In Person 2023 Workshops | Session 1 | July 10-14

Instructor: M. Colleen Harrigan

This workshop includes a combination of seminar sessions and activities designed to meet the needs of both new and experienced AP Art and Design teachers alike. In addition to presenting information regarding the AP Art and Design program requirements, sessions will include an in-depth look at the three portfolios; ideation for developing lessons for the Selected Works and Sustained Investigation sections of the portfolios; experiences that can be adapted for classroom; and the most current information regarding the AP Art program and the latest reading of the exam. The College Board updated the AP Art course starting with the 2019-2020 school year. We will distinguish the three AP Art and Design Portfolios through digital presentations; define the components of each portfolio – Selected Works, Sustained Investigation, review the curriculum framework and scoring rubrics; and engage in a mock scoring. You will have opportunities for peer dialogue and discussion and also develop curricula to meet specific unique needs in Drawing, 2-D, and 3-D Art and Design. Additionally, we will share thoughts on organization and management in the AP Art and Design class; on integrating individual and group critiques into the curriculum; on using technology and research effectively; and on the role of historical and contemporary art in image making. There will be multiple opportunities to share and work together through the workshop as well as develop resources to use in your class. You should be prepared to contribute your experiences and instructional approaches with other participants, even if you have never taught AP Art and Design before. In addition to the College Board materials provided, your studio experiences will require some basic art materials. Please bring your laptop, a sketchbook, two or three printed photographs (on regular 8.5 x 11 printer paper) and any favorite supplies you enjoy using. It is my goal to meet the interests and needs of each of you in developing a successful AP Art and Design class experience and provide the most current information for the course. I look forward to working with you!

Instructor: Elizabeth Cowles

Welcome to St. Johnsbury Academy during a time when biology is constantly in the news! This course is designed for experienced teachers who seek fresh learning opportunities for your students.  We will explore new science kits, review statistics and experimental design, and discuss ways to engage your students. Most of all, we will have fun and you depart reinvigorated and prepared with novel strategies for a successful and rewarding AP year.  

Each participant will share a “best practice” idea of a favorite activity or demonstration. I look forward to meeting you in July.

Instructor: Peter Durnan

Description: Participants will spend the week exploring ways to develop the curriculum of their Advanced Placement English Language and Composition courses. A full review of the AP examination itself will serve as a basis for constructing and revising teaching methods suitable to the AP course. Class work will be discussion-based and involve small group activities aimed at sharing our best practices in the English classroom, and content will focus on elements covered on the exam including a review of recent changes to the exam. The week will allow teachers a chance to more clearly understand the AP examination and to exchange ideas both formally and informally. We will be visited by a guest writer and take advantage of local art to augment the experience. The week is intended to address the practice of inexperienced and experienced teachers.

Instructor: Richard McCarthy

In this APSI, the week will offer teachers a wide range of highly effective strategies for inspiring students to develop their voice as writers and critical thinkers.  Because students have an array of experiences and understandings, it is critical to take them “from what they know to what they don’t know” in a way that will help them create insightful understandings of literature. By grounding their literary experiences with some deep, universal tensions, the students can engage with complex poetry, drama, and fiction with a bit more confidence and understanding. In short, offering frames of understanding can help students “accelerate their insight” into meaningful works of literature.

Teachers will be offered an array of approaches for assessing student writing and methods for assuring that students are held accountable for content/skills while also fostering a healthy work culture for both students and instructor. As for exam specific direction, we will work with strategies for both the FRQ and MC questions that are direct and profitable for the students.  Furthermore, we will explore how to best utilize the CED and AP Classroom so that students can benefit from the content, and the instructors can make targeted adjustments to their lessons. 

And finally, Richard will share decades worth of materials for teaching poetry, drama, and fiction. We hope the week will allow teachers to reconnect with the ideas and passions that drove them to be English Majors and inspired them to become teachers.

Instructor: Andrew Milbauer

This workshop is suitable for both new and experienced AP teachers.  The daily schedule will include a balance of exploring lab activities, using AP Classroom, becoming familiar with the CED, and sharing resources with each other.  Please bring your laptop so we can get some work done for the next school year.  The goal is to help each person plan their course for next year.  If your course is already planned and works there is no need to rewrite your course.

Instructional time favors getting every teacher in the room to share their insights, experiences, challenges and solutions. A schedule will be posted for the week, but it is always flexible based on the needs of the teachers in the room.

We will cover a bunch of affordable and easy to set up labs, discuss the CED, work with AP Classroom, and plan for the following year. The only assignment will be working on the pacing guide and developing an audit for the course. Other discussions throughout the week will include supporting students with diverse backgrounds in your class, supporting language learners and bringing current events into the classroom.

By the end of the workshop, you will have a good plan for how to teach the class. We will go over strategies to save money while providing laboratory experiences.  We also will explore grading methods that will reduce your workload as an educator.

