AP Course:

AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION

CONSULTANT: Carol Elsen

Carol Elsen developed the Advanced Placement English program (both AP English Language and AP English Literature) in the Montana high school where she has taught for over 30 years. She has also taught composition and literature courses at the The Ohio State University and the University of Montana.  In 2001, she became a Reader and Table Leader of the AP English Language exams and has served as a Faculty Consultant for the College Board, presenting one-day workshops and weeklong institutes throughout the Western Region, as well as internationally, and at AP National Conferences. In 2011 and 2012 she served on the Steering Committee for the AP National Conference.  Carol has been involved as a reader and trainer of trainers in developing the Montana Writing Assessment (a pilot project for the ACT writing assessment). A member of NCTE and MATELA, she also teaches online for UCLA in the summer sessions.  In addition to teaching and course content writing for college level American Literature courses, she is a Scoring Director for the writing sample of the SAT. As a mentor teacher, her joy is helping AP teachers discover new insights and methods for successful teaching.

Course Description: 

This session for new and experienced AP English Language and Composition teachers will focus on close-reading strategies, rhetorical analysis, argumentation, and synthesis. Participants will leave with an understanding of a practical approach to the AP* English Language and Composition course, and its relevancy to its college level counterpart. Participants can expect to review the recent scoring of the 2024 AP* English Language and Composition Exam. Also, participants will learn strategies for teaching elements of rhetoric and will spend time with some "hands on activities" for teaching prose analysis and argumentation as well as synthesis, using essays from a wide spectrum of writers. Participants will leave the institute with many practical ideas for creating or augmenting their own AP English Language and Composition class.

The College Board describes the Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Course as one which “engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of reasons.”

Purpose of this Institute:

My intent for this workshop is to provide materials and models for teaching an Advanced Placement English Language and Composition class. When the workshop is completed, you should have a confident plan for designing, enriching and teaching your own Advanced Placement English Language and Composition class.

Institute Agenda:

Day 1:

• College Board Course and Exam Description (CED)

• Course Objectives and Skills Required

• Equity and Access

• Rhetorical Reading and Passage Analysis 

Day 2:

• Review

• Discussion of best practices in teaching Rhetorical Analysis

• More strategies for teaching Rhetorical Analysis.

• Strategies for assessing free response essays

• Scoring the 2024 Rhetorical Analysis essay

Day 3:

• Review

• Introduction of Argument

• Specificity empowers evidence

• Teaching students the art of using evidence to support claims

• Scoring the 2024 Argument essay

Day 4:

• Factoid Friday and Beyond; Methods of teaching Synthesis

• Scoring the 2024 Synthesis essay

• Multiple Choice Strategies

• Strategies for assessment – a variety of approaches.

• Wrap-up of ongoing discussions

• Happy Trails!