Hello, my name is Mr. Malley

Each year, my Advanced Placement Psychology students are given the opportunity to take the AP Exam for college credit in Psychology. This year, 57 students took my class. Of them, 54 are taking the exam.

Advanced Placement is a product owned by the College Board - the same organization responsible for the SAT. The test that my students will be taking is a national achievement test established to gauge understanding of Psychology. It costs them $82.00 each, but the benefit is that most colleges and universities offer college credit for decent scores.

Last year, I had a number of students who could have done well enough to receive college credit not take the test due to their own insecurity. I want all students who make it through my class to take the AP Exam. Why do all the work and not get the reward?

This year, I added the incentive of an automatic ‘A’ on the class final exam to all students who take the AP Exam. My logic in doing so is that the AP Exam is our class exam. Since I won’t be able to see their scores on that exam until sometime in July, I have no way of assigning them a grade for their exam before the year ends. Therefore, they get an ‘A’.

And, I’m happy to say that it worked: ninety-five percent of them are taking the exam.

Now, I just need to get them to study!

Part 1: My Quiz Policy

Last year, I gave random quizzes in AP Psychology on a “variable ratio schedule of reinforcement.” My logic was that if students never knew when there would be a quiz, then they would always come prepared.

This, I learned, is untrue. What students did instead was search out possible patterns of behavior in my quizzing schedule. They would say things like “I didn’t think there would be a quiz today” or “Why do you always give a quiz on the days I don’t think there will be one.” They would guess whether they would have a quiz or not, and shape their behavior around that guess. If they didn’t think there would be a quiz, they wouldn’t study. If they thought there might be one, they would.

This is not the type of behavior I want to encourage. Based on the recommendation of last year’s AP class, I decided this year to give a daily reading quiz, reinforcing reading on a continuous schedule.

Part 2: My Quiz Make-up Policy

High school juniors and seniors have hundreds of reasons to miss my class. Many of them are unjustifiable. For example, it is reasonable for me to expect that students schedule vacations, senior pictures, extended lunches, routine doctor’s appointments, etc. around my class.

Based on this logic, last year’s AP students could not make up missed quizzes in my class. They went into the book as a zero. However, since I know that we’re all human, and that we occasionally cannot prevent missing class (illness, certain medical appointments, etc.), I dropped the lowest quiz score from calculation. This, in a sense, allowed each student one missed class every marking period (9 weeks), or two per semester.

Part 3: The Problem

I can’t help but wonder whether this is too strict, especially considering that I am now planning to give quizzes every single class period. If my classes meet five times every two weeks, that’s approximately 24 quizzes every marking period.

Perhaps I could offer extra work in the form of research that would make up for their lowest two scores. This would allow them the opportunity to turn their two lowest scores into high scores, offsetting the effect that an absense would have on their grade.

This, of course, would force me to do more work. I would have to not only read, comment on, and assess the papers produced by the make-up research, but I would have to come up with the research topics, something I would have to do in advance to anticipate students wanting to take the opportunity. After all, these are highly motivated students I’m talking about.

And, would these research papers be punitive? If so, then its not worth doing. Why create more work for my students if it does not reinforce learning the content I wanted them to know in the first place.

Part 4: The Solution

One thing that I would definitely like to do is create a menu of research questions/topics from which students must choose to present on at least once/twice per marking period. These presentations could be “multimedia” (podcast, blog, video, oral, paper, etc.). Questions would range from historical to analytical. Quizzes could be made up by completing additional questions from that list.

Now I think I’m on to something!

This year, all students will be required to present on one topic of their choice from a list of topics that I provide. This list will grow throughout the year; as I find new topics I will simply add them to the list. These presentations can use any media and will be graded using a rubric that I will have to make that assesses their understanding of the topic that they are presenting on.

If students miss class, they can make up the quiz by presenting on another topic of their choice.

Note: exceptions will of course be made for long-term extenuating circumstances (i.e. illness or tragedy).

This should a.) make absences undesirable, and b.) encourage in-depth study in psychology, and c.) actually boost the students grade by allowing them the opportunity to turn a zero into full credit.

