Unfulfilled Need (FRQ 3 Digital)

2023 Digital FRQ 3 Prompt: Many works of literature explore a character’s sense of lacking something important inlife. The character perceives an unfulfilled need which may be emotional, spiritual, financial, orsomething the character does not understand or cannot articulate. Either from your own readingor from the following list, choose a work of fiction in which … Continue Reading

“One Morning in June”

The only other time I scored for the prose question was the infamous Zenobia question of 2018 (taken from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance). Although many students misinterpreted the nature of that relationship, I remember really loving the Zenobia prompt. This year, I enjoyed reading for the prose question once again. This year’s prose excerpt … Continue Reading

Indecision – Q3

This reader reflection was written by Brian Hannon and Susan Barber, and we acknowledge this post does not earn the sophistication point. I (SB) was so excited to read for Q3 this year since it’s the question I have the least experience with both at the reading and in the classroom. I’ve only read for … Continue Reading

“On Summer”

Thanks to Emily Wessel for sharing thoughts from this year’s reading. You can find the prompt and poem here: 2024 FRQ Set 2 Exam Questions This was my first year reading for Q1 and I really enjoyed it. This poem was accessible and allowed students to explore many different literary elements and techniques. I will … Continue Reading

Poetry Blog Exchange

Student choice. Genuine investment. Low-stakes writing practice. Poetry analysis. Digital citizenship. Personal engagement. Empowering student voice.  A few years ago in the nascence of #TeachLivingPoets, I (Melissa) was brainstorming ways to get students invested in not just poetry, but poets. Reading individual poems wasn’t offering the kind of long-term appreciation I was hoping to nurture. … Continue Reading

In Praise of the Essay

If you head to Merriam Webster you will find that an essay is: an analytic or interpretative literary composition usually dealing with its subject from a limited or personal point of view. This definition is somewhat near sighted. I stopped at the first one. If you dig a little deeper, though, you will see that … Continue Reading

The Essays are Returned, Now What?

Much of the real work of writing is done in the revision stage, but getting student buy-in can be challenging. Since I only teach AP Lit, my students are primarily writing timed essays which is a quick pass at literary analysis, but the far majority of writing is not done in a timed setting. In … Continue Reading

Storytelling and Personal Narrative Unit

Today’s post is written by Brian Hannon. If you’re familiar with Brian through LMS Curriculum, you already know the quality of his resources are AMAZING, and this unit is no exception. The entire unit is linked at the end of his reflection on it. Thank you, Brian!! Pretty much every year prior to this one, … Continue Reading

Digital Feedback Made Easy

In response to Brian’s post a couple of week’s ago on writing commentary, I invited Melissa Smith to share her method of giving feedback. Her feedback is quick and individualized. Thanks, Melissa! I’ll be following up in a couple of weeks with how I handle feedback and revision. I have 100 students in 4 sections … Continue Reading

COMMENTS ARE A BAD IDEA

I’m going to tell you why I think comments on essays are a bad idea… but first a quick story.  About five years ago, my Sunday nights were spent at a mostly-empty Starbucks. For hours I would read and comment on all the papers and pages I accumulated over the week. By Monday afternoon, many … Continue Reading