The first part of my session would focus on opening paragraph writing techniques used (the WITS and BITS method that is used at the high school in AP World and AP US History respectively) that can start at lower grades and then build up to the high school level. The second part would focus on how teachers could help students with primary and secondary document analysis. The long-range goal is to provide vertical alignment so that when students reach the high school level, they will have a working knowledge of terminology and the basics of items they will see at the high school on a more in-depth level. Writing and document analysis have been among the biggest problems in the advanced courses, especially among students who have not previously taken an AP course.
