AP English Language at PAHS

[Luckymama]

Those of you who have/had students in the AP English Language from PA Homeschoolers, have the teachers included any AP test prep in the course? If so, was it sprinkled throughout or in a concentrated burst at the end of the course? And please give the teacher's name :)

 

Thinking through all sorts of options this weekend after we just signed dd up for the four week, for credit, Arabic camp at Concordia Language Villages!

[MorningGlory]

My son is in Mrs. Walker's class (AP Eng Lang @ PAH). And yes, she has included regular AP exam prep throughout the year (practice timed essays and multiple choice). She will also include what she calls "boot camp" at the very end of the year for approximately two-three weeks prior to the exam. I would think that all of the teachers at PAH would do something similar, but hopefully others will answer and give you more concrete feedback. 

 

Now, having said that, Mrs. Walker does not *focus* on the exam. Instead, her course is a well-rounded, highly-varied, interesting, challenging English course. I am continually amazed with the variety of reading and writing assignments that she provides for this class. We are extremely pleased with this course. 

 

From what I've read, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the English instructors. It seems that they are all fantastic! Once upon a time, Kathy in Richmond recommended that you carefully read the bios of the teachers (as well as their course descriptions) to find the one that best fits your student, your lifestyle, your philosophy of education, etc. etc. I followed that advice, and I am just thrilled with our choice! :-) 

[Luckymama]

Thanks Jetta. My older kids received their 4s and 5s when the teachers sprinkled mc and free response questions throughout the school year (which is not teaching to the test, btw----they still had papers and regular tests). I suspect dd will be the same.

 

I noticed one PAHS teacher said that her class includes 8 weeks of exam prep at the end (this is in the description for this year's class; she hasn't updated for 2015-16 yet like others). Other teachers did not state anything specifically about exam prep.

[Mom22ns]

Ds has Maya Inspektor. They do essays that are targeted toward each of the types of essays that may be found on the AP exam all year, a few at a slow pace in the first semester, building speed in the second semester. I think they do just a little bit of prep for the multiple choice section in the second semester.

 

I have loved AP English with Maya Inspektor. Her morning messages are insightful and witty. Her feedback is thorough and helpful. She has also been respectful and patient during some health issues. She has daily deadlines, I know some teachers run more of a weekly schedule, but has been very willing to work around any issues that have arisen. I really can't recommend her class highly enough. I consider it one of the best educational investments I've made.

[Luckymama]

Thanks Debbie :) How many hours per week would you say your dd puts in?

[swimmermom3]

Totally screwed this up.

[swimmermom3]

Ds has Maya Inspektor. They do essays that are targeted toward each of the types of essays that may be found on the AP exam all year, a few at a slow pace in the first semester, building speed in the second semester. I think they do just a little bit of prep for the multiple choice section in the second semester.

 

I have loved AP English with Maya Inspektor. Her morning messages are insightful and witty. Her feedback is thorough and helpful. She has also been respectful and patient during some health issues. She has daily deadlines, I know some teachers run more of a weekly schedule, but has been very willing to work around any issues that have arisen. I really can't recommend her class highly enough. I consider it one of the best educational investments I've made.

 

 

Yes to everything here. One of the many things we like about Mrs. Inspektor is that while you are preparing for the AP exam, the focus is still entirely on the writing. It doesn't feel like an exam prep class. Ds liked the class so much that he signed up for Mrs. I's AP Lit class this year primarily so he feels fully prepared to write his college essays. He prefers the Lang class to the Lit class because Lang is practical and ds is all about what is practical and applicable.

 

Maya Inspektor  is everything a really good English teacher should be and I often read her Morning Messages for my own enjoyment.

 

ETA: We too consider the money we spent for the AP Lang class to be our best educational investment to date.  This year ds is reaping the benefits of last year's instruction and hard work.

 

 

[Mom22ns]

Thanks Debbie :) How many hours per week would you say your dd puts in?

 

1-2 hours per day. He probably averages close to 10 hours/week.

 

Honestly, first semester took longer than it is now, it was a learning curve for him. Ds is a slow worker and learning to churn out writing assignments was one of MY goals for him in the class. He has done that and his time spent has gone down. First semester he spent 2-3 hours/day, but that was totally because of his work speed, not the workload.  

 

 

Maya Inspektor  is everything a really good English teacher should be and I often read her Morning Messages for my own enjoyment.

 

This.

Last year there were a couple of moms (including Simmermom3) gushing over Mays Inspektor on this board. I really debated this class for ds. I was going to dual enroll him in some English classes at the local CC. It would have been cheaper and he would have gotten more credit. It was hard for me to imagine this class could be worth it. It was worth it simply because of Maya. If I could bottle her I would. She creates a wonderful environment in her classroom. Kids participate, they are involved, they form community, they learn, they grow, they are challenged - constantly.

 

Ds took another AP at PA Homeschoolers this year and it was nothing like that. Dd took Honors English 2 at Blue Tent, again not even close. Maya's class is truly that special. She is a gifted teacher and her class is a rare opportunity.

