After a long restful spring break, we are back into the walls of the classroom. This as a result led to many fatigued faces which led to us easing our students back into the learning process. The main aspect of learning that we focused on and will be focusing on in the future is preparing for the AP exam in both CSP and JAVA. This as a result has had my CT and I engaging in a PLC where we planned out the rest of the semester and gathered data through the AP Practice Tests for both courses. For the most part, students are prepared for the test but need some more help with dealing with testing fatigue as well as some aspects that they should be prepared for. For week 5 I will be walking my AP JAVA students through FRQs that week so more on that later.
For the most part, I am very positive about the transition back into the classroom after such a short break. It seems as if students needed some grace in the starting days but they were pretty good about getting back into the work that needed to be completed (The Practice Test and debriefing afterward). I think a reason why this transition was so successful has to do with the classroom culture of support that has been created due to the practice my CT has already built the foundation of with their students.
I think something that could be improved is student engagement. This however can be difficult when we only did a practice test and debriefing of the test. It was just one of those weeks it seemed as we were welcoming students back but also have already completed the required content. The engagement aspect should improve in the coming weeks as we look at the data we got from the practice test to help build a comprehensive review of items that students either have briefly forgotten, just need some more work, or have an introduction to.
The technology used was AP Classroom this week which is an online website used by AP curriculum to help prepare students for the AP exam, while most classes can be taught without this it is still a resource that is available to students. Some students in our class will also be doing a coding contest by Nextech on Thursday of next week and are able to use whatever programming language they prefer and will be completed asynchronously after school. More technology that was talked about was AI and ChatGPT as we talked about it during our staff meeting. The English department has already done a project on this which has prompted me to build a project that students in my AP JAVA course will do during the weeks of AP testing.
My students this week had their ups and downs and I think that is a large part due to their return from spring break. Relationships are key and that doesn't just relate to Students and Teachers but to Teachers to Teachers as well as Students to Students. It was very nice seeing the students interact and joke with each other this week. Another potential distraction is a game of assassins that has broken out across the Senior class (around half my students) while not being done during school hours anything after 4:00 PM and before 6:00 AM not at school events or buildings is fair game. This has resulted however in the opportunity to connect with my students and build more relationships even if we are about 6 weeks left in the semester.
As a result of my teaching, I have learned it is life by the water bottle and death by the water bottle. Teaching especially when doing a debrief of an AP exam is something that can take a lot out of one's voice so as a result water is my key medicine. Another is just the preparation that goes into the last couple weeks of the exam as while we have a plan that plan needs to be individualized for our students. Our staff meeting was insightful as we prepared for the integration of AI in our teaching world.
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.”
—Ginni Rometty
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