Kennebecasis Valley High School

1. Kennebecasis Valley High School Welcome to AP Calculus ABSeptember 2, 2008 Mrs. Butler

2. First Day Information • Student Fee $ 35 • School Lock $ 5, you may use your previous lock if it is a school lock • Lockers 611 – 630 (2 are in this wing and the rest are around the corner) • Today’s schedule: • Period 1 and then Grade 11 and 12 assembly • Period 2 11:00 am – 12:00 am • Lunch 12:00 noon – 12:50 pm • Periods 3 – 5 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm

3. Mrs. Butler’s contact info • Home 648-0286 until 11:00 pm • Email butlemar@nbed.nb.ca • Notes will be posted on: www.butlersmath.wikispaces.com until Oct 1 • After Oct 1 on: https://www.edline.net/Index.page

4. Math Contests • Wed Nov. 19 Canadian Open Math Challenge www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca • March Maritime Math Competition http://www.math.unb.ca/MaritimeMath/mathpo.html • Tues Apr. 7 Euclid Contest www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca • These are all roughly 3 hours long • We’ll try to practice in class, but there may be little time • If you plan on writing a contest, try to practice at home • For entrance to certain programs in Ontario universities, the Euclid may be a requirement

5. Important Dates • Wed Sept 10 Student ID photos • Thurs Sept 11 • Meet the Teacher 7 pm • Grade 9 Activity Fair • Tues Sept 23 University Visits (3 PQ) • Tues, Wed Oct 14 – 15 Teacher PD • Fri Oct 24 Immunization Clinic Grades 9 & 12 • Tues, Wed Nov 4, 5 Post Secondary Day • Thurs, Nov 6 Parent – Teacher 5:00 – 7:30pm • Mon, Nov 10 Parent – Teacher 8:30 – 11:00am • Fri Nov 21 PD Day • Fri Nov 28 PD Day • Fri Dec 19 Last Day of School before Christmas • Tues Jan 6 Back to School for Students • Jan 19 – 23 Exam Period start time 8:50am • Wed Jan 28 First Day of Semester 2

6. Who invented Calculus? • Leibniz published his findings on Calculus first • Newton went ballistic • Newton was a secretive, somewhat paranoid sort. • Most History of Math texts seem to believe it was Newton who first worked on calculus concepts

7. What the heck is Calculus? • Calculus is the study of how things change • Differential calculus enables us to find, for a given function, its rate of change function • For example, the rate of change for velocity with respect to time is acceleration • Integral calculus is the opposite of differential calculus • Calculus solves problems that cannot be dealt with in regular math, because in so many cases, quantities are constantly changing at different rates • Life is not linear!! • Whoever heard of a car that goes at a constant rate of 110 km/h from here to Moncton?

8. Textbooks and Calculators • Calculus: Graphical, Numerical, Algebraic by Finney et al (Blue text, $ 100) • Calculus: A First Course; by Stewart et al (Red Text, $ 100) • TI 83 Plus graphing calculator ($3 fee, starts with batteries, but you are responsible for all other batteries and it must be returned in working order)

9. AP Calculus Info • Quizzes, HW Quizzes, Tests and Exams • You may choose to begin unit tests as early as 8:00 am, but I cannot give you extra time after class, you can’t be late for your next class • No school exam exemptions • Most questions require that all work is shown, a correct answer without work will receive partial marks but not many • In Semester 2 we will have our school exam at the end of April or first week of May, it will be cumulative from September and will be a previous AP exam or a practice exam. We will write it during period 1 and then after school for 3 hours. There will be an imposed time limit on this, simulating the external exam • External Exam Wed May 7 @ 9:00 am • You have the option of writing the external exam. • In March, the school asks for a $20 nonrefundable deposit from those planning to write the AP Calculus exam. If you later decide not to write the external, you will not get this deposit back. • Those writing the exam are asked for the balance which could amount to up to $100 depending on the exchange rate and the amount District Office decides to subsidize. Usually the balance students are asked to pay amounts to $50 - $80. • There is a fund for students in need of financial aid.

10. Success in AP Calculus • Understand the concepts • Know how to solve problems in a variety of ways: algebraically, numerically, graphically • Tests, quizzes and exams will have questions where calculator are not permitted and questions that cannot be solved without a grapher • Know your calculator well, it is your friend, but it cannot to everything for you • Practice with different functions • Ask questions

11. Success in AP Calculus • Keep good notes, even though I will be posting them online, writing or rewriting notes helps with understanding the concept • Study together. • We will be exchanging class telephone numbers. • Don’t be shy about phoning me or other classmates, everyone has something to impart. Sometimes explaining a concept to a classmate helps you to cement that knowledge in your head • Don’t copy from someone on assignments. This is only a short term benefit. You need to understand stuff as the questions you may be asked can be drawn from anywhere • Concepts don’t change, real life problems and exam problems do

12. Don’t show work this way.

13. Community Service and AP Calculus • It is important that students with the most aptitude in math serve others in that capacity • There will be lunch hour tutoring component with this class beginning Monday September 29 through the entire semester and will run from 12:30 – 1:00 pm. I will be here most days except when I am on duty. • Every student sign up for a day, so that we have 3 or 4 students on duty per day. Have lunch in my room on that day and answer questions if students show up. Each tutor should let me know they were there so I can record it. • On days that there are no questions, just use that time for eating lunch, working on problems, chatting or doing homework, as long as you are there the entire time. We want to ensure that at least one person is there the whole time • On days you are absent, or you have a meeting or when there is no school, just show up on another day, and let me know. The more tutors the merrier! • Students will be given a mark out of 50 at the end of the semester based on how much time you have logged. There are 14 weeks, being at 14 lunchtimes will give you 50/50, 13 lunchtimes will give you 46.4 out 50. • Every day you are there over the 14 required timed will net you 1 Bonus mark up to a maximum of 10

14. Be welcoming If you see someone hovering at the door, ask them if they have a question With a vague question, ask them if they have notes from Math class to show them Ask me or someone else if you don’t know how to do something Be patient and understanding Try your best . It is always good enough! Please don’t be condescending or say things like “that’s so easy”…it’s not so easy for some people Don’t worry if you don’t know how to do something – no one knows everything! Try not to be too loud and raucous if no one is in here asking questions, they may be too intimidated to come in Don’t be disheartened if no one shows up. Don’t dis their teachers. Sharing that info just makes it harder for that student to establish a rapport with their teacher. This would be detrimental to the student’s learning process Do’s and Don’ts of Tutoring