AP SeminarCOURSE DESCRIPTION:
From College Board: AP Seminar is a foundational course that engages students in cross-curricular conversations that explore the complexities of academic and real-world topics and issues by analyzing divergent perspectives. Using an inquiry framework, students practice reading and analyzing articles, research studies and foundational, literary and philosophical texts; listening to and viewing speeches, broadcasts, and personal accounts; and experiencing artistic works and performances. Students learn to synthesize information from multiple sources, develop their own perspectives in written essays, and design and deliver oral and visual presentations, both individually and as part of a team. Ultimately, the course aims to equip students with the power to analyze and evaluate information with accuracy and precision to craft and communicate evidence-based arguments. |
2019-20 Syllabus
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UNIT ONE: HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW? (Weeks 1 – 5)
Texts/Sources:
- Tara Westover Educated (read as summer reading) / Memoir / Cultural & Social
- Elizabeth Kolbert, “Why Facts Don’t Change our Minds” / Book Review / Political & Historical
- Sean Blanda “The ‘Other Side’ Isn’t Dumb” / Commentary / Cultural & Social
- Mathew Hustson, “How Memory Became Weaponized” / Essay / Cultural & Social
- Melinda Wenner Moyer, “People Drawn to Conspiracy Theories Share a Cluster of Psychological Features” / Essay / Scientific
- Richard Feynman, “The Uncertainty of Science” excerpt / Essay / Scientific
- Stephen Colbert, “The Word – Truthiness” / Video / Cultural & Social
- The Onion, “Area Man Passionate Defender of What He Imagines the Constitution to be” / Satirical Essay / Cultural & Social
Formative Assessments:
Summative Assessment:
- ARTICLE ANALYSIS: working in a small group, you and your team will analyze an article to identify the following: What question is this article answering? Who are the stakeholders? What are the possible solutions and what are the limitations to each? Groups will then present their work to the class. The activity is meant to model key QUEST skills, fundamental to the course.
- QUEST Posters: working in small groups, your team will analyze one component of the QUEST (Question/Explore, Understand/Analyze, Evaluate Multiple Perspectives, Synthesize ideas, and Team, Transform, Transmit) framework, deciding on an image and a sentence that best characterize that component. These foundational concepts will frame the approach we take in AP Seminar.
- Reading Journals – after reading and annotating each assigned article, you will write an informal response, engaging the article’s ideas, claims, or arguments. Be prepared to read your journal responses to your classmates in small group and whole class settings. As you listen to your classmates’ responses, you will annotate your own response, expanding on and developing ideas in your initial draft.
- Socratic Seminars – During these student-led discussion, you will be expected to contribute thoughtful questions and observations about the unit’s texts, making connections between them as well as to other students’ observations. You will also turn in written work that incorporates textual support for your arguments.
- Reverse Outline – using one of the unit’s readings, create a reverse outline that maps out the structure of the author’s argument. In each section, describe the author’s main point and the claims, evidence and reasoning used to support and develop that main point.
Summative Assessment:
- Synthesis Essay (modeled on Part B of End-of Course Exam) – Consider the sources from Unit One carefully, focusing on a theme or issue that connects them and the different perspective each represents. Then, write a logically organized, well-reasoned argument that presents your own perspective on the theme or issue you identified. You must incorporate at least three of the sources provided and link the claims in your argument to supporting evidence. You may also use the other provided sources or draw upon your own knowledge. (800-1000 words)