Mrs. Johnson- AP Calculus AB Syllabus

Mrs. Johnson- AP Calculus AB Syllabus

**AP Calculus AB Exam: Thursday May 5, 2016 at 7:30am

Contact Information:

School Website:

My Email:

Required Supplies:

Graphing Calculator (TI 84+) or other graphing calculator
The Princeton Review: Cracking the AP Calculus AB & BC Exams 2013
Notebook~(folder or binder) for this class ONLY
Pencils
Loose leaf paper
Highlighters

Classroom Rules:

1. 4 P’s

Always abide by the 4 P’s: Prepared, Prompt, Polite, & Productive

2.Talking

Do not talk while the teacher is teaching/talking, this is called RESPECT. Do not talk during announcements. RESPECT your peers and do not talk while others are asking/answering math related questions. If you have a question during the lesson, please RAISE YOUR HAND.

3.Electronics and Food

Don’t bring them to class! Students are not permitted to use electronics in class, with the exception of a calculator (no not a calculator on your phone). NO CELL PHONES AND NO CHARGING YOUR PHONES DURING CLASS.Please keep your cell phones out of site unless I request otherwise. I WILL confiscate these items for parent pick up. Students are not allowed to have food or candy in class. If seen you will be asked to get rid of these items immediately.

4.Garbage

The ground is not a trashcan. Please wait until the end of class to dispose any trash. Students are expected to throw all of their garbage in the trashcan while standing in front of the trashcan. NO BASKETBALL with garbage. I expect to see a clean floor and clean desks after each class leaves the room.

5. Happy Teacher

Always make sure Ms. Coast is happy. Why? If I’m happy you are happy. How? Follow all rules and readily practice all procedures.

***Failure to follows these rules will result in formal discipline procedures.These options include, but are not limited to, calls home, student services, referral, and CDA.***

School Wide Tardy Policy:

1st tardy- Teacher will remind the student of the importance of being to class on time and layout the expectations.
2nd tardy AND BEYOND-Teachermarks the student tardy in SMS and assigns a Power Hour Detention. If the student does not report to the assigned Power Hour Detention, the teacher will complete an electronic referral for failure to comply with school rules.

****Always sign the tardy log if you walk in tardy, I should not have to remind you of this!****

School Wide “Quiet and Give Me Your Attention”Procedure:

Iwill raise my hand straight in the air and youwill stop whatever you are doing, and saying and raise your hand back. I should have the whole class’ attention in a matter of seconds.

Dress Code:

I expect ALL my students to follow the dress code that is stated in the Student Handbook. Girls, I have TONS of my old clothes in the cabinet for you to change into if you are not following dress code. Boys… sorry I don’t have clothes for you so you will just have to get some from student services.

Classroom Procedures:

Coming into class

Enter the classroom and sit in your assigned seat. Students will sit in collaborative pairs, with an assigned math partner. All belongings belong on the floor under your desk, NOT on your lap, NOT on your back, and NOT on your desk. Students are expected to be preparedfor class every day. If there is homework due, place it in the basket on my desk, preferably before the bell rings. Begin bellwork immediately. The bell does not begin class, you do. This suggests class actually begins beforethe bell rings.

Bellwork

Begin bellwork before the bell rings. Bellwork normally consists of review material from the previous day’s lesson. Bellwork will also serve as continual review for the AP Calculus Exam. We ALWAYS go over bellworks as a class. Selected students will present bellwork on the whiteboard.

Essential Question

The essential question is a “standard based” question that students should be able to answer by the time we are done covering a particular Florida Standard for Algebra 2 Honors, in order to show if mastery has occurred. I will often have students answer the essential question using complete sentences.

I Will…

The “I will” statement shows the student what he/she should be able to do and how they will be able to do it by the end of the lesson each day.

Weekly Writings

Each week students will have a new writing prompt. This prompt will be related to material covered that week or previous material. Students will be expected to respond using 10-20 complete sentences depending upon what I consider necessary or doable depending upon the prompt from that week.

Notes

Notes will be given with each new topic learned. All students are expected to take notes and keep them in their folders. There will be many times during notes when I expect students to get engaged in what is being taught, thus it is important students have their full attention the math. We will work out many examples together to make sure we, as a class, are mastering the material.

Classwork

After notes, students will be assigned practice problems on the new material, which will serve as classwork. These problems are to be done in class only and due on my desk in the basket before leaving the classroom. Students may only work with their math partner.

