1. AP Capstone Seminar Course Description and Overview
Daniel W. Blackmon
Doral Academy Preparatory

2. Introduction
The AP Capstone program is a relatively new AP program aimed at better preparing students for high level work at university and beyond. Students who pass both AP Capstone Seminar (sophomore year at Doral) and Capstone Research (junior year at Doral) and who pass at least four other AP courses will earn the AP Capstone Diploma.

3. Introduction
The Common Application has added the question, “Do you take AP Capstone” to its form; even thought the program is very new, universities know what the Capstone program entails, and participating in the program will improve your chances for admission to competitive universities.

4. Introduction
I am personally quite excited to be teaching Capstone Seminar. I hope and expect that this will be a very enjoyable course both for me to teach and for students to take

5. Communication
It is ESSENTIAL that you join my Edmodo class and my Turnitin.com class!!!
I will post that information in the class room in a prominent place.

6. Goals
Emphasis will be placed on fostering writing, research and presentation skills more than a specific curriculum content.

7. Goals These skills include Analyzing sources and evidence
Constructing an evidence-based argument
Understanding context and perspective
Communicating

8. Description
“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.

9. Description
“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.

10. Description
“Students learn to synthesize information from multiple sources, develop their own perspectives in written essays, and design and deliver oral and visual presentations, both individually and as part of a team.

11. Description
“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 9)

12. QUEST

13. Course Requirements
“The curricular requirements are the core elements of an AP course. The curriculum framework and supporting documents provided during professional development serve as resources to assist teachers in determining the appropriate level of evidence to include within their syllabi to meet or exceed the requirements.

14. Course Requirements
“ (All AP Seminar teachers must attend College Board AP Seminar intensive training prior to their first year of teaching the AP Seminar course.) Evidence of the following curricular requirements should be included in the course syllabus developed by the teacher and submitted to the College Board for review and approval.

15. Course Requirements
Students explore the complexities of one or more themes by making connections within, between, and/or among multiple cross-curricular areas and by exploring multiple perspectives and lenses (e.g., cultural and social, artistic and philosophical, political and historical, environmental, economic, scientific, futuristic, ethical) related to those themes.

16. Course Requirements
Students develop and apply discrete skills identified in the learning objectives of the enduring understandings within the following five big ideas:
Question and Explore
Understand and Analyze
Evaluate Multiple Perspectives
Synthesize Ideas
Team, Transform, and Transmit

17. Course Requirements
Students gain a rich appreciation and understanding of issues through the following activities:
reading articles and research studies;
reading foundational, literary, and philosophical texts;
viewing and listening to speeches, broadcasts, and/or personal accounts;
and experiencing artistic works and performances

18. Course Requirements
Students develop an understanding of ethical research practices and the AP Capstone ™ Policy on Plagiarism and Falsification or Fabrication of Information.

19. Course Requirements
Students work collaboratively with a team to identify, investigate, analyze, and evaluate a real-world or academic problem or issue; consider and evaluate alternatives or options; propose one or more solutions or resolutions; and present and defend the argument for their solutions through a multimedia presentation.

20. Course Requirements
Students work independently to identify a research question based on provided stimulus material; research the issue; analyze, evaluate, and select evidence to develop an argument; present and defend a conclusion; and produce a multimedia presentation to be delivered to their peers. “ (10)

21. “Policy on Plagiarism and Falsification or Fabrication of Information
“Participating teachers shall inform students of the consequences of plagiarism and instruct students to ethically use and acknowledge the ideas and work of others throughout their course work.

22. “Policy on Plagiarism and Falsification or Fabrication of Information
“The student's individual voice should be clearly evident, and the ideas of others must be acknowledged, attributed, and/or cited.

23. “Policy on Plagiarism and Falsification or Fabrication of Information
“A student who fails to acknowledge the source or author of any and all information or evidence taken from the work of someone else through citation, attribution or reference in the body of the work, or through a bibliographic entry, will receive a score of a on that particular component of the AP Seminar and/or AP Research Performance Task.

24. “Policy on Plagiarism and Falsification or Fabrication of Information
“In AP Seminar, a team of students that fails to properly acknowledge sources or authors on the Team Multimedia Presentation will receive a group score of/a for that component of the Team Project and Presentation.

25. “Policy on Plagiarism and Falsification or Fabrication of Information
“A student who incorporates falsified or fabricated informationrte.q. evidence, data, sources, and/or authors) will receive a score of a on that particular component of the AP Seminar and/or AP Research Performance Task.

