Year Five for "Strive for a 5"

The 5th annual Mock AP exam was incredibly successful.  Over 250 students walked out of the Mock exam with many tidbits on how to improve their performance on the May exam.  For the past 5 years, we gather all of the AP students from across the district to take a Mock AP exam.  In the morning, the students model Mathematical Practice #1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them!  The test is timed and this experience truly gives them a "flavor" of the actual exam.  In the afternoon, AP readers guide the students through a self- assessment of the free-response section of the exam and share "pearls of wisdom" on how to get the ultimate score of a FIVE! 

Congratulations to the following students.  They were recognized for their performance on the Multiple Choice portion of the exams: 

AP Calculus AB (Top three scorers)

AB Winners

·        1^st Place:  Isaac Lopez, Alhambra

·        2^nd Place:  LingYu He, Central and Raymond Seto, Central  

·        3^rd Place:  Connor Wade, South  

BC Winners

AP Calculus BC (Top three scorers)

·        1^st Place:  Brian Diaz, Cesar Chavez

·        2^nd Place:  Cesar Bernall, Metro Tech

·        3^rd Place:  Jezreel Garcia, Metro Tech

AP Statistics (Top three scorers)

Statistic Winners 

·        1^st Place:  Briana Hutchinson, North

·        2^nd Place tie:  Jakob Bookspan, North

·        3^rd Place:  Arren Kimbel Sannit, North and Sophie Pallisard, North   

This year, we also recognized the Highest Score from each school and they received a certificate:  

AB Top Scorers from across the district 

AB: Isaac Lopez- Alhambra. Vivian Guillen - Trevor Browne, Miguel Gutierrez- Camelback, LingYu He and Raymond Seto-Central, Jesus Guzman Alvarado - Cesar Chavez, Victor Trejo- Carl Hayden, Christopher Betancourt- Maryvale, Giselle Montellano Saenz - Metro Tech and Connor Wade- South 

BC: Brian Diaz- Cesar Chavez and Cesar Bernal- Metro Tech 

Statistics: William Tith - Fairfax, Juan Solis and Julian Santos- Alhambra, Dolores Chavez and Melissa Espinoza- Ceasar Chavez and Briana Hutchinson- North 

Congratulations to the following schools for having the highest average on the Multiple Choice section of the exams!  They will receive their plaques in a few weeks. 

·        AP Statistics:  North 

North Statistics Team 

·        AP AB Calculus: Central

I also want to say thanks to our sponsors:   

·        Immedia:  Thank you for your continued support for PUHSD mathematics and providing the food for the event.

·        Phoenix Union Foundation for Education:  Thank you for sponsoring the AP readers and the beverages for the day.  

·        AP Readers:  John Jensen (Rio Salado Community College) and John Doherty (PUHSD-North).  The teachers and the students were grateful for the opportunity to learn from the AP Readers experience grading the AP exams.  Each reader gave the students an open forum to ask questions and I was impressed with our students and their abilities to ask important questions to support their own understanding of the exam. 

·        PUHSD Public Relations:  for providing the medals and the plaques! 

·        Camelback and Metro Tech:  Thank you for hosting the events.  Everyone at the campus was incredibly helpful and each event ran smoothly!

·        Last but not least, thanks to the AP Teachers!  This day would not happen without their continued support and guidance with improving our AP mathematics programs across the district. 

Once again, Thanks to everyone involved for making this a successful event for our students.  

Knowing what I know now about CCSS, what will I do differently next year?

"The road to expertise starts and ends with small steps." 

from Becoming a Reflective Teacher (Marzano, 2012)

The title of this blog was the prompt for the Algebra teachers last week at the District Algebra Team meeting.  As a parting reflection of our Common Core journey and the last meeting of the school year, each teacher wrote down what they would "do over" for next year.  They had some great ideas and with their permission, below are their suggestions for next year.

Teaching-Assessing-Learning Cycle 

• "I will start the year with a series of investigative tasks and problem-solving to get the students used to being the ones in charge of thinking and explaining." 
• "Look at the unit assessment first and work backwards."  
• "Next year, I will spend more time going beyond focusing on teaching all of the standards to the appropriate depth and instead focus on creating meaningful tasks that address more of the mathematical practices and incorporate multiple standards." 
• " Create opportunities in the classroom to teach students how to take ownership of learning through Assessment for Learning."  
• "Utilize checkpoint quizzes (more formative assessments) from the beginning of the school year."
• "Create more opportunities for (student's) thinking and explaining their thinking." 

Communication to students 

• "Start the year off with talking to the students about what Common Core is and how the way you are going to teach is different for them and you.  The students can get frustrated because they are being asked to develop their mathematical thinking (mathematical practices) and they aren't used to it.  As a teacher, you may get frustrated, but it is all good! The students have learned to debate with each other and teach each other" 

Reflective teaching 

• "Take notes of what does and doesn't work, remember it is a process".  
• "Look at the PARCC website of released questions to understand the depth of knowledge required for CCSS."  
• "This summer I will work on creating more artifacts that review each unit.  This will give me an opportunity to get a big picture of each unit, and become more focused.  I will also work on creating more station activities or activities that engage students in a more structured way."  
• "Continue to work with other teachers from across the district! This was a huge and necessary part of my development this year.  I would have been so lost without being part of the conversation.  That is the key! - Come to the table and figure it out together."  

Differentiation strategies 

• "Learning-based grading gets kids motivated and helps them make the connection to what they know and how they can take ownership of their learning."  
• "...work more in E2020 to assist with differentiation"
• "Use more DOK 3 questions daily in my teaching so my students get used to that level of questioning."  

As we gear up for Geometry and Algebra 3-4, thanks to the Algebra teachers for sharing their honest advice.  The CCSS Algebra teachers have paved the road for the rest of us and for this we say THANK YOU.