Homework

Homework is due in the basket on my desk first thing when arriving to class. I will not collect it from you individually. I expect you to have your homework turned in before we go over the bellwork. I will assign homework daily and it will be due the following class period. Homework is meant to help students get a better understanding of the material presented in class. Math is something that can only be mastered through practice. Homework for this course in a necessity. Note: To help assure a passing score on the AP Calculus exam students MUST practice at home. Students MUST do the homework.

Bathroom

Each student will be given one bathroom/hall pass per grading period. Students will have an opportunity to gain extra credit for not using the restroom during my class. Students will have 4 opportunities at extra credit before no credit is given. Each unused block on a pass is worth 2 extra credit points to their lowest test grade at the end of the grading period (totaling a possibility of 8 extra credit points). Students must keep their bathroom pass on them at all times. Do not lose your bathroom pass. I suggest you tape your pass to your math folder! If a student loses their pass they receive no points. If a student wants to use their pass but it is at home, they have forfeited all opportunities toward extra credit if they choose to still use the restroom. Trust me, unused bathroom passes help you out BIG at the end of the grading period.
BATHROOM PROCEDURE: I prefer you to use the bathroom during non-instruction time (or even better before and after class) because, remember, you are still responsible for the material taught while in the restroom. If there is an emergency and you must go while I am in the middle of teaching, do not interrupt class; instead quietly bring your pass up to me and I will initial it, and then you may sign out on the sign out log and go.
NOTE: If you leave the room for ANY purpose you must sign in and out on the sign out log!

Seating/Moving about classroom

Students are expected to be in their assignment seats at all times unless noted by me. Students are expected to stay seated the ENTIRE class period. DO NOT stand up to throw away garbage, or put on hand sanitizer while I’m in the middle of teaching; save these actions for the end of the class period. Do not sharpen your pencil while I’m in the middle of instruction; make sure this is taken care of BEFORE class begins. If there is an emergency during class and your pencil breaks, please wait for an appropriate time to sharpen your pencil, and do so discreetly.

Math Partners

Each student is assigned a math partner. My expectation is that EVERYBODY work with their math partners. How it should look is like this: I give a problem for you to work on with your math partner, you BEGIN the problem together (I do NOT want to see a person leave their partner in the dust as the do the problem fast and all by themselves, and meanwhile their partner hasn’t even started). Help each other each step of the way. Share your knowledge. Ask each other questions. Always make yourself AVAILABLE for your partner at all times while working out a problem I assigned. Once you both have reached a conclusion of an answer that you both think is right, HIGH FIVE to celebrate your math-awesomeness.

Dismissal

Remember you are dismissed by ME and not the bell! Do not start packing up belongings until told to do so. I do not like to make students late to their next class so I will try to give you a minute before the bell to get ready to leave, but this won’t be possible all the time. You know you are dismissed when I tell you “have a nice day.”

Other “NEED TO KNOW” Information:

Absent Students

If you are absent it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to make up your work.
On the ABSENT work you turn in, write the date in which you were absent at the top of your paperwith your parent’s initials next to it.
You can get your work from the class website OR from the Absent Binder located at the front of the classroom. The Absent Binder will be updated EVERYDAY and will include EVERYTHING we do daily, including the notes. DO NOT ask me what you have missed, instead see the BINDER AT POWER HOUR to copy down what you have missed (or take pics).
The class website is an even better resource for absent students. Students can check my website the day of their absence and make up the material before the return from their absence. This means the student did not fall a full day behind. However, notes (but, students are welcome to take their own notes from the textbook and count them as notes) will be located in class only in the Absent Binder.
You have the number of days you were absent to make up your work, otherwise it is considered late.
If you miss a quiz or a test, it is your responsibility to schedule a time to make that up with me IMMEDIATELY. Come at Power Hour to do so.

Late work

I do except late work, but never for full credit. More on this later.

Website

My website will be updated DAILY. You will find essential questions, classwork assignments, homework assignments, this syllabus, and other important class related announcements on my website. These things will also always be posted in my classroom.

To access my website, go to the school’s homepage (listed at the top of this syllabus), click on “Faculty & Staff”, click on “Faculty Listing”, then find Ms. Coast and click on Website. You will be able to view both past and current assignments.

AP Review Session

AP Calculus will meet the FIRST HALF of power hour EVERY FRIDAY. Please plan to be there every meeting. This review session will hold 2 purposes. Depending upon where we are in a lesson, we will either use this time to continue on or complete the lesson, or to do actual AP questions from previous exams. Attendance is required.