26. “Policy on Plagiarism and Falsification or Fabrication of Information
“In AP Seminar, a team of students that incorporates falsified or fabricated information in the Team Multimedia Presentation will receive a group score of a for that component of the Team Project and Presentation.” (35)

27. “Bridging to the AP Research Course
“Upon class completion of the assessment tasks for the AP Seminar course, teachers should provide students with a preview of the skills, goals, and timelines of the next course in the AP Capstone program: AP Research.

28. “Bridging to the AP Research Course
Students who will continue on to the AP Research course should be given the opportunity to:

29. “Bridging to the AP Research Course
.develop a list of topics and high-level questions to spark their interest in engaging in an individual research project;
. identify potential consultants or expert advisers to guide them in the planning and development of their research project;

30. “Bridging to the AP Research Course
.identify potential opportunities (if they are interested) to perform primary research with an expert adviser during the summer, via internships or summer research projects for high school students offered in the community and local higher education institutions; and
. discuss research project planning skills and ideas with students who are currently taking the AP Research course.

31. “Bridging to the AP Research Course
“In schools that permit students to begin the AP Research course in the summer, the AP Seminar and AP Research course instructors should provide AP Research students with additional instruction, assignments, and avenues for continued communication to guide them through the research planning process during the summer months. “ (35)

32. Assessment
The College Board will award you a mark of 1-5 in AP Capstone Seminar.
That mark will be determined as follows:

33. Assessment Performance Task # 1: Team Project and Presentation 20%
Performance Task # 2 Individual Research-Based Essay and Presentation %
AP Seminar End of Course Examination %

34. Assessment Performance Task # 1: Team Project and Presentation
Individual Research Report (IRR) words
Team Presentation minutes
Oral Defense of Team Presentation Each student responds to 1 question

35. Assessment
Performance Task # 2 Individual Research-Based Essay and Presentation
Individual Written Argument (IWA) words
Individual Multi-Media Presentation 6-8 minutes
Oral Defense Respond to 2 questions

36. Capstone Seminar End of Course Examination
Part A Short Answer Questions–“ Read the passage below and then respond to the following three questions.
Identify the author’s argument, main idea, or thesis
Explain the author’s line of reasoning by identifying the claims used to build the argument and the connections between them.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the evidence the author uses to support the claims made in the argument” (112)

37. Capstone Seminar End of Course Examination
Part B “ Read the four sources carefully, focusing on a theme or issue that connects them and the different perspective each represents. Then, write a logically organized, well-reasoned, and well-written argument that presents your own perspective on theme or issue you identified.

38. Capstone Seminar End of Course Examination
You must incorporate at least two of the sources provided and link the claims in your argument to supporting evidence. You may also use the other provided sources or draw upon your own knowledge.

39. Capstone Seminar End of Course Examination
In your response, refer to the provided sources as Source A, Source B, Source C, or Source D, or by the authors' names. “ (114)

40. Assessment
The assignments relating to Performance Tasks # 1 and 2 will be between February and April.
We will practice answering the EOC Part A and Part B through the course of the year.
Ideally, EOC Part A examples will be given in each marking period,
Since the response is based on a specific stimulus, this does not entail extra homework

41. Evaluation and Grading
The Miami Dade County Public School grading system will be used. A= B= C= D= F=

42. Evaluation and Grading
Objective assessments
A=100-90%
B=89-80%
C=79-70%
D=69-60%
F=59-0%

43. Evaluation and Grading
Believe it or not, I do not have any plans at present to give you any “objective” (that is, multiple choice assessments)

44. Evaluation and Grading
Assessments based upon AP Capstone assessments, such as the Individual Research Report (IRR), Individual Written Argument (IWA), PT # 1 Team Presentation, PT # 2 Individual Multi-Media Presentation, EOC Part A and EOC Part B must be scored according to the rubric and scale provided by the College Board.

45. Evaluation and Grading
You will be provided with those rubrics in due course.

46. Evaluation and Grading
That numeric value must then be converted to a letter grade. The point value of the rubric varies and therefore the conversion scale will vary

47. Evaluation and Grading
Note: Marks awarded in a rubric have specific descriptors. Conversion from a numeric mark to a letter grade is NOT a question of percentage!!!

48. Individual Research Report
B=24-20
C=19-15
D=14-10
F=9-0

49. Team Multimedia Presentation
B=19-16
C =15-11
D=10
F=9-0

50. Individual Written Argument
B=39-35
C=34-24
D=23-10
F=9-0

51. Individual Multimedia Presentation
B=39-32
C=31-24
D=23-16
F=15-0

52. EOC Part A Q 1-3
A=15-13
B=12-10
C=9-8
D=7-5
F=4-0

53. EOC Part B
A=24-20
B=19-16
C=15-12
D=11-8
F=7-0

54. Mock Examinations
Two Mock Examinations will be administered in the Spring. These are full scale replicas of the actual examination which will be administered in May.
Either EOC Part A Q 1-3 or EOC Part B Q 4 or both will be graded!

