Getting Ready for Next School Year
So in one week my school hosts an “AP Day” for students enrolled in any AP class(es) for the upcoming school year. This used to be a half day, the day before the last day of school, fully dedicated to the AP program. All students enrolled in AP classes would come in for the half day and go through a condensed period 1 - 7 schedule to meet with their teachers for about 30 minutes. For example, period 1 would be AP English classes, Period 2 would be AP History classes, etc. Traditionally, AP Math classes 2were always the second to last “period.” Students who didn’t have a class to go to during a time slot would hang out in the library.
Now, “AP Day” is more of a “club fair” feel and gets a two-hour block on a half day after the last final exam block. This means that next Friday, all AP teachers will have a table/booth set-up from 10 - 11:50 and students will walk around to each teacher they have next year to pick up summer work assignments, possibly get book(s), and ask any questions they have. At 11:50, buses come to take students home. Last year was the first year we did it in this format, and most students had collected all their work within the first 10 minutes.
I am finding myself with a bit more free time these days now that the AP exams are over and seniors are gone, so I spent today getting all of my online platforms ready to go for AP Day. I like to have this ready to go so that students can begin their summer work right away if they want and so they can access class resources throughout the summer. I used to hand out textbooks on AP Day, but now I wait until the first week of school to do this.
The first thing I do is get my Google Classroom set-up and populated with topics and resources. This is how I lay out the home screen with a welcome message. I always change the banner photo to a Ferris wheel photo:
Next, I populate the classwork section with various items that students may need:
I love organizing and keeping things neat, and this always carries over into my Google Classroom. I use different Emojis to visually distinguish between Assessments, Classwork, Assignments, and Answer Keys. I also love using Emojis for each Week, depending on what is going on that week:
Once I get my Google Classroom all set, I update the AP Day Google Slideshow. This used to be something I went through with the students on the old style AP Day. Now that it’s just a walkthrough event, I post this Slideshow on the Stream for students to look at (and that’s a very optimistic hope that everyone actually looks at it and reads it!)
Within this Slideshow, I post the Join Codes for all of the Online Platforms that we will use throughout the year, so the next thing I do is create “classrooms” at each site for the upcoming group. I do this at:
EdPuzzle (videos)
Deltamath (practice sets)
Khan Academy (only for summer work sets)
AP Classroom (for AP specific practice)
Desmos (for activities and visualization)
Students are to join all of these as part of their Summer Work assignment so that we’re ready to begin on DAY 1! We are ‘required’ (I use that term loosely) to provide a summer work assignment to students which will be collected at the beginning of the school year. This assignment should prepare students for the foundational skills they will need to succeed in your AP class. I have always given an assignment, and it is designed to take a few hours total. I include optional extra-help videos of mine on EdPuzzle and optional videos on Khan Academy.
My summer work is broken into two main parts: about ten Khan Academy sets on basic limits and basic continuity, and a 4-page packet on Algebra II and Pre-Calculus skills that are important for Calculus. I don’t enjoy grading them during week 1 (it’s not a good feeling getting a big pile of work to grade right away when you’re just getting your footing that first week!), but I find it sets the tone for the class and helps students mentally prepare for the topics to come.
Now I just need to clean up my Summer Work packet and make copies!