For this week’s Albert teacher spotlight, we chatted with Stephanie Stone, an AP® Environmental Science Teacher at Chopticon High School in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. Stephanie has taught for 21 years, but only recently started teaching AP. She found that Albert has been a great resource as she learns to navigate the AP® curriculum and prepare her students for the exam. We talked with Stephanie about what has worked for her students and how Albert has helped them be successful.
Here is what we learned.
Q: So we know that this is just your second year teaching AP® Environmental Science, what were you teaching before that?
A: Biology
Q: How has it been jumping from Biology to Environmental Science and then from non-AP® to AP?
A: I think in terms of the AP® Environmental, just the amount of information is a lot, so there is a lot of depth and breadth to cover in a short period of time.
Q: What access do you have to technology inside the classroom?
A: Students have access to laptops, iPads, and we have a smart board.
Q: What is your style of teaching? Is it more discussion or lecture based?
A: Not so much lecture, more of a facilitator. I give the kids information, activities, and have them go through their school work. I kind of help facilitate and move them through the curriculum.
Q: What activities or projects do you do in your classroom?
A: A lot of times I try to mix it up. We do what I like to call the traditional “paper and pencil”. We also do interactive activities online, a lot of lab activities. I give them a question to explore, and they create an experiment where they can collect data, analyze it, come up with conclusions or new questions.
Q: How often do you use Albert in your classroom?
A: I used it mostly weekly. I was getting used to the curriculum myself and then looking at Albert, I would pick a topic and say, “ok this week, we should try these questions.”
Q: What have you noticed as far as student engagement before and after using Albert?
A: Engagement has definitely increased. As we go through the curriculum, sometimes the review questions on Albert, especially towards the end, were more specific on a topic than what we covered in class. It has definitely brought up pieces of the curriculum like,“Oh! We didn’t discuss that. Let’s talk about it.” It helped bring more of a full-roundedness of the curriculum — things that I may have forgotten. Or it would prompt a student to say, “Hey, I didn’t quite get this part.” Albert questions gave a lot of those clues and helped the students grasp other topics as well.
Q: Have you seen any change as far as student outcomes? Whether it is in unit scores or their confidence going into the AP® test?
A: Absolutely! They felt very prepared because we use a lot of different avenues for review, and we prepare about a month ahead of time. They used Albert as review questions and the textbook online, and they did feel more prepared. They almost felt that the test was easy. They would say, “This was easy. We got most of those, and the FRQs. We nailed this.” I think by being exposed to different resources such as Albert, they could see the test questions and they can reduce some of their test anxiety, their stress level. They felt more confident because they’ve seen these questions all throughout the year, so, it wasn’t so sudden.
Q: Have you used any of Albert’s data insights?
A: Yes. I have it on my screen now. I really love the overview where I can see how the students are doing, who is struggling, passing, proficient, excelling, and at mastery. It was so nice to see how they performed in different areas, and I used that data when it came time to review.
I try to start reviewing a month before, and I try to help students focus on their weaker areas. Together we pick about two to three topics where they need extra help. They can go back and use Albert, or different resources, and pinpoint where they struggled through the year. This helps them to feel more prepared before the exam.
Q: That’s great. I am going to backtrack a bit and ask about how this was your second year as an AP® teacher. What it was like building your syllabus for this class?
A: We’re really fortunate in our district because the Environmental teachers work really closely together, so I was able to build off of a given syllabus that was already linked to our textbook, and I was able to pick and choose different activities. That was very helpful, especially just starting out. The courses are so expansive and detailed. The second year, we actually got the updated version of the textbook that we use, so I was able to tweak things. It was helpful.
Q: Do you have any advice for new AP® teachers?
A: Definitely seek out advice from those that have taught it before. And seek out any resources that you can online. Albert definitely was helpful, especially because the whole course is there — all of the topics, questions, things that might come up. That definitely helped me as a teacher, and help the students as well. As I was learning the curriculum, they were learning it with me.
