How Angie Kratzer’s AP English Language Resources Fit Together
“This is overwhelming.”
“There’s so much here.”
“Where do I start?”
These three reviews of my mega AP English Language & Composition bundle made me pivot. The 50 resources make sense to ME, to MY classroom, to MY experience as a 22-year veteran teacher. In my mind, a teacher could take all the lessons, filter, pace, and order in a way that makes sense for her or his students. But what if that teacher has Lang for the first time, couldn’t make it to a summer institute, and is the only person within a 30 mile radius teaching the course? If that’s the case, that teacher is staring at a stack of 50 library books with blank covers.
I’m a linear thinker, and I chunk the course by the free-response questions. I have paced this system with two guides, one for a year-long schedule and one for block. The pacing guides include hyperlinked resources so that you know which unit fits where.
Before diving into the free response questions, get the big picture of the skills taught within each lesson plan. All skills (as listed in the current Course and Exam Description) are spelled out in the left vertical column, and the three writing units top columns of skills included in each lesson plan.
The foundation of rhetorical analysis is a tone vocabulary. This tone word study will equip students to craft meaty thesis statements. Included are ten weeks’ worth of quizzes and anchor posters.
This 27-lesson unit thoroughly walks students through two methods of organization: device-by-device and organizational. Weave in the five bell ringers as students demonstrate proficiency.
These two resources would work well at the end of the initial rhetorical analysis unit or as review before the May exam. The comprehensive assessment is editable, so you can make it your own, but it’s heavy on terminology. If you use it, do so with low stakes. Read more about my approach to rhetorical analysis.
Rhetorical Mode Project The bundle includes three different ways to address rhetorical modes. Students need to learn both to analyze and to write in them. “7 Rhetorical Modes” offers handouts, suggested models, prompts, and rubrics. “Rhetorical Mode Project” guides students through the production of those elements. Within the thoroughunit on The Things They Carried, the rhetorical modes are addressed as well. A teacher should do one of the three. Read more about teaching rhetorical modes.
These three resources fit well together and could be used simultaneously. Use the AP English Language Skills Alignment Chart to get an overview of the skills I included within each of the 21 lesson plans in the complete unit. Use the prompts as bell ringers, summarizers, homework, sub plans, or timed assessments. All are written like Question 3 on the exam. If students need a bit more help on logical fallacies, the extra practice is provided.
Once students know how to argue effectively and properly credit https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Read-em-and-Weave-The-AP-English-Language-Synthesis-Question-Synthesis-Essay-1618735sources within the research process, it’s time to have them do both in a timed setting. This unit slows down the process and drills down on skills such as conversing with sources and embedding source material.
This 97-page, 17-lesson unit could fit just about anywhere, but I wedge it between argumentation/persuasion and synthesis. There couldn’t be a more perfect segue.
Teach students how the multiple choice questions are designed and provide practice with these eleven resources. There are 50 individual exercises provided within the ten practice sets, and they make great warm ups at the start of class. Do one a day for ten weeks, two or three a week for a semester, or assign sets for in-class, timed practice. Teacher notes are provided for each question.
“Reading to Rebel” is a simple handbook for running an outside reading program. I require students to read 600 pages of their own choosing outside of class, and I’ve explained in this handbook how I keep track of it all. Drop “Exercises for ‘Minimalism'” into the argumentation unit and help students track the thesis of this Netflix documentary. “Detect & Dismiss” is a one-week standalone unit that examines media manipulation. Students will need access to computers for this one. It would be a nice fit within rhetorical analysis or argumentation and makes for excellent sub plans. Jonathan Swift is a must-teach for argument and irony! These lesson plans on “A Modest Proposal” will help you break down the text for students.
This simple reading accountability test is the only random piece in the bundle. I LOVE using the novel in my discussions of diction, syntax, and imagery.
This set of materials for The Thing They Carried includes accountability quizzes, detailed lesson plans, analysis exercises, and writing assignments. Knock out the rhetorical modes as well with material on how to use them as both frames and devices.
Weave these four resources in where they are most needed. The bookmarks would work well if students are reading a longer work of non-fiction, and the political activities would fit within units on rhetorical analysis or argumentation.
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It is my hope that this explanation makes the use of the bundle both easy and effective. There are several pared-down versions of the largest bundle if you just don’t need the whole shebang, and they are linked below.
I’m a recovering high school English teacher and curriculum specialist with a passion for helping teachers leave school at school. I create engaging, rigorous curriculum resources for secondary ELA professionals, and I facilitate workshops to help those teachers implement the materials effectively.
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