A new sophomore English class for Glenbard South students is debuting next school year: AP Seminar. AP Seminar combines research, analytical and collaboration skills into one cohesive course. According to the AP Students website, this course lets students investigate relevant issues and practice their presentation skills, as well as write essays and read novels.
“[This course] asks students to be focused on their own inquiry, places where they find in routes to analyzing the text from any particular lens,” said Dr. Linette Chaloka, English Department chair. For example, when reading the novel To Kill A Mockingbird instead of only talking about themes and character development, AP Seminar will add in questions about how people would have viewed the book in the past, and how the novel is situated within history. “It becomes a way to connect to the text in a more individualized way,” explained Chaloka.
AP Seminar will thoroughly prepare students for future English classes, and the path they might take after they graduate. Part of the AP Seminar exam is a presentation, so the course focuses on public speaking and teaching students how to develop a powerful presentation, which is integral for all students in their careers after high school. Furthermore, students will not only practice reading novels, but gain experience analyzing articles and studies, as stated in the AP Students website. “It’s important for students to read novels, but it’s not the only stuff they are ever going to read,” explained Chaloka.
“It takes all the best of what 2H is…and enhances it,” said Chaloka. A student in AP Seminar could delve deeper into the influence the novels they read have on society, and how it connectes to current events. For example, a student could read the dystopian book, Farenheit 451, and research into how social media and the abundance of technology is affecting people and our society today and what insights this book might have on our future. This course highlights how literature from even more than a century ago is still relevant today.
“I look at the faces of every single student who walks through these halls and I see in them a potential future,” sais Chaloka, “there is a way that we can help students find those places that speak to their passions, and allow them access to a more rigorous experience though an AP course…because we have an obligation to provide an avenue for them to see how far they can really go.” To conclude, AP Seminar will help students improve in all areas of their educational life.
