CST 361 Week 3

This has been the second and last week of AP testing. My AP Computer Science A students are testing this Friday in the afternoon — the last test of AP test season! It is a notoriously difficult test with an hour and a half for 40 multiple choice questions and another hour and a half for four Free Response Questions (FRQs), which have students hand-write code–anything from a short mutator or accessor to an entire class. Each FRQ has 2-3 parts involved.

I feel that with the 30+ hours of volunteer hours spent after school and during Saturday school on top of what we have done in class, these students are probably the best prepared group I’ve had in my short teaching career. I cannot attribute this to my teaching entirely because I have some exceptional students this year that are extremely diligent and studious. Many of them are seniors who will, in a scant few weeks will be graduating and, later, moving on to university!

Care packages for my AP CSA students

Yesterday I received official word that I have been granted a leave of absence for the 2019-2020 school year to finish my academic studies. I will also be taking advantage of this time by interning at Qualcomm and doing some personal growth. It has been an extremely advantageous time to take leave because of the low morale within our district rooting from potential financial fraud resulting in budget deficits and cuts.

I am trying not to feel guilty about leaving students behind who had been anticipating in having me as their AP Computer Science A teacher next year, but it is time to put myself first.

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