who were not bound for AP Calculus. When AP Statistics kicked
“
If I have become a teacher leader, it is
off in 1996–1997, I happily agreed to play a leadership role. Better
because I have followed in the footsteps
still, CCDS science colleague Wright Robinson convinced me to
team teach AP Statistics with AP Environmental Science, to col-
of the many great mentors and role mod-
laborate on a field and lab manual, and to co-present at several
els who have shaped my thinking.
conferences. Robinson got me started as a writer, having himself
”
authored several children’s books about ecological topics. More
than anything, Robinson convinced me to “get out there” as a con-
tributing member of my profession.
When our youngest son graduated from CCDS, my wife and
clear to me that my interests had shifted dramatically away from
I headed west to The Webb Schools in California to begin the
classical pure mathematics in the direction of research methods,
next chapter in our lives. I assumed leadership of the mathematics
combinatorics and graph theory, and statistics. Ironically, my only
department, and with the support of some exceptional colleagues,
statistical coursework to that point was a calculus-based probability
began to tweak the existing curriculum. We dissolved our existing
and statistics course as a sophomore at UNCC. Having reached an
geometry course and created an integrated geometry with algebra
important fork in the road, I opted to end my relationship with
course that continues to evolve today. In addition, we added a cap-
pure math and begin my high-school teaching career.
stone course for our most talented math students titled “Calculus-
Charlotte Country Day School (CCDS) was my proving
Based Probability and Statistics.”
ground, the place where I learned the craft of teaching from sup-
Externally, my role with the College Board expanded dramati-
portive colleagues such as Tim Timson, Sheila McGrail, and Sue
cally. I led four or five one-day workshops for AP Statistics teachers
Schwartz. My interest in curriculum development blossomed.
every year and a similar number of week-long summer institutes.
CCDS launched the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, and
These opportunities to help coach other teachers gave me a chance
I volunteered to take on the IB Higher Level Math course. In my
to share some of the lessons I learned in the trenches. At the same
fifth year there, McGrail and I designed a course called “Probability,
time, interacting with other highly motivated professionals encour-
Statistics, and Finite Math” to better serve the needs of students
aged me to further refine my own teaching.
In the summer of 1998, I began reading AP Statistics exams.
Every year since, I have attended this annual gathering of high-
Environmental Section
school and college/university statistics teachers, which some of us
refer to fondly as “stats summer camp.” For the past eight years,
Upcoming ENVR Workshop!
I have been privileged to serve as part of the reading leadership
team, first as a table leader and, more recently, as a question leader.
What: Statistical Issues in Monitoring the Environment
Needless to say, reading hundreds of exam papers every day is not
the highlight of the experience for most of us. Instead, it’s the tre-
When: October 22–24, 2008
mendous opportunity to network with like-minded professionals
Where: National Center for Atmospheric Research
who have amassed an abundance of content knowledge and a host
(NCAR), Boulder, Colorado
of resources for teaching introductory statistics. There are abundant
opportunities for discourse during breaks, at lunch, in the evening
This workshop covers state-of-the-art applications and
social lounge, and at various nightly professional events. Truth be
statistical methods in environmental monitoring. Sessions
told, some of my best conversations about statistics teaching have
on applications include monitoring in ecology, monitor-
taken place at AAA baseball games.
ing in air quality, monitoring of aquatic resources, and
Shortly after my wife and I moved west, Dan Yates contacted
monitoring of climate change and its impacts. The spa-
me about assisting him with some of the calculator features in the
tio-temporal data collected in environmental monitoring
second edition of The Practice of Statistics, the successful high-
present interesting and challenging statistical problems,
school AP Statistics textbook he coauthored with David Moore.
such as modeling of space-time correlation, analysis
Having spent three years co-editing the Technology Tips column in
of the huge amount of correlated data, and analysis of
the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ (NCTM) maga-
high-frequency monitoring data. Technical sessions will
zine, Mathematics Teacher, I felt comfortable accepting this role as
cover recent developments in statistical methods for envi-
a minor contributor in the writing process. Somewhere along the
ronmental data. A one-day short course on the analysis of
way, I mentioned to Yates that I had a few suggested enhance-
spatial and spatio-temporal data will be offered and taught
ments to the text based on my experiences as a user. To my surprise,
by Doug Nychka. There also will be a poster session. Poster
he called my bluff and asked me to compose a revised version of
abstracts need to be submitted by September 23, 2008.
Chapter 1 that incorporated my recommendations. Doing so took
For more information, contact Hao Zhang, Department of
far longer than I had expected, with many false starts along the
Statistics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906; (765)
way. The net result of my efforts was a 120-page tome disguised
496-9548;
zhanghao@purdue.edu.
as a single textbook chapter. With a typical dose of his southern
charm, Yates quipped, “You know, if chapters were this long, we’d
have to package the book with a wheelbarrow.” In the end, I was
26 AMSTAT NEWS SEPTEMBER 2008
SEPTEMBER AMSTAT FINAL.indd 26 8/20/08 2:26:58 PM
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