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Pre-AP: Topics for AP Vertical Teams® in Mathematics
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To succeed in efforts to give students a greater range of mathematics course opportunities, and to increase their awareness about these opportunities while they are still young, high school and middle school teachers must communicate and work with one another. As an AP Vertical Team, a group of mathematics teachers of various grade levels, administrators, and counselors in a school district works cooperatively to develop and implement a vertically aligned program in mathematics.
This one-day workshop focuses on articulating a curriculum anchored in the skills, knowledge, and habits needed for AP mathematics courses. Teachers concentrate on what and how they teach, as well as how they communicate with each other. Teachers will learn the benefits and challenges of vertical teaming and gain an arsenal of activities to use with team members. Some of the section titles include: "What's in It for Me?" "The Least Expensive Cable," "Defining Our Terms," and "What Is the Common Thread?"
Unlike other workshops that focus on what students should know and be able to do, this workshop is very much centered on what teachers should know and be able to do.
General Themes
- Become familiar with the College Board's mission to provide access and equity in its AP programs
- Become familiar with the standards of the Advanced Placement Program and the role of Pre-AP in developing those standards
- Study some of the knowledge and skills necessary for students to be successful in AP Calculus and AP Statistics
- Practice strategies used by Mathematics Vertical Teams
The workshop conforms to:
The workshop provides:
- Content background for teachers that illustrates the Vertical Team concept
- Activities for students across grade levels
- Activities meant to illustrate good pedagogy (various instructional approaches including cooperative learning)
- Explorations with discussion questions
- Opportunities for reflection
- Optional online follow-up
Agenda
What's in It for Me?
The Least Expensive Cable
Break
Defining Our Terms
What Do the Following Problems Have in Common?
In and Out, Part 1
Lunch
In and Out, Part 2
Why Do We Have to Teach This?
What Can We Do with This Activity?
Break
The One-Room Schoolhouse
Next Steps and Future Plans
Author
Dixie Ross is a teacher at Pflugerville High School, just outside of Austin, Texas. She served on the Development Committees for the AP Math Vertical Teams Toolkit and the Pre-AP: Strategies in Mathematics -- Helping Students Learn Mathematics Through Problem Solving workshop. She teaches summer institutes for both AP Calculus and Pre-AP Strategies for Mathematics, has been an AP Reader, and won the Advanced Placement Program Special Recognition Award from the southwestern region of the College Board in 1992 and the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement in 1998.
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