Forum: Participate 1.1.2 Joining a DLC

Forum: Participate 1.1.2 Joining a DLC

For the last 10 years I have been a part of the College Board's AP Central learning community.  In terms of both rigor and effective teaching, this community has been the greatest influence on my teaching career.  

When I started teaching AP English Literature in 2004, I soon realize that I had the freedom to teach whatever I wanted in the course as long as the content somewhere adhered to the curriculum expectations.  With this abstract emphasis on freedom I became excited and started creating several syllabi that reflect my various interest in English Literature; however, it soon became apparent that despite my interest and knowledge of English Literature, I still needed tangible tools, and exemplars to put my vision into practice.  The resources on the College Board AP Central learning community provided these tangible examples.  

Concerning the rigor of an AP course, I quickly learned from the published multiple-choice and open response questions that I needed to maintain a very high level of rigor with my teaching and assessment of student work.  Over the next three years, I spent a lot of time scoring and re-scoring student work based upon the College Board's rubrics and sample anchor papers.  Through this process I learned a lot about the difference between analysis and summary, and how to immediately recognize when a student understands a writing assignment and when he/she doesn't.  The availability of resources and ability to discuss with other AP English teachers were provided through this cite, and as I reflect I know that this dialogue is the single most important influence in making me a rigorous English teacher. 

Once I understood the true level of rigor for an AP English course, AP Central also provided several discussion boards and links to effective teaching for these AP English courses.  For example, from this learning community I have learned how to include Socratic Seminars into both my AP and other English classrooms.  The chance for student dialogue is a component that I would also like to bring to a GA Virtual Online learning community and will use as an effective teaching strategy for these courses. 

Easily AP Central and the resources that it provides has been the most influential Professional Learning Community on my own teaching practices.  

The following is a direct link to AP Central. http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/home