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So, if you've been monitorying Latinteach or the AP list (or any list, it seems) lately you've seen discussion on AP and the revisions to the test. I've tried to get some productive talk going, but there's been a lot of negativity. I find it very disappointing because we are talking about our future.
It seems to me no different than elections. I've faithfully voted certainly every year since I've been married (15 going on 16), and felt my efforts have been wasted. But to give up on voting is NOT the answer (especially with some frightening prospects on the horizon, including a possible vice president who believes in book banning and acts like my former principal....). We have to believe that we can effect change. We have to. We have to think that each of us can make a difference.
I feel the same about AP. We can make a difference IF WE SPEAK UP.
And, admittedly, I still get fairly frustrated by people who think they need two tests to make their AP programs work. I mean, I don't DOUBT that. I'm sure they've adapted to that and it's made their program work. But why--especially at really large schools--why are their AP programs small? Why aren't they getting MORE students up to AP?
Reading the AP annual report is eye-opening. They REALLY want more students who are NOT typical AP students. They want a more diverse crowd. But if we are weeding these kids out, how can we have large programs?
Perhaps I'm too generous a teacher. Maybe I'm not hard enough in some respects. Maybe I should weed out students, giving enough homework to get rid of slackers or to make sure that every single person can conjugate and decline perfectly any odd thing I throw at them. But I want to READ the Latin, and spend more time on that, spot checking conjugating and declining on quizzes, leaving the drill and kill for quia stuff.
And maybe my students (all two of them) in AP are really feeling like they've bitten off more than they can chew. THEN AGAIN, I really enjoyed their essays on their first test, and there was evidence that they are *getting* the Aeneid. HOW COOL IS THAT?
So, while I'd like to think that by April I'll have them equipped to make 5's on the AP exam, what if they only make 3's? Or less? (Not that I expect that!) Does that negate the experience?
We spend sooooo much time talking about grades. We think that our worth is measured by numbers--whether it's grades or evaluations or the number of kids who actually made gold medals on the National Latin Exam. I would rather my students leave here talking about Vergil and Aeneas than their grades.
And if other teachers at big schools still have small AP programs, perhaps they should consider how to increase those numbers instead of using two AP tests....
It seems to me no different than elections. I've faithfully voted certainly every year since I've been married (15 going on 16), and felt my efforts have been wasted. But to give up on voting is NOT the answer (especially with some frightening prospects on the horizon, including a possible vice president who believes in book banning and acts like my former principal....). We have to believe that we can effect change. We have to. We have to think that each of us can make a difference.
I feel the same about AP. We can make a difference IF WE SPEAK UP.
And, admittedly, I still get fairly frustrated by people who think they need two tests to make their AP programs work. I mean, I don't DOUBT that. I'm sure they've adapted to that and it's made their program work. But why--especially at really large schools--why are their AP programs small? Why aren't they getting MORE students up to AP?
Reading the AP annual report is eye-opening. They REALLY want more students who are NOT typical AP students. They want a more diverse crowd. But if we are weeding these kids out, how can we have large programs?
Perhaps I'm too generous a teacher. Maybe I'm not hard enough in some respects. Maybe I should weed out students, giving enough homework to get rid of slackers or to make sure that every single person can conjugate and decline perfectly any odd thing I throw at them. But I want to READ the Latin, and spend more time on that, spot checking conjugating and declining on quizzes, leaving the drill and kill for quia stuff.
And maybe my students (all two of them) in AP are really feeling like they've bitten off more than they can chew. THEN AGAIN, I really enjoyed their essays on their first test, and there was evidence that they are *getting* the Aeneid. HOW COOL IS THAT?
So, while I'd like to think that by April I'll have them equipped to make 5's on the AP exam, what if they only make 3's? Or less? (Not that I expect that!) Does that negate the experience?
We spend sooooo much time talking about grades. We think that our worth is measured by numbers--whether it's grades or evaluations or the number of kids who actually made gold medals on the National Latin Exam. I would rather my students leave here talking about Vergil and Aeneas than their grades.
And if other teachers at big schools still have small AP programs, perhaps they should consider how to increase those numbers instead of using two AP tests....
