Welcome to AP CSP!
Please note that assignments will be posted on Google Classroom. The join code is rkug7bq .
AP Letter to Parents and Students
To access the curriculum and join the class please go here.
Week of June 8 - 12:
Welcome to the week of semester finals!
Please complete any missing work and turn it in.
You exam details are located on Google Classroom. You may begin now. It is due June 15.
Week of June 1 - 5
I hope you are all doing well on these challenging days. It is time to think about the final exam. I need to let you know that the final will be project based. All finals will be issued to you on June 8 and due on June 15. If you are a senior and have a 93.5% you are exempt from the final exam. Your Create exam does indeed play a major role in your final.
Objective: To know that all of your work for this class is done right through the Create project. You are a literate citizen, confident in your skills and ready for the next level.
How you will do this: Please verify that all work is done and you are content with your grade. If you are unsure about an assignment, please contact me.
Success: You are indeed a literate citizen and you know that except for a final this class is complete.
Week of May 27 - 29
Well, we made it. AP testing is done. I hope you enjoyed your break. I know I did.
Objective - Breathe. Rejoice in a job well done. Know that you have been a Literate Citizen just as Joshua Chamberlain was. Now it is time to finish strong.
How We Will Do This - Make sure your work is complete. You have three days to do test corrections or make up work missed. We will need to prepare for a final exam and I will have news for you on that quite soon. We have a lot of review to do as we have not touched first semester stuff in a while now.
Wednesday - Check your MyAp site and make sure the assignments there are complete. Do them if they are not done. There is no mandatory Zoom call but I will maintain office hours during our normal time so Zoom me at the normal link if you feel a need to do so.
Thursday - Check the grade book and see if anything is missing. Do it if so.
Friday - Begin review of binary vs. decimal vs. hexadecimal.
Success - Know that as a Literate Citizen you are now prepared to take AP Computer Science A.
Week of May 18 -21
Hi all, I hope you are rested as you go into this week. We have hit the point where the AP Exam needs to be done and turned in to the College Board. Your app should be complete at this point. You need to make a video that does not exceed one minute that demonstrates your app running. Whatever is in that video needs to show the workings of the algorithms and abstraction that you highlighted. You may talk during the video explaining it all or you can write it out on your response. Either way, you need to capture your screen running the app. I have attached a link on GC to where Code.org addresses this. They recommend Screencast-o-matic or SnagIt. Zoom will record your screen as well. Additionally you have code to place on your document and questions to answer. You will remember that May 21 is our due date for this Exam. There is no stretching it out. It has to be turned in to the College Board. That is this Thursday. Work on this significantly this week. Turn it in to your Digital Portfolio by Thursday.
Objective - Demonstrate your knowledge of creating an app by completing and turning in your AP Exam this week.
How we will go about this:
Monday - Make the video. See the Survival Guide for details on this. Make sure it does not exceed the given time or size. Look at the examples on the College Board Site or Code.org and note how they were graded. Note the prompts one more time. Think through any that are still not clear to you.
Tuesday - Respond to the prompts. Bring into the prompts the code you wrote and circle in red the key parts.
Wednesday - Zoom at 9:00. Everyone must be present on this. We will go over final details. Feel free to submit to the College Board after this call.
Thursday - Your work must be submitted to the College Board on your digital portfolio.
Friday - Monday - We are on break. You will have definitely earned it.
Success - You can, and have, successfully built an app. You have demonstrated grit and integrity in completing an AP Exam from home. You now know that you can take on an AP class and be successful just like you can take on the next step in life and be successful.
Week of May 11 - 15:
I hope you all are progressing well on your AP Exam. From what I can see things are going okay. I hope you got a break this weekend and did something fun. I got down to Coronado for my walking since it has been a bit warm in the back country. I also enjoyed Mother's Day.
Objective:
You are in the middle of your AP Exam! Your objective is to evaluate, back up. iterate, take incremental steps, and continue to be a self-directed learner as you build this app. Never stop examining your objective of the requirements put out by the AP Board. By the end of the week know that you have sufficient forward progress, have an abstraction, a main algorithm, two child algorithms, math and logic in your coding. Understand this is the last week geared toward the coding of the exam.
How We Will Do This:
From the Survival Guide: ( We are on hours 5.5 through 7 this week)
Hours 3-7
Keep coding and get to a stopping point with ~5 hours to go
Your video and written responses will take time to make - you’ll want to make last minute improvements
Monday - Evaluate what you have done against the requirements of the project. Go back and work on any places that you feel need improvement, then move forward. You will have now entered hour 6. You are half way done with the total project.
