Meet the College Board Endorsed Consultant for AP English Literature and Composition, Rob Brown
For the past two decades, Rob has presented workshops and AP Summer Institutes throughout the US and internationally, in locations ranging from the bucolic Northeast Kingdom of Vermont to the inner cities of Boston and Chicago.
He has been a presenter at AP Annual Conferences, has served as an AP Mentor, and has contributed ancillary materials to a number of popular textbooks. Rob has served as an AP English Lit Reader and Table Leader for over 20 years, beginning in 1999.
Rob taught AP English Literature and led the English Department at Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington, Vermont, for more than 35 years. He continues to teach virtually both for Rice and privately, serving students in Vermont, in New York, in Virginia, and in Suzhou, China.
No stranger to virtual learning, Rob began teaching online in ancient pre-internet days on dial-up modems. In the years since, he has taught online classes in both college and high school settings as well as virtual AP workshops.
Outside the virtual, physical and metaphoric classroom, Rob enjoys fishing in Vermont’s picturesque trout streams, and for over 20 years was the off-camera signature voice of Vermont Public Television.
Email contact: rob.brownapsi@gmail.com
So in the end, what is AP English Literature really about?
It seems that we keep asking ourselves this question every year, whether we’ve been teaching the course for year, or we’re getting ready to teach it for the first time. Like mileage on the family car, the answers may vary depending on who’s driving and where we are. But for four intensive, thoughtful and collegial days this summer, we’ll get into it.
Broadly speaking, participants in this APSI workshop will share best practices and explore strategies for teaching fiction, drama and poetry. The session will also provide practice in assessment of student work according to AP standards, with close attention to scoring guides and student samples from past AP exams.
As in all AP workshops, participants will review the College Board framework for the AP English Literature and Composition course, as well as College Board-supplied resources that support classroom instruction. The workshop will blend synchronous and asynchronous activities, with a mixture of presentations, independent activities and collegial conversations. Daily “office hour” chats will round out each day of the workshop as needed.
Reading materials, including selected fiction and poetry, will be distributed electronically in the weeks leading up to the workshop. Participants should be generally familiar with the Course and Exam Description for AP English Literature published by the College Board.
Homework: Participants will be asked to submit a modest curriculum-planning project at the end of the workshop. Think of it as the cool craft project you might have brought home from summer camp: not necessarily perfect, but possibly useful nonetheless.
Create a Unit Plan for any unit as described in the Course and Exam Description, identifying specific works which will carry the unit; describing instructional strategies for students to learn, practice and demonstrate the skills listed in the unit; and describing appropriate formative and summative assessments.
An online APSI workshop calls for the kind of overall time commitment demanded by a busy week on the job at school, while allowing participants time breathe, reflect and think – and to walk the dog or prune the petunias.
In the days before the workshop begins, registered participants will be invited to suggest specific topics for emphasis or inclusion, a process that will continue throughout the session.
2024 Online WaltonAPSI / AP English Literature & Composition / Rob Brown