"Paul was one the best presenters I've ever been in a workshop with.  He is very engaging and covers all the material in a very fluent and fun manner" - 2024 participant.

" We flew from out of town to see this presenter"

" AP Precalc was incredible... our presenter was top notch."

- what participants said 2024
PAUL RODRIGUEZ

Paul can be contacted at [email protected] 
PAUL RODRIGUEZ  has taught for over 30 years, including working with the College Board for more than 20 years. Paul is honored to have been on the content writing team, serve as a College Board mentor, and is currently on the Test Development Committee for AP Precalculus. Paul has participated in the AP reading for Statistics for 20 years as a reader, table leader, rubric team member, and as a question leader. Paul was also a question leader for the inaugural AP Precalculus reading this past year. Paul served 7 years on the AP Statistics Test Development Committee, with the responsibility of writing and editing the AP exam and was the co-chair of the committee when the new course and exam description was written. Paul joined the AP Precalculus Test Development Committee in 2024. Paul has co-authored the test bank for the Statistics and Probability with Applications textbook, 3rd edition and was the coauthor for the 5 Steps to a 5: AP Precalculus review book. Paul has also written exam style problems for review exam for the website Calc Medic. Paul enjoys conducting weekend workshops, as well as summer institutes sponsored by the College Board because he relishes the opportunity to share his love of math, classroom activities, using technology in the classroom, and especially appreciates learning from the experiences of workshop participants.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
During this AP Precalculus APSI, you’ll explore the course framework, the exam, and the new AP resources that will help you plan and focus instruction—and give you feedback throughout the year on the areas where individual students need additional focus. You’ll also learn about completing the digital activation process at the start of the school year that will give you immediate access to the new resources and will help ensure that your students can register for AP Exams by the new fall deadlines. By attending this APSI, you’ll gain deeper insight into the following key takeaways, among several others: Understand the Course; Plan the Course; Teach the Course; Assess Student Progress; and Engage as a Member of the AP Community. We’ll examine high-impact resources and support for classroom instruction, assessment, and AP exam preparation—including those available in AP Classroom. We will discuss issues related to planning and organizing the course, such as student background, sequencing and pacing, the AP Course Audit, technology, and projects. In this workshop, we will investigate many of the “tough” new topics in the AP Precalculus course as well focusing on effective strategies for helping a diverse group of students master the essential concepts and skills in the AP Precalculus Course and Exam Description (CED). We will also spend quite a bit of time reviewing the content of the AP free-response questions. We will discuss issues related to planning and organizing the course, such as sequencing and pacing, the AP Course Audit, technology, and projects. Attendees will be provided with access to classroom-ready instructional activities, as well as sharing their favorite activities. We will also discuss specific strategies and tips to help your students maximize their performance on the AP Precalculus exam.

Questions?  Email me at [email protected]. 

Institute Preparation
    You will be receiving electronic copies of all the lesson plans we cover, examples on how to make the perfect chapter tests, examples of projects and classroom activities, and many other resources.  I strongly believe we learn most by doing, so you will be asked to participate in the activities, as well as present one of your own.  It would be helpful to have a laptop computer or tablet.  It will be necessary, however, to bring a graphing calculator.  I will be modeling instruction using a TI-84 and/or Numworks calculator and the website desmos.com, so bringing a TI-83 or TI-84 would be great.  I hope to also have copies of several textbooks with the updated curriculum, so you will not need to bring any of your own.  

The Institute Schedule will be adjusted to reflect the participants need but will have an emphasis on the new Curriculum Framework released in March 2023, including the new College Board website and the questions from the practice AP exam.  Material or content on specific days may be moved around based on time. 

AGENDA
Monday:
Introduction:
  • Why is there a new AP Precalculus course?
  • Overview of Workshop Schedule and Materials
  • Skills and Learning Objectives – A deep dive into the CED
  • Structure and Construction of AP Precalculus Exam
  • Grading of the AP Precalculus Exam
  • Teaching and Assessment Strategies
  • Preparing Students for the AP Exam
  • Technology, the way of the future!

Tuesday:
Polynomial and Rational Functions:
  • Rates of Change
  • What is necessary and what is optional?
  • Pacing
  • Transformations
  • Limits and concavity
  • Regression 
  • Calculator and Computer skills
  • AP free response questions and grading
  • AP Classroom

Wednesday:
Exponential and Logarithmic Functions:
  • Sequences
  • Rates of Change again!
  • Regression again!
  • Limits and concavity again!
  • Semi-log plots
  • How this course is different than AP Calculus
  • AP free response questions and grading 
  • The AP Audit
  • 1st Semester Project Ideas

Trigonometric and Polar Functions:
  • Typical Unit Circle
  • What graphs do we need to know?
  • What identities are necessary?

Thursday:
Trigonometric and Polar Functions:
  • Regression again!
  • Limits and concavity again!
  • Polar functions
  • Rates of Change of Polar Functions
  • AP free response questions and grading

Unit 4 and Preparing for the exam:
  • State and local demands
  • Vectors and the Law of Sines and Cosines
  • Matrices
  • Review for the AP exam
  • 2nd Semester Project Ideas

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