The College Board's AP Summer Institute at Texas State University-San Marcos is designed to train those who teach AP courses. Leading each workshop is an AP consultant trained and approved by the College Board. More about these talented consultants is listed below. The workshops feature special presentations by Texas State faculty or staff, and partcipants receive take home instructional materials written by the College Board and the consultant conducting your institute.


AP Environmental Science:  Summer 2008 institute concluded

                                                                       Watch here for Summer 2009 dates
Consultant: Brian Kaestner
Location: Texas River Center - Aquarena Center
The unique focus for the week will be the investigation of multidisciplinary nature of the environmental science curriculum through freshwater ecology.
    Environmental Science is the most multidisciplinary of the AP science subjects. This workshop will incorporate both lecture and laboratory aspects of the course. Designed for the beginning as well as the experienced AP Environmental Science teacher, this course will consider the challenges to designing, developing and continuing a sussessful APES program.
    Participants will complete a variety of field activities, including an array of useful techniques for analyzing plant and animal populations in freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Methods will incorporate both traditional techniques and calculator-based labs.--Discussion will also include selection of texts and lab manuals, appropriate labs, student profiles, the APES exam, and the exam reading process.--The most useful websites for APES teachers and students will be investigated thoroughly.
    Each participant will receive a CD that includes all course materials.
    This institute will incorporate significant fieldwork and participants should be prepared for light hiking over short distances and the possiblitiy of being out on the water in canoes.
    Participants might want to bring a camera, binoculars, notebook, insect repellent, sunscreen, walking boots or shoes, and hat for fieldwork.

The College Board Course Description (www.apcentral.collegeboard.com) states that "An AP course in Environmental Science course is designed to be the equivalent of a one-semester, introductory college course in environmental science. Unlike most other introductory-level college science courses, environmental science is offered from a wide variety of departments, including geology, biology, environmental studies, environmental science, chemistry, and geography. Depending on the department offering the course, different emphases are placed on various topics. Some courses are rigorous science courses that stress scientific principles and analysis and that often include a laboratory component; other courses emphasize the study of environmental issues from a sociological or political perspective rather than a scientific one. The AP Environmental Science course has been developed to be most like the former; as such, it is intended to enable students to undertake, as first-year college students, a more advanced study of topics in environmental science or, alternatively, to fulfill a basic requirement for a laboratory science and thus free time for taking other courses."


AP English Language & Composition: July 21-25, 2008
Consultant: Teri Marshall
Location: Centennial 218 - Texas State University Campus
This course will focus on providing participants with the strategies, techniques, and content necessary to design a college-level course in rhetoric and argumentation.  Participants will learn key strategies for critical reading and analysis, including the key aspect of employing the Aristotelian Triad and the canons of rhetoric.  Since the primary purpose of the course is emphasize academic writing as well as reflective writing, participants will receive several ideas for different kinds of writing exercises and writing assignments, with a focus on the Toulmin model of developing an argument.  Participants will also receive a unit on the evolution of the essay as an art form, which concludes in the development of a researched argument paper.  Students need many opportunities to discuss and clarify the challenging nonfiction reading they will have in this course; therefore, participants will have some hands-on experiences with discussion techniques such as jigsaw and carrousel discussions.  A simulated reading of the 2008 questions will be conducted, and participants will receive sample student papers and strategies for using those samples for instructional purposes.

The College Board Course Description (www.apcentral.collegeboard.com) “An AP course in English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled reader of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes.  Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.  In addition, most composition courses teach students that the expository, analytical, and argumentative writing they must do in college is based on reading, not solely on personal experience and observation.”


