Arp High School

Pre-AP English

Much of the following can be found at College Board Online www.collegeboard.org/ap

What is the purpose of the Pre-AP English Program? The purpose of the Pre-AP program is to enable students to read complex texts with understanding and to write prose that is rich enough and complex enough for mature readers.

What is the Pre-AP program? The AP English Language and Composition course is designed to help students become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts and to become skilled writers who can compose for a variety of purposes. By their writing and reading in this course, students should become aware of the interactions among a writer's purposes, audience expectations, and subjects, as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effective writing.

Pre-AP is a set of content-specific strategies designed to:

Ø      build rigorous curricula;

Ø      promote access to AP for all students;

Ø      introduce skills concepts, and assessment methods to prepare students for success when they take AP and other challenging courses; and

Ø      strengthen curriculum and increase the academic challenge for all students.

How many students may participate in the Pre-AP program? Currently, at Arp High School we have 14 sophomore students in Pre-AP English II.  Our goal is to expand the Pre-AP program to include freshman Pre-AP in the 2001-2002 school year, as well as to increase the number of students who sign up for the advanced course.

 

How are Pre-AP students identified?  At present, any student may sign up for Pre-AP English.

 

When and how students are served?  The Pre-AP English class is held only once a day, but as the program grows, we hope to offer several classes throughout the school day.

How is the curriculum and instruction differentiated for Pre-AP students?

Input/Content: The AP Language and Composition course assumes that students already understand and use standard English grammar. The intense concentration on language use in this course should enhance their ability to use grammatical conventions both appropriately and with sophistication as well as to develop stylistic maturity in their prose. Stylistic development is nurtured by emphasizing the following:

Ø      a balance of generalization and specific illustrative detail;

Ø      a wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively;

Ø      a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination;

Ø      a logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis; and

Ø      an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure.

When students read, they should become aware of how stylistic effects are achieved by writers' linguistic choices. Since imaginative literature often highlights such stylistic decisions, fiction and poetry clearly have a place in the AP Language and Composition course. The main purpose for including such literature is to help students understand rhetorical and linguistic choices, rather than to study literary conventions.

Process: An AP course in Language and Composition may be organized in a variety of ways. It might be organized thematically around a group of ideas or issues, using a variety of works and examining rhetorical strategies and stylistic choices. Another possibility is to organize a course around sequences of assignments devoted to writing in particular forms (argumentative, narrative, expository), or to group readings and writing assignments by form, theme, or voice, asking students to identify writers' strategies and then practice them. Still another alternative is to use genre as an organizing principle. The study of language itself -- differences between oral and written discourse, formal and informal language, historical changes in speech and writing -- is often a useful strategy.

Product:  Whatever form the course takes, students should write in informal as well as formal contexts to gain authority and to learn to take risks in writing. Imitation exercises, journal keeping, collaborative writing, and in-class responses are all good ways of helping students become increasingly aware of themselves as writers and of the techniques employed by other writers. Students should also read a wide variety of prose styles from many disciplines and historical periods to gain an understanding of the connections between interpretive skill in reading and writing.

How does the curriculum provide an array of learning opportunities that will lead to professional quality performances and products? The college composition course that the AP Language and Composition course is intended to parallel is one of the most varied in the curriculum. The college course often allows students to write in a variety of forms - narrative, exploratory, expository, argumentative - and on a variety of subjects from personal experiences to public policies, from imaginative literature to popular culture. But the main objective in most first-year writing courses is to enable students to write effectively and confidently in all their college courses and in their professional and personal lives. Therefore, most composition courses emphasize the expository, analytical, and argumentative writing that forms the basis of academic and professional communication, as well as the personal and reflective writing that fosters the ability to write in any context.

Additionally, this year’s Pre-AP program is offering students the opportunity to read, write, and create school displays depicting the Jewish Holocaust, with the option to attend the Houston Holocaust Museum in November.  They will extend their study of Shakespeare and Elizabethan England by spending a day at the Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie, Texas.  Pre-AP students will also be given opportunities to attend productions of relevant plays to see how written drama translates into the various aspects of stage production and business theatre.  Students will be given many opportunities to utilize Arp High School’s extensive technology tools to create professional quality products or assist in performances on a regular basis.

How is the faculty trained to teach Pre-AP? The AP and Pre-AP English teachers attended AP English Institutes at the University of Texas at San Antonio and at Texas A&M University in College Station.  They will continue to attend related AP trainings throughout the school year, to better prepare themselves for the challenge of the AP and Pre-AP courses.

 

What professional development related to the Pre-AP program has the staff acquired? The AP and Pre-AP English teachers have attended various seminars and workshops including: Gifted and Talented Training, 4-MAT Training, Character Counts, SCANs, Technology and Digital Resources, Networking, PowerPoint, Scope and Sequencing, Vertical Teaming, Intel Grant, etc.

 

In what ways does the Pre-AP program coordinate with other programs? The Gifted and Talented Coordinator meets with the AP and Pre-AP English teachers on a regular basis to discuss, plan, and implement multi-subject learning projects.

 

What and how is information distributed to parents regarding the Pre-AP program? In the spring of 2000, a letter of introduction was sent home with students interested in the Pre-AP English program at AHS.  The letter described the program’s goals and curriculum, while encouraging parents and students to participate.

 

How will we evaluate the success of the Pre-AP program? Because the Pre-AP program is new at Arp High School, we have no data that point to the success of the program thus far.  A needs assessment by the Campus Improvement Committee pointed to a commitment toward offering Pre-AP in the 9th and 10th grades. Parent surveys and student progress will be reported as the year progresses and findings will be made available on the Arp High School Website.