Brook Bullock
Memorial High School in Edmond, Oklahoma
BROOK BULLOCK
Brook Bullock has taught in Oklahoma since 1994 and currently teaches at Edmond Memorial High School in Edmond, Oklahoma. His first teaching assignment was at rural Blackwell High School where he was a founding member of the school’s first AP English Vertical Team, and he taught both on-level and Pre-AP English I and II, as well as electives in mythology and Shakespeare. In 2001 Mr. Bullock moved to Del City High School where, in addition to starting the AP English Language program, he was the Yearbook and Newspaper sponsor and taught Journalism and English III for 10 years. From 2011 to 2017 he taught AP English Language and on-level American Literature at Putnam City North High School.
Brook is a certified College Board consultant since 1997 and has scored entries for National Board Certification as well as serving as a Reader for both the AP English Language and AP English Literature exams. He has presented at numerous workshops, conferences, and Summer Institutes in the Southwest, Midwestern, Southern, and Western Regions of the College Board, including multiple invitations to present at the College Board’s AP National Conference. His passion, however, continues to be working with students at the secondary level.
Brook can be contacted at brookbullock3@gmail.com
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Designed for the English instructor seeking to learn or improve teaching strategies pertinent to AP English Language, this course will focus on preparing students for the national exam but have an emphasis on application to the rhetorical situations present in communications “of the real world” so that students may also become critical thinkers beyond the classroom as well. Participants will leave the institute with lessons and strategies they can immediately incorporate into their curriculum.
Topics will utilize examples from fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama with an overall emphasis on improving students’ close reading/analysis skills and improving the syntactical maturity of students’ writing. Possible APSI discussion topics include:
Monday: Course and Exam Overview
Building Lessons: Part I (Question & Answers; sharing resources, etc.)
Tuesday: Opening Q&A, Lesson Building Examples & Insights
Rhetorical Analysis
Building Lessons: Part II
(Curricular Resources, Media beyond the Text, etc. Question & Answers)
Wednesday: Opening Q&A, Lesson Building Examples & Insights
Argument
Media Bias & Critical Evaluations
Building Lessons: Part III
(“Writing for the Real World”, Principles of Disruptive Texts, etc.)
Thursday: Opening Q&A, Lesson Building Examples & Insights
Synthesis
Building Lessons: Part IV
Design your own multi-week Research Project incorporating CED skills
Review Course Building and Content
Final Q & As; Closure
Designed for the English instructor seeking to learn or improve teaching strategies pertinent to AP English Language, this course will focus on preparing students for the national exam but have an emphasis on application to the rhetorical situations present in communications “of the real world” so that students may also become critical thinkers beyond the classroom as well. Participants will leave the institute with lessons and strategies they can immediately incorporate into their curriculum.
Topics will utilize examples from fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama with an overall emphasis on improving students’ close reading/analysis skills and improving the syntactical maturity of students’ writing. Possible APSI discussion topics include:
- An in-depth study of the AP English Language CED, including the 6 Point Rubric. We will focus on integrating the rubric into our own scoring methods as well as using the course outline and student samples for instructional purposes in our own classrooms.
- Developing an AP English Language course as part of an effective Vertical Team
- Improving close/ reading, critical thinking, and rhetorical/language analysis
- Improving students’ writing through their ability to read and analyze complex text
- Introducing/Improving Argumentative Writing (for the English Language & Comp Exam)
- Utilizing multiple genres in the AP English Language & Composition classroom
- Utilizing high-interest non-fiction (including images and video as rhetorical text)
- Research time for lesson planning, enrichment pieces, and application
Monday: Course and Exam Overview
- CED Skills Page
- Course Design Options (skills alignment/progressions)
- Common Design Approaches
- AP Classroom and AP Daily
- Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Access
- Vertical Teaming; Building Updated AP Eng. Lang Syllabus and Philosophy (studying the “Big Ideas”)
- Intro to Expert Videos
- Test Formats (MC and FRQ)
- MC Composition Passages
- The 6 Point Rubric
Building Lessons: Part I (Question & Answers; sharing resources, etc.)
Tuesday: Opening Q&A, Lesson Building Examples & Insights
Rhetorical Analysis
- Reading Rhetorically
- Making Non-Fiction Fun
- Teaching Literary Texts Rhetorically
- Writing Rhetorically
- AP Rhetorical Analysis Essay Question
- Practice Essay Scoring
Building Lessons: Part II
(Curricular Resources, Media beyond the Text, etc. Question & Answers)
Wednesday: Opening Q&A, Lesson Building Examples & Insights
Argument
- AP Argument Essay Question
- Evaluating Argumentation & Crafting Arguments
- Cross-Curricular Value of AP Lang
- Practice Essay Scoring
Media Bias & Critical Evaluations
- Facts, Facts, Facts, Opinion
- Why should I trust this?
- Creating a “well-informed citizentry”
Building Lessons: Part III
(“Writing for the Real World”, Principles of Disruptive Texts, etc.)
Thursday: Opening Q&A, Lesson Building Examples & Insights
Synthesis
- AP Synthesis Essay Question
- Practice Essay Scoring
- The Research Project
Building Lessons: Part IV
Design your own multi-week Research Project incorporating CED skills
Review Course Building and Content
- Creative Projects and Intellectual Rigor
- AP Classroom & Instructional Planning Reports
- Steps to Official CB Syllabus Approval
- Design (or revise) your course description and syllabus.
Final Q & As; Closure