I just received this year's AP CS A exam results. I knew before Easter break just what those results would be, and I was right. No matter how many times I told my students that they were going to take one of the hardest AP exams and that they could not wing it by cramming at the last minute, most of them did not listen. Most of them did not pass. What does it take to reach the part of a student's brain that realizes that I am telling the truth?
Last year my entire class passed that exam. Since they were all mentally geared towards the subject, I could have done nothing, and they probably still would have passed. My experience has been that the individual student's desire to pass the exam and interest in the software creation concepts side is a far better predictor of success than anything else. The interest in software concepts I have a good sense of, but how do I help them desire passionately passing the exam? I don't believe in using my emotions to manipulate students although I will use manipulative techniques to get them to do the work in class. It's getting them to work in the lab that is a big problem. I shall have to think seriously on this one before the fall. I have the passion that I need to pass on to them.
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JMHO from someone who's not a teacher - Just show them your own passion for the subject. If they are going to get passion for it, that will do it. & if they aren't ever going to develop such passion, you won't have expended effort that wouldn't have changed them anyway.
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