The Most Foundational Document: The U.S. Constitution
As you know in our study of the AP
® U.S. Government, there are nine Foundational Documents. But one of these towers among the rest:
the U.S. Constitution.
Truth and Tears at the School Book Fair
Back when I was a whippersnapper wearing dungarees and walking to school and back in the snow uphill both ways, nothing beat the school book fair. When I was the K-12 English Language Arts and Reading coordinator in a small southside district in San Antonio, there was still nothing that beat the school book fair.
The Importance of Building an AP® Classroom Community
The classroom community…is it worth the time and energy?
This is not a rhetorical question. The answer is yes.
Current Events & Your AP® Government Classroom
Around 2005, I started a more regular and purposeful current events routine in my AP® Government and Politics class. I would supply three articles on Sunday, and students needed to read them by class time on Tuesday. I creatively called it “Current Events Tuesday.” No students cheered, but I soon noticed that...
What is Human Geography?
So, you have taken the plunge and are now teaching AP® Human Geography. People will ask “What is Human Geography?” but you have no idea how to answer (yet). I get this question all the time (from students and teachers alike) and I have a short and longer answer that will help kick off your understanding of this...
Real to Reel: Backwards Writing
It’s not very often that TV shows or movies come before the book version, but it does happen sometimes! The art of writing is alive in visual media with scripts and screenplays, but turning those scenes, characters, and situations into chapters in a book sounds more difficult than turning a book into a movie, right?
AP® Gov: Starting the Year Strong
The beginning of the school year is an important time for establishing expectations and forming relationships, both teacher-student and student-student. In my district, we teach government and civics and AP® U.S. Government and Politics to sophomores, so I used to spend a good bit of time convincing 15 year olds...
Real to Reel: Dystopian Societies
Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ have taken over much of the television industry by taking popular and enticing books or comics and creating a TV series counterpart. This allows writers and directors to focus on details deeper than a single two-hour movie and create more complex character arches. The talent of the...
AP® Lang: A Lesson in Close Reading
This resource is designed to provide a guided lesson on close reading, specifically imagery, figurative language, word choice, tone, and tonal shift and how these elements can enhance our understanding of a work.
Real to Reel: Textual Evidence
Code-switching is changing something about yourself to fit a certain situation or audience. The way you might talk to your friends versus talking to your parents by using two different tones of voice is an example of code-switching. People code-switch to make tone, wording, and appearance fit the situation. In the...
