work for Pre AP
• Enthusiasm and a desire to work hard, share and have fun
  

Presenter -

• Jamie Stanley, Austin High School, Austin, TX

Pre-AP™ English (MS)
July 23 - 26, 2012
James Madison High School, San Antonio, TX

This one-week course will include both specific lessons and general guidelines for increasing the thinking, writing, and analyzing skills of all students in an attempt to ready them for challenging Pre-AP™ English courses in high school. Guidelines and lessons on syntax will receive major attention. Participants will have an opportunity to practice creating their own lessons and assessment tools for use in their classrooms, as well.

Presenter -

• Christian Cicoria, Saint Mary's Hall, San Antonio, TX

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