Advanced Placement Program* Summer Institute
Pre-AP Math for Inexperienced Pre-AP Teachers, June 22-26, 2009
This week will expose participants to the most current perspectives of College Board Pre-AP high school mathematics. Teaching algebraic, geometric, and precalculus thinking in all Pre-AP high school mathematics courses will be emphasized. The following strands will be studied thoroughly: transformations of functions, functional notation, the rule of four, limits, sequences, parent functions, composite functions, similarity, congruence, area, volume, rate of change, domain, range, graphical representations, area under a curve, variation, trigonometry, algebraic and geometric means. These strands will be explored and will have components that can be studied in Pre-AP Algebra I, revisited in Pre-AP Geometry, and built more deeply in Pre-AP Algebra II and Pre-AP Precalculus. In addition to constant focus on content rich mathematics, attention will be given to assessment and technology use in the Pre-AP mathematics classroom. Time will be dedicated to answering the question, “What makes a test question Pre-AP?” Examples and non-examples will be explored and teachers will have an opportunity to develop and to adapt test questions for their own classroom use. Test questions that are vertical team friendly will be introduced. These test problems will have components that can be introduced in Algebra I, revisited and developed in geometry, Algebra II and Precalculus. Graphing calculator and dynamic geometry approaches will be introduced when studying some content strands.
Melissa Burkhead has been teaching high school mathematics for fifteen years. Her varied experiences include 5 years in Mexico City, Mexico, 2 years in El Paso public schools, 3 years in the Austin magnet school program, and 5 years in the Episcopal school system. Encouraging students to develop their mathematics by posing thoughtful discovery rich questions, she especially enjoys helping students complement their newfound learning with visual Geometer’s Sketchpad sketches. She currently teaches Precalculus and BC Calculus at Trinity Valley School in Fort Worth, Tx. In addition to classroom teaching, she presents for The College Board and Key Curriculum Press. She teaches the online courses, Teaching Geometry with The Geometer’s Sketchpad and Teaching Algebra with The Geometer’s Sketchpad. Melissa has an undergraduate degree in mathematics and a graduate degree in mathematics education.
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