Tuesday - Spend at least 30 more minutes moving forward in coding. Note any difficulties or problems. You will be at hour 6.5.
Wednesday - Zoom at 9:00. The link will post. Spend 30 more minutes coding which takes you to hour 7. You have one hour left on the coding portion.
Thursday - Evaluate, question, test, make sure the app is making sense. Spend 30 minutes. You are at 7.5.
Friday - This is the official last half hour to spend on the coding of the app. You are at the edge of hour 8. Will the app work for anyone who tries it? Why or why not? Is it pleasant to look at? Is the code up to the standard of the College Board? Are you relying on onEvent anywhere that will be turned in? Next up is the video to make and then the question responses. You are getting there.
Please turn in your 'How you spent your time' journal again.
Success - You are celebrating a working app that meets the requirements of the College Board as stated on the AP Survival Guide. You have been a self-directed learner and have put in the seven hours of coding. You have an abstraction (function, method). You have a main algorithm with two child algorithms dependent on it. You have used both math and logic in your code. You are ready to spend your next hour making the video. You can take pride in your work.
Week of May 4 - 8:
I hope you had a restful weekend. The days are so beautiful. Breathe some of that outside air.
Objective: To complete hours 3 -5.5 this week on the Create section of the AP Exam with meaningful work that is developing a usable app that meets the requirements of the College Board. This includes two sub algorithms that depend on a main algorithm plus a demonstration of abstraction. It will also include math and logic plus evidence of working in increments with iteration.
How we will do this:
Monday - Friday: Please put in to this project 30 minutes per day of purposeful work for a total of 2.5 hours. Please track your time.
Wednesday - Be on the Zoom call at 9 a.m.
Friday - Submit the journal that states how you used your time each day.
Success looks like this: Your project reflects that time and thought has been invested into it. It is not done but it shows significant progress since last week and meets the requirements of the College Board. It will be able to be finished with just 1.5 hours more of coding, allowing plenty of time to make the video and respond to the College Board prompts.
Week of April 27 - May 1:
I am glad to see that everyone has completed the curriculum now. I am sure that is a relief to you, as well, to have it done. I hope you are finding more of a balance in life now. I got in seven miles of hiking on Saturday but with time constraints and the heat I had to stop there. I hope you found something fun as well. It is good for your health to get outside.
And so it begins. The AP Create exam starts this week. We Zoom at 9 a.m (Monday 4/26) to go over the final details. Be present for this. Plan to put in about 12 hours on this exam by May 21. Please remember that today you can ask all the questions you want but once you begin the exam I can only offer technical help and classroom management, neither of which are too useful in our current remote learning situation.
All the links you should need for this exam appear on Google Classroom as does the ZOOM link. Let me know if we are missing anything.
Objective - To begin with confidence the Create Exam for the College Board, to let your knowledge and creativity shine as you create a program that meets the requirements of the College Board and in which you can take pride.
How We Will Do This -
Monday - Zoom at 9 a.m. After our call, review what you have written out as your plan and make sure it still works. Adjust as necessary.
Tuesday - Go here: https://studio.code.org/s/csp-create-2019/stage/3/puzzle/2. You should be developing a prototype of what you plan to create. Put in a minimum of 30 minutes on this exam.
Wednesday - Evaluate whether you can finish what you set out to do, and adjust as necessary. Continue developing the prototype. You are now 1 hour into the exam.
Thursday - Continue the prototype. Check progress for responses 2c and 2d - algorithms and abstraction. We are at 1.5 hours.
Friday - By now you should have developed a “good enough” program / prototype within 2 hours. You should know what your algorithm and abstraction will be at this point.
Watch the video separate from the clock running on the exam. It is 24 minutes and you can skip the parts related to the Explore, so it really will not take long. Turn in both a summary of your progress for the week and a summary of the video you watched.
Success - You have now placed a minimum of two hours into this Exam. You have a working prototype and your algorithms and abstraction are known. You have watched the video on the expectations from the College Board so you know what lies ahead and you are feeling good about the process and your progress.
The Larger Picture between Now and May 21:
Pick your project… Something small enough that you can design and write in only a few hours.
You should basically know ahead of time what the core algorithm will be.
Hours 1-2 Develop a “good enough” program / prototype within 2 hours
❏ Evaluate whether you can finish what you set out to do, and adjust as necessary.
❏ Check progress for responses 2c and 2d - algorithms and abstraction.
❏ You should know what your algorithm and abstraction will be at this point.
Hours 3-7 Keep coding and get to a stopping point with ~5 hours to go
❏ Your video and written responses will take time to make — you’ll want to make last minute
improvements!
