AP Precalculus – Session B:  Meet Vicki Carter, AP Precalculus Consultant

Vicki Carter is very excited about our second summer of training new AP Precalculus teachers. She believes that this course is accessible to all students who have the prerequisites to take precalculus in high school. In her classroom, students often remark on her passion for mathematics and teaching. Vicki believes that learning to talk and write mathematics as a language is one of the most important avenues to success.

She loves teaching and is constantly looking for new ways to reach students and to encourage them to be successful.

Vicki earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and a Master of Education from Francis Marion University. A high school math teacher of 46 years, she taught AP Calculus AB for 35 years and AP Calculus BC for 25 years at West Florence High School in Florence, SC. She also taught Precalculus for many of the 46 years.

Vicki has been an AP Calculus Reader for 21 years serving as a Table Leader, an Exam Leader, and Assistant to the Chief Reader. She also served on the AP Calculus Development Committee for 7 years and served as the high school co-chair for 2 of those years. Vicki produced AP Daily videos for AB Calculus, BC Calculus, and Precalculus in AP Classroom. She is a TI National Instructor and received the T3 Leadership Award in 2015.

New for 2023-24 school year: AP Precalculus

At this APSI, participants will:

  • Explore each section of the course and exam description, including the unit guides, while making connections to the course curricular requirements
  • Begin to develop a course plan by unit and topic that incorporates the full scope of your AP course into your school’s academic calendar
  • Examine formative and summative assessment items to identify content and skill pairings that are the targets of these assessments and create lesson plans to reinforce content and skill connections
  • Practice applying the scoring guidelines from the most recent AP Exam to samples of student work
  • Identify student strengths and weaknesses using data available through AP Classroom and Instructional Planning Reports
  • Explore ready-to-use strategies, instructional materials, and pedagogical tools pertinent to the content and skills required for success in your AP course
  • Develop meaningful connections within the AP community

You’ll explore these AP resources in-depth: Unit Guides, Topic Questions, Progress Checks, Question Bank, Instructional Planning Reports, Syllabus Development Guides, Sample Syllabi, and the AP Community.

Day 1

  • Warm Up Day 1: Priorities for the week
  • Asynchronous Work Day 1: Google Form
  • AP Precalculus: The College Board
  • Twelve Questions: To Test or Not to Test
  • Getting to Know the CED: General Information about the CED
  • Course at a Glance:  Poster
  • Unit 1:  Average Rates of Change
  • Two Truths and a Lie:  Activity
  • Mixed Six :Topics 1.1 to 1.3
  • Topic Notes Unit 1:  CED – Instructional Approaches pp129
  • Released Practice Exam:  The College Board
  • Big 10 on Rational Functions:  Activity
  • Mixed Six: Topic 1.12
  • Mixed Six:  Unit 1 Review
  • Magic Squares Unit 1 Review: Activity

Homework:

  • Big 10 on Transformations
  • Four Corners Activity Topic 1.2: Activity
  • Yearly Planning: Activity
  • Rates of Change Investigation: Activity

Day 2

  • Warm Up Day 2: Foster sense of community & Increase student ownership
  • Asynchronous Work Day 2: Google Form
  • New CD findings on Score of 1 or 2: The College Board
  • Developing the Mathematical Practices: CED
  • Residual Plots:  Calculator Guide
  • Residual Plots: Calculator Videos
  • Residual Plot: Activity
  • TI-Nspire: Activity
  • Odd One Out: Sample for Unit 2

Midday Investigations

  • MCQs; CED: 12 and 21; Practice Exam 1: 2, 5, 10, 11, and 18
  • Mixed Six on Topics 2.7 & 2.8: Activity
  • Big 10 on Compositions: Activity
  • Quiz Quiz Trade Activity
  • Semi-Log Plot:  “How to” on Desmos
  • Semi-Log Plot Guided Notes and Answer Key: Activity
  • Semi-Log Plot: Activity
  • Graph Paper: Interactive Math
  • Task Verbs for FRQs:  CED
  • AP Classroom: The College Board

Homework:

  • Mixed Six Function Concepts Units 1 & 2: AP Precalculus – Unit 2
  • Coffee Problem:  Activity
  • Twinning Activity: Activity
  • MCQs CED: 8 and 10: Practice Exam 1: 14, 24, 82, 83, and 85

Day 3

  • Warm Up: Favorite Activities
  • TI-Nspire demo: Activity
  • Mixed Six: Topic 3.1
  • Radians Illustration: Geogebra
  • Unwrap the Unit Circle: Geogebra
  • Unit Circle Development: Desmos
  • Unit Circle Practice: Geogebra
  • Quiz-Quiz-Trade: Activity
  • Sinusoid Practice: Geogebra
  • Shifting Sinusoids: Activity

Midday Investigations

  • Collection of Desmos Activities: Activity
  • Bryan Passwater: AP Precalculus folder
  • Vicki Carter: AP Precalculus folder
  • Mike Porinchak: YouTube Videos

Asynchronous Work Day 3:  Google Form

  • Trig Transformations: Desmos
  • Broadening Access to AP: College Board Toolkit
  • Circuit Training: Solving Trig equations and inequalities

Homework

  • Mixed Six: AP Precalculus
  • Asynchronous Work Day 3: Google Form

Day 4

  • Warm Up Day 4: Jamboard
  • Circuit Training Solving Trig equations and inequalities
  • IPR video: Video
  • Promising Practices Document from College Board
  • Spirograph: Digital Spirograph
  • Polar Guided Notes and Key: Activity
  • Polar Graphing: Activity
  • Polar Rectangular Connection: Geogebra
  • Which does not belong: Activity

Midday Investigations

  • Unit 1 Graph Cards Quiz-Quiz-Trade or Hedbanz
  • Polar Battleship: Activity
  • Magic Square Unit 2: Activity
  • Magic Square Unit 3: Activity
  • Parametric Functions Introduction: Activity
  • Parametric Functions: Activity
  • Pacing Guides: Activity
  • Matrices: Activity
  • Rates of Change Card Sort: Activity

Asynchronous Work Day 4: Google Form

  • On Grading: Blog
  • On Scaling: Blog
  • Calculator Tips for AP Precalculus: Activity
  • Calculator Practice: Circuit
  • Final Thoughts & Thank you for participating