Mu Alpha Theta

I highly encourage ALL of my AP Calculus students to join Mu Alpha Theta. Your math expertise will be of great use and it is a great opportunity to earn extra volunteer hours during power hour.

Grading

Standard Based Grading
The grade book categories will be listed by standards. The weight of each category will depend upon how much class time we spend on that particular standard. The idea behind this is for students to be able to see their grade truly reflecting what they have learned. I will still have homework and classwork, quiz, and test grades within each category; however tests will be worth the most points.
To make up test points, you will need to have satisfactorily completed all previous homework and classwork assignments first.
For bellwork (only occasionally collected), classwork, and homework I use a Check Plus (10/10 or 100%), Check (7/10 or 70%), Check Minus (5/10 or 50%) system. See grading rubrics for more details. Note, for LATE WORK you can only receive full credit the day it is due. The next day the assignment is worth a check. After 5 or more days the assignment is worth a check minus.
Tests and quizzes are graded like normal, with tests having the highest weight. I do give partial credit for accurate work, so ALWAYS show your work!

AP Calculus AB Course Outline

Primary Textbook

Finney, Demana, Waits, Kennedy. Calculus: Graphical, Numerical, Algebraic: AP Edition. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 3rd edition, 2007.

Chapter 1: Prerequisites for Calculus (12 days) 

Elementary functions and their properties

Linear, power, inverses, exponential, logarithmic, trig, inverse trig, piecewise functions, composition functions

Parametric equations

Transformation of functions

Graphing calculator review

Chapter 2: Limits and Continuity (11 days)

Limits:

One and two sided limits

Limit at a point, limit at infinity, infinite limits

Properties of limits

End point behavior model

Continuity

Types of discontinuities

Tangent line to a curve

Slope of a curve at a point / slope of secant line

Instantaneous velocity / average velocity

Chapter 3: Derivatives (21 days)

Definition of f ‘

Derivative at a point

Local linearity

Numeric derivatives using the calculator

Differentiability and continuity

Relating the graphs of f and f ‘

When does f ‘(a) fail to exist?

Rules for differentiation:

Sum, product, quotient

Applications of velocity and acceleration

Chain Rule

Implicit differentiation

Derivatives of trig, inverse trig, exponential, and logarithmic functions

Logarithmic differentiation

Chapter 4: Applications of Derivatives (16 days)

Extreme Value Theorem

Local and global (absolute) extrema

Mean Value and Rolles Theorem

Using the derivative to find:

Critical points and extreme values

When the function is increasing and decreasing

Points of inflection

When the function is concave up and concave down

First and second derivative test

Intuitive general antiderivatives

Optimization Problems

Using the tangent line to approximate function values

Differentials and change

Related Rates

Chapter 5: The Definite Integral (12 days)

RAM (Rectangle Approximation Method)

Riemann sums

Finding an antiderivative

Using a definite integral to find area, volume, average value of a function

Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (First and Second)

Average value of continuous function on a closed interval

Mean Value Theorem for Definite Integrals

Trapezoid Rule

Chapter 6: Differential Equation and Mathematical Modeling (11 days)

Slope fields

Antiderivatives and the indefinite integral

Integration by substitution

Separable differential equations

Exponential growth and decay

Chapter 7: Applications of Definite Integrals ( 9 days)

Using the definite integral to discuss:

Net change - motion on a line, consumption over time

Area

Volumes of revolution

Volumes by slicing

Chapter 8: L’Hospital’s Rule ( 2 days)

Indeterminate forms and L’Hospital’s Rule

Review for the AP Exam (26 days)

We spend the last six (or five depending on the calendar) weeks of the school year reviewing for the AP exam which is in early May. During that time period, students answer the multiple choice questions from 1997-2011 exams during class periods in a timed environment. They will also work on the multiple choice questions from an AP Calculus prep book that contains practice exams. The students take previous AP Calculus free response exams in class in a timed environment. Students will be expected to write sentences as well as verbalize their explanations and justifications during this review period. Our classes are 50 minutes long, and I give them one whole free response test during one period which forces them to work fast and also cherry pick questions they know they can do. For homework assignments, I give them recent free-response exams (some from the B exams) asking them to do three questions a night which makes up 8 assignments. Here the students areexpected to give complete sentences to all justification points and explanations. Generally, no calculator or non calculus explanations will be accepted. I take up all work done during the review period and give a grade on it.