PURSUING EXCELLENCE
Pursuing Excellence is an integral part of Mineola's mission statement. As educators, we strive to continue learning and adjusting as times change. It can be summarized as setting goals and always trying your best you reach and exceed those goals. It requires both dedication and commitment, and can be compared to the well-known movie, "The Pursuit of Happiness." While the pursuit of excellence is quite different, they are similar in some ways. I read a quote by Vince Lombardi that stated: "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence." I like thinking of pursuing excellence in this way. Perfection is oftentimes unattainable. If we, as human beings, strive for perfection - we may not reach it, but we will become closer and closer to our goal. Some may be just within reach, others may reach their goal, and others may surpass their goals and begin to create new ones. As teachers, we are on our own journey to excellence - just as students are. It's our job to both model this for our students, and encourage them to commit to their goals, and strive to ALWAYS have a Growth Mindset. As Aristotle said, “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Building the AP Computer Science Principles Program
FROM 2017 - PRESENT
During my first year at Mineola High School in the fall of 2017, I was asked to teach AP Computer Science Principles for the following year. It was a fairly new course to College Board (only existing since 2016), and I was thrilled and honored to be able to be able to create such an incredible opportunity for our 9th grade students. During the summer of 2018, I went to courses and training to learn about the course and build the program. With the help of the community at Mineola and KidOYO, I designed a curriculum that would help our students learn computer science and gain an interest in a growing field of competitive employment for post-graduation opportunities. Since 2018, the course has grown more interest with each passing year.
EXCITING NEWS: In the 2021/2022 school year, ALL 9th grade students will be taking AP Computer Science Principles! It has been such an incredible journey building this course. This amazing opportunity will give all of the 9th grade students next year the chance to receive college credit in an introductory college-level computing course that introduces them to the breadth of the field of computer science. In this course, students learn to design and evaluate solutions and to apply computer science to solve problems through the development of algorithms and programs. As we say, Computer Science for ALL!
Below you can see the Mineola and KidOYO teams hard at work in building our program! To the right is a project that I coded for my students to better understand how the AP Exam is scored.
2019 AP Computer Science Principles Recruitment Video
GROWTH IN AP COMPUTER SCIENCE PRINCIPLES SCORES
The first year I taught AP Computer Science Principles, I had a 61.3% passing rate. I worked really hard to learn from my first year teaching it in 2019, and did all I could with my new knowledge to best prepare my students in 2020. I now knew so much more about pacing and what to expect on the AP Exam, and which lessons to focus on and how to plan out the curriculum so that my students succeeded. The pandemic hit when we were in the middle of preparing for it. My students remained dedicated and determined, and I ended up with a 97% passing rate for the 2020 school year, with 39% of my students earning a perfect score. The students had to endure many changes with being fully virtual and having to complete their exam without being in a typical classroom. I cried when I saw the results! I am SO #MineolaProud of my students!
2019 Score Results
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2020 Score Results
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My Pathway
To Pursuing Excellence
I continuously strive to better myself with each passing year. I love being involved in the Mineola Family, and I attend as many events as I can to support our community and our students. I host a Girls Who Code Club, which supports female representation in the field of Computer Science. Please scroll through to view some examples of my 2017-2020 Mineola experience.
Establishing a Pursuit of Excellence in the Classroom
Advisory
TEAMWORK AND PERSEVERANCE
During advisory, students had to work in groups to create a structure that would hold their iPad. Once the students succeeded in creating simple structures, they then challenged each other to make more challenging structures!
Algebra 2
LEARNING FROM MISTAKES
All students have an opportunity to do test corrections. In the above picture, a student was able to understand and explain the correct steps to use to solve the problem. Afterwards, they felt much more confident, and their grade improved!
AP CSP
COLLABORATION AND GROWTH
Students who are taking APCSP continue to collaborate, learn and grow together as the year goes on. Pictured is my class - happy and positive, even while fully remote. They worked hard until the very last day, and never lost their growth mindset!
Student Reflections
Excellence is not achieved overnight, and often we need to reflect on our mistakes to better ourselves and grow. Please click on the icon below to view a sample reflection form that I send out to my students following exams. This reflection form is meant to help them realize the things they did correctly and also reflect on what they can improve on the next time!
Student Rubrics
Rubrics help students be able to fully understand what is required of them. During class, the students helped me to create the rubric for their project that they were working on. Shown to the right is a rubric that was created on the Canvas application. Using a rubric on Canvas allows me to provide feedback to the students on specific questions, and they are able to see where they can improve. This helps them to see where they were successful, and where they can continue to improve and strive to do better the next time.
Choice Projects
I love incorporating choice into my lessons. From allowing students to have the option to choose how they want to study during class, to allowing them to choose how they want to show me what they know - it's a great way to empower students to reach success based on their own specific learning style. Shown to the right are examples of student choice. Click the images to the right to zoom in, and view Tweets linked below to see student videos.
