English Literature and Composition

Taught by Tamara Rodriguez-Kam

Description

This course is designed to benefit the AP® Literature and Composition teacher when planning for their course. Using contemporary and classic texts, we will explore instructional strategies and assessments with equity and access as a guiding principle. During the week, we will discuss and examine topics of course and syllabi design, the AP® exam, seminar approaches, poetry, short fiction, major works of fiction (novels and drama), grammar/syntax, and writing. We will work on revising and constructing lesson plans and units to support student learning. For those needing to construct a syllabus, guidance will be provided. Please bring teaching resources you want to revise or incorporate into your school year. The workshop will be largely hands-on and differentiated to the degree needed.

Participant resources

• Laptop
• Current syllabus
• Original lessons and instructional strategies to share

Materials included

• AP® Literature and Composition course and exam description
• Curriculum materials and activities

Course objectives

The course will prepare beginning and experienced English teachers to

• Understand the skills tested on the AP® Literature and Composition exam (Content Knowledge)
• Grade student essays accurately and give effective feedback (Content Knowledge and Pedagogy and Student Learning)
• Construct lesson plans that increase students’ skills in critical reading and analytical writing (Content Knowledge and Pedagogy and Student Learning)
• Develop focused units that prepare students for success (Content Knowledge and Pedagogy and Student Learning)
• Use a range of primary and secondary source material to augment the study of rhetorical forms (Content Knowledge)

Agenda

Monday, Day 1

Welcome and Introductions

• Goals
• Opportunity and Access
• Overview of the week
• AP® Literature and Composition: The Big Picture
  • Course Overview
  • Why AP®?
  • Exam Overview
• Look at CED
  • Link to AP® English Literature and Composition CED
  • Group work on the CED
• Setting up your class
  • Daily structures
• Look at the sample syllabus and preparation/revision time
  • Sample syllabus
• Syllabus Construction, the AP® Audit, Yearlong and Semester Plans
• AP® Classroom Overview
  • What it is
  • Ways to use it
• Preparing for the Multiple Choice Portion
• Reflect and Project (parking lot)
  • Post it: Daily Takeaway

Tuesday, Day 2

• Recap previous day
  • Parking Lot
  • Goals
• Writing in our AP® classes
  • Daily Writing
  • Thesis
  • Line of Reasoning
• Unit Overview: Poetry
  • How to get students ready using music
  • “Sound of Silence”
    • Lyrics to "The Sound of Silence"
    • Link to "The Sound of Silence" Audio
  • Student Practice
• Ways to attack poetry in your classroom
  • “The Crossing” (Ruth Moose)
  • “Because I could not stop for Death-” (Emily Dickinson)
  • “I am Offering this Poem” (Jimmy Santiago Baca)
  • “The Man with the Saxophone” (Ai)
  • “Richard Cory” (Edward Arlington Robinson)
  • Practice:
    • Developing the Essential Question
    • Annotation
    • Device Charting
    • Reflection
    • Thesis Construction
    • Line of Reasoning
• Look at AP® Exam 2026 test
  • Prompt
  • Student Samples
• Reflect and Project (parking lot)
• Looking forward:
  • Prose and Longer Fiction
  • Lesson Plan Creation/Revision

Wednesday, Day 3

• Recap previous day
• Writing in our AP® Classes
  • Individualized Writing Goals
  • Individual Writing Conferences
• Selection of Prose Content
  • Short Story Content
  • Longer Fiction
• Model and practice prose pieces
  • Essential Questions
  • Critical Reading and Annotation Techniques
• The Metamorphosis
  • POV
  • Plot
• Read “Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”
  • Setting
  • Character
  • Note-Taking Guide
  • Digital Composition Overview and Sample Construction
• Look at AP® exam 2026 prose
  • Prompt
  • Student Samples
• Goal Setting Overview
  • Work on units
  • Syllabus/scope and sequence
• Reflect and Project (any parking lot q’s)

Thursday, Day 4

• Recap previous day
• Writing in our AP® Classes
  • Free Writes
  • Close Reads
  • Group Writing
  • Timed Writing
  • Process Writing
• Longer Texts in the AP® Classroom
  • Hamlet, The Stranger
  • Book Clubs
    • Fall Flashback
    • Spring Book Clubs
  • Unit Plans
  • Assessments
    • Complete Digital Composition Class Samples
    • Choice Board
    • Anachronistic Hamlet
    • Unit Exam
• Look at AP® Dxam 2026 Open Topic
• Planning Time
• Lesson Plan Preparation
  • Shared Folder
• Test Preparation and Review
  • AP® Classroom Overview and Practice (will move the AP® Classroom as a teaching tool to earlier in the week; will use this day for the Test Prep Section)
  • AP® Review Sessions
    • inside of class
    • outside of class
  • Free Response Preparation
• Closure
  • Remaining connected to the AP® Community
    • Summer Reading
    • Test Review and Preparation