(for teachers who have never taught AP or have 1-3 years AP experience)
Patricia Vandever, Charlottesville, VA
The 2021 Wake Forest University APSI will focus on instructional strategies for teachers new to the subject of AP Language and Composition. Participants will explore numerous techniques to enhance students’ multiple choice test-taking skills and will engage with several released multiple choice selections from a variety of genres, as well as the new type of composition questions. All three essay types—the synthesis essay, the rhetorical analysis, and the argument essay—will be covered. Participants will write their own sample essays and will practice scoring using the new analytic rubrics. The course will focus on differentiated learning styles, rhetorical analyses of both fiction and non-fiction, and test preparation and simulation. Class members will create their own synthesis essay assignments and study the impact of cartoons, graphs, and other visuals in the art of the argument. Another focus will be the development of a course syllabus in compliance with the AP course audit and the implementation of units from the CED (Course and Exam Description).