English Literature and Composition

Susan Frediani
sfediani@pcoe.k12.ca.us
Susan Frediani, M.A., has taught English in both public and private schools. She earned her B.A. in English at the University of California, Berkeley, and her M.A. in Curriculum,  and Instruction at California State University, Sacramento. She has taught grades 6 through community college, and grades 10, 11, and 12 at Quincy High School in northern California. Susan has taught AP* English Literature and Composition for 18 years and AP* English Language for 4 years. Currently, Susan is a teacher on special assignment for Plumas Unified School District where she is working in four high schools as an Instructional Coach and for the district as a Project Coordinator. She read the AP* English Literature and Composition exam for 9 years, and she has trained AP* teachers for the past 19 years at summer institutes at CSU Sacramento, CSU Monterey Bay, Spokane, WA, University of Alabama, University of Arkansas, AP* By the Sea, AP* Seminars Silicon Valley (Palo Alto), and online for UCLA. Susan has also trained teachers in AP English Literature and AP English Language as an international presenter in Guam. 
She is also an endorsed Pre-AP National Consultant. She also serves as a mentor consultant for new College Board consulting teachers in both AP Literature and AP Language. She has served as her district AP* coordinator, a PAR mentor teacher, a beginning teacher induction coach, and Plumas Unified School District’s ELA Vertical Team Lead Teacher. She served for four years as Chair of the SAT Test Development Committee for English Literature, and she is a current member of the SAT Writing and Language Review Committee. Susan currently serves as Chair of the College Board’s ELA Advisory Committee. Susan is a past member of the State Department of Education’s Common Core Supplemental Curriculum Selection Committee. Additionally, she was a recipient of an NEH Summer Scholar Program Award focusing on the works of Richard Wright. Susan recently completed her clear credential in administrative services.
2020 AP* Seminars Silicon Valley
 
Course Description: Welcome! This English Literature session will cover the entire Advanced Placement* course, including the recent changes to AP, the structure and grading of the examination, appropriate assignments and texts, and the relationship of these materials to the preparation of students for college-level work. We will discuss training students in literary analysis, close reading skills, preparing students for the exam, and managing the teacher workload of an AP* course. We will participate in mock scoring sessions of the English Literature exam using the revised rubrics. Teachers with experience in the AP* program will gain a variety of suggestions for course structure, and they will gain additional teaching strategies to add to their toolboxes. New AP teachers will learn about the course requirements as well as a variety of curriculum strategies and teaching techniques that will assist them in offering students a successful AP* Literature and Composition course.
      
Course Agenda
  
Emphasis in this schedule will vary in response to the needs and interests of participants.
  
  Day #1 
  
Morning: 
• Introductions and Questionnaire
• Making a Difference for All Students
 •Welcome to the English Literature Changes
• Course and Exam Design
• Unit I Overview and Exploration
•Unit I Demonstration
  
Afternoon:
• Publishers’ Texts Sign-Ups
• Nuts and Bolts
• Writing to the Poetry Prompt
• Questions and Answers
 
Day #2 
 
Morning:
• Reflection
• AP* Central and Other Resources: Personal Progress Checks, Question Banks
• Pre-AP* 
• Poetry in the AP Literature Classroom
• Review Poetry Responses and Score
• Developing Students’ Analytical Skills with Poetry: Lessons and Sample Poems
• Designing an AP* Unit
  
Afternoon:
• Publishers’ Texts
• Defining Literary Merit
• Close Reading andScaffolding Techniques
•  Prose Question: Deconstructing the Prompt
• Writing to the Prose Prompt
• Questions and Answers
  
Day #3
 
Morning:
• Reflection
• Answer and Score Prose and Poetry M/C Passages: Discuss Structure and Implications for Teaching
• Short Story: Questioning and Scaffolding Techniques
• Publishers’ Texts
• Work on AP Units  
  
Afternoon:
•  Drama in the Classroom
• Review Prose Responses
• Prose Scoring
•  Importance of Tone
• Syllabi Discussions
• Questions and Answers
 
Day #4 
 
Morning:
• Reflection
• The Open Question
• Thesis Statements and Introductions
• Open Question Scoring
• Publishers’ Texts
  
Afternoon:
• Additional Resources
• Next Steps
• Questions and Answers
• Closure
  
Suggestions for preparing for our time together:

I will also be conducting several close reading activities using short stories and poems. If you would like to bring favorites to share, please do so. I would appreciate you bringing enough copies for approximately 30.