AP Seminar Course Syllabus
2014-15
Instructor: Mr. Dave Wood
Room Number: A207
Phone Number: 6221-1445 ext. 6160
Content Area: Elective
Email: David.Wood@saschina.org
Course Overview
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, 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 in order to craft
and communicate evidence-based arguments. (AP Seminar Course and Exam
Description, pg. 9)
Student Outcomes
One of the things that I truly love about this course is that it is designed to prepare
you to become a life-long learner and explore areas of interest that you are
passionate about. The skill set acquired through this course will translate well into
any area of study that you wish to pursue in the future. Students who develop the
skills listed below are those that I will consider to be successful:
Question and Explore
Understand and Analyze Arguments
Evaluate Multiple Perspectives
Synthesize Ideas
Team, Transform, and Transmit
Bear in mind that when we look at issues in this course, we will do so through a
variety of different “lenses.” Those include:
Cultural and Social
Political and Historical
Economic
Futuristic
Artistic and Philosophical
Environmental
Scientific
Ethical
Class Expectations
My expectations for this class are quite simple and can be summed up by two words:
respect and responsibility. I plan on showing you respect by taking time to answer
your questions, listening to your concerns, and trying to make this class interesting
and meaningful for you. Likewise, you will never hear me speak negatively about
another student because I respect all of you. Likewise, I expect you to show respect
for your classmates, this room, our school, and myself in the same manner.
Along the same lines, we all have different responsibilities in this classroom. I have
a responsibility to prepare lessons each day which are engaging and cause you to
think critically. I also have the responsibility of teaching you the skills necessary to
be successful not only on the AP exam, but as a life-long learner. Likewise, you have
a responsibility to come to class each day prepared with all of your materials
(MacBook, writing utensil, any handouts that I have given you, etc.). I expect you to
come to class with all readings completed for that particular day along with any
other homework assigned. (I will discuss this more in detail in the “Grading”
section.) If you are gone for any reason, you are responsible for getting the work
that you missed.
A big part of being responsible is the student being proactive in discussing issues
related to the course (and in relation to his/her academic schedule in general). I am
more than willing to work with students regarding deadlines, assessment criteria,
etc. provided the student takes the initiative to discuss these issues with me as soon
as they arise.
Course Grading
Course grading for this course will look very different than it will for other courses.
You will be assessed on critical skills necessary for success throughout the course. A
specific assignment may involve more than one of these skills, and thus, you will be
given multiple grades for that particular assessment. The categories (with their
weights) are:
Analysis – 25%
Inquiry – 25%
Synthesis – 35%
Presentation/Communication – 15%
These categories will account for 80% of your Semester One grade. The final exam
(Mock AP Exam) will account for the other 20% of your grade.
Please note that the criteria for grading may change from Semester One to Semester
Two. Information on the grading criteria for Semester Two will be given to you in
January.
Homework
In accordance with SAS policy, students who do not complete the assigned
homework for any given day will be assigned to the Second Chance Room to make
up the missing work. I reserve the right to assign students to the Second Chance
Room for not completing any assignment, including reading homework. Because
this class emphasizes collaboration, students who do not do their homework hurt
the entire class, not just themselves.
Academic Integrity
For purposes of this course, the College Board has enlisted the following plagiarism
policy:
“A student or team of students who fails to acknowledge (i.e. through citation, through
attribution, by reference, and/or through acknowledgement in a bibliographic entry)
the source or author of any and all information or evidence taken from the work of
someone else will receive a score of zero on that particular component of the AP
Seminar and/or AP Research assessment.”
As an additional note, academic honesty is of the utmost importance to me and is a
vital part of maintaining credible institutions of learning. Academic dishonesty
tarnishes the integrity of everyone involved and ruins careers and reputations.
There is absolutely no excuse for academic dishonesty. If you are caught
participating in any behavior that is academically dishonest, I will follow the
appropriate guidelines in reporting your offense. This is one of the easiest ways to
fail this class and will not be tolerated. If you are having difficulty keeping up with
the work for this course, by all means, come talk to me so that we can work
something out. (For a further description, see pg. 22-23 of the SAS Student
Handbook.)
Retakes
Please note that students are not allowed to “redo” the major assessments which are
part of your AP grade for the course (Group Research Project and Presentation,
Individual Research Project and Presentation). In addition, the two common
assessments from the First Semester may not be retaken. A student may redo any
other assessment throughout the course provided that it is done in consultation
with the instructor. (A student may not simply decided to re-write a paper because
he or she did poorly. The student must have a meeting with the instructor to
discuss the areas needed for improvement and the specific plan for how the student
will demonstrate learning.) In determining eligibility for redoing an assessment, the
instructor will consider the student’s completion of all formative work relevant to
this assessment and whether or not it was done in a timely manner.
Absences
If you are absent, you are responsible for all make up work. If you are absent on the
day something is due, you are expected to turn in that work prior to your absence
unless your absence was unplanned (i.e. illness, funeral, etc.) or unless prior
arrangements have been made with me. If you miss a quiz, test, or presentation,
expect to make up that assessment on the day that you return to class. Please note
that a day-by-day schedule can be found on the Moddle for this class.
The AP Exam and Grade
This course is different from all other AP courses in that your grade is not
determined solely by an exam at the end of the year. During the second semester,
we will work on the two in-class AP assessments. On May 5th, you will write your AP
Exam for the course. The grade breakdown is as follows:
Group Research Project and Presentation – 25%
Individual Research Project and Presentation – 35%
AP Exam – 40%
The AP Exam consists of three essays in response to an article (or series of articles)
which you will read during the exam. You will be given ample practice in how to
respond to these prompts throughout the course.
Textbook
There is not a specific “text” for this course. I would strongly recommend that you
purchase a “writer’s guide” of some sort (Bedford St. Martins, etc.) as this will help
you immensely with using MLA.
At first, I will be supplying you with a series of texts and articles to guide our
discussion of various topics. Later on, you will be the ones finding the texts for our
course as a way for you to help develop your own research skills.
Course Outline
Our first semester will focus largely on skill-development (QUEST skills, analysis,
public speaking, research etc.) Second semester will focus on the two major AP
assessments as well as preparation for the AP Exam in May.
Final Notes
I typically arrive at school by 7:15 am. You are more than welcome to come by my
room before school starts, during breaks, or after school if you have any questions
or concerns regarding the class. (It’s best if you email me first to make sure that I
will be around.)
You will want to join the Moodle for this class as soon as possible! You will be using
this website frequently throughout the semester to find assignments, participate in
discussions, review for assessments, and so on. I will do my best to keep this up to
date and add websites that pertain to what we are discussing in class. In order to
make this a collaborative effort, feel free to email me with websites that you come
across that you find particularly interesting or useful. I will add these to the Moodle
as this will only enhance our collective experience this year.