Q: How well would you say Albert matched your syllabus, or curriculum?
A: It was very well matched. It was very nice because as I went through teaching the course, I was able to go into Albert and see those exact topics. I was able to have those students go directly to the different parts as we were learning together. It helped remind me as well of the different parts of the curriculum. “Oh yeah! I need to brush up on this. We need to discuss that.” So, it definitely helped.
Q: Is there anything you plan to incorporate as far as Albert into your classroom next year?
A: Yes. I don’t feel that I used it enough. It is a wonderful resource for the students, and I definitely want to use it throughout the year. I plan to use this, as well as other strategies. It’s great to see where students are falling short or lacking, and I hope to build mastery using Albert throughout the year. I think that will definitely help, instead of trying to cram everything towards the end. Maybe getting that “mastery” level as they go through the course will help them in the long run.
Q: What would you say is good advice as far as staying ahead? Like if you were to get behind in a unit, how to do catch back up?
A: That’s a good question. I’ve been very lucky to stay on track. Towards the end, the last part of the curriculum is global change. So in the last four weeks before the exam, I tried to incorporate that as we were reviewing, and find time to review that final piece of global change of the system.
Q: Is there anything that you would say that helped keep you on schedule then, or is it just good planning?
A: I think having the units planned, and making sure I stick by my syllabus. Putting more quality into it versus quantity, so using the really good activities, the really good pieces of technology or interactive lessons. If I had to cut short, I would cut some of the reviews, the extra activities. I like to stick with the quality pieces.
Q: You said in your initial response that some of your students had experience with Albert from other subjects. Were there times where they helped you because they had used it before?
A: Yes. As we went through, we noticed that some of the questions within one topic could fit into many topics. They said, “That happens, because some of the questions can fit into the tags.” Also, I did not realize that I had to grant the license to the students. They helped me with that. “You might have to give us access Ms. Stone.” They know more than we do all of the time.
Q: Yes. They learn fast. Were there any challenges when you first started using Albert?
A: No, nothing major. It seemed pretty straight forward. The directions for setting up the class were pretty easy, and students were able to join easily without mistakes or difficulties.
Q: What would you say were the challenges you faced as a new AP® teacher?
A: Number one is just the content and management of the course. Getting that depth of information across to the students in a timely manner is hard. Also learning to pick high quality, activities, and using best practices. It takes time to really fine tune and streamline the whole course. I am very lucky in that my district, I see the students every day for 90 minutes. That definitely helped. We have a lot of time to explore, do the activities, and finish labs sometimes within a day or two. So it is really nice.
Q: How do you come up with labs?
A: Most of them, we go through some of the science companies, like Carolina Biological and Flynn have a series of kits for AP® Environmental. The first activities I had were through my week long seminar, my training over the summer. A lot of times when you go to the training, they give you a lab book and you kind of test activities. You work through of all of the different pieces of content.
Q: Have you had conversations with your administration about Albert?
A: Yes. Our AP® coordinator at the district level found Albert and asked couple of us to get involved in a free trial. I already asked to renew it and I think it is in the budget for us to get it again. I think it is a great program and tool. One of the things that I think puts your product above others is the explanations of why this answer is correct, and why the others are not. Sometimes with the course and the amount of information the students have to master, they do not have the time to seek out why they didn’t get the questions right. They can self-monitor, self-assess, and even help each other, but they can definitely look and see, “Oh, it should have been this. I was between these two. Oh, I don’t understand that.” I will definitely be hoping and fighting to use this product next year.
Q: I think that is about all of the questions I have for you. Is there anything else you would like to add about your Albert experience?
A: Just that it was really wonderful and very easy to use. The customer service is great too, if I ever had any questions or an issue, I would send an email, and I would get a response within an hour, or at least within a day. The product is wonderful, and I really do think it helped my students prepare for their exam this year.
We’re so happy to hear that! Thank you for talking with us!
Learn more about How Albert Can Help Teachers New to the AP® Program.
