Patrick Connolly
My name is Patrick Connolly. I am excited to be leading the AP Summer Institute for AP Business and Personal Finance. I live with my wife and seven year old daughter in Las Vegas, and I am a teacher at Faith Lutheran High School in Las Vegas Nevada where I have been teaching business classes for over a decade. I head our business program, run our business academy, and am our DECA advisor. I also serve on the board of directors for Nevada DECA and help to run our FBLA club as well. I have been an AP teacher for the past six years teaching AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics, and am extremely excited that AP has created this new business course.
I have been running AP Business this year in my classroom as part of the focus test for College Board, so I have seen how amazing this class truly is. This APSI should help both the experienced AP teacher, and the teacher that is completely new to AP classes or business classes as a whole. We will be going over all the acronyms that you need to know in the AP and business education world as well. By attending an AP Summer Institute you will be given access to all five projects that correspond to the five units of this course. You will be given a day by day curriculum breakdown that you can use and modify to fit your particular classroom needs. You will also be given case studies and resources to go along with all of the project based learning guides. This is not your ordinary professional development, as we will get a chance to explore project based learning together.
Expect to be able to collaborate with other business teachers and to discuss best practices as it pertains to project based learning and career and technical student organization involvement. We will run through some of the assignments you will be giving students and talk about how they correspond with and relate to this new course. You will also be given the guide and time to actually look at how you will be implementing this into your classroom next year. One of the big complaints that I know I have with professional development sometimes is that it isn’t immediately applicable to my class, but I can assure you that will not be the case here. You will have materials, curriculum, project guides, and a pacing guide all that can instantly be worked into your classroom. As someone who attended an AP Summer Institute for this course last year, I can personally say that I grew immensely as an educator and built a network with other teachers that I work with even now to make my courses better.
Things to bring: A notebook, pen, and a laptop or similar device.
Look forward to seeing you this summer.
WHY PROJECT BASED LEARNING
Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects.
The AP Business with Personal Finance is a new, year-long Advanced Placement course launching in the 2026-27 school year that blends core business principles with essential personal financial literacy. It is part of the College Board's AP Career Kickstart program and was developed in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The AP Business with Personal Finance is a new, year-long Advanced Placement course launching in the 2026-27 school year that blends core business principles with essential personal financial literacy. It is part of the College Board's AP Career Kickstart program and was developed in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
How the PBL Series Works
- 4 days of online or in-person professional learning during an AP Summer Institute
- Login will be administered by college boardportal and your presenter
- Up to 5 online support sessions throughout the school year
- Access to project implementation guides aligned to the course framework
- Overview of Curriculum: The course integrates business disciplines like entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, accounting, and management with personal finance standards. Key topics include:
- Personal Goals, Budgeting, and Investing (including retirement planning, loans, and home ownership)
- Management and Strategy
- Personal Saving and Borrowing/Business Finance and Accounting
- Marketing
- Businesses, Competition, and New Ideas
AGENDA
AP Project Based Learning Series : AP Business with Personal Finance
Driving Question: How can PBL help ALL students thrive in an AP Classroom?
Day 1: 8:00 am- 4:30 pm (7.5 hours)
8:00-8:15 Welcome and Introductions
8:15-8:25 Ideal Graduate
8:25-8:35 Day 1 Driving Question and Learning Outcomes 8:35-8:45 Show Your Sketch
8:45-8:50 PBL vs. “Doing Projects”
8:50-9:10 Introduce the Elements of High Quality PBL 9:10-9:30 CED Scavenger Hunt: Focus on Framework 9:30-9:45 Break
9:45-10:05 Initial Know/Need to Know Groups
10:05-10:40 Unit 1 Entry Event: Cookie Business
10:40-10:45 Unit 1 Entry Event Debrief
10:45-11:00 Think of a Student
● PBL, Diverse Students, and Ideal Graduate
● Scaffolds for struggling, multilingual, and advanced students. 11:00-11:10 Introduction to the Business Canvas
11:10-11:35 Business Ideation in Unit 1
11:35-12:00 Hypothesis Testing Problem-Solution Fit 12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-1:20 Personal Finance in Unit 1: Core Competencies
1:20-1:30 Personal Finance in Unit 1 Debrief
1:30-2:00 CED Scavenger Hunt: Focus on Lesson Planning 2:00-2:15 Course Driving Question and Unit 1 Debrief 2:15-2:30 Break
2:30-2:40 Teaching with Business Cases Best Practices 2:40-3:10 Unit 1 Case Study: Bombas
3:10-3:15 Case Study Debrief
3:15-3:30 Course at a Glance Pacing
3:30-4:15 Unit 1 Calendaring
4:15-4:30 Unit 1 Clarifying Questions and Exit Ticket
Day 2: 8:00 am-4:30 PM
8:00-8:05 Day 2 Driving Question and Learning Outcomes
8:05-8:10 Blob Bridge Activity
8:10-8:25 Exit Ticket Discussion
8:25-8:30 PBL Dessert vs Main Course Review
8:30-8:45 The Tale of Two Classrooms Discussion
8:45-9:00 The Case for PBL and AP
9:00-9:10 Introduction to Assessment in PBL
9:10-9:30 CED Scavenger Hunt: Focus on Assessment
9:30-9:45 Know/Need to Know Groups Time
9:45-10:00 Teaching to Standards Discussion and Activity
● Refer back to CED.
