As a basketball coach, March is one of my favorite months. Anytime I turn on the tv, there is a great college basketball game. Duke-North … Continue Reading
We’re finishing our first choice novel in class, and I always have questions from teachers about how I run choice reading. How do you know … Continue Reading
Erik Powell is in his 29th year of teaching, most of them at Ferris High School in Spokane, WA. He loves working with passionate, intelligent, … Continue Reading
Over the years I have helped hundreds of seniors with their college essay, providing advice on how to nail the opening, find their voice, write with clarity, and reveal something authentic. I distilled the most common mistakes into a blog post that has done well on this site, and I created a slide deck that … Continue Reading
Today’s post is written by Brian Hannon, a long-time friend who shares our love for teaching and poetry. (And is just fun to be around in general.) I share Brian’s LMS Curriculum website at my APSIs each summer and literally hear teachers gasp when they see the amount of quality lessons provided – for free. … Continue Reading
One of the most common questions I receive at APSIs centers on how to structure an AP class. This is not an easy question to answer since there is no one right way to approach the class. The CED even states: “This publication is not a curriculum. Teachers create their own curricula by selecting and … Continue Reading
2023 Digital FRQ 3 Prompt: Many works of literature explore a character’s sense of lacking something important inlife. The character perceives an unfulfilled need which may be emotional, spiritual, financial, orsomething the character does not understand or cannot articulate. Either from your own readingor from the following list, choose a work of fiction in which … Continue Reading
The only other time I scored for the prose question was the infamous Zenobia question of 2018 (taken from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance). Although many students misinterpreted the nature of that relationship, I remember really loving the Zenobia prompt. This year, I enjoyed reading for the prose question once again. This year’s prose excerpt … Continue Reading
This reader reflection was written by Brian Hannon and Susan Barber, and we acknowledge this post does not earn the sophistication point. I (SB) was so excited to read for Q3 this year since it’s the question I have the least experience with both at the reading and in the classroom. I’ve only read for … Continue Reading
Thanks to Emily Wessel for sharing thoughts from this year’s reading. You can find the prompt and poem here: 2024 FRQ Set 2 Exam Questions This was my first year reading for Q1 and I really enjoyed it. This poem was accessible and allowed students to explore many different literary elements and techniques. I will … Continue Reading
What an absolute treat is was to have Aimee Nezhukumatathil speak to AP Lit teachers for professional night at this year’s reading. She is just a bundle of pure joy, and even though the event was on Zoom, her personality was not diminished one tiny bit! Here are my takeaways from the night: 1 – … Continue Reading
In the two weeks leading up to the AP Literature and Composition exam, it is easy to panic. What do you review from the past 180 days? There are so many units, so many enduring understandings, so many skills. What little tricks can help your students make the jump from a 3 to a 4, … Continue Reading
Student choice. Genuine investment. Low-stakes writing practice. Poetry analysis. Digital citizenship. Personal engagement. Empowering student voice. A few years ago in the nascence of #TeachLivingPoets, I (Melissa) was brainstorming ways to get students invested in not just poetry, but poets. Reading individual poems wasn’t offering the kind of long-term appreciation I was hoping to nurture. … Continue Reading
