2013 Course Descriptions
Classes may require participant computers to access Instructor curriculum on flash drives. Check the WHAT TO BRING section of the course description.
PRE-AP courses provide teachers with strategies and tools to engage students in learning that encourages critical thinking for success in AP* and college courses. AP Vertical Teams* Guides from the College Board are provided for all Pre-AP participants.
NEW TEACHER courses are designed for teachers with three or less years of experience teaching the AP* or Pre-AP* course or those newly assigned to teach the course.
EXPERIENCED TEACHER courses are for those secondary teachers who have taught the AP* or Pre-AP* course for more than three years.
ADVANCED TOPICS courses are for experienced AP teachers who have attended multiple summer institutes. Course discussions delve more deeply into specific course content.
2013 – WEEK 1
AP* Biology (new teachers) – Mark Adame: Over the course of the Summer Institute, new and experienced teachers alike will become familiar with the new and revised AP Biology course syllabus, as described in College Boards course description publication. This will include various strategies and hands-on activities that may help both students and teachers alike to become more comfortable with the new AP Biology curriculum. In addition to these strategies, teachers will become familiar with the inquiry-based approach to laboratory investigations.
APSI AP Biology Course Objectives: To introduce teachers to (and become familiar with):
• An AP Biology course and the exam
• Writing an AP Biology Course Syllabus
• The more difficult concepts in AP Biology
• How to write a Free Response, response
• Inquiry-Based Laboratories and laboratory write-ups
• The concepts of AP Vertical Teams and Pre-AP Biology
• AP Biology textbooks and multimedia resources
• Teaching strategies for under-prepared and prepared AP Biology students
What To Bring:
• Note taking materials
• Laptop for electronic curriculum
AP* Calculus AB (new teachers) – Stacey McMullen: AB Calculus for New Teachers is a course designed for teachers who have little or no experience in teaching Advanced Placement Calculus. For five days, you will wear the hat of a student and learn the content of the course along with various teaching strategies and methods on how to prepare students for success in this collegiate course. The workshop will also include how to incorporate the pedagogy of the Advanced Placement program, technology, and the internet into their teaching for a more interactive classroom. In addition, teachers will collaborate together on discovery activities, gather information from labs, and play teacher-made games to emphasize retention of the calculus. Two major themes, rigor in the classroom and student thinking, will be stressed and modeled all week.
What To Bring:
• You will need to bring a jump drive, and most importantly, your energy and enthusiasm to participate in this fun-filled learning experience!
AP* Chemistry (new teachers) – Janice Willingham: This workshop is designed for teachers who are beginning their careers as AP Chemistry teachers. Time will be spent during the sessions on the nature of the AP program and on structuring an AP Chemistry course. Many labs are discussed and teachers are given an opportunity to do a number of typical labs appropriate for AP Chemistry. Topics that are often covered are teaching and testing techniques, periodicity, bonding, states of matter, kinetics, equilibrium, instrumentation, equations and product prediction, thermodynamics, and electrochemistry. The workshop makes considerable use of the graphing calculator and the CBL as a data collection device. Typical AP problems and essays are discussed, and strategies for enabling students to perform well on the AP exam will be shared. Considerable discussion will be given to the new course description and format. Lap tops will be needed for some electronic curriculum.
What To Bring:
• Participants are asked to bring 30 copies of their favorite demo and/or experiment to share with fellow participants.
• Participants are also asked to bring goggles and appropriate shoe attire for lab work.
• Graphing calculators will be provided.
• Laptop for electronic curriculum
AP* Computer Science A (mixed) – Glen Martin: This course is for both new and experienced AP Computer Science A teachers. It will increase the participant’s knowledge of required course content, and provide materials, resources, and techniques for use with students. A broad range of AP Computer Science A topics will be covered including arrays, Lists/ArrayLists, generics, sorting, searching, recursion, object oriented programming, AP Examination free response problems, and the GridWorld case study. Participants will also receive the latest information from the 2013 AP Computer Science A Reading. Participants are expected to have a basic knowledge of the Java programming language in order to receive maximum benefit from this workshop.
