Planning & Preparation

For AP English Language & Composition, standards and skills were outlined by the College Board. In addition, I incorporated the use of SAT Domains and Dimensions as a supplement as my students were 11th graders and were preparing to take the SAT. I used those standards and skills to design units that were relevant and rigorous for students. I used the Understanding by Design framework to plan each unit as it required a constant check for alignment between outcomes, assessments, learning experiences. 

Course Vision - AP English Language & Composition

AP Language and Composition is designed to match the rigor of an introductory college writing course. Students will be reading a variety of texts and will be writing across different genres throughout the year. This course will guide scholars to become critical and responsive readers, and writers who cater to various audiences. AP Language and Composition will prepare scholars to engage in discourse and analysis of non-fiction (and some fiction) texts. Scholars will be developing these skills through the lenses of transcendentalism, social injustice, ethics and morality, the human condition, and the American Dream. 

Scholars will have multiple opportunities throughout each unit to compose and revise their writing. They will also be exposed to language skills in texts and will be able to relate it to the conventions and mechanics of the English language. The topics that are covered in AP Language and composition will require scholars to reflect on who they are and who they want to be in the future as well as the role society plays in forming it. By doing this, scholars will be able to make more well-informed decisions in their lives. 

At the end of the year, scholars will be taking the AP exam with a goal to earn a 3 or higher. However, the skills they learn in this course are meant to prepare them for life in college and beyond.

Unit Plan - Introduction to Rhetoric

The first unit of the year in AP English Language & Composition was an introduction to rhetoric. I spoke with the English teachers who taught my students during their sophomore year of high school and learned that students had been taught in-depth about writing argumentative essays, which included a focus on crafting claims, selecting strong, relevant evidence, and developing reasoning - a majority of the skills tested on the AP exam. Therefore, I decided to start with skills that were brand new or less familiar to students to open up their curiosity to learning.

Weekly Planning

Once I knew which skills I wanted to teach and how I would assess mastery of those skills, I then planned for the key learning experiences that would allow students to acquire content knowledge and practice mastering skills . The weekly plan linked below shows a breakdown of learning experiences both in synchronous classes and asynchronous classes. Asynchronous classes were a time when students could practice applying learned skills to a scenario. The following synchronous class would be used to discuss what students learned through their practice, to address misconceptions, and was also a time to clarify expectations. 

Assessments

When teaching in person, students would leave class every day having taken one or more formative assessments, which provided feedback as to whether students had mastered the objectives for the day. During remote learning, formative assessments were still given to students, but the data cycle in which mastery information was collected and analyzed was longer. The timeline was adjusted in order to accommodate student needs, technological barriers, and low attendance rates.

During the Introduction to Rhetoric unit, formative assessments were given in the form of journal entries. During an asynchronous session, students were assigned an interactive activity where they were introduced to key terms and concepts of rhetoric. They were shown how these concepts could be applied to a rhetorical situation, and then they were called to apply what they learned by completing a shorter analysis that incorporated the terms and concepts. Since I was teaching this unit during the 2020 Election period, I decided to use content that was more relevant to my students’ current context. 

At the end of the unit, students were given a summative assessment that required them to apply all of the concepts they learned throughout the unit to a new scenario. In a class that is heavily focused on composition, it was important to me that students had a choice in their writing topics. In addition, I typically saw an increase in investment and better outcomes on the assigned tasks. For the end of our Introduction to Rhetoric unit, students were asked to write a review on a song of their choosing. In their review, they used the principles of rhetoric to develop their analysis. 

The Essence of Learning

While assessments provide data on whether students have mastered a skill set, when it comes to a writing class, the process of revision gives students the ability to grow their skills. After receiving feedback on the Rolling Stone Music Review essay, students had the opportunity to reflect on that feedback and revise their essays to demonstrate growth in their skills. 

Differentiation

At the beginning of the year, I make a concerted effort to know my students as individuals and as learners. When I taught AP English Language & Composition, I had students who required an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and I had students who were multilingual learners. Both groups of students were provided support tailored to their needs, versions of assignments that were further scaffolded, and additional time per their request. Additionally, for students who were multilingual learners, I would sit with them on Zoom and support them in comprehension of complex text by having them use a translator and then engaging in discussions on the meaning of the text. 

A subset of students who often go unnoticed when it comes to differentiation are students who demonstrate a high level of performance. These are students who may not have qualified to be on the honors track, but are demonstrating skills beyond their grade level. During my first year of teaching, my teaching team and I started a program for our highest performers called “English Roundtable.” Each week, we met with students who opted into the program and provided them with additional support to experience more academic growth than they had been given historically. This differentiation resulted in significant growth on the end-of-year exam – growth that they may not have made otherwise.