I know the start of the school year is a busy time.  My goal is to take some of the pressure off of families by providing the materials students will need in class.  That said, some students prefer to supply their own and it helps to know what my expectations are in advance while the good "back to school" sales are happening.

Students will need these items with them every single day:

• device and charger (if you supply your own  you will need to install the college board's lockdown browser.  The browser is already installed on district provided chromebooks).

• A spiral notebook or bound memo book for your notes (I have these for you in class but I could only afford smaller, one semester only, notebooks).  Students who plan on taking the AP Exam may prefer to buy a notebook that has 120 - 150 pages so that they can use the same notebook all year.  An example of what I recommend can be found here.

• A scientific calculator.  I recommend a graphing calculator such as the ti-84 plus because it allows you to input formulas into it.  We are not given a formula page like AP Bio and AP Chem but students are not required to wipe the memories of their calculators.  I have scientific calculators to loan out in class but they do not store formulas in memory.  The school does have graphing calculators that they allow students to check out from the bookroom. 

Preparing for Assessments

1-2  times  a week there will be AP style questions that over the material we've covered.  These questions are not graded but will help you determine how well you are keeping up so that you can adjust how much time you are studying at home.  This is also a good opportunity for you to figure out whether you understood the material and can apply it to skills based questions.  Students will also have access to a progress check taken on the AP Classroom website.  In order to be fully prepared for the Unit Assessments there are a variety of ways students can study: 

1. Take Notes when I go over the learning objectives during class. Some students prefer to just listen and watch while I talk about the day's learning objective and then take handwritten notes later at home.  This is fine but students are not allowed to multitask and work on other classes or game on their devices while I am talking. If you aren't going to write things down in the moment, make eye contact, nod, ask questions (make it obvious that I have your attention).

If, after I've gone over the learning objective, you feel you need more practice, or, if you want to preview the material before I go over it so that you have questions prepared you can: 

2. Watch the AP Daily Videos.

3. Watch the Dischinger-Smedes Lecture videos.

4. Use the slide decks that act as outlines for each of the learning objectives to fill in notes you didn't have time to write down in class.

5. Read the associated modules in your textbook and flesh out your notes from class.

6. Watch the supplementary videos linked on my website. 

Students will organize their notes in either a spiral or memo notebook.  I can provide students with their choice of a semester long notebook but students (especially those who are planning on taking the AP Exam) may prefer to provide a larger, 3 subject notebook that they can use all year.  They must have their notebook with them every day in class.   Wish you could do digital notes instead?  Find old school paper notes annoying?  Read this study