Instructors:

Brian Kaestner
As an AP Environmental Science teacher at Saint Mary's Hall in San Antonio, Texas, Brian Kaestner also teaches a variety of biology electives including human anatomy and genetics. After teaching AP Biology for 10 years, he is now in his tenth year of teaching AP Environmental Science. Most summers Brian serves as either a Reader or a Table Leader for the Environmental Science AP Exam. In 1993, he received the College Board AP Special Recognition Award and in 2000 he was the recipient of the Siemens Award for AP teaching. In 2005 Brian was asked by the College Board and the Center for Educational Policy Research at the University of Oregon to serve on the Calibration Panel involved with the redesign of AP Science courses.

Teri Marshall
Dr. Teri Marshall currently teaches ninth grade English and AP English Language at Saint Mary’s Hall in San Antonio, Texas, where she also serves as English Department Chair K-12 and AP English Vertical Team Leader.  Next year marks thirty-four years that Teri has been an educator, and she has been a Pre-AP/AP instructor and consultant for the College Board for sixteen years.  She is the primary author of the College Board’s national workshops Pre-AP: Setting the Cornerstones for the AP Vertical Team and An Introduction to the AP Program and Pre-AP Professional Development, and she is a reader for the AP English Language exam.  She is an active member of several national organizations, and she served as President of the Texas Council of Teachers of English from 1997-98.  In 1997, Teri received the AP Special Recognition Award for English.

 
Why are AP Programs Important?
The College Board's AP program increases the number of teachers with advanced skills, improving the level of instruction in schools. The goal is to triple the number of AP exams and increase the number of school districts with AP programs to 100%. (Report of the Governors Texas Science and Technology Council, April, 1998).

Curriculum Materials:
All sessions include instructional materials and manuals prepared by the College Board and the consultants. If you are required to have a Vertical Team Guide for your AP class, you must provide your own . To order a guide go to http://www.collegeboard.com/about/association/regional/southwest/southwest.html.

Schedule:
Monday through Thursday: 8:30am to 4:30pm
Friday: 8:30am to 12noon
Monday - Thursday, lunch and two refreshment breaks per day, and all instructional materials are provided.

Costs:
Tuition is $450 if received 30 working days before the first day of the Institute; $495 if not. Registration must include payment or an approved purchase order.  Note: The State of Texas will reimburse AP 6th-12th training up to $450.00 in TUITION-excluding expenses- if the teacher is teaching a corresponding course the following year. (This is to encourage vertical alignment.) First and second year teachers of a course will be eligible. (This is to encourage the development of new programs. Teachers wishing to receive a refresher training will be eligible for reimbursement every third year.) Teachers must participate the entire week to be eligible. For reimbursement information, visit the TEA website at www.tea.state.tx.us/index.html. For Fellows information go to www.apcentral.collegeboard.com/apgrants.

Overnight Accommodations:
You will need to secure your own lodging if you are staying off campus. Local lodging options can be found at www.sanmarcostexas.com.

San Marcos Hall on the Texas State campus is available for APSI participants at $120 for the week.
Request a room reservation on the registration form or contact the Office of Continuing Education. Be sure to let us know if you plan to arrive on Sunday, the day before the workshop, or on Monday.  For more information about the residence hall go to: www.reslife.txstate.edu/halls/smhall.htm

Linens, pillows, and bath supplies are NOT provided. Visit the website for San Marcos Hall to get a list of featured amenities.


Attendance Requirements:
Workshops will normally meet from 8:30am to 4:30pm, Monday through Thursday and 8:30am to 12 noon on Friday. Teachers must participate the entire week to be eligible for certificates of completion and TEA reimbursement. (Reimbursement forms will be distributed on Friday.)

Confirmation:
After processing your registration and payment, we will send you a confirmation letter and receipt. If you have questions, please contact the Office of Continuing Education.

Cancellation/Refund Policy:
The university may cancel or postpone any course program because of insufficient enrollment or other unforeseen circumstances. Should postponement of a program occur, the Texas State University-San Marcos, APSI will refund you in full. However, participant substitutions may be made for the same workshop. For early and late tuition deadlines and cancellation policy go to the registration form. For questions or an APSI Brochure contact the Office of Continuing Education.

Registration

Click here to download the registration form.