AP Summer Institute Schedule

The 2008 Advanced Placement Summer Institute will take place in Norris University Center on Northwestern's Evanston campus from July 21-25 (Session I) and from July 28-August 1 (Session II). All workshops will meet Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., with breaks for refreshments and lunch.

Training Session Descriptions

SESSION I July 21-25

Economics (Micro and Macro combined)
The primary focus of this workshop will be to help teachers design a high-quality AP economics program. Emphasis will be on microeconomics and macroeconomics economic content, as well as the methodology. Topics of particular interest will include scope and sequence of teaching micro and macro, textbook selection, the use of games and simulations, selection of supplemental materials, scheduling problems, test preparation, and test writing style. Use of previous AP exams and their grading rubrics will help guide teachers to a better understanding of how to effectively teach the courses. Participants will be actively engaged in sharing effective teaching strategies and in using a wide variety of economics materials.

English Language and Composition (New AP Teachers) CLOSED 5/28/08
The week will be filled with reading, writing, and thinking-for ourselves and for our students. While some effort will be expended on the theoretical, the vast majority of the week will be spent on the practical, especially the teaching of analysis and argumentation. Because most of the participants in this session will be relatively new to teaching an AP course, we will explore syllabi and materials. We will also consider how to establish and maintain a successful AP English program. To cultivate texts and strategies for classroom use, the seminar will include a variety of essays, speeches, and some poems. The instruction of composition will be a major focus of the course. We will examine both the multi-draft essay, including the research paper, and the timed essay. During the week, participants will work toward internalizing the 9-point scale used to score the AP test. Because many of us teach students who will ultimately take the AP English Language exam, we will explore the objective and written portions of that test. Special attention will be paid to the recently added "synthesis" question and to the free-response questions from 2007 & 2008. We will be reading and annotating texts each evening for the next day's class; plan on 60 minutes of homework per day. In addition, at some point in the week, participants will spend 5-10 minutes presenting something wonderful they do in the classroom: anything from an entire unit to a single lesson. At the end of the week we should all leave with arms full of new ideas. While the class is targeted at AP English Language teachers, other teachers, especially those who teach students who will ultimately take an AP English course, are encouraged to attend. Please contact me at davkli@niles-hs.k12.il.us or 847.626.2619 if you have any suggestions or if I can answer any questions.

US Government and Politics
This workshop is geared to helping teachers understand the basic nuts and bolts of the AP Government curriculum and exam. This includes reviewing past AP multiple choice exams, free response questions and content chapters. Skills, content and sharing of ideas will be the main focal point of this workshop. Specific topics to be covered will be sequencing, buzzwords and vocabulary, creating appropriate exam questions, importance of graph analysis and, finally, the overall structure of the course.

U.S. History (New AP Teachers) CLOSED 6/23/08
This week-long session will balance scholarship and practical tips for teaching AP U.S. history. The five sessions will include discussion of two recent historical monographs, creation of document-based questions and essays, and the organization of an AP U.S. history course to foster coverage of material without sacrificing depth or student participation. Participants will leave with examples of essays and lessons from the major eras of American history.

Psychology
This workshop will provide teachers with materials necessary for teaching the Advanced Placement Psychology course. Topics include: social psychology, history and research methods, neurobiology, sensation/perception, learning, memory, development, personality, and abnormal/ treatment in addition to several other topics in psychology. Instructors will be provided with internet resources, past test and review information, as well as numerous activities to use in their classroom. This course would be appropriate for both experienced and new teachers of Advanced Placement Psychology.

Statistics CANCELLED
In this workshop, we will work our way through the entire AP Statistics curriculum, with an emphasis on activities to illustrate many of the topics. The instructor will provide samples of his exams, worksheets, and projects, which will be available to all participants. Another focus of the workshop will be for experienced teachers, and relative newbies, to share activities they may have created in their classes. Past AP exams will be provided for participants to work through on the last day of the workshop. There will be a number of textbooks and some software (specifically MINITAB) available for perusal, along with some ancillary materials. Participants are encouraged to bring their own calculators, especially those who would like to share interesting programs they may have written with their calculators.

World History
During the week, teachers will become familiar with the Core Scoring rubrics used for AP World History Free Response Questions and learn to score sample student essays using these rubrics. Teachers will learn to complete a course syllabus including essential questions for a year-long AP World History course, develop AP-style test questions including document-based questions, comparison essays, change-over-time essays, and multiple-choice questions for each time period. Techniques will be discussed for creating discovery-based learning units involving Internet resources; which can be used as a model for students learning to evaluate Internet sources for reliability, accuracy, and point of view. The workshop will also introduce techniques for working with underserved populations, focusing on access and equity.

SESSION II July 28 - August 1

Calculus AB
In this workshop, we will consider all topics in the Calculus AB topic outline with an emphasis on the areas of the curriculum which present the most difficulty to students. We will discuss how much review of pre-calculus topics should be included in the course. The class will consider old AP exams, various books, and how and which graphing calculators to use. The expertise of the participants will be used in all these areas. Therefore, participants should bring their own calculators, the textbooks they are presently using, and any worksheets, activities, or tests that they can and want to share.