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-10:45 AP BPF Exam Overview
● Page 238 of CED
● Example FRQ (tied to Units 1-2, Question 3 of CED pg 250-252)
10:45-11:00 Identifying Best Practices For Assessments
11:00-11:30 Time to Read Project 2 PBL Implementation Guide
11:30-11:45 What Keeps You Going? Activity
11:45-12:00 Introduction to Unit 2 Entry Event
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-1:30 Modeling Unit 2 Entry Event
● Main Course vs. Dessert unit calendar comparison
● Show Gillette Video (suggested – three Old Spice videos)
● Share engaging elements of project two that give a sense of creative elements of the project
1:30-2:00 Unit 2 Debrief: Share Marketing Strategies
2:00-2:15 Unit 2 Connections to Business Canvas
2:15-2:30 Unit 2 Connections to Personal Finance
2:30-2:45 Break
2:45-3:15 Unit 2 Case Study: Coke vs Pepsi
● Virtual Coke vs Pepsi Taste Test
3:15-4:00 Unit 2 Calendaring Project 2
4:00-4:20 Unit 2 Culminating Event
4:20-4:30 Unit 2 Clarifying Questions and Exit Ticket (address parking lot questions)
Day 3: 8:00 am-4:30 PM
8:00-8:05 Day 3 Driving Question and Learning Outcomes
8:05-8:10 Blob Tree Activity
8:10-8:25 Exit Ticket Discussion
8:25-8:55 Role of Critique and Revisions (Austin’s Butterfly)
● Tie back to hypothesis testing (FRQ connection).
8:55-9:15 Critical Protocol: Rose, Thorn, Bud
● Rose (what is good), Thorn (what is not good), Bud (what are possible solutions) ● Hypothesis Testing
9:15-9:20 Introduction to Unit 3 and Personal Finance
9:20-9:55 Unit 3: Entry Event
9:55-10:00 Unit 3: Entry Event Debrief
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-11:30 Introduction to Unit 3: Part 2
● Personal Finance and Financial Statements
● Accounting Equation (new approach, no debits/credits, no T accounts) 11:30 - 12:00 Time to Read the Project 3 Implementation Guide
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-1:30 Unit 3: Culminating Event-Funding Pitch
1:30-2:20 CED Scavenger Hunt: Focus on Teaching AP Business with Personal Finance Course Skills
● Use Course Skills Table (CED)
2:20 - 2:30 Think of a Student: Diverse Students, from Struggling to Overachiever 2:30-2:45 Break
2:45-3:20 Scaffolding in PBL: Planning the “Messy Middle”
3:20-4:20 Unit 3 Calendaring, Work Time, Collaboration 4:20-4:30 Project 3 Clarifying Questions & Exit Ticket
Day 4: 8:00 am-4:30 pm
8:00 Day 4 Driving Question and Learning Outcomes
8:05-8:20 Exit Ticket Discussion
8:20-8:30 Introduction to Embedding Business Competitions within the AP Business with Personal Finance Course
8:30-9:20 CTSO Implementation Discussion
9:20-9:30 Embedding Business Competitions Debrief
9:30-10:00 CED Scavenger Hunt: Focus on Financial Advisor Project and Business Canvas Deliverables
10:00-10:15 Know/Need to Know Groups Time
10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-10:55 PBL Culture-Building Choice Breakout Groups
10:55-11:00 Culture-Building Choice Debrief
11:00-12:00 Read Units 4-5 Implementation Guides
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-1:55 Financial Advisor Project
1:55-2:00 Financial Advisor Project Debrief
2:00-2:45 Looking Forward to Unit 5
2:45-3:00 Break
3:00-3:30 Overview of School Year Support Sessions
3:30-3:45 Course Reflections
3:45-4:00 Commitment Statements
4:00-4:20 Course Audit & 4:20-4:30 Survey