It’s almost May, which means those of us who teach AP® English are wrapping up in preparation for the exams. It doesn’t matter whether that is the AP® English Literature exam or the AP® English Language exam, our core courses are winding down. And for many people, this also signals the start of summer.
But if you’re like me, the AP® exam happens six weeks before the end of the school year, so now what? What do you do with these students who are done in their minds, but are not done with attendance or classes.
9 Activities for After the AP® English Exam
These activities are perfect for students who are tired and ready for summer. And the great thing is that you can tailor them to fit your students and the time frame that you have left.
1: An Intertextuality Multigenre Project
This is probably my favorite activity for after the exam because it is creative writing at its finest. Students choose one the texts from the year and then create their own multigenre tie-in to that text. This can be in the form of a sequel, a prequel, exploration of a subplot or updating the time period.
In the past, students have done so many amazing things including updating the setting of The Importance of Being Earnest to exploring Mr. Rochester’s love affair in France.
2: Student Curated Poetry Anthology
I usually like to do this one during the year, but sometimes, way gets on to way and it doesn’t happen. This student curated poetry anthology requires students to read lots of poetry while looking for poems to fit a theme of their choosing. They write an introduction and a couple essays and it is marvelous to see how they put their collections together.
3: The One Word Project
It’s never too late in the year to pick a word and the end of the school year as students are transitioning into another phase of life is another time when picking a word of focus would work really well. The culminating assignment for this version The One Word Project is a video and is particularly great for the end of the year. My students have been working on this one all year, so they will use some of the time after the test to create their videos.
4: The Top Ten One Pager
I developed this one as a New Year’s Activity, but it would work really well at the end of the school year as well. Students can choose their top ten favorite moments from the school year for their one pager. This works particularly well if you don’t have a lot of time after the AP® exam.
5: Pecha Kucha Presentations
These very formalized presentations will challenge your students and also result in the best presentations of the year. Since it is the end of the school year, the topic could really be anything. I wrote more about Pecha Kucha presentations in this post: 5 Alternatives to the Essay.
6: Film Study
We spend a lot of time focusing on reading the printed word, but what about all the skills that go into reading film and other multimedia presentations. After the AP® exam would be a great time to pick an arty film or two and discuss not only the arc of the story and the characterization but also the director’s choices for color, lighting, camera angles and more.
7: Literature Circles
Offering student choices in their reading at any point in the year is always a hit. Try placing few requirements on the books and then use Book Club Discussion Decks to facilitate conversations in the groups.
8: State Exam Prep
This (unfortunately) is the one I will be doing with my AP® Lang students. Once the AP® exam is over, we need to switch gears and focus on the state exam which is quite different from the AP® exam. Since we do very little in the way of poetry in AP® Language, we start off with Robert Frost and the Central Idea.
9: Reflective Portfolio
In my district, it is a requirement for all seniors to present a portfolio which is a reflection of their high school years with representative work as evidence of this reflection. Additionally, they discuss their future plans and how they plan to achieve those goals.
Making the Most of the Time After the AP® English Exam
It can be tempting to throw in the towel after the AP® English exam, but those of us with close to 6 weeks left after the AP® exam can’t afford to waste all that time. We are doing our students a disservice if we don’t try to get a little more learning into them.
Related Resource
New Year’s Activities that you can do at the end of the school year too.
5 Alternative to the Essay for when they just can’t write another essay.
5 End of the School Year Ideas (A Better Way to Teach)
17 End of the Year Activities for High School English (An ELA Experience)
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Student Curated Poetry Anthology
