AP Course:

AP English Literature & Composition

CONSULTANT: Anton Talarico, MFA AP Consultant

Anton Talarico has taught English at both the high school and college levels for sixteen years and has been newly selected and endorsed by AP College Board to run APSI’s and Public APSI’s around the country as an AP Consultant for Literature and Composition. He has had ten years of experience teaching AP English Literature and Composition. Currently, Anton teaches at Granada Hills Charter, located in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, and as an adjunct at Moorpark College, located in Ventura County. Over the last several years, Anton has worked to create a rigorous, yet accessible AP Literature curriculum that serves to prepare students not only for the AP Exam, but also for challenges of their college courses beyond the exam. Over the last several years, he has had major success with student achievement with the AP Literature and Composition Exam, his students even achieving an 80% pass rate during the online 2020 – 2021 Covid-school year, while the national average was approximately 40%. This level of success for Anton and his students has been fostered by a strong passion to teach English and a commitment to a process of close reading and encouraging student voices as they share their perspectives and ideas.

Anton resides in Moorpark, CA with his wife and two beautiful children, where he enjoys running in his free time, training for a variety of distance runs, including a couple marathons a year.

Class Description:

Attendance Policy: The class will meet June 30th – July 3rd from 8 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Course Overview:

This course is designed to benefit the AP Literature and Composition teacher. By providing a clear overview of the CED for the course, teachers are prepared to help their students meet the rigor of the exam. Using contemporary and classic literature, we will explore general approaches to classroom environments that encourage students to share their thinking and good ideas. The workshop will share and help to develop strategies for helping our students take the essays, and reflect on their progress, helping them to improve their writing, both content-wise and mechanically. Also, we will explore strategies for the Multiple Choice (MC) and cover effective routines that lead to student success on the exam. We will also work to develop meaningful assessments with equity and access being a guiding principle in our design. During the week, we will examine topics of both course and syllabi design, the AP audit process, and requirements and expectations for the AP exam. This workshop will cover some best practices in teaching poetry, short works of fiction, and major works of fiction (novels and drama), and facilitate workshop time for teachers to formulate their own lesson plans and general course curriculum. Teachers will also be given the opportunity to work on their AP course syllabus and can ask questions regarding the audit process, ensuring that they are prepared and ready for the school year. Please bring teaching resources/materials/literature you want to revise or incorporate into your AP school year. The workshop will be largely hands-on and differentiated to the degree needed.

Materials Included:

• College Board Workshop Handbook

• Curriculum Materials and Activities/Stuff You’re Thinking about Teaching

• Access to Workshop Google Drive (during and following the workshop)

• Be familiar with either (or both): “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner OR

• “Sonny’s Blues,” by James Baldwin Both of these full texts can be found in Workshop Google Drive

Course Objectives:

The course will prepare the beginning and experienced English teacher to:

• Understand the layout of and skills tested on the AP Literature and Composition exam through a thorough review of the course CED (Content Knowledge)

• Experience Grading student essays to accurately assess and give effective feedback to students. Explore helpful routines that lead to success in timed-essay writing (Content Knowledge and Pedagogy and Student Learning)

• Construct lesson plans that increase students’ skills in critical reading of poetry, short fiction and longer fiction, and improve their analytical writing (Content Knowledge and Pedagogy and Student Learning)

• Develop focused units that maximize student engagement and prepare students for the rigors of the AP exam and the college experience beyond (Content Knowledge and Pedagogy and Student Learning)

• Use a range of primary and secondary source material to augment the study of rhetorical forms in literature (Content Knowledge)

Support: I am looking forward to working with everyone. I’m excited to get to know you and for you to get to know your fellow participants so that we can form a supportive learning community that continues long after the school year begins.

Feel free to contact me with any questions that you might have both during the week and after the workshop concludes: aptalaricoconsulting@gmail.com