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RE:[ap-stat] Pacing Question - Clarified
Posted:
Jul 28, 2008 9:39 AM
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Good morning. My name is Bob Lochel, and I have been teaching AP Stats at Hatboro-Horsham High School, near Philadelphia, for 5 years. We have a block schedule here, and my Stats course is always held in the spring semester, so I understand your quest. But rest assured that getting through the curriculum can be done, and it seems that every year I teach it, I am able to streamline more of the material. This year I had a class of 29, with 16 fives and 11 fours, so success is attainable! Here are some things which have helped me teach the AP curriculum in the block. Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or if you just need to vent.
1. Schedule flexibility. All AP courses at our school are 1.5 credits. In the semester where a student does not have their AP course, they have an alternate-day seminar, so I actually see my kids in the fall and get through the "easy-ish" chapters (1,2, and 3 in YMS). While you may not have this luxury, let me suggest that perhaps you could give your kids a first semester assignment. Have them do some independent reading from chapter 1, and assign problems with a generous deadline. Any way you can knock out some of the early stuff before the course actually begins is a bonus. Providing extended, independent study assignments can also be helpful in other chapters, like chapter 5, where the problems are more vocabulary-based. But while you can be creative in trying to streamline assignments, making sure that all students are on the same page at the end of a chapter (i.e. "center, shape, spread" in ch 1) cannot be skipped.
2. Notes. To me, nothing is less productive than kids trying to scribble down every word from every problem you do on a board. So, I provide "fill-in-the-blank" notes for every chapter. The notesheets have definitions with blanks for the "key" words, the text of the example problems I plan to do, and space for work. I find this expedites the note-taking process and the students are more focused on discussion, and less frantically copying.
3. Review. I finish new course material with about a week to go before the exam (though I have gotten better at this), so there is little time for full-course cram review before the AP exam. Instead, I am constantly reviewing by giving past free-response items throughout the course. At the start of the year, I print out the Excel document which lists all the free-responses from previous years (on collegeboard.org), and check off the problems I assign and when I give them. By the end of this past year, I estimate that my students had seen about 50% of the past free-response items. I always have copies of problems handy if I need a quick assignment. The past items are great, because they allow you to press on older concepts ("You have to discuss the center, shape and spread!") and the discussions which come from peer-grading (using the collegeboard.org keys) often reveal class misconceptions.
4. Homework and expectation. From day 1, you have to make it clear that the course will fly. There simply isn't enough time to go over every homework problem, and sticking to schedule is key. I always have the solution book available for students who want to borrow it, post my solutions, and allow time out of class for individual questions. I don't collect homework too often, but my pattern for collection is (to the students) pretty unpredictable. In every chapter, there are a few "landmark" questions which I know beforehand I'll want to collect later, because they capture the main chapter concepts.
If you would like copies of my notesheets, or just want to touch base about my pacing, feel free to contact me. Every year I teach the course, I find I enjoy it more and more as I add activities which replace my lectures and do a better job of exciting the students about statistics!
-----Original Message-----
From: Carol Oneill [mailto:coneill@lincoln.k12.ga.us]
Sent: Sun 7/27/2008 4:01 PM
Subject: RE: Pacing Question - Clarified
I am in the same situation. It's my first time, so I've gotten the pacing down on paper but I seriously don't know how I'll accomplish it all. I am planning to give an assignment that will come from the preliminary chapter and chapters 1 and 2 that will be due when the semester begins. Hopefully this will help speed up those chapters. But, I am concerned about the pacing. I would appreciate being kept in this loop.
Carol O'Neill
Lincoln County High School
Mathematics Department
Senior Beta Club Sponsor
--- Original Message ----
From: nhatala@effingham.k12.ga.us
To: ap-stat@lyris.collegeboard.com
Subject: RE: [ap-stat] Pacing Question - Clarified
Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2008 10:11:00 AM EDT
I'm using YMS 3e. I'm on semester block scheduling. I will see my students the second semester for 90 days. I will have them 90 minutes each day. The AP exam falls on the 75th day. I don't think there is anyway that I can get through this book and review. Does everyone teach the entire book? If not, what should I teach out of it and what can I skip? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
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