I always like to see where people work. It puts things into perspective a little bit for me. With that in mind, I took some snapshots of my classroom this morning. Here they are:

A few notes that I suppose might be necessary:

• The trophy is a 1990s third place women’s weight-lifting trophy. It was a gift from a student last year. I collect trophies and give them away to AP Psychology students as prizes for the “highest test score.” It’s my silly way of recognizing hard work (that I learned from Charles Blair-Broeker).
• The sign hanging on the trophy was left in my room by Tuba Steve - another student. I’m not sure of its origin, but I think its purpose is clear.
• I like lamps. There is something soothing about incandescent lightbulbs. In the morning, I will turn the lamps on along with a single row of ceiling lights. I bought them at Good Will. They have a certain “Uncle Malley” feel that my students tend to appreciate.
• The graffiti on the wall was done by a guy named Woody. It stands for Small Town Skate Crew. Last I heard, he was moving somewhere warm to skate under a sponsor - he’s really good. I really need to cover that back bulletin board. I left it uncovered all last year. Hence, Woody’s desire to tag my boring wall.

This year, for the first time ever, the CollegeBoard is requiring that all courses using “Advanced Placement”® (AP®) in their name be subject to an audit of curriculum. What this means is that three weeks ago, I sent the CollegeBoard a copy of my syllabus. Then, someone at their organization apparently read it. And, I can now legally use their registered trademark on my course offering.

Dear Patrick Malley,

The College Board is pleased to announce that your Psychology course is authorized to use the “AP®” designation for the 2007-08 academic year. The College Board applauds and recognizes your efforts to provide your students with the academic rigor and college-level experience that is the promise of AP. I thank you for the time and effort you put into participating in the AP Course Audit.

Being a new teacher of an Advanced Placement class, I prepared my syllabus last summer with this audit in mind; I knew what they’d be looking for. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be a veteran teacher who, after 20 years of teaching an AP course, was asked to submit a syllabus for the right to use the AP name. Did you say “sweatin’ bullets?”

Anyway, yay for me.

Today being the penultimate meeting of my AP Psychology class, I asked students for feedback regarding what I have done: the activities I’ve chosen, the demonstrations I gave, my delivery method, etc. I also asked students to write a word of advice to next year’s AP Psychology class that will help them succeed.

Not surprisingly, 90% of students shared the opinion of this student:

Reading the assigned text is definitely important. It may be long. It may be boring. But, it is important. It helps fill in the gaps in the lessons and is often quiz material.”

Also no surprise was that half of my students do not appreciate my “pop quizzes” that assess their reading comprehension - a point I also grew uncomfortable with as the year progressed. If my goal is to get students to read their textbook (which it is), then pop-quizzes have proven themselves to be a very unsuccessful tool.

The students who read textbooks read my textbook. The students who do not read textbooks, do not read my textbook. Imagine that!

So, I’m thinking of possible alternatives (in no particular order):

• Five-question quizzes at the start of every class over the section of the textbook I will be covering that day (believe it or not, this was suggested by a number of students).
• Ten-question quizzes at the start of every class. Five questions from the previous lesson. Five question over the section of the textbook to be covered that day. This will reward studying while reducing the harmful effects of bad quiz scores on the overall grade.
• Reading journals to either supplement or supplant quizzes. If supplemental, make them worth more than the quizzes. Collect a random sample of reading journals each class for assessment.
• Student wiki of psychological concepts to be updated by students throughout the year. This would be a challenge to a) grade, and b) preventing social loafing.

All just thoughts at this point. Luckily, I have about 3 months to think about it!

As the year comes to an end, it’s time for reflection.

I spent about two class periods last year working on management. Next year, I’ll spend two weeks.

• I want papers typed in APA format. So, I need to have them submit a “mock-paper” in APA format!
• I want assignments turned in on time. I know that it seems like late papers shouldn’t be that big a deal, but when the end of the year comes and I can’t assign a due date without 50% of the students turning in papers late, I have a serious problem! Next year, late assignments will not be accepted. Extensions must be approved in writing, and their will be no garauntee of approval.
• Reading quizzes every day. Two consecutive scores below 60% will warrant a call home.
• Syllabus outlining the entire year (readings, assignments, projects, etc. all included). Since high school is too unpredictable to provide dates, I will use units and days (example: Cognition: Day 1, Cognition: Day 2, etc.).
• Seating chart dictated by their chosen seat on the second day of class. After that, I will choose where they sit. No exceptions. I am too unorganized to do this in any other way!
• Room and row captains. Sounds elementary, but row captains will be responsible for passing out and collecting work and handouts for absent students in their rows. Room captains will help pass out work collected during the previous class. I need structure; this should get me there.
• Kleenex boxes for extra credit.
• Reading logs?
• One-minute papers at the end of each class.
• More online assignments and assessment (to be thought about this summer).

