This post is dedicated to the newbies - may the force be with you as you navigate teaching this class.
Besides writing your AP syllabus, planning and pacing your course is probably next on your list of concerns.
When I first learned I was going to teach AP Lang, I was excited and nervous. It was uncharted waters for me, and I was not sure where to begin. Even now, eight years later, sometimes I have to step back and think about how I am planning and pacing my class.
After teaching this class for eight years, I am going to share a handful of tips to help you plan and pace. Most of my tips below are what I learned while in my first year of teaching AP Lang.
Tip #1
Since this was my first time working with more than just one book, I had to turn to the Internet for guidance on how to pace the readings. The best tip I have for this: NEA Big Read. This site was a lifesaver, and it had materials for each book I planned to teach. I used their teaching guide to pace my kids reading for ten class meetings, and I use this same pacing today, nine years later. In the pacing materials, there are questions to consider. I use these as guided reading questions for students. This allows them to focus their reading and to read for more than just plot.
They have supplemental handouts, soundbites, discussion topics, etc. I love this site and found it invaluable my first year with AP Lang. I found their discussion topics hit the skills my kids needed to build on in an AP Lang class.
Tip #2
When planning your essays and speeches and more, stick with grouping them in threes or fours.
For example, I had students work with how we mourn and how we heal as a nation. The piece I used to start this discussion was “Pop Culture in the Aftermath of 9/11,” which is in their textbook. We discussed what historical aspects students learned from this piece, why pop culture matters in healing, and then we switched gears into how our leaders help us mourn and heal. I used Reagan’s “Challenger Disaster” speech, RFK’s announcement of MLK’s assassination, and LBJ’s “Let Us Continue” speech. I grouped these four because it was just enough to allow students to explore the concept without overwhelming them - and myself.
Bonus tip: these were pieces I read and understood, and I could help my struggling students through the rhetoric. Which leads me to my next tip...
Tip #3
When planning, pick pieces you are comfortable and confident digging deep with students. The more comfortable and confident you feel with a piece, the digger you will dig into the piece with your kids, and the more you will all enjoy the experience.
It is best to dig deep into fewer pieces than go wide by giving them too many. This was a mistake I made my first year. I gave the students too much, and it overwhelmed me and it overwhelmed them. The first year I taught this class, my students read eight books. I still do NOT know how they survived. I made a rookie AP mistake of not going deeper into the text, I went wider instead by giving them more to read. This was because I was not overly comfortable and confident in the books to go deeper since most were new pieces for me to teach.
Do not do this to yourself. Go few. Go deep.
Tip #4
Make a 9-week plan (or whatever your school is on). This was the best tip I received from my mentor my first year. She shared her idea with me, and I created my own.
Up until this year, I used my 9-week plan like a boss. I told my students it was our Class Bible. When in doubt, check the plan. It let students know what their homework was for the entire 9-weeks so they could plan accordingly; it allowed students to know when timed essays and multiple choices were scheduled; it had pacing for their readings; it allowed parents to know what was due when for their children; and it was my lesson plan ready to simply fill in state objectives.
In the past, I saw my students every other day. For a couple of years I had A day on Mondays/Wednesday, B day on Tuesdays/Thursdays, and a skinny day on Friday where I saw all of my kids on a limited time frame.
This year I am not using a 9-week plan because I am having to pace the class much differently than ever before. This year I have my kids twice a week, and every other Friday. Pacing is killing me, so I decided to not create a 9-week plan this year until I understood how to pace these weeks. With that said, because I used 9-week plans for seven years, the pacing is down in my head. It is just a matter of amending the pacing to accommodate me not seeing them four days in a row (in some cases).
9-week Plans
Here are my 9-week plans from the 2013/2014 school year. It was the year that I feel I paced my kids the best, so I use this year's plans when looking to pace my kids for the last few years.
Langers, those are my tips for planning. I hope there is something here you can takeaway and use.
What tips and tricks do you use when you plan and pace your class? Share below. I am always looking for new ideas.
Happy Teaching!
- The Hodgenator
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