• Course: U.S. Government & Politics
  • Dates: June 7-10
  • Instructor: Paul Levy, Longwood, FL, email - plevy@mpinet.net - Participant Letter

    • Paul has taught Advanced Placement U.S. Government, college level Constitutional Law and Advanced Placement Comparative Government and Politics in Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia for 32 years. He has an undergraduate degree in political science from Niagara University in New York and has completed graduate study at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Mr. Levy is a former member of the AP Test and Curriculum Development Committee for Government and Politics. He has been a College Board consultant since 1989, has been a reader of the AP exams in both government courses and has presented both one-week summer institutes and one-day AP workshops in various locations across the United States for the past 20 years. Mr. Levy has written teacher manuals for both Comparative and United States government and has authored or coauthored review books for students in both advanced placement government courses.

  • Included:
    • Textbooks and readers
    • Resource CD
    • Copies of previous AP examinations with rubrics and student samples
    • Instructional suggestions from the College Board
    • Sample syllabuses
    • Lunch & Snacks
  • Emphasis:
    • Creating an AP United States Government and Politics course and techniques for modifying existing AP government programs
    • Writing and submitting to the College Board a proper course syllabus and curriculum timeline based on the school’s master schedule and individual teaching approaches
    • Discussion of the school’s instructional schedule and the implication of time management on methodology and the curriculum
    • Consideration of student achievement and ability on teaching methodology and the textbooks and resources that are used in instruction
    • On what content to stress, to omit and teaching the course “across the curriculum” so that individual subjects are understood as they relate to the entire discipline
    • The implications of “open enrollment” on instruction
    • Matching the logic used in instruction to that used in answering the free response questions asked on the examination
    • Integrating contemporary politics into instruction
    • Matching classroom evaluation techniques to those used in grading the AP exam
    • Using the internet as an integral part of instruction and as a vital teaching resource
    • Gaining experience on how to write and grade free response questions
    • Discussing test taking techniques which can potentially yield higher scores AP scores
    • Sharing successful teaching methodologies
    • Teaching and integrating Supreme Court cases into the curriculum
    • Discussion of the implications of politicizing the course; ideology, content and the truth
    • Techniques for dealing with low student interest
    • Consideration of what constitutes a successful AP government program, it might not simply be high test scores
    • Discussion of high expectations, and the evaluative comparability between course grades and the AP exam