English Literature and Composition (Experienced AP Teachers) Note: You must have at least 3 years AP teaching experience to register for this course.
This workshop is for experienced teachers of AP English Literature, teachers who have taught the course for at least three years and who have participated in a one-week summer institute in Literature and Composition. Participants should be interested in further development or redesign of their classroom coursework. Our overriding concern for the week will focus on the differences between teaching reading and writing in an AP course versus assigning reading and writing. This focus forces us to rethink coverage versus depth with our chosen texts and should prompt open discussions about our syllabi. Mornings will be devoted to group discussions and problem-solving on issues common to us all: designing and evaluating writing assignments, choosing authors and texts appropriate for our courses and our student bodies and communities, and ensuring that the exams are not the guiding forces in the classes. In the afternoons, we will work individually and in small groups to design or redesign our curricula. The instructor will work with each participant in these afternoon sessions. ALL participants must bring and should have read either William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury or Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.

English Language and Composition (Experienced AP Teachers)
This session focuses on method and content used in teaching students to become superior readers, writers, and thinkers. Given that most of the participants in this seminar will be experienced teachers-in the English classroom and especially in the AP English classroom-much of the week will be an exchange of ideas and methods. There will also be direct instruction. In addition, participants will spend 10-15 minutes presenting something wonderful they do in the classroom: anything from an entire unit to a single lesson. To cultivate new texts and strategies for classroom use, the seminar will include a variety of essays, speeches, and some poems. The instruction of composition will be a major focus of the class. Much time will be spent looking at both the multi-draft essay, including the research paper, and the timed essay. Some of the week will be used exploring how to use holistic scoring to improve student writing. We will work with the objective and written portions of the AP English Language test. Special attention will be paid to the recently added "synthesis" question and to the essay questions from 2007 & 2008. A look at formal logic, visual literacy, a variety of syllabi, and managing the overwhelming paper load that comes with teaching AP English classes are just a few other topics we will cover during the week. Participants will be reading and annotating texts each evening for the next day's class; plan on 60 minutes of homework per day. Please contact me at davkli@niles-hs.k12.il.us or 847.626.2619 if you have any suggestions or if I can answer any questions.

Environmental Science
This workshop will assist new and experienced teachers in the design and delivery of an AP Environmental Science course consistent with requirements of the College Board. Each of the seven content areas required of an APES course will be discussed, namely: Earth systems, the living world, population, land and water use, energy resources, pollution, and global change. Special attention will be given to the selection and use of textbooks, auxiliary materials, laboratory and field components, and exam preparation. Attendees will be provided hands-on opportunities to participate in exemplary experiments both in the classroom as well as in the field. Strategies for test-taking and recommendations for how to approach free-response questions will be discussed using examples from the latest released AP exams. Experienced teachers should bring a copy of their present text as well as one or two lab activities to share.

Human Geography
The institute will focus on course organization and content instruction for all topics in AP Human Geography, including how to prepare for the AP exam, classroom ready activities, other things to do in the classroom, and available resources. Topics include: Population, Culture, Language, Religion, Politics, Agriculture, Urbanization, and Industrialization. Participants will be expected to take part in the activities in case they have questions on how to present them in a classroom environment. Participants should bring with them the textbooks they use in teaching the course or what they plan to use in starting the course. This will be a relaxed workshop with the goal of making everyone better geography teachers.

European History
The course will provide overviews of the content covering the period from the late Middle Ages to the present. We will discuss course content, organization and pacing, developing materials and using primary sources, teaching strategies and learning activities. We will focus on essay writing, preparing students for the DBQ and review past AP exams.

U.S. History (Experienced AP Teachers)
This workshop is geared to experienced AP U.S .History teachers. The workshop will emphasize methodology, the delivery of content, course design and lesson implementation. Participants will be able to design new or revised syllabi for A.P U.S. History courses. Key goals of this workshop are: to share strategies, pedagogy, educational philosophies, and frameworks associated with successful American History courses, to establish familiarity with the wide range of multifaceted resources available to the AP teacher, to give the participants systematic avenues for improving student reasoning and writing skills. Objective and essay questions from past exams will be reviewed and testing strategies will be discussed with special focus on primary sources and the DBQ.

Spanish (New AP Teachers)
This is a workshop for teachers unfamiliar with the AP Spanish Language Exam or planning to teach an AP course for the first time. It will focus on an introduction to the AP program, the Spanish Language Exam and its listening, speaking, writing, and grammar components. Materials for use in the pre-AP and AP year will be developed. We will review the content and grading of the current exam as well as the texts available for use in an AP Spanish Language course. Teachers will be encouraged to bring their current texts and create and share materials to use in their courses. Participants with experience teaching AP Spanish should not enroll in this workshop.