AP* English Language & Composition – Mary Stanton: The purpose of AP English Language and Composition is to provide the academic study needed for the motivated junior or senior to do college-level work in high school. The content of this APSI course will focus on innovative methods, activities, and assessments to use in your AP English Language classroom. We will discuss and share strategies for the teaching of AP skills, including rhetorical analysis, close reading, writing and analyzing argument and synthesis, as well as ways to bring American classic and contemporary non-fiction and fiction into the AP Language curriculum. In addition, a simulated reading of the 2012 AP Language Test will enable you to look at the methods needed to effectively prepare your students for the multiple choice section and the exam essays-synthesis, analysis, and argument.
What To Bring:
• Note taking materials
• Laptop for electronic curriculum
AP* English Literature & Composition (new teachers) – Celine Gomez: The purpose of Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition course is to provide the academic study needed for students to petition for college credit through the AP Literature and Composition Examination given each May. The course will begin with an overview of the basic structure and content of an AP curriculum. Participants will review the 2013 AP Literature essay prompts and College Board released multiple choice questions to understand strategies and skills students need to analyze literature and write effective essays. We will focus on how to teach genre literature including novels, dramas, verse, and prose passages. All material will reflect the importance of understanding context and how to teach reading, writing, and thinking skills needed to be successful.
AP* Human Geography – Susan Hollier: This course will focus on helping teachers prepare to teach a one semester college- level course in Human Geography. Employing a blend of content presentations, effective teaching strategies, and technology, the Institute will provide an overview of the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface. In addition, strategies to help students prepare for the AP exam will be addressed. All materials are updated for 2013.
Topics will include the following:
• The role literature plays in the geography classroom
• Using current events daily to strengthen critical-level thinking
• Strategies to create an exciting, innovative classroom atmosphere
• Incorporating writing methods that actually improve students’ skills
• Tap your local resources to bring the world into your classroom
What To Bring:
• Copy of their own textbook
• A world atlas
• Laptop for electronic curriculum
AP* Physics – Dolores Gende: The goal of the Summer Institute is to help new and experienced teachers develop a successful AP Physics B course. The Institute will focus on instructional methodologies, textbook overview, course content and scheduling, problem-solving, curriculum resources, assessment methods and the selection and planning of appropriate lab experiments. A highlight of this Institute will be learning how to implement technology in an active learning environment as suggested by the latest physics education research. A special session will be devoted to an overview of the development and grading of AP Physics examinations including approaches to preparing the students for the exam.
Since the AP Program is replacing AP Physics B with two separate full-year courses, the participants will be introduced to the Curriculum Framework of the new AP Physics courses. These new courses AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2 will be offered in the fall 2014 and the new exams will be administered in May 2015.
What To Bring:
• A scientific calculator and a straightedge are required for this course.
• Participants are encouraged to bring labs and/or demo ideas to share with the other teachers.
AP* Studio Art – Patricia Winnard: An overview of Pre-AP and AP Studio Art will be examined and discussed. Strategies and tips for organization and implementation the studio course will follow. Participants will engage in a series of new activities using a variety of methods according to their level of expertise. This study will include both technological, photographical and by-hand surface preparation processes. A body of work could be in the form of a deconstructed journal, Trish’s Terrific 12, using strategies developed by the instructor, or an independent study. Participants will also be introduced to Creative Imagery Exercises developed by the presenter to stimulate creative choice as well as the student’s voice through the art making experiences.Tips from Trish on photographing and submitting images digitally will be discussed. The issue of teaching students benchmarks for “quality” in art forms will be addressed with the use of reflective, summative and oral evaluation systems. The Reading 2013 and scoring the portfolios will be reviewed and discussed, from the vantage point of a reader, through an overview of images. AP Central and other instructional resources will also be discussed and shared.