Instructor: Tracy Rucker

This session is designed for both new and experienced teachers. The session will be presented in French most of the time. It will be delivered in-person, with some built-in asynchronous work, as needed. Participants will participate as a whole group and will also work individually or with other participants on a final project that they will present on the fourth day. All shared APSI material will be available through the Google Drive folder provided by the consultant. Materials will be available in the folder, but it might be helpful to be able to print some documents used in the training. During this AP French seminar, participants will explore in detail the AP French and Culture program and examination and the available resources on AP Central. Of equal importance, the consultant and participants will share best practices to improve or implement a good vertical articulation throughout their French program. This session will benefit not only AP teachers but all French teachers. All the competences necessary to perform well on the AP exam will be discussed, and successful lesson plans and assessments will be shared. Participants will work collaboratively to create their own lesson plans. Pacing, syllabus adoption or creation will be discussed.

Instructor: Joe Mancino

Hello! I’m excited to be working with you this summer as you prepare for teaching AP Physics. I’ve planned a totally new online experience that will give us all a one-week break from the frenetic chaos of the last school year. With the diversity of experience and Physics backgrounds we bring to the work, this is sure to be an active and dynamic APSI. There will be plenty of opportunities to get involved and lots of practical ideas you can bring back to your classroom. 

This AP Physics institute is designed to help teachers build a foundation for a successful AP Physics program. We will focus on teaching the AP Physics 1 course that began in the 2014/2015 school year and on preparing students for the test. With several new changes to the AP test, we’ll all need to reexamine how we plan and pace our class. The first goal involves using the Course and Exam Description which pairs essential knowledge with the fundamental scientific reasoning skills necessary for scientific inquiry. The C.E.D. provides detailed information concerning what a student should know and what they are expected to do on the AP Physics 1 Exam. A significant amount of time will be spent considering how the new course does not just change what we teach but also changes how we teach. Other focus areas of this course include preparing a new syllabus for AP Physics 1 and organizing the inquiry laboratory experiments/questions that comprise 25% of the time to be spent in the new course. Special topics related to the revamped course — especially rotation — will be addressed as well. Copies of the AP Physics 1 Curriculum Framework will be provided in the AP Physics Participants handbook. Copies of the Framework also may be downloaded from the College Board website at any time.

We will be spending significant time exploring the suite of new resources the College Board is making available for all students including the new workbook, the teacher dashboard, the draft lab manual, and the personal progress checks.

There will be nightly homework consisting of a small selection of released exam questions (a few multiple choice and one free response). Your homework will consist of answering these questions and bringing your solutions to class where we will discuss how to best prepare students with the skills and knowledge to be successful on those questions.

Participants are invited to bring their laptop, tablet, or smartphone along with their best activities, lessons, or labs to share with the group. We will all be collaborating in some shared resources, so please bring a device that allows you to easily interact with a Google doc. Please also bring a copy of your syllabus if you have one already so we can plan for the upcoming year of AP Physics.

I look forward to meeting you!

Thanks,

Joe

Instructor: George Jackson

This hands-on workshop will provide participants with an overview of the Course and Exam Description of the AP Psychology course. Participants will use the college board online resources and participate in simulated AP readings in order to analyze past AP exams and plan activities to help students develop skills and master content. Interactive demonstrations, online resources and discussions will provide participants with opportunities to learn about how to integrate new research in psychology and best practices into their teaching. Participants will leave the workshop with a course outline and engaging curriculum to cover the 9 topics and learning objectives in the AP Psychology exam. This session is open to teachers with all levels of experience.

Instructors: Eliel Gonzalez and Brendan Murphy

Description: In this session we will explore this new course from the College Board which builds on a typical Precalculus curriculum. This is a modeling course with emphasis on constructing, interpreting, and understanding the limitations of the various model types. The course is broken down into four major themes including:

1. Polynomial and Rational Functions

2. Exponential and Logarithmic Functions

3. Trigonometric and Polar Functions

4. Functions involving Parameters, Vectors, and Matrices

We will review the various resources provided by the College Board including: AP Classroom, AP Daily videos, AP Central, and the Course and Exam Description (CED). We will review the three practice exams created for this course as well as the exam format and types of MCQ and FRQ questions. A graphing calculator will be used to help participants understand the various concepts.

Instructor: Jonathan Henderson

World History is a relatively new discipline and its methodology differs considerably from other approaches to history. This workshop is based on the philosophy that understanding the conceptual structure of the course and the interaction of its component parts is essential to creating effective lessons and assessments in the classroom. After briefly outlining the “architecture” of AP World History, we will consider proven lesson plans and how they serve as models for creating quality activities in the classroom. Teachers will leave with ready-to-go classroom materials, tech tools, curriculum guides, and assessment items as well as the informed ability to develop these on their own. A significant part of the week will be devoted to teaching the skills necessary for the writing component of the exam with special attention to recent changes in the rubric and essay prompts.