Course Description

During this AP English Literature and Composition APSI, you’ll explore the course framework, the exam, and the new AP resources that will help you plan and focus instruction—and give you feedback throughout the year on the areas where individual students need additional focus. You’ll also learn about completing the digital activation process at the start of the school year that will give you immediate access to the new resources and will help ensure that your students can register for AP Exams by the new fall deadlines. By attending this APSI, you’ll gain deeper insight into the following key takeaways, among several others: Understand the Course; Plan the Course; Teach the Course; Assess Student Progress; and Engage as a Member of the AP Community. In addition, specific attention will be paid to the following AP Classroom resources: unit guides, personal progress checks, AP teacher community, and the AP question bank.

Course Overview and Objectives:

In this workshop, participants will learn the essentials for designing (or refining) an exciting, effective and joyful AP English Literature class.  Over the course of four days, participants will accomplish the following actions:

  1. Use the AP® Course and Exam Description (CED) to create a compelling and creative syllabus
  2. Learn ways to make AP English Literature more equitable and accessible to all students
  3. Work on powerful strategies for helping students score well on all components on the AP® English Literature Exam:  the Multiple Choice section, the Prose and Poetry Analysis Essays, and the Literary Argument (Q3) Essay.
  4. Evaluate sample student essays of all three types by application of the AP® Essay Analytic Rubric
  5. Become familiar with the features of AP® Central, AP® Classroom, Instructional Reports, and the AP®Community in order to improve and enrich instruction
  6. Discover ways to help students improve their writing skills—from writing effective thesis statements and establishing lines of reason to embedding well-chosen evidence into body paragraphs and writing powerful introductions and conclusions.

Course Agenda:

Day 1:  Overview and Multiple Choice:

  1. Welcome and Introductions
  2. Making Classroom Structures
  3. Overview of the Week and Learning Objectives
  4. Overview of the AP English Literature Course and Exam
  5. Expanding AP Access and Equity
  6. Diving into the CED
  7. Syllabi Requirements and Sample Syllabi
  8. Using AP Classroom
  9. Multiple Choice Strategies

Day 2:  Poetry—Units 2, 5, and 8

  1. What is Poetry?
  2. The Elements of Poetry
  3. Teaching to Analyze Poetry Effectively in both Formal and Informal Ways
  4. Creating Poetry
  5. Writing Focus:  Effective Thesis Statements and Introductions; Establishing a Line of Reasoning
  6. The AP English Literature Essay Rubric for Poetry
  7. Scoring Sample Student Poetry Analysis Essays

Day 3:  Prose—Units 1, 4, and 7

  1. What is Prose?
  2. The Elements of Prose
  3. Teaching Students to Analyze Prose Effectively
  4. Writing Focus:  Developing Paragraphs, Embedding Quotations, Selecting Evidence
  5. The AP English Literature Essay Rubric for Prose
  6. Scoring Sample Student Prose Analysis Essays

Day 4:  Major Works (Novels and Plays)—Units 3, 6, and 9.  Final Reflections

  1. What is Q3?
  2. Ways to Prepare Students for Q3
  3. Writing Focus:  Earning the Sophistication Point, Ways to Structure Essays, Writing Effective Conclusions
  4. The AP English Literature Essay Rubric for Q3
  5. Scoring Sample Student Q3 Essays
  6. Using Instructional Reports to Guide Future Instruction
  7. Creating a Joyful Classroom Environment
  8. Syllabus Planning Time
  9. Assess and Reflect
  10. Course Evaluations

About the Presenter 

Davis Thompson has been teaching AP English Literature and Composition at Auburn High School in Auburn, Alabama for the past twenty-six years, and he has loved every minute of it.  His greatest passion is teaching students both how to analyze and how to enjoy poetry.  Davis has been the coach and sponsor for Poetry Out Loud (a national poetry recitation contest) at his school for the past thirteen years and has helped his students win the Alabama State Championship five times, 3rd place in the nation one time, and the National Poetry Out Loud Championship itself in 2011.  Davis also has had experience through NEH Institutes studying Shakespeare both as an actor and teacher as well as dabbling in some philosophy.  In addition to AP English Literature, he has taught IB English Literature, IB Theory of Knowledge, and Creative Writing.  Davis holds a B.A. in English from Furman University (1996) and a M.A. in English Education from Auburn University (1997).  He works as a College Board Consultant and AP Reader for AP English Literature.  When asked by students, “Why do we have to read this?” Davis has a simple one word answer (that is also his life philosophy):  “Joy.”