Suggested Participant Supply List for Participants
1. Apron
2. Assortment of papers, paints, brushes, drawing mediums
3. Rubber gloves
4. Sketchbook
5. Hardbound used book
6. Photos
7. Misc. collage supplies
8. Small hardside box
9. Digital camera or phone /USB connection cords
10. CDs
11. Jump drive
12. Card reader
13. Laptop computer& charger – NOTE: I am going green this year. I will provide participants with workshop materials on a CD only.
14. Favorite websites and “best practices/lesson plan to share
Any other “stuff” you want to bring!
AP* World History (new teachers and PreAP) – Paul Philp: The purpose of the AP World History course is to develop greater understanding of global historical processes and contrasts viewed against the interaction of different types of human societies. The course highlights the changes in international framework, their causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies. The course emphasizes relevant factual knowledge used in conjunction with leading interpretive issues, types of historical evidence, and appropriate analytical skills. Focused primarily on the past 1,500 years of the global experience, the course builds on an understanding of cultural, institutional, and technological precedents that, along with geography, set the human stage prior to 1000 CE.
This AP Summer Institute in World History is for novice and intermediate year teachers of AP World History. The assumption is that the teacher has never taught AP World History before attending this institute or has taught the course for three to five years. Nevertheless, experienced teachers are welcome and can lend their experience to the institute.
Please note: While this uses as its basis the skills and content of AP World History which is usually taught on the 10th grade or sophomore in high school level, pre-AP teachers in grades 6th through 9th who wish to learn the skill sets for vertical integration are also welcome. However the focus will be AP World History as opposed to Pre-AP.
Presentation time is devoted to 50% pedagogy and 50% content. This is necessary because many teachers desire both the pedagogy of setting up and managing an AP course as well as want content specific to the new historiography of world history. Each year the College Board has a special topic –Cross-Continental Trade in Afro-Eurasia 200 BCE to 1450 CE before the advent of the European maritime empires.
The four days are organized as follows: The Course Guide, Skills and Geography; Your Syllabus: Structuring the Course; Writing and Essays; and Taking the Multiple Choice Test, Enrichment and Helpful Hints. Mornings are devoted to pedagogy and afternoons to content.
I will provide you with two CDs containing all of my lessons and works. So come prepared to work but learn about a wonderful AP program.
Pre AP English H.S. (new teachers) – Brook Bullock: Designed for the English instructor seeking to learn or improve teaching strategies pertinent to Pre-AP students, this course will focus on AP concepts and skills applicable to English I and II coursework. Topics will utilize examples from fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama with an overall emphasis on rhetorical style and language analysis. Presentation examples include:
• modifying AP objective questions
• introducing/applying syntax
• teaching tone and author’s purpose as reading and writing assignments
• utilizing engaging non-fiction selections
• developing a Pre-AP course as part of a growing Vertical Team.
Participants will leave the institute with lessons and strategies they could immediately incorporate into their curriculum.
What To Bring:
• A list of required curricular pieces (novels, short stories, poetry, etc) for the courses you teach and those in your vertical team
• One non-fiction selection that you like (or would like) to use in your class
Pre AP English M.S. – Lynn Knowles: This course will focus on expanding best practices for pre-AP English teachers so they can better prepare their students for high school preAP and AP English courses. We will discuss strategies to teach critical thinking, literary analysis, and writing, as well as design lessons for teachers to take back with them to implement immediately.
What To Bring:
• Any good lessons you have used in the past
• Technology – some materials will be provided electronically – be ready to use them!
• Plenty of paper for note-taking and lesson designing
• A core text you use in your course – so you can leave with lessons ready to go!
• Laptop for electronic curriculum
Please be ready to discuss your “joys and concerns” about teaching PreAP.
