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Posted by Thadra Petkus Jul 23, 2008 |
When I attended my first A.P. Summer Institute hosed by the College Board, I was a bit intimidated. I had been teaching high school full-time for three years and still felt, at times, like a novice. Fortunately, one of my esteemed colleagues was the presenter for the week, so she helped put me at ease. Still, I felt a little out of my league.
Here I was, sitting next to teachers who have been sucessfully instructing Advanced Placement English classes for years, some for decades. And I was primarily teaching 9th and 10th grade "regular" English.
While we went around the room and gave our introductions, we were instructed to explain our primary motivation for attending the course. When my turn came, I answered simply that, "I wanted to teach my kids to be ready for A.P. in case they planned to apply down the road." Other teachers seemed pleased with my response. After that, I started to settle in.Developing Pre-A.P. Skills in High School English.
By the end of my week of advanced training, which consisted of five intense but intellectually stimulating seven hour days of instruction, interaction, and idea-sharing, I was exuberant. Though I felt overwhelmed at times and certainly went into an information overload coma tha weekend, I felt validated as a teacher. So much of what was discussed, literary analysis, interpretation and synthesis, for example, were already an inherent part of my curriculum. What I needed to do was learn how to standardize the method by which I helped students develop these important skills.
I explore the development of these skills in
There's nothing more validating to a newer teacher than to be told by experts that she is on the right track!