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Home > Features > Teaching Other Teachers: My First Summer Institute
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Teaching Other Teachers: My First Summer Institute
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by Lisa Baker
Wilburton High School
Wilburton, Oklahoma
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| | Elation, Then Preparation
We often say there's a first time for everything, but in education, we have many firsts. We once had our first year of teaching, and every year we have a first day of school. On my desk, I still keep a picture of my first AP class. When I attended my first AP Summer Institute at Tulsa University, I felt overwhelmed and wasn't sure that I would be able to help my students reach the standard set forth for the AP English Literature and Composition Exam. During my first year of teaching AP English, I would never have believed that someday I would be conducting my first AP Summer Institute.
However, on my thirtieth birthday, I received notification that I had been added to the College Board's Summer Institute consultant list. I was overwhelmed, but it was a wonderful birthday gift. When I received a phone call from Patricia Brown of Region 16 in Amarillo, Texas, inviting me to conduct a Summer Institute, my disbelief grew. It was a challenge that both flattered and frightened me. I was ready to try.
To prepare, I began by reflecting on my years as an AP teacher. I looked back on the first Summer Institute I attended and thought about what I had taken away from it. I had learned that it was important to teach what I love, to challenge my students, and to never be afraid to try something new. This was the message I wanted to provide for my Summer Institute participants. I wanted them to walk away from our week together with the confidence that they could teach AP.
I spent hours scouring my filing cabinets for what I felt were the best materials, which I initially estimated would be 200 pages long. Once I had collected what I felt was necessary for the participants, I was shocked to find it was over 300 pages! I wanted to give my participants everything they might need, so I included information about the College Board, the AP Program, and the exam itself. I also included major units I teach, such as style analysis and poetry analysis, past exams, and the guides and tests I had created for the novels I teach. When I looked back on my first year of AP, these were the items I needed and used the most.
Sharing Successful Techniques
When the week of the Institute finally arrived, I was both ready and anxious. The participants began to arrive about a half hour before we were to begin -- and they were smiling! These teachers were dedicated to their profession and eager to learn new ideas. During introductions, each participant shared where she taught, what she taught, how long she taught, and what she hoped to gain from our week together (all of the participants I taught were women). They had a wide range of experience -- a couple had previous AP experience, and others were beginning programs or simply curious about the AP English Literature and Composition course. They taught at small, medium, and large schools. As individuals they hoped to gain different things: new ideas, strategies, new novels to teach, and classroom management help. One participant echoed my own feelings as a newbie when she asked, "Can I do this?" I assured her she could.
The week flew by so quickly. Most of the time I felt as if I were sharing my favorite teaching experiences with a group of good friends. I shared with them my successful teaching methods, including a graded discussion. I not only talked about the importance of encouraging all students to participate and about giving students an opportunity to express their opinion on the works they read, I also showed them a video of my students engaged in such a discussion. Several of the participants then shared successful discussion techniques they used in their classrooms.
As a beginning AP English teacher, I struggled the most with prose and poetry analysis. So, in my Summer Institute, I wanted to be sure to include information on how to teach analysis to students, as well as ways to feel comfortable with it as a teacher. As a group, we analyzed Marge Piercy's poem "Barbie Doll." We used the TP-CASTT acronym (Title, Paraphrase, Connontation, Attitude, Shift, Theme, Title) as a basis for our analysis. As we discussed the poem, I wrote the class's comments on a large paper pad and taped each portion of our analysis up on the wall. When we finished, it was an awesome feeling to see a piece of poetry dissected and analyzed.
Being aware of available resources is a necessary part of being an AP teacher, and it was one of my goals to educate the participants about the resources I had used in my classroom. (In fact, I brought a whole suitcase full of them!) I stressed the importance of using the materials the College Board supplies, and I was extremely excited when a shipment of the new Vertical Team Guide for English arrived in the middle of the week. The information it provided was invaluable. I also shared other publications that had been helpful such as Nancy Dean's Voice Lessons, and Jane Schaffer's excellent style analysis guide.
The Most Important Resource: Other AP Teachers
On the last day, I stressed the most important resource of all: other AP teachers. During the first part of the morning, the participants shared successful ideas generated from their classrooms. The variety of the ideas and their enthusiasm and expertise was amazing. The rest of the morning we spent in the computer lab looking at two other valuable resources: AP Central and the AP English Electronic Discussion Group (EDG).
After lunch, the participants thanked me and gave me hugs. As each left, I thought, "There goes an excellent teacher." When I was alone in the room, I thought back about all the fears and doubts I had. They had been replaced by the great feeling of success. I had met the challenge and had accomplished another "first" in my teaching career. Overall, it had been a wonderful week -- meeting great teachers and sharing my experiences and ideas. In years past when I returned to school after attending a Summer Institute, I was full of enthusiasm and new ideas. This year as school begins, I return with the confidence of having conducted my first Summer Institute, and that gives me personal and professional pride.
Lisa Baker has spent her nine-year career as an English teacher at Wilburton High School in southeastern Oklahoma. She taught her school's first AP course in 1998 and has enjoyed seeing more AP classes added to her school's curriculum each year. She has been a College Board consultant for two years.
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