Mr. Silva, AP Statistics teacher, takes pride in his student’s AP scores. He has many strategies he implements on his students throughout the year to help them do well on their exam.  11% of Mr. Silva’s students got a 5 on the test, while 35% got a 4 and 18% got a 3. 

Mr. Silva says “My hope is that I provide my students with the most effective learning experience I can.” Senior, Abraham Pollock stated, “I loved his class. He made me enjoy stats. I took his class last year and I attribute his teaching to getting me a 4 on the AP test.” 

After he separated from the U.S Air Force in 2009, he decided to return to UNLV to pursue a Bachelors in Mathematics. After he completed his degree, he became a teacher though the ARL program and eventually got hired at Shadow Ridge. 

He taught math for a few years, but he was always trying to challenge himself, and “there was nothing more difficult than teaching college-level content to exceptionally bright students,” Mr. Silva states.  

AP courses can be hard and discouraging. Mr. Silva’s students have even brought up the challenges of the class, intimidated by the content of his course. Mr. Silva keeps his students motivated by reminding his students that they are working on earning college-level math credit that is taught at twice the speed, he also reminds them that the quickest way to get smarter is to challenge themselves by solving tough problems. But those same students often say by the end of the year they have never learned so much in a math class and that they’re glad they pushed through the struggle. 

Mr. Silva makes it a point to learn about all of his students and are flexible to his students needs,  Mr. Silva has used the EFFL (experience first, formalize later) model in his lectures, but these days students at the beginning of the lesson engage with their seat partner, or wingman, who is designed to bring prior knowledge into working memory. 

Mr. Silva makes it a point to make sure his students understand the material, and fully grasp the concepts, so by the time the test comes around students don’t ‘need’ to study. The only thing that increases preparedness is applying the concepts in new contexts by solving more new problems around the time the exam is near. 

Pollock states, “Everyday I walked out feeling a little smarter. He absolutely understands when something is difficult.”