How This AP U.S. History Teacher Uses Class Companion to Save Time and Strengthen Student Writing

‍

A case study featuring Jeff Swisher, APUSH teacher at Griffith High School in Indiana.

🎥 Watch the full webinar featuring Jeff here.

Want to know how real AP teachers use Class Companion in their classrooms? This case study walks through one teacher’s approach from start to finish.

‍

‍

👨‍🏫 Meet Jeff Swisher

‍

Jeff Swisher is a veteran AP U.S. History teacher at Griffith High School in Griffith, Indiana. Like many APUSH educators, Jeff is deeply committed to helping his students build strong historical thinking and writing skills—especially when it comes to mastering complex essay types like DBQs and LEQs.

But with over 90 students across multiple sections, giving every student personalized feedback on their writing was becoming nearly impossible.

“You want to give meaningful feedback every time, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day,” Jeff shared during our recent webinar.

“That’s why I started exploring Class Companion.”

‍

🧠 The Challenge: Scaling High-Quality Writing Feedback in APUSH

‍

AP U.S. History is one of the most writing-intensive courses in the AP curriculum. Students must demonstrate mastery of:

• Document analysis

• Contextualization

• Argument development

• Evidence usage

• Synthesis and historical reasoning

And they need to do it all in high-pressure, timed environments.

For teachers, that means providing frequent, detailed, rubric-aligned feedback—a task that can quickly lead to burnout.

“You can’t spend 20 minutes on every essay. But if you only give a score and move on, the students miss the learning opportunity,” Jeff explained.

He needed a way to help students improve their writing—without sacrificing hours of planning and grading time.

‍

💡 The Solution: Bringing Class Companion into the APUSH Classroom

‍

Jeff discovered Class Companion, an AI-powered writing feedback tool built specifically for AP-level writing tasks.

“What drew me to Class Companion was how it used the actual AP rubrics and language. It doesn’t just say ‘good job’—it tells students, ‘You’re missing the historical context,’ or ‘Add another piece of evidence to support your claim.’”

🧩 What Class Companion Offers:

• AI-generated feedback aligned to AP writing rubrics (DBQ, LEQ, SAQ)

• Scaffolded prompts to build confidence

• Teacher + student dashboards to track revision and growth

• Support for revision, not just submission

‍

🛠️ How Jeff Uses Class Companion in His Classroom

‍

🔹 Step 1: Start with One Focused Skill

Jeff began by assigning a simple thesis-writing task using Class Companion’s pre-loaded LEQ builder.

“I didn’t want to overwhelm students or myself. I just said, ‘Let’s try this for thesis statements first.’”

Students submitted their response, and the platform gave real-time feedback with guidance on:

• Directly addressing the prompt

• Making a historically defensible claim

• Including a line of reasoning

‍

🔹 Step 2: Encourage Revision

Before Jeff ever read a single student response, most of his students had already revised their thesis at least once.

“Class Companion showed them where the thesis was vague or incomplete—and they got to fix it right away. It built more engagement in the writing process without me saying a word.”

‍

🔹 Step 3: Assign a Full DBQ or LEQ

Once students were comfortable, Jeff moved on to full essay prompts.

He used:

• Scaffolded DBQs during in-class stations

• Full LEQs as homework assignments

• Targeted re-teach mini-lessons using Class Companion’s feedback summaries

“The dashboard showed me what they were struggling with—like sourcing documents or contextualization. That helped me plan better lessons.”

‍

📊 The Results: More Revision, Better Writing, Less Stress

‍

Jeff saw results almost immediately.

‍

✅ Less Time Grading

“I used to spend hours writing the same comments over and over. Now, the AI gives rubric-aligned feedback instantly—and I can focus on deeper instruction.”

‍

✅ More Student Ownership

“Because they revise before I even see it, students are way more invested in their writing. I don’t get pushback anymore about feedback—it’s built in.”

‍

✅ Stronger Writing Scores

While it’s early, Jeff noted that his students are writing stronger introductions, clearer thesis statements, and more structured body paragraphs after using Class Companion consistently.

‍

🧠 Jeff’s Top Tips for Other APUSH Teachers

‍

1. Start Small

“Don’t feel like you have to assign a whole DBQ. Start with a thesis or contextualization drill.”

‍

2. Let Students Revise Before You Grade

“Class Companion helps them fix issues before they get a score—which leads to better outcomes.”

‍

3. Use the Dashboard for Targeted Re-Teaching

“I love seeing class-wide data on where students are struggling. It helps me adjust quickly.”

‍

🔁 Final Thoughts: Why It Works

‍

Jeff sums it up this way:

“Class Companion isn’t replacing teachers. It’s helping us scale the feedback that’s normally only possible in one-on-one conferences. And that’s huge for AP courses.”

‍

🎥 Part of Our Class Companion in the AP Classroom Webinar Series

‍

This blog is part of our ongoing series showcasing how AP educators across subjects are using Class Companion to improve feedback, boost writing skills, and save time.

🧑‍🏫 In this edition, we spotlighted AP U.S. History.

🔜 Coming up: English, AP Science, and other humanities classrooms.

Watch the full APUSH webinar replay below.

🎬 Class Companion in the AP U.S. History Classroom (with Jeff Swisher)

‍

‍

✅ Want to Try Class Companion in Your APUSH Classroom?

‍

You can start just like Jeff did—with a thesis-writing task or short scaffolded prompt.

📥 Create your free teacher account

🎓 Assign your first APUSH writing activity

📊 Track feedback and student revision automatically

“If you’re teaching AP and feeling overwhelmed by the grading load—try it. Class Companion really helps you get back to what matters most: helping kids grow as writers.”

‍

‍