First Day Homework

Tonight your task is as follows:

Read the "Cell Phone" and "SAT" articles and answer the 11 questions about each. Provide your best thoughts for each answer; if you are unsure about a question, do your best.

I'm working on uploading the articles and questions electronically, but the site is giving me problems at the moment...it'll be there...

Will School Ever Start?

I hope you are all enjoying your extended summer vacation. Although it's nice for now, unfortunately our AP exam is in the beginning of May regardless--so we're just losing days to prepare for the test! Don't worry, we'll be fine, but we will have to hit the ground running as soon as we get into the classroom.

I'm typing up some discussion questions for day one as we speak. After some general ideas and practice to get us thinking statistically, we'll hope right into our text chapters and begin pushing through unit one. You can expect homework on the first day, and then a couple of days of notes followed by a quiz.

I can't wait to meet all of you and get to work! Thank you everyone who emailed me so I can have a compiled list--if you haven't, please do so (fred.carofano@gmail.com). I'm sorry I didn't respond to each email, I just wanted to get the address and it got monotonous writing the same response over and over.

For now, enjoy your waning (maybe?) days of summer, and I'll look forward to seeing you all on Thursday. Or Friday. or Tuesday. Sometime.

Summer Assignment: Using the Blog to Prepare for AP Stat

First off, thank you to those of you who have already emailed me! This is my first year having a class log for emails, and I think it should make the world of last-minute updates and information much easier!

One student asked the following: How should I use the blog to prepare for the first week? We'll be hopping right into our classwork on the first day, and you can anticipate having a quiz within the first few days of school. If you can use this blog to get ahead, you'll only be helping yourself. The course moves quickly; the more familiar you are with our goals and uses for Statistics, the better you will understand each topic.

Here are some tips to use the blog to prepare for AP Stat:

1. To start, look at what interests you the most. Read through some news stories (from any site), check out stats.org, pay attention to the news--just try to get a general idea of what Statistics is all about. This course is totally different than the math courses you've experienced thus far and we'll all be starting from scratch.
2. Listen to the "Stat Raps" (found under AP Statistics in the Classroom Powerpoints link, toward the bottom). Pay attention to the vocabulary used. It might even be a good idea to look at the lyrics and see what words you do and don't recognize, and even use the context of the song to figure out some of the meanings. We will frequently have vocabulary tests next year.
3. Check out ted.org and simply search "Statistics." Watch some of these videos--they're pretty interesting!
4. Specific to the course, you should take a look at the first few chapters of powerpoint slides to get an idea of what we'll be covering. Take this as far as you like--all of the notes (although they will be revised) are there for you to peek at.
5. Look at the different topics for the midterm exam to get an idea of what topics we will cover (Classroom Powerpoints link).
6. Look at the "Stat Tutorials" link to get an overview of any topic; focus on those we'll cover earlier in the year.
7. Use the "Using Your Graphing Calculator Link." We CONSTANTLY use our calculators; the more familiar you are with its use, the easier your life will be. You might want to make sure you know how to enter data in L1,L2, create different graphs (scatterplots, boxplots, and histograms) with your calculator, and calculate "1 Variable Statistics." We'll cover this in class, but you're better off being familiar with the calculator.
8. Look at some of the online practice exams to get a feel for the types of questions and the complexity of AP questions. Try some out--maybe you know more than you think!

If you were to do all of this you'll be way ahead of the game. We've still got a month to go, so you have plenty of time!

I'm currently taking class at UConn--and I have plenty of projects, reading, and homework to do--so I totally understand the burden of summer homework. But I also know you have ample time, so get on it!

I can't wait to meet you all and get started in August!

(Feel free to email me with any questions! fred.carofano@gmail.com)

Summer Assignment

There will be no formal AP Statistics summer assignment. However, you are expected to do the following:

1. Stay up to date on the blog! I will periodically post information over the summer so be sure to check in.

2. Be ready for day one! We'll get to work as soon as the school year begins, so be ready for homework and AP Stats as soon as you walk into this room! Take this summer to rejuvenate!

3. Explore the blog! Check out what resources this has to offer, maybe even get yourself ahead with some early studying. We'll have a quiz within the first few days of school.

4. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GRAPHING CALCULATOR! And further, make sure you know how to use it!

Feel free to email me if you'd like to get ahead and need some direction as to what you should practice/research!

I hope you all enjoy your summer and I look forward to next year! Email me any time with questions! (fred.carofano@gmail.com)

Check out some projects!

New students next year...

My class just finished up with their final presentations; I've included a link to a few of these for you to check out! Take a look at the data, what was done, etc.--this is what we'll be working toward all year! (There is also a chance I base the summer project off of these)...

Summer project will be up Monday/Tuesday, so check back!

http://apstatisticsproject.net16.net/

http://prezi.com/1ck1v-xps_mg/ap-statistics/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrTzcRXDxfg

2011 - 2012 Summer Assignment

Hello all! I can't believe it's already time to start thinking about next year! I plan on getting a summer assignment posted up here by next Monday, June 21st--be sure to check back sometime after Monday to find out your summer responsibilities.

For now, it'd be a good idea to familiarize yourself with this blog--its layout, and its contents. Scope out what it has to offer; next year it should be one of your primary tools for AP Stat.

Letter to Next Year's Students

DUE FRIDAY!

Please write a ONE PAGE DOUBLE SPACED letter to next year's AP Statistics students--a sort of "survival guide" for success in the course. This will be read by both myself and next year's students, so be sure to keep it APPROPRIATE. Any letter deemed inappropriate will be given a 0.

Content wise, you can really pick and choose. Consider ways to study, difficult topics. tips for the AP exam, comments on the course/content/teacher--whatever you think a student will need to know to do well in this course.

This will be collected on Friday and should be typed.