Summer in AP Psych Land

This summer I've been pretty busy getting ready and renewed for what I hope will be a banner year for AP Psych in 2014-15. Just thought I'd give you a brief summary of all that has been happening to prepare for your arrival in rm 136.

AP Exam Reading

In early June, I joined 400+ AP Psychology teachers and Psych Professors from across the country at the AP Exam Reading in Kansas City, MO. This is my third year of participating in the Reading, and it was great to connect with my colleagues from across the country, see old friends, make new ones, and (of course), score endless stacks of FRQs from the 2014 exam.

I was assigned to Question 1, which was a research methods question, and was happy to be scoring lots and lots of bar graphs much of the week. In all, over a quarter million exams were read by the crew that week. 

With the recently retired (from teaching) Charlie Blair-Broeker at the AP Reading. 

Steve Jones and I take a serious selfie during lunch at the Kansas City Convention Center.

Brad Wray, Mike Ray, and I can't figure out why there are no cars in downtown Kansas City on Sunday afternoon. Or at least cheering crowds to celebrate the end of the AP Psych Reading.

Then, after the end of the school year, I did attempt to become a hermit for about 2 weeks. I got caught up on sleep and was able to clean my house for once. How nice, right?

Chi-Hi AP Psych Exam Results

In early July, scores for our AP Psych students at Chi-Hi became available, and we had a lot to celebrate! The 2014 crop of AP Psych students was our largest group of test takers yet: 95 students took the AP Psych Exam! And, they did quite well. 

As a group, we can boast a 86% percent pass rate (which was substantially higher than the national pass rate of 65%), and 33 of our 95 test takers earned 5's (the highest possible score). This is impressive, given how much instructional time we lost due to snow days over the 2014-15 school year. 

AP Annual Conference

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the AP Annual Conference in Philadelphia, PA. It was an invigorating conference, as I picked up a lot of great ideas for use in my own classroom and for growing and supporting AP programs in general. 

As a side bonus, during non-conference hours I tried to squeeze in as many Philadelphia tourist activities as possible, including a run up "Rocky's" steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the early morning hours. 

I've got the Eye of the Tiger...

Now that mid-July is upon us, however, it's time to get focused again. I'll be at school more days than not over the next few weeks updating my plans for the year and getting things ready for textbook pick-up in mid-August. If you visit the blog during that time, you'll notice many pages and features are "under construction" as I make adjustments and updates for the 2014-15 school year.  

I'm looking forward to the planning and preparation, since it means I'll be seeing AP Psych students again soon.

The Report from San Antonio

I was thrilled to be able to participate in this year's AP Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas from July 16-18. Even though it was crazy hot in southern Texas - 110 degrees - the even was no doubt a success. (The heat should explain my puffy appearance in photos...or at least that's what I'm blaming it on)

As you can see from my previous post, one of my goals for the conference was to meet David Myers. Unfortunately, he ended up not being able to come! I was much disappointed to discover this, but my wounds quickly healed. For one, I was able to attend some fabulous sessions where I picked up some new tricks for demonstrating psych concepts. For two, I was able to sit in on a focus group for Worth Publishers, where the editor for David Myers' new text sought input on the book. And as a result....I got an email from Mr. Myers himself when I returned home! (A thanks for participating in the focus group). Maybe I'll still get to meet the guy in the future.

Another highlight of the weekend was the closing speaker: none other than Gwen Ifill from PBS! I was very impressed with her talk, which centered on her recently published book. And that surprised me, because I expected a lot from the gal (remember, she moderated the Vice Presidential Debates last fall?). She was not only well-spoken and intelligent, but very witty and displayed a great sense of humor.

For me, the conference sparked new ambitions: I'm now going to bite the bullet and submit my application to be an AP Exam Reader, so if all goes well in a few years I'll be lending what experience I have to that exercise. Also, I made some great connections and met a friend with whom I hope to present at next year's Annual Conference in Washington D.C. Both initiatives, of course, depend upon acceptance by the College Board, so wish me luck!

People I Hope to Meet in San Antonio

Later this week I depart for San Antonio, Texas, site of this year's AP Annual Conference. From the schedule, it looks there will be no shortage of awesome psychology-teaching related topics to investigate. But, by far, I am most excited to attend a session on Friday afternoon entitled "Active and Relevant: Bringing AP Psychology to Life".

Why? One of the presenters is none other than David Myers! No offense to the other presenters that afternoon, as I am sure I'll find them interesting and motivating, too, but Myers has a sort of celebrity status in my classroom, as he is the author of our course textbook.

Since, thus far, my encounters with academic celebrities have been limited, I wonder whether it is proper to ask to have one's photograph taken with a textbook author? Or to ask for an autograph? Too nerdy? Too needy? Cute or just tacky? Hmmm...

Your suggestions would be appreciated! You can bet any successes will be documented here.