This session with Mary Jo Zell is offered ONLINE during Event 1: June 17-20 and again IN-PERSON Event 3: June 23-26
Meet your APSI Consultant for AP English Literature and Composition
Mary Jo Zell lives and teaches in Keller, TX. She received her B.A. from Villanova University and her master’s degree from Georgia Southwestern University. She began her teaching career in Pennsylvania and Georgia and is currently the department Chair of English at Keller High School, where she has taught for 20 years. She is in her 28th year of teaching high school English and has taught every level 9-12th. Presently, she teaches AP Language and AP Literature.
For the past 17 years, she has served as an AP Language Reader for the College Board; she is currently a Table Leader for the AP Language and Composition exam. She served on the College Board AP Literature Instructional Design Team and is an AP College Board Consultant who has conducted various workshops and summer institutes. Additionally, since 2010 she has worked with NMSI- conducting teacher trainings, leading mock readings, and presenting Saturday Sessions.
Walton APSI Course Description for AP English Literature and Composition
In this APSI, the week will offer teachers a wide range of highly effective strategies for inspiring students to develop their voice as writers and critical thinkers. Because students have an array of experiences and understandings, it is critical to take them “from what they know to what they don’t know” in a way that will help them create insightful understandings of literature. By grounding their literary experiences with some deep, universal tensions, the students can engage with complex poetry, drama, and fiction with a bit more confidence and understanding. In short, offering frames of understanding can help students “accelerate their insight” into meaningful works of literature. Teachers will be offered an array of approaches for assessing student writing and methods for assuring that students are held accountable for content/skills while also fostering a healthy work culture for both students and instructor.
As for exam-specific direction, we will work with strategies for both the FRQ and MC questions that are direct and profitable for the students. Furthermore, we will explore how to best utilize the CED and AP Classroom so that students can benefit from the content, and the instructors can make targeted adjustments to their lessons. And finally, your consultant will share decades’ worth of materials for teaching poetry, drama, and fiction. We hope the week will allow teachers to reconnect with the ideas and passions that drove them to be English Majors and inspired them to become teachers.