Hour 8 Record your video and respond to 2a
Hours 9-10 Write responses to 2b, 2c, 2d
Hours 11-12 Prepare to submit
❏ Finalize program code and written responses and submit on the digital portfolio as three
separate files.
❏ Video of running program ( .mp4, .wmv, .avi, or .mov)
❏ Written Response to prompts 2a-2d (PDF)
❏ Program Code (PDF)
Week of April 20-24:
Welcome Back! I hope you have had a good break from school and have done some things you have enjoyed. I hope you have gotten outside some within the constraints given us. I am walking 3 miles a day and am thankful for that.
Objective for the Week:
You will finish the curriculum thus preparing you for the upcoming AP exam. We will daily spend time in preparation for the Create AP Exam in order to give you understanding and clarity as you begin the AP Exam next week. Be aware of the planning process due Friday as you put together your ideas for the exam. You will clearly need to be a self-directed learner for the twelve hours of this upcoming exam.
How:
Each day there will be a video to watch that is put out by the College Board in order to prepare you for the exam. Each video is about half an hour. Please write a paragraph about each video telling what your take away was from it. The links are attached on Google Classroom.
Monday: Finish Lesson 17 if you have not done so. Please watch the first video listed. Take notes and write one paragraph about it.
Tuesday: Complete the test material following Lesson 17 if you have not done so. There are two to complete. One covers the material of 15 - 17. One covers pseudocode. Watch the second video. Take notes and write one paragraph about it.
Wednesday: ZOOM - 9 a.m. We will cover what needs to happen for the exam. This will be more academic. I will send the link when I send the reminder. Watch the third video. Take notes and write one paragraph about it.
Thursday - Look at samples provided by the College Board that others have completed for this exam. I will provide links. Note both the app and also the written side. Ask yourself what it is you still do not understand. Email me with any questions. Watch the fourth video, which is actually related to samples. Take notes, and write a paragraph about it.
Friday: You have been thinking about this Create exam all semester. Write down you ideas for how you will do this exam. What is your abstraction? What is the parent algorithm? What are the two child algorithms? What segment of the population does this app serve? Is it useful? Is it entertaining? How will you make it user friendly? Submit your ideas on Google Classroom. We are hitting a point where I cannot guide you since this is an AP Exam. I will be tracking forward progress however. This writing should have clarity as to upcoming direction. It should be a page maximum. This is due today.
Success: You will know you have been successful when the curriculum is finished, the last class tests are finished, and you have followed the concepts on them, doing well. Additionally, you have your AP Exam planned out in it's initial form. You understand what the end product needs to accomplish and you are using backward design to accomplish this goal. You have allowed the College Board to guide you in this process by watching, and responding to, the videos they have provided.
Week of April 6:
Hi everyone. I hope you are all doing okay through this. We are in a short week with break starting Friday but we need to get some serious work done.
Objective: To gain understanding on algorithms and inheritance, to firm up understanding on abstraction. This will be expressed by developing an app that has purpose and is functional in a user friendly way.
How we will do this:
1. Complete all of the material of Lesson 17.
It is very much time to start the planning of the Create AP Exam. It is imperative that you have understanding on these concepts before you do. Please be thinking through your app that you will build for the College Board. Establish where you may have trouble and be ready to discuss it.
2. Zoom Wednesday at 9:00. Please, each of you be there. We need to cover this material and help understanding of it.
Success: Success is being able to develop an app that accomplishes a purpose and is user friendly (which is what Lesson 17 does). It involves establishing an algorithm that has two algorithms under it in a parent-child relationship. Abstraction must be present.
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ZOOM Meeting Wednesday at 9:00.
Week of March 23:
Continue to work daily to complete Unit 5. Please spend 45 minutes a day on this.
Begin planning your AP Create Project as put forth by the College Board. Review the packet you were given that gives the details.
Week of March 30:
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Week of March 15:
Week of March 9 -13:
Week of March 2:
Week of February 24:
Week of February 17: (We only meet W-F)
Week of February 10:
Week of February 3:
February 3 - 7: Lessons 1 -6 and Test 1
February 10 - 12: Lessons 7 and 8
February 19 - 21: Lessons 9
February 24 - 28: Lesson 10 and Test 2
March 2 - 6: Lessons 11 - 12
March 9 -13: Lessons 13 - 15 and Test 3
March 15 to 20: Lessons 16 - 17, and Test 4 as well as the pseudo-code review and Test 5.
March 23: Begin the Create AP Exam. You have 12 hours and it must be done by April 24 (We have a week off and some random half days in there so it is tight.)
Written AP Exam is May 15 at 8 a.m.
