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Calculus Intro

On the first day of Calculus - we have homeroom! That means, I only have one hour of class. That's not enough time to get through procedural class info and a typical lesson. So, I started looking around for a fun activity that would introduce future concepts.

 I came across this blog post! I was so excited to find the activity and have been using this lesson for about 2 - 3 years. I absolutely love it!!!! You can download as a Word Document from her post. I added the Google version of her activity at the bottom of this post. 

 After going over some procedural classroom information, I put the kiddos in groups of 3 and handed them the paper. I just observed and walked around - I did NOT assist at all!  

 First of all - the conversations are amazing! To hear students on the first day of school arguing how to solve a problem - makes me so happy! 

 Second - this takes the idea of a previously learned concept to help solve the more complicated Calculus concepts (that they have never seen before.) 

 Third - I don't go over answers! My students kept asking if they were right! We had a discussion at the end of the class about answers. Justifying your answer is almost more important in AP Calculus than then answer itself. Being able to demonstrate your knowledge of Calculus is one thing that I want them to take from this activity. Also - that Calculus just uses basic concepts like slope and volume formulas and applies them to more complicated functions and shapes. (It will get way more complicated than that - but they don't have to know that yet!) :) 

 This activity gives them an insight into the course, and I plan on using it every first day for as long as I teach Calculus! 

 Here is a Google Version: Calculus Intro 

 ~RJ



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