Thoughts on the AP English Lit Reading 2024

I just returned from Salt Lake City, Utah where 500 like-minded English teachers gathered for the annual AP Reading. We work together for 7 days, 8 hours a day scoring student essays. We work as a team. I think that is one of the best things about it-this sense of commeraderie among people from different states, different backgrounds, different ages, different in so many ways except in our love of literature and our committment to giving these students the best, the fairest reading we can and simultaeously take away new ideas for our classrooms next year. This includes using AP Classroom more; I’ve never been a big fan, but there are useful tools there even if the interface is not always the friendliest.

Takeaway 1: Course Overview I want to give the students an overview of the course and exam earlier next year. I liked how our training video laid it out according to the course description on AP Classroom. Of course I discuss the class and exam with the students, but the video really hit me this year as a stronger method. I also want to share the rubric with them earlier. I’m really thinking that, while I am happy with my curriculum, I want to spend some time this summer tweaking it and moving things around a little.

Takeaway 2: The prompt and the Novels Chosen to Respond to It I read the Q3 digital exam responses. I thought prompt was accessible without being simplistic. It was a good question. And I really liked that the prompt was not that different from the operational Q3. This really makes the comparison between the scores more even.

Students referenced a variety of works to answer the prompt. I saw over 200 individual titles. (Check out the list here.) Some were classics; others weren’t; some weren’t even books or stories, but rather movies or music. Some worked better than others. On the whole, the young adult and younger books did not work well, particularly those trying to address a whole series in a 40 minute essay. I’m not saying that no student could write a good essay on these books, but rather that they are so plot driven, it is easy to get caught up in retelling rather than analyzing. The meatier the book and the more time in class we spend together analyzing that meat, the better prepared the student is for the 40 minutes at the end of a 3 hour exam to shine. We have all had those students who are going to score well with or without us and who can write about anything and still earn top marks. I read an essay on Dookie the 1994 album by Green Day that was great. Do I wish this kid had written on literature, knowing that they can? Sure. Did that hurt his grade? No. Should it? That’s another question that will be debated till the end of time. But, it’s the students who are working hard and learning and trying that need our guidance towards better choices the most. These kids can produce a good, even a great, essay if they have the right book and the classroom learning behind them, but give them an “easier” book that they read on their own, like The Hunger Games, and they probably won’t shine. My pitch here is this: yes, AP Readers read each essay with open minds trained on the rubric; no “points are lost” for choosing YA, graphic novels, movies, manga, or pop fiction, BUT (and this is a big but), we shouldn’t tell them that in class. Let’s push them towards fiction, whether classic or contemporary, that has resonance beyond the plot.

Takeaway 3: Meaning of the Work as a Whole We are talking interpretation here, a universal theme. But I’ll be honest: I hate the word theme. SparkNotes and the like use it in a way I think of as topic. Older textbooks use it to mean essay. I tell my students they need an assertion, and this I think goes well with the College Board’s use of “defensible thesis.” I ask them to consider what this piece teaches us about being human. The essays that did that were better. They had a foundation that enabled the students to pick moments from the book to exemplify the idea instead of telling the whole story. This is the key to a strong essay.

Takeaway 4: Bits and Bobs Some students refer to one work in the beginning of the introduction and then switch to another one for the thesis. Maybe they are working their way into their thinking. Maybe they think this is a good “hook.” I’m not sure. It was not particularly effective. This does not detract from their score necessarily, but it does take up time they might better use in elucidating their point(s). Other students addressed more than one work throughout the essay. For example, the intro and first body paragraph might be about Frankenstein, but then the second body paragraph is about Death of a Salesman, and the third The Great Gatsby. The student tries to show the idea in all three works. This does not work. Readers are instructed to score only one work, so we choose the best paragraph to focus on, but rarely does one paragraph have enough evidence and commentary to reach an upper score in row B or garner the sophisticatin point.

Essentially, we want our students to be specific rather than general. This will move them up in row B. A 4 in row B “consistently explains how evidence supports a line of reasoning.” This means taking each concrete example and connecting it to the defensible thesis. When a student writes, “if this didn’t happen, the story would be different,” they miss that connection. Let’s help them deal with what’s there instead of what’s not there. Many did; most even. I read over 1,000 essays last week; many were very good, showing how hard these students (and we, their teachers) have been working all year.

Final Note: For anyone considering applying to be a Reader, do it! It has been a source of excellent professional development for me, not only through the reading itself and the opportunities presented by the College Board, but also, and perhaps more importantly, through the connections and friendships I’ve made through the years. We help each other; we discuss literature and teaching; we discuss our lives; we cheer each other on and console each other in trying times; we laugh together. There is truly something special about spending a week with like-minded English teachers doing the good work of honoring all our students. It refreshes the soul and reminds us that we are part of a larger community than our classroom or school.