Pre AP Math H.S. – Nancy Grigassy: We will focus on the mathematics prior to calculus: geometry, algebra 2 and precalculus and the importance and relevance of these courses to the Calculus AP topics as well as the vertical alignment of concepts within these courses to the Calculus AP topics. A multi-representational approach will be used to help teachers look at problems analytically, graphically, numerically and verbally. Functions, their graphs, and behavior will be explored. Calculus concepts such as accumulation and rate of change will be introduced at the Pre- AP level. Projects and activities will be used to supplement and enhance the topics covered. Graphing calculators will be an integral part of the institute. We will use TI-84 graphing calculators.
What to Bring:
• Participants should bring a graphing calculator and a favorite lesson to share.
• Laptop for electronic curriculum
Teachers will have time to discuss best practices. This course is targeted towards experienced teachers. Participants will be able to obtain an electronic copy of the materials provided in the institute.
Pre AP Math M.S. – Lena Walker: This course will focus on the importance and relevance of mathematics in Middle School and the vertical alignment of concepts within the courses to ensure that students will perform well in high school AP courses.
Topics will include the following:
• Use a multi-representational approach to help teachers look at problems analytically, graphically, numerically, and verbally
• Explore internet websites to enhance comprehension
• Enhance questioning techniques in writing and verbally
• Supplement and enhance teaching with activities
• Practice with TI-73 and TI-84 graphing calculators
• Introduction to the TI-N-Spire calculator
• Discuss best practices
• Discuss strategies to successfully implement inquiry-based learning activities
What To Bring:
• A favorite project, lesson, or activity to share, (include 30 copies)
• Personal TI-73 and/or TI-84 graphing calculator, optional. Calculators will be provided
• Legal Pad, post-its, high lighters, pencils, a black ink pen
• A sweater or jacket, we can’t control the temperature of the room
• Laptop for electronic curriculum
2013 – WEEK 2
AP* Chemistry (experienced teachers) – Todd Abronowitz: The AP Chemistry institute is designed to assist AP teachers in building the foundations for success in teaching AP Chemistry. Emphasis will be placed on the rigor of the material that students need to be successful on the AP Chemistry exam. An emphasis will be placed on the new curriculum framework and its implementation in your classroom. We will review the requirements on the course audit and the syllabus requirements. Time will be allowed for best practices and for sharing ideas as a group. Laboratory investigations will be incorporated with the discussion of the theory, with special emphasis on student-inquiry labs.
Topics will include the following:
• New test format
• Equilibrium
• Thermodynamics
• Kinetics (non-calculator and calculator approaches)
• Electrochemistry
• multiple choice strategies
• acid-base chemistry
• atomic structure and periodicity
• Topics to be presented and sequence followed will be determined by the group as a whole.
What To Bring:
• Goggles
• Apron or lab coat
• Closed-toe shoes
• Laptop for electronic curriculum
• TI graphing calculator (one will be provided if you do not have one)
What participants will take with them:
• A CD of everything developed for Pre-AP Chemistry and AP Chemistry by the lead consultant
AP* U.S. History – Christine Bond: This week will combine content and pedagogy geared toward successful implementation of an AP United States History course. Teachers will receive instruction on teaching essay writing and document analysis with a special emphasis on the changes to the AP History exam. Teachers will receive numerous resources.
What to Bring:
• Please bring a 16 gig flash drive or a laptop and
• Your favorite U.S. History lesson plan to share
AP English Literature & Composition – Lynne Weber: Participants in this course will learn the skills and strategies necessary to prepare high school students for success in AP Literature and Composition classes. The course materials will provide participants with ample resources to anchor their curriculum and to guide the progress of their students. The workshop leader will place particular emphasis on activities involving higher-order thinking skills and student-centered teaching.
Topics will include the following:
• Close reading and annotation
• Writing about literature, including both timed and process writing
• Composition, including grading, rubrics, and writers’ conferences
• The content of the Advanced Placement test in Literature and Composition
• Teaching grammar in the context of writing
• Making literature meaningful to today’s students
• Building better, more confident thinkers
• Strategies for challenging students without leaving them behind
• Using visual texts and graphic representation to aid student understanding
Text to purchase and read before the start of the course:
Please bring to the Institute any edition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. If you teach a Shakespeare play other than this in your course, bring that play. We will construct a unit designed for Advanced Placement based on the Shakespeare play you choose.
