We began our team UIL practice in January. My original reasons for only beginning in January were due to the fact students were still learning all the data structures and algorithms (time complexity) material during the first semester. Why should they be tested over things they haven’t learned yet - right? And yes, I still believe they should not be tested over things they haven’t leraned yet. But the team programming section - they are still able to do that.

My thoughts for next year are to begin by offering UIL team access to anyone interested in both my AP CS A and my Independent Study. I did this last year but went only with my Independent Study this year. The reason was because last year I only had one student in Independent Study and this year I have 5, enough to make a team. However, last year my AP CS A students performed remarkably well - they had high metacognition, great work ethic, and were great to have on a team together (shoutout to Daniel F. and Nathanael G.). What’s to say other AP CS A students can’t do that?

Written Portion: I could still offer it as extra credit/bonus to AP CS A for meeting benchmarks. I could pace it so that the data structure intensive material is not reached until close to when they get to arrays and algorithms (searching and sorting) - that would be their introduction to other data structures. Probably start with binary representation. They should know and/or/not already from 1 year of computer science; that could be the next topic.

Programming Portion: The very first programming question on UIL is typically printing something out. Second one is reading input. This coincides with the first things students learn and is a great way to take it to the next step. 3-5 are typically just algorithm problems which really pushes their logical analytical thinking. Start with these.

Conclusion: Start having practices earlier. Make it a culture of spirited yet friendly competitiveness. More competitions spaced throughout the year? How to balance with other duties? 2x week tutorials. 1x week some club activity (CSHS, intermediate/elementary outreach). 1x week practice (probably coincide with tutorial day to be after). That’s 3 days/week minimum of activities… including Wednesday faculty stuff.

Change requires energy input. I cannot expect my students to put in the energy if I won’t.