55. Mock Examinations
The Mock Examinations are MANDATORY!!!

56. Mock Examinations
That schedule is produced by the administration. School policy is for two Mock Examinations for each AP examination; scheduling therefore requires considerable logistical planning

57. Mock Examinations
Mock Exam # 1 is scheduled for ***

58. Mock Examinations
Mock Exam # 2 is scheduled for ***

59. Mock Examinations
Plan your family schedule accordingly!!

60. Instructional Approach
The major theme which I will use until November is “Human Migration.”
I chose “Human Migration” rather than “Immigration” because I do not want to limit ourselves to Immigration to the U.S.

61. Instructional Approach
I chose this theme because, since I have taught that topic for approximately 25 years, I had a considerable amount of material already available to me.

62. Instructional Approach
We are living in a period of Human Migration greater than at any time since the end of World War II
The topic is, accordingly, very timely.
At a school such as Doral, given its student population, it is also likely to be a topic of particular interest.

63. Instructional Approach
By approaching different types of material, we can explore the context, selection, evaluation and marshaling of evidence into an argument.

64. Possible Themes
As students begin to develop their topic for PT1, possible thematic starting points include:

65. Themes Aesthetics Belief Communication Courage Culture Democracy
Discovery
Discrimination
Diversity
Education
Environment
Evolution
Food
Freedom
Government
Health

66. Themes Home Identity Immigration Innovation Intelligence Justice
Language
Leisure
Liberty
Media
Modeling
Myth
Networks
Opportunity
Patterns
Peace

67. Themes Perception Place Power Protest Representation Revolution
Rights and responsibilities
Social media
Space
Sustainability
Technology
Theory
Traditions
Transformations
Utopia
Wealth and poverty
Work

68. Instructional Approach
My exact choice of approach will vary from assignment to assignment. Among techniques I am likely to use are
Socratic seminar
Debate
Jigsaw
Discussion Group
Cooperative Learning

69. Assignments
Assignments from August to November are assignments generated by me and are intended to build necessary skills.

70. Assignments
There will be a variety of reading assignments. I have sought to keep them relatively short.
It will be very important for you to have read the selection at home, BEFORE you come to class!

71. Assignments
Assignments for each selection will be given to work on specific skills that are very important in Seminar

72. Assignments
Assignments might be excerpts from foundational texts, academic journal articles, primary source documents, journalistic articles, excerpts from fiction and non-fiction accounts, poetry, art, photographs, summaries from textbooks, video documentaries and TED talks.

73. Assignments
You will be evaluating sources for reliability and usefulness as well as the quality of their argument.

74. Mock PT 1 In November, you will produce a Mock PT 1 Form Groups
Choose a Problem / Topic
Write an Individual Research Report
Script a presentation
Deliver a Team Multimedia Presentation

75. Assignments
Immediately after the Mock PT 1, we will begin work on the PT 1 that will be uploaded to the Digital Portfolio
This is the component that contributes to your final AP score

76. Time line
Unit I Introduction to the Course 8/20-26/2019 Unit II Developing Skills 8/28-9/16/2019 Unit III Human Migration 9/18-10/30/2019

77. Time line Unit IV Mock PT 1 Unit V PT 1 Unit VI PT 2 11/1-22/2019
12/3/2019-1/27/2020
Unit VI PT 2
1/29-4/23/2020

78. Time line
APRIL 30, 2020
PT 1
IRR and TMP
PT 2
IWA and IMP
MUST BE UPLOADED TO THE DIGITAL PORTFOLIO BY MIDNIGHT EASTERN STANDARD TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

79. Timeline
I will REQUIRE to upload all of those prior to the College Board’s deadline!
By May 27, 2020

80. Timeline THIS IS THE COLLEGE BOARD’S DEADLINE!
NO EXTENSIONS AND NO EXCEPTIONS!

81. Seminar EOC
Tuesday May 12, 2020
8:00-10:00

82. After the EOC
The time period after the EOC until the end of the school year will be a transition to Research.

83. After the EOC
I will ask you to give me an idea as to whether your Research Project would be in Humanities / Social Sciences or in a STEM field.
This will help with scheduling

84. After the EOC
Mr. Deering and Ms Echezabel will have their summer assignment by then, and you may get started then.

85. Works Cited
AP Seminar Course and Exam Description: Part of the AP Capstone Program. Revised Edition, Effective Fall NY: College Board, 2016.