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
Here’s the first of 3 posts from this year’s reading. I asked two readers for each question to answer a few questions and share their thoughts. Thanks to David Choate and Gina Kortuem for today’s post. You can read more about them following their reflections. AP® Literature Free Response Questions 2022
Susan and I have always tried to build connections with teachers to make everyone’s classroom better. We are starting The Summer 6 in 6 Book Challenge because we want to push ourselves to read a new book each week this summer and we want to interact with great readers and teachers while we do it. We … Continue Reading
This is a link to the AP Literature Professional Night which featured teachers (hooray for teachers being trusted to do professional development) sharing ideas about teaching poetry. The panel was made up of Melissa Smith the moderator, Adrian Nester, Adekine Davidson, and me (Susan Barber) sharing some out our favorite poems and lesson ideas. Here’s … Continue Reading
This post originally appeared on APLitHelp.com (#RIP). Many of us in education have been talking about how disconnected our students seem in the 20-21 school year. Sadly, the overwhelming nature of external stressors has become system wide. Even our top students are feeling trauma start to take their motivation from them. But for years, as … Continue Reading
A few years ago I revamped my summer reading assignment. It marked an important departure for me. It was a significant step in my growth as a teacher. I’ll explain why, but first I want to share what I have done in years past. THE OLD SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT My summer assignment has gone through … Continue Reading
So many big test tips are generic. They include things like “get a good night of sleep the night before,” “read the questions before the passage,” and “eliminate wrong answers.” Rarely, does those tips provide a strategic plan to make a major jump in the days leading up to the exam. Here are eight ways … Continue Reading
Whenever I prepare my students for the AP Literature exam, I don’t really want it to feel like test prep. I want to take the stress out of it all. I want the experience to build confidence. I want the process, starting around February, to have no stakes or very low stakes; it should be … Continue Reading
Small tweaks often yield big gains. Here are five writing activities that put the work in students’ hands and help them improve their writing. 1 – Strong Verbs At some point during the second semester, I will ask students to take an essay and highlight every verb in the essay. Every. Single. Verb. This is … Continue Reading