What To Bring:
• Copy of Hamlet
• Sticky notes
• Highlighters
AP Spanish Language & Culture – Gloria Garza: This year’s Advanced Placement Summer Institute will be divided into three parts. One part will focus on a variety of effective language teaching strategies employed in an Advanced Placement Spanish language course; the other will be dedicated to methods related to teaching a number of cultural topics. These topics may be related to science, technology, families, communities, aesthetics, personal and public identities and global challenges. We will work in teams to develop cultural lessons that can be utilized by teachers in their classrooms. A third part will be a review of the format, content and assessment of the AP Spanish language exam. Participants are asked to come prepared to be engaged in a hands-on-type of workshop. The presenter will conduct the workshop entirely in Spanish; participants, however, should feel free to express themselves in either Spanish or English.
Pre AP History (emphasis Texas History) – Lori Dumerer:The Pre-AP Social Studies Middle School Institute has been developed to address the needs of the various Pre-AP courses, especially at the middle school level with special attention to Texas History. Participants will focus on the content and pedagogy necessary for developing an academically rigorous course. Discussions will include strategies for improving student success in critical reading, and writing, as well as, the content necessary to create an engaging and successful course. This institute will be presented in an active learning environment. A number of the strategies will engage the attendees in the demonstration. Topics will include but will not be limited to the following: Pre-AP Strategies in History and the Social Sciences: Crafting Historical Arguments, state TEKS and test requirements, using historical cartoons to create writing and review opportunities, Texas history, U.S. history, world cultures content areas, creating rigorous test questions that align with state requirements, development of critical thinking skills, document and data analysis, and writing and supporting a thesis. During the week, the group will examine classroom resources, and online multi-media resources, and work together to develop sample lessons for all to share.
What To Bring:
• Post-it notes or flags
• Highlighter
• A jump drive
• Laptop for electronic curriculum
• Copy of the state TEKS for the course or courses you either teach or expect to teach
• Options for experienced teachers, 30 copies of a best practices strategy or lesson to share during the week.
Interested parties may contact Mrs. Dumerer at dumererl@cfbisd.edu for additional information, to pose questions, or make a request for specific content.
Pre AP English M.S. – Kristina Janeway: Course participants will participate in Pre-AP and AP strategies through hands-on activities for all facets of middle school and high school English/Language Arts through a variety of mini-lessons that include analysis, grammar, writing, research, technology, and projects. Teachers will have the opportunity during training to adapt and integrate of these strategies into existing scopes and sequences as well as individual lesson plans. Teachers will discover techniques to get varied sentence structure in student writing by understanding the basic concepts of syntactical and diction analysis through several assorted activities. They will also uncover methods of assisting students in mastery of writing and analysis techniques. Teachers will also have the opportunity to integrate different methods of technology into their Pre-AP/AP courses. The APSI is designed to assist teachers through interactive applications of concepts as well as sample lessons to assist in implementation.
What To Bring:
• Computer
• List of literary and non-fiction selections you teach
• List of novels you teach
• Copy of your school/department scope and sequence
• Copy of TEKS or state curriculum standards
• Post-it notes
• Note pad
• High-lighter
• Lesson plan book or lesson plan template on computer
Pre AP Math H.S.- Donna Speer: This course is designed to help teachers incorporate AP/Pre-AP strategies and concepts into their math curriculum. It will emphasize math topics such as: accumulation, area, coordinate geometry, functions, limits, optimization, sequences and series, rate of change, probability and statistics and how these topics can be appropriately included in different math courses. There will be a variety of teaching strategies including activities, projects, alternative assessments, graphing calculators, CBLs, and internet. Participants will discuss Pre-AP philosophy, resources, vertical teaming, AP exams and grading and how to get support from parents, and administrators.
What to Bring:
• Participants are encouraged to bring their graphing calculator if they have one and
• A best lesson or activity to share
