Meet the College Board Endorsed Consultant for AP European History, Kathryn Landsea

Kathryn Landsea has been teaching AP European History at Coral Gables Senior High for ninteen years in Miami, Florida. She serves as the AP European History trainer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools Division of Advanced Academics and is a mentor for new teachers throughout the district. She has been involved in the AP European History Reading for the past fourteen years as a reader and table leader and has served as a question leader for the short answer, long-essay and document-based questions, as well one of the exam leaders for the exam given in 2020. In addition, Katie has written curriculum and test items for McGraw-Hill and most recently, worked on reorganizing the Spielvogel test bank and Fast Track to a Five review book to align with the current course and exam description for AP European History.

APSI Session Description and Tentative Agenda

After our time together, participants will understand:
  • The value and challenge of teaching AP European History
  • The availability and depth of College Board resource options
  • The availability of ‘other’ resource options
  • The necessity and components of a strong syllabus
  • The components of the redesigned APEH exam, including rubrics for the writing components of the course.
  • My AP Classroom, the Personal Progress Checks, the Question Bank
  • How to differentiate instruction to support equity and access opportunities
  • A variety of teaching strategies to address the challenge of the course and to enable students to improve their analytical skills
  • How to improve reading and writing skills
  • The value and components of performance assessment
  • The value of simulations and short research projects
  • The importance of establishing networks of fellow AP European History teachers to share resources

Session Description:

