Overview:
Grading for the AP World History Reading is the best professional development this one teachers has experienced.
Never have I been more inspired, exhausted, or revitalized during a professional development than I was at the annual College Board AP World History Reading. Each June, college faculty and teachers from public and private schools gather from around the globe at a central location to grade AP World History exams. Developing standard grading rubrics that set minimums and maximums for quality writing humbles confidence and expertise.
Arguments, debates, and collaboration help us set aside subjective differences to seek common ground. We credit students for developing a thesis, using evidence, or providing analysis and other such skills for evaluation. Stress is balanced with daily runs through Salt Lake, Utah, a quick hike into the Wasatch, and nightly gatherings at bars and coffee houses with peers I have come to know with great regard.
The Data on AP World History
When I scored in 2013, AP World History Reading had 1,008 readers who scored 230,915 on exams containing 692,745 individual essays. This is the epitome of Big Data that terrifies some and energizes others. I contributed a daily score of 80-200 essays. Reading leaves me blurry, sometimes disillusioned, when I realize so few will receive the accolades of the highest score, but this also serves the purpose of acknowledging student learning patterns. I learned to look beyond what students know well to understand their needs to succeed in college.
After one fatiguing day of grading, this made perfect sense to me when I returned to my hotel to stare blindly at the movie “Moneyball.” The film presents a general manager’s attempt to build a professional baseball team by shifting how players are valued when bought or sold. What resonated with me was the scene in which players improved their training when managers presented them with notes and performance analysis. The data outlined pathways to the potential that changed their value as players and led to better game performance.
Equating world history grading to baseball spring training is not a stretch. Grading essay after essay for days takes perseverance. After every set of 25 essays, I stretch, walk to a lobby, and do 25 push-ups. I return to my station and begin making lists. I never compromise confidentiality or look to take pleasure in student error, but I list commonly misspelled words or impressive vocabulary terms.
The Lessons for AP World History
I list historical eras that students know well and world regions that are misrepresented. I remind myself not only to teach the names of West African empires but also to repeatedly review contributions made during various eras. I list names of cities and sites in proximity to Indian Ocean trade. Students write confidently when teachers address histories in multiple lectures as multiple threads that cross over each other throughout time. They do not benefit from isolated lectures that address an idea but once and then move on.
The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis, was the basis for the film, and my analogy ends there. Metaphorically, the game concept of essay writing helps build appreciation for strategizing because student success lies in how they write. I pour over this during one of three daily coffee breaks with my colleagues. Comparing teaching strategies leads us to develop simple changes. Students who transform an essay question into a one-sentence thesis tend to fail more than those who build their thesis using three sentences.
We ponder methods for promoting the use of words that trigger comparisons or phrases that lead to the use of evidence. “Such as” or “for example” are not used enough. I added to my list of lessons that will incorporate rewriting unfinished introductions. Maybe students will learn to write as teams. Teams might discuss their writing styles, thereby diminishing the intimidation of standardized testing.
Lessons from AP World History Reading
During my first year teaching Advanced Placement, I assumed students would benefit from leaving an unfinished essay and moving on to the next question. While the objective was to eliminate distracted focus on timed testing, it also eliminated the opportunity to write a firm conclusion.
Collaborative essay reading has taught me that students write their best responses when they complete each question without interruption. Unwittingly, I had led students to lose an opportunity to score higher. Thankfully, the College Board offers training, online forums, and samples of AP exams with student essays. But how many teachers misguide students because they do not participate fully in the available professional development?
Halfway through the week, the College Board hosts authors who present histories as storytellers. I sit, listen to their sing-song voice, and leave my competitive nature behind me. Each year, I find myself humbled by these people who, in earnest, are driven to solve unanswered questions. I let myself become lost in the wonder of their stories and the excitement that there is still so much to learn about the past.
I realize that it isn’t so crucial for students to score well as proof of what they know, but to take this test as a challenge to improve the critical thinking skills they should continue developing.
Sharing Notes for Teaching
Just as students push themselves to unknown limits taking the exam, I push myself to unknown limits, searching every scribble in every anonymous writing, hoping to award points for that next true, unorthodox idea. I often find myself wondering and praying in hopes that someone is working just as hard to recognize my students’ potential aptitude mixed in with theirs. Grading on standard means giving in and settling for commonalities in quality with the benefit of establishing a definite minimum.
It means that students from all socio-economic backgrounds have a substantial opportunity for success. When I share my notes with my classes, explaining what questions were the most difficult and how the power of one word can change the interpretation of the question, I find that students no longer ask, “Why do we need to know this?” Instead, they lean forward with the belief that they all can hit this out of the park.