Thoughts and feedback requested.

Rumor around school is that my AP Psychology class is somewhat difficult. I like that. The older I get, the more I start to appreciate the teachers and professors I had throughout the years who made my life feel like hell. When I think about it, those are the individuals who forced me to learn.

I see myself as a single voice amidst a sea of stimuli in my students’ lives. On a consistent basis, they have to decide whether to think about my class or the opposite sex, sports, video games, television, myspace, their job, or their family. Considering that my class is no match for any of the other above mentioned stimuli, it is easily understood how a student can “forget” to read, do an assignment, etc.

A typical student sits in my classroom three to four-and-a-half hours each week on an alternating schedule (3 hours one week, 4.5 the next). I recognize that this is not nearly enough time to really teach them everything I expect them to learn. Therefore, what they learn in my class is largely dependent upon their commitment to learning, not my ability to teach.

Many teachers come to this same conclusion - that students have busy lives that appear to conflict with their own expectations of what is academically necessary. As a result, I feel, many teachers lower their expectations. It’s tough to give bad grades to good students; it’s much easier to simply lower the standard. The consequence has been, in my opinion, a watered down education system in America.

Writing this, I realize that my expectations are conspicuous considering my laid-back nature and “diverse” academic past. Nevertheless, it is my job to teach students. The word teach implies that someone is learning. I spend 8 to 12 hours some weekends working on; reading about; researching psychology. If I am not as tough on my students as I am on myself academically, I’m simply not doing my job.

Granted, students are in a naturally passive role: sitting through class after class, listening, and taking notes. I can’t expect them to devote the same amount of time that I do to my subject - that would be absurd. However, I can expect them to master all of the material I present - and I do. If I teach it, they should learn it. If they don’t learn it from me (perhaps because I used a vague example), they should continue their learning elsewhere (the Internet, textbook, etc.).

I tell students on the second day of class that I am not the most important person in the classroom - they are. I am merely a facilitator of classroom activities. This stance, along with highly comprehensive tests, has given AP Psychology the reputation of being a tough class.

The bottom line is that I am certain that students who take my AP Psychology class will leave knowing a lot about psychology. For this, I am satisfied. My job has a purpose beyond entertainment.

At the end of last year, I asked my principal what I should do about my Psychology textbooks considering the 60 students signed up for AP Psychology the next year; the books on the shelf were tattered and very outdated. He recommended that we buy new textbooks, and this summer we did just that.

Shopping for textbooks was interesting. I’ve never been a fan of textbooks, so I found very little fun in the process. Although, I did like the concept of free books from blood-sucking publishers. My shopping got me 6 - 8 college-level Intro to Psychology books. It was like Christmas, only nerdier.

I chose the book that was a) easiest for me to read, b) highly recommended, and c) popular. I made the right choice by going with Psychology 8th edition by David Meyers (Worth Publishers), 2006. Here’s what a student wrote, unsolicited, on my course web-page:

Though i don’t like to read much, this book makes me feel like i am someone. It actually has a voice and speaks to me as if I was listening to someone read it.

-Tuba Steve

It’s always nice when a pedagogical tool does what it’s supposed to do. Thank you, David Myers. Thank you, Tuba Steve.

Having shiny new textbooks is one thing; getting students to read them is another. While I don’t know what percentage of students actually read the textbook before coming to class, I like to think that my methods are encouraging:

• random quizzes designed to check understanding of topics before I present them.

• tests that are quite difficult to ensure that more than surface knowledge is necessary in order to score well.

If you’ve ever sat through my class, you know that it is nothing but a proverbial “carrot” on a daily basis. I like to have fun; I like to entertain my students with the content that I teach. I demonstrate, I poke fun, and I laugh. They laugh, too.

For this reason, students are frequently surprised by the rather abrasive “stick” that I use get them to study outside of class.

My quizzes and tests are that stick. They prevent students from simply “attending the Malley show” as I put it today in class. I don’t show up to school on a daily basis to put on an information session; I show up to teach. Teaching is a silly word in the absence of learning.