Here’s a quick lesson I’ve put together for Halloween that will serve two purposes. First, we’ve been pushing ourselves the last three weeks digging into our choice novels and need something a little out of the routine and fun. (All work and no play make Mrs. Barber and AP Lit students a dull crowd). Second, … Continue Reading
Indigenous People Literature by Susan Barber Happy Indigenous People Day! I wanted to highlight some texts by indigenous authors that I use in class. There are so many other works that could be on this list, but here’s a start if you’re looking to add indigenous voices to your curriculum. There, There by Tommy Orange “If you … Continue Reading
Our first poetry unit is Counting Descent by Clint Smith and our first official lesson on structure was this week. I LOVE teaching structure because it’s one of the few concepts that students have very little exposure to or experience with in their prior lit classes. If they have had experience with structure, few know … Continue Reading
College football, pumpkin spice lattes, and college essays – happy fall y’all! Brian shared The Biggest College Essay Mistakes a few weeks ago, and I wanted to follow up with how I handle writing conferences specifically pertaining to college essays. I spend very little time teaching the college essay but rather highlight a few points … Continue Reading
Susan’s note: I typically have Brian Hannon join my APSIs for session to show us around LMS Voice Curriculum, a site filled with poetry resources. Not only does the site have poetry lessons that are ready to go in the classroom (with a writing workshop lesson, a literary analysis lessons, an essay prompt for the … Continue Reading
With just over 1,500 people voting in this survey on the AP Lit Facebook group, most teachers are heading back to work right about now. I was in the fortunate (HA) group who went back in July and am already a full week into my year with the Class of 2023. While we all sit … Continue Reading
This June I served on the AP® Standard Setting Panel. I know that many of you have questions about the increased pass rate, and I know that I would have been firmly among the group of cynics myself if I had not been involved in the process. (Something about teaching the last two years has … Continue Reading
This post written by Gina Kortuem in the fall of 2019 originally appeared on APLitHelp.com. When I was a newer AP Lit teacher I attended a one-day AP training, as many teachers do. During one of my trainings a brilliant veteran AP teacher was going over a writing skill, then mentioned offhand that she had … Continue Reading
Thanks for Megan Neville and Sarah Soper for their thoughts on the open ended question this year. Here’s a link to the prompts and also Sarah’s list of titles she encountered while reading. AP® Literature Free Response Questions 2022 What did you notice in upper-half essays? MN: First of all, these students clearly understood the … Continue Reading
Reflection 1 by Melissa Tucker What did you notice in upper-half essays? The “upper-half” were those student writers who were able to demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the passage. Those writers easily earned the thesis point and began at a 3 in row B (evidence and commentary). Often, those essays also earned the sophistication point. … Continue Reading
