Today I’m sharing some of the AP Lang project ideas my students have enjoyed as we’ve been broadening our knowledge for the argument essay.
Depending on when you’re reading this, you might be able to pick and choose one or two of these activities to do before the exam or you might want to save them for next school year.
Teacher Tip: Add a grammar component into your larger assignments.
My students take the ACT for their state test, so I go over the different types of advanced punctuation (like colons, dashes, semi-colons, etc.).
While it’s important that they are able to identify whether the punctuation is used correctly in a multiple choice situation, I also want them to be able to apply this understanding to their writing, so I might require that students include advanced punctuation in their response. I also might require that they use advanced vocabulary.
As part of the assignment requirements, I have my students highlight these. In my class, they highlight grammar in yellow and vocabulary in green. Not only does this help me identify quickly that they have used the punctuation and vocabulary, but it also helps remind them that they need to include it as well.
I’ve found the more that I require students to do this, it not only helps improve their writing skills, but it helps prepare them for the ACT as well. Bonus!
AP Lang Project Idea 1: Convince the Class
Students select a topic, conduct research, and craft a proposal. Essentially students try to convince the class of whatever their position is.
One of the things that’s great about this activity is that it involves student choice! Students get excited about the topics they get to choose.
I give students a list of pre-approved topics, but students can also suggest topics of their own. You might be surprised at the great topics your students come up with.
Students then create a multimedia presentation and pitch their idea to the class. This helps reinforce the understanding of the rhetorical situation because students know their classmates are their target audience.
Tying it back to AP Lang, this activity helps students create a line of reasoning. You can also have students think of possible objections to their argument and refute those objections in their presentation as well.
AP Lang Project Idea 2: Teach the Teacher
This activity is similar to Convince the Class, but this time their audience is the teacher instead of the class.
Students select a topic that they’re interested in. They then conduct research about the topic and write source summaries or research notes. (You can adapt the activity to fit the needs of your students and what’s appropriate for your school.)
After conducting the research, students then write an essay in which they try to either inform or persuade the teacher of the topic.
AP Lang Project Idea 3: Make the Case
This was arguably my students favorite of the AP Lang project ideas. Students select a supreme court case, a famous court case, or a cold case. They then conduct research and provide research notes with citations. This is a good way to tie in synthesis as well.
Students write a detailed summary of the case and a paragraph analyzing the impact/significance of the case. The goal is to get students thinking about the broader context.
Students may not get to use the information they learned in the research on their Q3 essay on the AP Lang exam, but these projects give students tools in their toolbox.
Students tend to lack confidence in their evidence, so the goal of these projects is to help students become experts on a few different topics and to give students choice, which helps to increase student buy-in.
AP Lang Project Idea 4: Famous Figures
Students select a famous person and conduct research. If you’re looking for a way to incorporate longer reading and more choice reading, you could have them read a book about this person.
I like to require students to find different types of sources for this project (books, podcasts, articles, etc.)
Students take notes as they research and practice citations.
Finally, students write a developed paragraph using their famous person as evidence for a provided Q3 prompt. I chose three different prompts from past exams that were versatile. Students got to look at the prompts and chose one that they felt their person would be good evidence for.
AP Lang Project Idea 5: In the News
This is my way to incorporate current events. Have students choose three to five events that are in the news and write a detailed summary about the event.
Personally, I’m ok with students choosing news from TikTok and other forms of social media. I try to meet my students where they are, and those are the platforms that they’re on.
Some other suggestions for sources might be Allsides, The Donut, CNN in 10, etc.
Not only did I want to have students write about current events, but I also want students to realize that they’re exposed to different news and stories in pop culture that they might be able to use in a Q3. I like to try to take the news they get for fun as they’re scrolling through social media and try to get them to think of it in an academic way.
Then, I try to get them to write about it in a detailed way so that someone unfamiliar with the event would understand. I also have them think about the broader implications of the event. Why does this matter? What do we learn from this event? Why is this important to the general public?
AP Lang Project Idea 6: Independent Reading
Students select a nonfiction text. As they read, they identify vocabulary terms they’re unfamiliar with (the word, the part of speech, the definition, and a sentence of their own) to get students practicing using the word correctly.
Students also select a short passage (usually one to two pages). One page generally works best. Students write a rhetorical analysis paragraph about a choice the author makes in order to achieve their purpose, convey their message, or develop their argument.
Even though these assignments tend to be helpful for Q3, there are times when Q2 skills can be practiced as well.
The final step is to have students create their own argument prompt. They can use a quote from the text, or look up a quote that was thematically linked. Students then write a thesis and body paragraph that use the book as evidence in response to the prompt that they created.
This is an activity that might be better to use during the second semester when they have already developed their skills.
Timelines
I generally assign these activities at the beginning of the month and it’s due at the end of the month. This has worked well in giving some flexibility for the students and myself. With that being said, we’re working on time management. The intention is to have students work on these a little each week as we go through the month, but sometimes this isn’t how it always works out. Please choose a timeline that would work best with your students.
Let’s Connect!
You can check out the doc that has a description of each of these activities here.
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