Professor Bhaer vs. Mr. Darcy

A friend of mine tagged me on Facebook in a post that linked to a blog which urges readers to “Stop Romanticizing Mr. Darcy When There are Way Better Options in Literature.” She asked what I thought, but as I started to reply, I realized this is not a FB reply; this is a blog post.

First of all, there are many wonderful options of leading men in literature. Mr. Darcy is not our only option. Clare Church, the blogger, argues for Professor Bhaer from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and also argues that Mr. Darcy, while changed by Lizzy, is a wealthy control freak. (Okay, those aren’t her words, but that’s the gist.)

Oh I think think that’s a bit ridiculous and biased. I do think Jo and Bhaer are a great couple, but comparing them to Lizzy and Darcy is apples to oranges.

Professor Bhaer is kind and comforting, like a teddy bear. (Sound out his name; that’s not a coincidence.) He is hard-working and loves children. What’s not to love about that? He supports Jo and her work fully. That’s lovable too. There is no argument that a man like Professor Bhaer would make a wonderful spouse. But as Church herself admits, he’s not “swoon-worthy.” Then again, many (most?) real-life, good men aren’t as well. We could do a lot worse than end up with a Professor Bhaer. I agree with Church that he is a worthy candidate for a significant-other model.

However, the characterization in Church’s post of both Lizzy and Darcy is too one-sided and misses the point of the novel, IMHO. Darcy changes because someone (Lizzy) finally has the gumption to tell him to his face that his manners are rude. He is forced to reconsider himself. As he begins his change, he has no hopes of gaining Lizzy’s hand; rather, he sees a disconnect between his own conception of his manners and how others view him. He aims to repair that. First, he sets the record straight with his letter, but he does not only defend himself, he also acknowledges that his assumptions about Jane must have been wrong because Lizzy knows her better than he. He later puts those assumptions to the test by visiting the Bennetts with Bingley to observe Jane’s interaction with him. He hears, acts, and learns. His attitude changes not only in respect to Lizzy, in fact at this point he does not think Lizzy will have him, but also in respect to Bingley, the Gardiners, and even Wickham. Darcy admits his faults and acts in a different manner than before in order to not repeat them.

In her post, Church quotes Chiara Atik saying “that it’s only the women in Darcy’s life ‘who are able to bring out this more personable and caring side.’” However, this is not really true. It is only the women who are their real selves around him who “‘bring out this more personable and caring side'” of him. Miss Bingley certainly does not, nor Mrs. Hurst, and they are of his circle. Elizabeth does because she does not kowtow; she speaks her mind. Georgiana does because of her innate simplicity and sweetness. Miss Bingley speaks to him as she imagines he wishes to be spoken to rather than with any real interest or understanding, and he does not respond to her artifice.

Furthermore, Church argues that Lizzy merely needs Darcy while Jo wants Bhaer. I challenge this assertion also. Yes, Darcy is the one with the money in the relationship, and Lizzy does not have her own career as Jo does, but Lizzy does want Darcy. In fact, she turns down an offer of marriage which would offer her stability, respectability, and the family home because she does not love Mr. Collins (who could?). Her need and her family’s need does not outweigh her desire to love and respect the man she marries. Lizzy lives in a time women’s dependence on men, but she manages to find a man not only wealthy, but who is worthy of her love and respect. Her father warns her not to marry a man she cannot respect, but the warning is unneeded. Had she merely been in need of a husband, Collins would do; rather, she desires a relationship which is why he does not suit.

Is Darcy intolerable at the beginning of the novel? Yes. Does he let his pride get the better of him? Yes. But we all have moments like that, don’t we? But if we learn from them and make amends when we can, are we not worthy of a second chance? Darcy hears Elizabeth and turns to introspection, concluding, “I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle…By you I was properly humbled…you showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.” (Austen) And if truth be told, it is not the bad-boy-to-good-boy change that I find swoon-worthy, but the Darcy he becomes. I romanticize the Darcy at the end of the novel and find no need to look for someone to change into him.

A quick post-script here about the brief references to Mr. Rochester and Heathcliff in Church’s post. If Bhaer and Darcy are apples and oranges, Rochester and Heathcliff are figs and kumquats. Perhaps I will explore their just desserts in the panoply of romantic heroes in literature in future posts. Just know that they do not hold a candle to Darcy or Bhaer.