Who

Laying the Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit company which has trained over 15,000 teachers in Texas, provides the only teacher training program designed specifically for Pre-AP teachers, and aims at increasing the number of students prepared for Advanced Placement English, mathematics, and science courses.

 

What

LTF is offering One Day Teacher Training Seminars for English, mathematics, and science teachers. These seminars will provide teachers six hours of instruction in focused topics related to their courses and will enable them to collaborate with colleagues under the direction of a knowledgeable consultant experienced in content and strategies necessary for success on AP Exams.

 

Seminar Descriptions

Pre-AP English Sessions

 

Middle School and High School Assessment Training – Style Analysis

Learn to use prompts, scoring guides, and student samples from recent LTF End of Course exams to evaluate students’ timed responses. Trainers will guide participants through a careful examination of prompts and the scoring guides, and participants will then apply the scoring guide descriptors to actual student responses as they practice holistic scoring techniques.

 

Intended Audience: Pre-AP Middle School and Pre-AP High School English Teachers

AP English Sessions

 

The Real Toad in the Imaginary Garden**

(How to teach poetry analysis for the AP Literature Exam)

Teach your students strategies for annotation and analysis, writing the poetry compare/contrast essay, and using context in writing poetry analysis. An emphasis on poetry previously seen on the AP* Literature and Composition exam, with a special section on teaching the sonnet form are included.

**Attributed to Marianne Moore.

Intended Audience: AP Literature Teachers

Rhetoric in American Public Discourse

Incorporate U.S. history and rhetoric into your American literature survey curriculum. The emphasis will be on teaching how to close-read public speech, identify basic patterns and specific strategies, and synthesize reasoned arguments for multi-draft papers and timed test essays.

Intended Audience: AP Language Teachers

Pre-AP Mathematics Sessions

 

High School Assessment Training – Optimization

In this training, participants will discuss the development and application of rubrics to assess students’ work. Training will include an exploration of three free response questions, an explanation of their rubrics, and application of these rubrics to student samples from the 2009 LTF Free Response End of Course exams. Discussion will include how to use free response questions within the classroom and how to evaluate student responses.

 

Intended Audience: Pre-AP Middle School and High School Mathematics Teachers

AP Mathematics Sessions

 

Calculus AB

AM Topic: Data-Driven Problems in AP Calculus

Explore data-driven problems in table and graph form. Lessons and assessments will prepare students to effectively handle data and use appropriate calculus applications.

 

PM Topic: Fundamental Theorem of Calculus

If the theorem is fundamental, it must be important! Teachers will receive lessons and assessments designed to help students understand the FTC and its application. Strategies will be modeled to increase student success on the AP exam.

 

Intended Audience: AP Calculus Teachers

 

Statistics

 

AM Topic: Designing a Study

Explore effective ways to present experimental design in the classroom.  Lessons and assessments will be used to prepare students for this topic along with strategies to motivate students to understand this abstract concept.

 

 

PM Topic: Statistical Inference

 

Preparing students for statistical inference can be challenging.  Teachers will receive lessons and assignments designed to help students understand and apply inference techniques to situations.  Strategies will be presented that are designed to increase student success on the AP exam.

 

Intended Audience: AP Statistics Teachers

 

Pre-AP Science Sessions

 

Middle School Assessment Training – Volume I

Learn to use prompts, rubrics, and student samples from 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, and IPC LTF End of Course exams to evaluate students’ responses. Trainers will guide participants through a careful examination of the prompts and the rubrics, and participants will then apply the scoring guide descriptors to actual student responses. Strategies for developing prompts and rubrics in the classroom will also be explored.

 

Intended Audience: Pre-AP Middle School Science Teachers

 

AP Science Sessions

 

Biology: The Chemistry Behind the Biology

Teach your students the strategies and content needed to successfully navigate questions and concepts dealing with the chemical reactions that occur behind the scenes in organisms.  From basic biochemistry at a cellular level to homeostasis in body systems, an in-depth review of all relevant information will be presented as well as the opportunity to work through appropriate hands on lab activities, multiple choice, and free response questions similar to those encountered on the AP* Exam.

 

Intended Audience: AP Biology Teachers; Pre-AP Biology teachers welcome

 

 

Chemistry

 

AM Topic: The Potential to Electrify! 

Teach your students the strategies and content needed to successfully navigate questions and concepts dealing with electrochemistry.  From oxidation and reduction to the Nernst equation and electrolysis, an in-depth review of all relevant information will be presented as well as the opportunity to work through appropriate hands on lab activities, multiple choice, and free response questions similar to those encountered on the AP* Exam.

 

PM Topic: Enthalpy, Entropy, and Free Energy - the Dynamics of Thermochemistry 

Teach your students the strategies and content needed to successfully navigate questions and concepts dealing with thermochemistry.  From ΔH°  to ΔS° and their relationships to free energy, cell potential, and equilibrium, an in-depth review of all relevant information will be presented as well as the opportunity to work through appropriate hands on lab activities, multiple choice, and free response questions similar to those encountered on the AP* Exam.

 

Intended Audience: AP Chemistry Teachers; Pre-AP Chemistry teachers welcome

Physics  

 

AM Topic: Thermodynamics

Expose your students to aspects of thermodynamics which traditionally appear on the AP* Physics B exam.  Provide your students with labs investigating the first and second laws of thermodynamics in order to bring these fundamental aspects of the nature of the universe to a practical and understandable level.   An in-depth review of all relevant information will be presented as well as the opportunity to work through appropriate hands on lab activities, multiple choice, and free response questions similar to those encountered on the AP* Exam.

 

PM Topic: Fluids

Teach your students the aspects of fluids, as tested on the current AP* Physics exam.  Labs which investigate buoyancy, Archimedes, and Bernoulli will be included to enhance student knowledge and understanding of these principles.  An in-depth review of all relevant information will be presented as well as the opportunity to work through appropriate hands on lab activities, multiple choice, and free response questions similar to those encountered on the AP* Exam.

 

Intended Audience: AP Physics Teachers; Pre-AP Physics teachers welcome

 

Where

Saturday, February 13, 2010

 

Coppell High School

185 W Parkway Blvd.

Coppell, TX 75019

 

8:30 AM – 3:30 PM

 

*Lunch will be provided.

 

 

Contact

For all inquires regarding One Day Teacher Training Seminars, please contact Karen Tyler at ktyler@ltftraining.org.