[swimmermom3]

1-2 hours per day. He probably averages close to 10 hours/week.

 

Honestly, first semester took longer than it is now, it was a learning curve for him. Ds is a slow worker and learning to churn out writing assignments was one of MY goals for him in the class. He has done that and his time spent has gone down. First semester he spent 2-3 hours/day, but that was totally because of his work speed, not the workload.  

 

<snip> It was worth it simply because of Maya. If I could bottle her I would. She creates a wonderful environment in her classroom. Kids participate, they are involved, they form community, they learn, they grow, they are challenged - constantly.

 

 

Our experience with the time was the same was yours. For the first semester, it could take ds and hour just to read and respond to the morning message and he still had the homework. Some days AP Lit can still be like that, but for ds the long days often happen when he is responding to discussion questions and then responding to other students. The kids can get really wrapped up in those discussions.

 

For me, the biggest gift Maya has given my son is the opportunity to fully engage at an academic level he had never really experienced before.  She is a thoughtful, insightful teacher who pushes her students to think carefully and logically and still do it with creativity. The environment she creates encourages the students to engage with each other on some fairly deep levels. A gifted teacher with motivated and inspired students makes for an academically satisfying experience. That class "flipped a switch" and set the bar considerably higher for my son.

 

A side note: the last time we had these discussions, I think all of the PAHS AP Lang. teachers got a big thumbs up.

 

 

[G5052]

Thanks for the reminder.

 

I saw this thread and got going on the application for next year.  I've been planning this for awhile, and it sounds like such a great fit for my younger one.  Thankfully I had most of it already, so it was just a cut-and-paste job.  It's in now!

 

She's in an outstanding local lit/history program, but I still feel like she needs to go to the next level with someone that will push even harder, especially in writing.

 

Hopefully she'll get in with Mrs. Inspektor!

[yvonne]

Lisa,

 

It looks like your son successfully took AP English Language as a sophomore?  What writing experience did he have going into the class? Would a student going into the AP English Lit need the same sort of experience, do you think?

 

Thank you!

yvonne

[swimmermom3]

Lisa,

 

It looks like your son successfully took AP English Language as a sophomore?  What writing experience did he have going into the class? Would a student going into the AP English Lit need the same sort of experience, do you think?

 

Thank you!

yvonne

 

Yvonne, I can't really give you any magic answer as to why he was ready for the AP English Language class as a sophomore. I worked with him on writing from 4-8th grade and then the second half of 9th grade, but I probably used bits and pieces of 10 different programs. I even used more than one of the IEW themed curricula and I have been a bit disparaging on here about the type of writing that turns out.

 

In hindsight, I could have saved all that money. My son despises busy work and has  been able to argue logically his way out of it from a young age. I was sensitive to many of the complaints because my older kids were vocal about what they thought was busy work assigned at their public school. I also found that as the teacher, I often got bored with the material.

 

My son would tell you that the things he found most helpful were the outlining directions in the third edition of TWTM that also discussed picking out main points of the writing.  If you do this for a couple of years in middle school, you come to automatically "see" structure in paragraphs and essays.  The other thing he would tell you, much to my embarrassment, is that I am better at talking a lot about what makes good writing than I am at enforcing writing assignments. We picked apart everything from newspaper articles, literary critiques, lots of essays, and both primary and secondary sources.

 

He finished 8th grade with strong grammar skills, an ability to write well-structured paragraphs.  When he came home from the public school for English and history at the semester mark of 9th grade, we worked primarily on writing history essays. I used prompts from the AP World History exam that worked with our ancient history and literature. I used many parts of the Lively Art of Writing to help him structure those arguments. I think he did some writing about the Iliad  and other Greek works.

 

If I remember right, his application for Maya's class contained a history essay and his book list from that second half of 9th grade as well as some of his favorites. I was terrified she wouldn't take him and that I hadn't done my job.  It was all good.  That doesn't mean his first essay scores weren't at the lower end.  In his favor, he is very coachable and if someone tells him how to improve, he works at it. He also loved being in a class where the other kids wanted to be there and were willing to work hard too. For the most part, they take their job seriously of providing good peer feedback- when they all aren't under big time crunches.

[yvonne]

Thank you so much, Lisa, for writing up all those details. There are some solid, practical things in there that I can start working on this week!  Thank you!

 

yvonne

[rachserra]

My dd took APLANG with Ms Serbiki from PAHS last year and loved it! She received a 5 on her exam. There was a lot of prep built in and they prepared for a few weeks before the exam also. Of course my dd did study on her own but we felt that she was adequately prepared for the exam.

[at the beach]

My dd took APLANG with Ms Serbiki from PAHS last year and loved it! She received a 5 on her exam. There was a lot of prep built in and they prepared for a few weeks before the exam also. Of course my dd did study on her own but we felt that she was adequately prepared for the exam.

 

Mrs. Serbicki is wonderful. My daughter took AP Lit last year, and she got a 5 on the exam. My daughter loved the class. There was no busy work, and they did test prep as part of the course. She learned a great deal in the class. There were also lots of opportunities for extra credit, and the class was not overwhelming.