AP Seminar: Nov.14-18

Sorry for no update last week!! Hopefully your students have been keeping you updated on what they’re doing in class.

Last week the students turned in their Mock IRR (Individual Research Report) and then last week and next they will present their research in a Mock TMP (Team Multimedia Presentation).  The kids and I are learning that AP loves acronyms!! These two tasks are the first ones that they will submit to the College Board for assessment for AP Seminar credit.  We learned a lot with their practice and have time to do one more practice in the next unit prior to beginning our official IRRs and TMPs.  

All of this work has been helping with skill development in four areas:  Reading, Writing, Research, Presentation.  By the end of next week, students will have done at least two formal assessments in each area. In almost every case, their skills are improving and I will replace the lower score with the newer, higher one. We will have one more round of practice with this final unit where students can raise their skills (and scores!) one more time.

After that unit, we will be on the brink of shifting from our skill development to our big “official” projects, and  I thought it might be helpful for you to see our schedule for AP assessments for the remainder of the year.  Once we begin our assessment work in late December, class will function largely as a workshop. Students will work collaboratively and also conference with me about their progress. As long as they are working effectively in class, they should always be able to keep their homework to 30 min a night maximum.

Late December:        Form research teams based on student interests
January:                      Work on Individual Research Reports (IRR)
Early February:           Work on Team Multimedia Presentation (TMP)
Late February:            Present and record TMPs, upload them to College Board website
March:                          Begin Individual Written Argument (IWA)
Early April:                    Work on Individual Presentation (IP)
Late April:                    Present and record IPs, upload IPs and IWA to College Board                                                      website
May 4:                            AP Seminar written exam
May 5-end of year:        Student showcase (more on that next semester! We’ll be inviting                                              you to come see all our work!), Begin developing research question
                                         for AP Research course (12th grade year)
I hope this helped you better understand what we’re up to in AP Seminar! I continue to love working with your students. They are creative, hardworking, curious and lots of fun! Please encourage them to keep up the great work.