 This AP Summer Institute in AP European History is intended for both experienced and beginning AP teachers looking to gain insight into the course.  It will address the current rubrics and insight that comes after the 2021 Virtual AP Reading for all the essay types.  This summer institute will explore the themes, historical thinking skills, content objectives, and time periods that define the course expectations. This institute will also explain the grading of the exam. During the institute, participants will have the opportunity to examine sample lesson plans, review the regulations for the course audit, and begin developing a pacing guide.  Sample lessons related to the nine historical thinking skills will be supplied and teachers will be given opportunities to discuss and construct other lessons related to these skills.  While the course will cover the pacing for the entire year, participants will be given the opportunity to develop their first unit in order to receive feedback on pacing and lesson ideas. An overview of how best to use AP Classroom, technology, how to review for the exam, textbook selection and recommended summer reading, and what post-exam activities are available will also be explored. I teach this workshop with an emphasis on practical collaboration and much-needed resources for teachers for day-to-day teaching.  We will have both live time together and time for you to work asynchronously on material in the afternoon.  Given that next school year is likely to be uncertain, we will also explore best practices to teach the course live, on zoom, and in a hybrid model.   TENTATIVE SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK (Times subject to change)  Monday  Synchronous via Zoom 9:00 – 10:30 am
  1. Welcome, introductions, and an overview of the week
  2. The Course and Exam Description (The Binder!)
  3. Presentation: Rigor and Learning; benefits of the AP Program
  4. Equity and Access in Advanced Placement
10:30 – 11:20 am
  1. Discussion: Developing your AP course
    1. Exam Overview (WH p13)
    2. How AP courses and exams are developed and the AP Course Audit
  2. Lesson 2: AP Historical Thinking Skills and Reasoning Processes (WH p8-12)
  3. How AP exams are scored
  4. Rubrics for the DBQ and LEQ
 11:20 – 11:30 am
  1. Screen break
 11:30 – 12:20 am
  1. Overview and samples from the 2019 AP European History Exam
    1. Document Based Question (DBQ) – sample ‘7’
  1. Overview and samples from the 2019 AP European History Exam (continued)
  2. Long Essay Question (LEQ) – sample ‘6’
  3. Short Answer Questions (SAQ) – sample ‘3’
12:20 – 12:30 am
  1. Screen break
12:30 am – 1:00 pm
  1. Exam overview and samples (CED[1] p235)
    1. Exam weighting and framework
    2. Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ)
  2. Overview of the Asynchronous expectations for the day
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Zoom Office hours for individual or small group assistance and planning. Course Audit and Syllabus creation/adoption.  Asynchronous via Canvas
  1. Complete Lesson 3: Developing Student Understanding (WH p14-25)
    1. Read and annotate samples – what questions or noticing’s do you have?
  2. Complete Lesson 4: Understanding the Unit Guides (WH p26-28 and 30-31)
    1. Complete the questions in the Workshop Handbook
  3. Exit Ticket
    1. What is your most significant ‘take-away’ from our learning today?
    2. What questions do you want to begin with tomorrow?
Tuesday  Synchronous via Zoom     9:00– 11:20 am
  1. Discussion: reflecting on our learning from yesterday:
    1. Respond to questions and noticing’s from annotations and scoring
    2. What understandings do you want your students to walk away with from your AP Euro course?
  1. Discussion of Textbooks and most-used resources
  2. Overview and samples from the 2019 AP European History Exam
    1. Document Based Question (DBQ) – sample ‘7’
  1. Overview and samples from the 2019 AP European History Exam (continued)
  2. Long Essay Question (LEQ) – sample ‘6’
  3. Short Answer Questions (SAQ) – sample ‘3’
  4. Examining the Instructional Planning Report
  1. Understanding the Course and Exam Description materials
    1. Lesson 4: Goals for my students (WH p26)
    2. Reading and discussion: About AP (CED p1-3)
    3. Reading and discussion: Course Framework Components (CED p13-27)
    4. Lesson 5: Understanding the Themes (WH p34)
    5. Lesson 6: Exploring the Unit Guides (WH p39)
    6. Lesson 7: Developments and Processes (WH p45-46)
11:20 – 11:30 am
  1. Screen break
11:30 – 12:20 pm
  1. Instructional Approaches
    1. Developments and Processes (part 1)
  1. What does each look like in practice?
12:20 – 12:30 pm
  1. Screen break
12:30 pm – 1:00 pm
  1. Instructional Approaches
    1. Developments and Processes (part 2)
  1. What does each look like in practice?
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Zoom Office hours for individual or small group assistance and planning  Asynchronous via Canvas
  1. Complete Lesson 8: Making Connections – Causation (WH p59-64)
  2. Complete Lesson 9: Making Connections – Continuity and Change (WH p65-67)
  3. Complete Lesson 10: Making Connections – Comparison (WH p68-70)
  4. Exit Ticket
    1. What is your most significant ‘take-away’ from our learning today?
    2. What questions do you want to begin with tomorrow?
Wednesday Synchronous via Zoom   beginning at 9:00 am
  1. Discussion: reflecting on our learning from yesterday:
    1. Respond to questions and noticing’s
  2. Instructional Approaches (cont.)
  1. Lesson 11: Contextualization (WH p71-76)
Instructional Approaches (cont.)
  1. Lesson 12: Argumentation (WH p77-87)
    1. Lesson 13: Analyzing Primary Sources (WH p89-98)
10:20 – 10:30 am      Screen break 10:30 – 11:20 am
  1. Instructional Approaches (cont.)
    1. Lesson 14: Analyzing Secondary Sources (WH p99-102)
    2. Lesson 16: Assessing Student Understanding (WH p106-108)
    3. Lesson 17: Curricular Requirements and Syllabus Development (WH p110-111)
11:20 – 11:30 am     Screen break 11:30 am – 12:00 pm
  1. Instructional Approaches – Diving into the CED
 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Zoom Office hours for individual or small group assistance and planning Asynchronous via Canvas
  1. Prepare for AP Classroom on Thursday
    1. AP Classroom Video
  2. Exit Ticket
    1. What is your most significant ‘take-away’ from our learning today?
    2. What questions do you want to begin with tomorrow?
Thursday Synchronous via Zoom   beginning at 9:00 am
  1. Discussion: reflecting on our learning from yesterday:
    1. Respond to questions and noticing’s
  2. The AP Program for 2020-2021
    1. Presentation: Fall Registration
    2. Presentation: AP and Dual Enrollment Comparison
    3. AP Classroom 
  3. Instructional Approaches
      1. Continue with the CED
10:20 – 10:30 am
  1. Screen break
 10:30 – 11:20 am
  1. Constructing your course Unit by Unit (Working on Unit 1)
    1. Where do you introduce specific skill development?
    2. How does your skill development practice scaffold, reinforce, and provide opportunities w/ feedback?
    3. How do these goals compare with the goals you wrote about in Lesson 4?
    4. What do you need for planning lesson 1?
11:20 – 11:30 am
  1. Screen break
 11:30 am – 12:00 pm
  1. Unit Planning
1:00 pm – until I am no longer needed! Zoom Office hours for individual or small group assistance and planning unit 1. Asynchronous via Canvas
  1. Unit Planning
  2. (Optional) Additional AP Classroom help
    1. Second AP Classroom Video
  3. Exit Ticket
    1. What is your most significant ‘take-away’ from our learning today?
What can I do to help you after this APSI has completed? [1] CED refers to the Course and Exam Description binder materials