Week of January 27:
Week of January 20: Semester Exams
Week of January 13:
Week of January 6:
Week of December 16:
Week of December 9:
Week of December 2:
Week of November 25:
Week of November 18: Note Google Classroom for the work that goes with this:
Week of November 11:
Week of November 4:
Week of October 28:
Week of October 21:
Week of October 14:
Week of October 7: We wind up Unit 2 with a test and begin Unit 3 on Turtle Programming.
Week of September 30:
Week of September 16:
Week of September 9:
Week of September 2:
Week of August 26:
Week of August 21:
Week of May 27:
Week of May 20:
Week of May 13:
Week of May 6:
This is the week for which we have prepared the entire year. The AP Exam is Friday at 11:45 in R10. Be on time. The exam is 74 questions and you will be given two hours.
Monday: We will review the Benchmark and discuss what we missed.
Tuesday : We will review our weakest spots
Wednesday: We will take the final which is the AP Exam from two years ago.
Friday is the AP Exam.
Week of April 29:
Week of April 22:
Week of April 15:
This is the week we finish the Create part of the AP Exam. Compare your work to the Rubric carefully. Really notice detail. Verify your word counts. Make sure you have adequately addressed the prompts.
Week of April 8:
We are now 5.5 hours into our 12 hour stretch of this AP Exam. By Wednesday your coding should be done and you should be turning your focus to making a video of your project. Be careful of the file format and make sure it is no more than 30mb. See the College Board resources on both Code.org and Google Classroom for details.
Week of April 1:
We start the week 2.5 hours into the Create Exam. Your prototype should be complete. Use this week, hours 3 - 5, to continue your code. Plan to have it complete at hour 7 next week. Keep in mind we have three minimum days this week.
Remember to have a parent algorithm with two child algorithms. Remember to demonstrate abstraction and be able to state its purpose. Remember to include mathematical operators and logic.
Week of March 22:
This is it. We will spend Monday looking at examples of the Create Task and going over the requirements. We begin the task on Tuesday. You will spend from now until April 18 completing this portion of the AP Exam. You will find needed resources on Code.org and on Google Classroom. Keep in mind it is 24% of your Exam score.
Week of March 18:
This is our last week to complete the coding project all the way through 17 and take the last test on it. You will work your way through this during the week. Next week we will start 12 hours of the AP Exam Create.
Week of March 11:
You have until March 22 to finish this coding project all the way through 17 and take the test on it. We will begin the Create part of the AP Exam March 25. Please pace yourself and work steadily through this. If you fall behind it does become homework.
Week of March 4:
Week of February 25:
Week of February 20:
Week of February 11:
Week of February 4: We are beginning Unit 5. This is seven straight weeks of coding. Please make sure to keep up. On Google Classroom you will find the pacing guide. It is also on the northeast wall of the classroom. Be done with 1 -3 this week
Week of January 28:
Week of January 21:
Week of January 14:
Week of January 7:
Welcome Back!
The Semester Exam will take place January 24. Please study the vocabulary from each unit (there will be a handout) and old exams for now. As we get closer we will have discussions regarding other elements you will need to know.
It is time to consider the first part of our AP Exam - the Explore.
Monday - We will think about what makes a computer innovation. We will also look at harmful and beneficial effects on the innovations. We will do this using the Explore PT Survival Guide.
Tuesday - We will continue with the Survival Guide and you questions until we are comfortable to begin.
Explore - 8 classroom hours. Spread out in the room. Follow the guide. There is to be no substantial interaction with the teacher or fellow students regarding questions or help so make sure to ask before we start.
Wednesday - 1.5 hours on the Explore
Friday - 50 minutes on the Explore. Make sure to follow the timeline guide that you have been given.
Link you will need: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-csp-student-task-directions.pdf?course=ap-computer-science-principles
Week of December 17:
We will have half days on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Week of December 10:
Week of December 3:
Week of November 26:
Week of November 19:
Week of November 12:
Be aware that there will be a test on Unit 3 on Tuesday, November 20.
Week of November 5:
We are in the midst of Unit 3. Pick up where you left off and continue forward in your coding, consulting with your partner as necessary. We are going to allow a maximum of two weeks for the scenes you need to create here. Be creative but make sure to keep moving forward.
Week of October 15:
Week of October 8:
Week of October 1:
Week of September 24:
Note the Albert Assignment on Google Classroom due Friday.
Week of September 17:
We are looking at a test next Tuesday the 25th.
Week of September 3:
Week of August 27:
Monday - We will meet each other.
Tuesday - We will examine the syllabus, where we are going, and how we will get there.
Block Day - We will take the Benchmark.
Friday - We will begin a study of the Internet.