F​ALL​ 2020-S​PRING​ 2021 R​OOM​ 608

AP SEMINAR 
C​OURSE​ ​S​YLLABUS 

M​RS​. J​ENNA​ E​SSENBURG  

C​ONTACT​ ​INFORMATION
County Email:
Jenna.Essenburg@cobbk12.org
Gmail:​ essenburgnchs@gmail.com
Remind Code:​ Text 81010 with code

W​HAT​ ​IS​ ​AP​ ​SEMINAR​? @SeminarNC

​ NE​ ​OF​ T​ HE​ A​ P​ C​ APSTONE​ P​ ROGRAM

YEAR​ O Extra Help/Tutoring​:
Throughout this innovative and challenging program, I will have daily ​virtual office hours from
students consider and evaluate multiple points of view to 1:30-2:30pm​. During this time you can
develop their own perspectives on complex issues and video chat with me to get extra help or to
topics through inquiry and investigation. The AP Capstone
have questions answered.
program, comprised of AP Seminar (10​th​ grade) and AP
Research (11​th​ grade) provides students with a framework I will also be available ​via Remind from
that allows them to develop, practice, and hone their until 4:30pm daily​. Feel free to message
critical and creative thinking skills as they make
me with any questions during this time.
connections between issues and their own lives. Students
will discover that the process is recursive, not Messages sent after 4:30pm will not be
linear—allowing them to go back and forth between responded to until the next day.
processes as they encounter new information. ​The
students’ overall AP score in this course is determined by REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS
THREE factors​: a Team Project and Presentation (20%), an * A spiral notebook
Individual Research-Based Essay and Presentation (35%), * Student Planner/Agenda
and the two-hour End-of-Course Exam (45%). * * Blue/black pens
Key Skills Addressed in AP Seminar Include: * #2 pencils
* Critical Thinking and Reasoning * Variety of multicolored highlighters
* Critical Reading * An open mind ​☺
* Inquiry and Research There is no primary text for this course. Students
* Argumentation will read from a variety of peer-reviewed journals,
* Public Communication news periodicals, online articles, fiction and
nonfiction books, historical accounts, and other
* Collaboration sources of information to refine and enrich their
perspective on a given topic.

*M​ORE​ ​INFORMATION​ ​ON​ ​THESE​ ​WILL​ ​BE​ ​FORTHCOMING 1

AP SEMINAR 2020-21

​ ATEGORIES
GRADING​ C ​ OLICIES
CLASSROOM​ P
* Unit 1: Inquiry and Identity (16%): ​Exploring interests and
perspectives
* Unit 2: Critical Conversations (16%): ​Analyzing and joining
research conversations
* Unit 3: Global Responsibility (16%): ​Tackling global issues
and posing solutions
* Unit 4: Performance Task 1 (16%):​ Independent Research
Report and Team Multimedia Presentation
* Unit 5: Performance Task 2 (16%): ​Individual Written
Argument and Individual Multimedia Presentation
* Final Exam (20%):​ Reflection on growth and prep for AP
Research next year

PLAGIARISM POLICY*
Per the ​College Board, ​participating teachers shall inform students
of the consequences of plagiarism and instruct students to ethically
use and acknowledge the ideas and works of others throughout
their course work. The student’s individual voice should be clearly
evident, and the ideas of others must be acknowledged, attributed,
and/or cited.

A student who fails to acknowledge the source or author of any and

all information or evidence taken from the work of someone else
through bibliographic entry, will receive a score of 0 on that
particular component of the AP Seminar and/or AP Research
Performance Assessment Task. In AP Seminar, a team of students
that fails to properly acknowledge sources or authors on the
Written Team Report will receive a group score of 0 for that
component of the Team Project and Presentation.

A student who incorporates falsified or fabricated information will

receive a score of 0 on that particular component of the AP Seminar
and/ or AP Research Performance Assessment Task. In AP Seminar,
a team of students that incorporates falsified or fabricated
information in the Written Team report will receive a group score of
0 for that component of the Team Project and Presentation.

*P​LEASE​ ​ALSO​ ​REVIEW​ NCHSIS M​AGNET​’​S​ ​POLICITY​ ​ON​ A​ CADEMIC​ ​INTEGRITY 2

AP SEMINAR 2020-21

PARTICIPATION

AP Seminar requires students to be active, engaged

participants in the learning environment and, thus, students
need to be prompt and prepared each day of class. Because
this course operates differently than most others, including
other AP classes, a portion of the students’ grade will stem
from participation and preparedness, primarily in the spring
semester. Grades in the spring will be reflective of ​attendance,
promptness to class, timeliness in completing assignments,
preparation for the day’s activities​ (i.e. materials/completion
of work), and ​participation in class discussions​ both small and
whole group. This is meant to demonstrate learning as well as
to foster intellectual maturation.

These grades will be assessed using ​Exit Tickets​—each class

students will have a goal and will be expected to turn in the
Exit Ticket to show progress toward the goal. Work will be
scored largely on completion to ensure daily participation and
on-task behavior.

DUE DATES AND LATE WORK

Due to the nature and rigor of an AP course, work is expected to be submitted on the given due date.
Students are responsible for keeping a planner/agenda to keep track of assignments for each class AND
should visit the Course Matrix DAILY. ​Late work will not receive full credit. ​Instead, ​10 POINTS​ will be
automatically deducted ​EACH day​ work is late. After ten (10) school days (not bundle days), work will not
be accepted and will earn a permanent grade of ZERO.

In addition, because of the College Board AP Seminar requirements for second semester, deadlines for
Units 4 and 5 are NON-NEGOTIABLE regardless of circumstances. ​Please plan accordingly. This is due to
mandatory deadlines set by the College Board and is out of the instructor’s hands. Students will be given
the dates for these deadlines well ahead of time for planning purposes.

TECHNOLOGY
During class, the use of technology for anything other than academic purposes in the AP Seminar
course is an inappropriate use of that technology.

Inappropriate usage includes, but is not limited to:

* The use of social media * Cheating
* Gaming * Unauthorized web searches
* Private messaging * Cyber-bullying
* Plagiarism * Completing work for other classes

*P​LEASE​ ​ALSO​ ​REVIEW​ NCHSIS M​AGNET​’​S​ ​POLICITY​ ​ON​ A​ CADEMIC​ ​INTEGRITY 3