This year, AHS added AP Seminar to its course catalogue, replacing English 10 HN for sophomores.
AP Seminar is a course that involves a lot of project-based learning and collaboration, unlike a typical AP class focused on content memorization or an IB literature class centered on literary analysis. Students will engage with real-world topics, analyze multiple perspectives, and develop sound arguments through research, writing, and oral presentations.
“When the division was piloting AP Seminar, we found a lot of connection to what AP Seminar is and was trying to do, and it aligned in many ways with what we’re trying to do as an IB school,” Principal Shawn DeRose said.
AHS prides itself on its strong IB program, but it is only for juniors and seniors. Offering AP Seminar was a given, as it does not dilute the existing IB structure and allows sophomores to take a more advanced class.
“Annandale is performing at a very high level. We’re the second poorest school in the entire division and yet we’re outperforming almost everybody,” DeRose said. “We know that the quality of instruction that we are providing is at a high level. Our students [have] access to higher quality instruction [and] more rigorous assignments.”
English teacher Bill Maglisceau is one of the four AP Seminar teachers alongside Elizabeth Crowley, Jessica Park, and Alan Weintraut. He sees the course as a great opportunity for students to develop foundational skills early in high school.
“It’s interesting because there’s not a lot of literature analysis in AP seminar,” Maglisceau said. “All they’re going to be doing in this class is writing and talking about arguments, defending their positions and citing evidence. [For the] written and oral parts, they’ll be so well prepared, and just the literature analysis part, hopefully they’ll have those skills from ninth grade, because they won’t get a lot of it in [AP Seminar].”
Students are reacting very well to the change. For their first summative, they completed a rhetorical analysis essay on an article they annotated, with formatives that covered text features, main ideas, and biases that would help them write the summative.
For sophomore Lilliana Torres, the course has been slightly different than what she expected, as she initially thought it would focus on literature and writing.
“A lot of the course is more presenting and debating than ELA. I would say it isn’t too big of a shift just because we started the year off pretty slow,” Torres said. “My biggest skill I’ve learned so far is expanding open ended questions to make them more insightful. It is only the beginning of the year so I’m sure I’m gonna learn more useful skills.”
Similarly, sophomore Ava Carlos knew that AP Seminar would be a good opportunity for the future as the challenging nature of the course will prepare her for the amount of writing required in IB.
“It honestly doesn’t feel that much different than any other English class I’ve had before, it’s the just as intense workload and difficulty wise so far,” Carlos said. “In the long run, based on how much writing we’ve done lately, I believe that AP Seminar is going to be helpful in prepping me for the fiery hot gates of IB Lit 1 next year.”
With sophomores getting the first taste of AP, they might still be wary of what’s to come. Senior Khyber Zaheer, who previously attended Langley High School, is able to provide insight on what to expect and how AP compares to IB.
“Both AP and IB classes are usually a huge step upward when it comes to course rigor,” Zaheer said.
AP focuses more on breadth of knowledge, whereas IB focuses on depth. What’s important to note is that AP Seminar stands out from typical AP courses because it’s more project heavy and team-based, making it feel a little closer to IB.
AP Seminar is the first step into the more rigorous world of high school, giving sophomores a bit of a head start before jumping into IB.
