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If you’ve been tasked with teaching any version of a Calculus course (Honors, Applied, Dual Enrollment, College Prep, or simply ‘Calculus’), then you’re in the right place.”
Here's how we handled the non-AP calculus class at the (independent) school where I taught for 10 years...
First, it is worth mentioning that in addition to this non-AP calculus class, our school also offered AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, and a post-AP class. All of these classes last for the entire year.
Because we offered those advanced classes, I made the non-AP calculus course like a survey course. We didn't do super difficult problems. (For example, we did not cover derivatives or integrals of a^x or log(x). We did not cover derivatives of inverse functions.) I wanted my students to be exposed to differential and integral calculus. Still, I doubt many of them will study calculus after graduating high school (the class is usually 95% seniors, 5% juniors). If they *do* study calculus in college, it will likely be a Business Calculus class - in which case they will be at an advantage because they've already been exposed to calculus.
You might also be interested in what I teach in Algebra 2 or what I teach in what I teach in Precalculus (on-level and honors).
Starting the Year
We started the year with a few days of Algebra topics (we end the year with some, too). We started this in 2019 because I was constantly going back and reminding them about point-slope form, the laws of exponents, and rational expressions as we were doing the calculus topics. Covering these topics at the beginning was successful; it prevented me from having to do it later, and it also gave the students a few days to adapt to being back in the classroom after the summer.
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Textbook
I did not use a textbook. If you feel you need one as a reference, I suggest this open-source (and therefore FREE!) textbook: http://www.apexcalculus.com/
Pacing Guide
Below is my pacing guide for the non-AP Calculus class. Note: Our classes met for 65 minutes, and we followed a 7-period rotating schedule. Sometimes a class met 3 times a week, sometimes 4; it depended on the week.
The links will take you to resources I have available in my TeachersPayTeachers store. You can buy the ENTIRE CALCULUS COURSE CURRICULUM here: bit.ly/calcbundle or on my Shopify store here.
Here's a quick video that walks you through how to use the Calclus curriculum.
If you want a FREE Google Sheets version of this pacing guide, scroll down to the bottom of this page.
If you want a FREE Google Sheets version of this pacing guide, scroll down to the bottom of this page.
Ending the year
I chose not to end the year with a project. By the final weeks of school, senioritis is in full swing, the weather is beautiful, and students' attention is everywhere except the classroom. Instead, I preferred to wrap up with one last unit that reviews key algebra and trig skills they're likely to see on a college placement exam
It was also beneficial to end the school year (right before exams) with a test, as students with an 85% or higher could exempt the exam. I wanted to have a major grade at the end of the semester to keep their attention.
The structure of the class
Since we moved so slowly, my lectures typically do not take the entire 65 minutes. I tried to give them time to work on their homework, or I will do activities: Board Problems, Scavenger Hunts, Gimkit.com, Sticky Points review game, Raffle Ticket Review Activity, etc.
This was by far my favorite class to teach. I had a lot of autonomy; I didn't have a deadline to cover all the material. I didn't have an outside entity (e.g., the College Board) dictate what material I had to cover; no other course follows this sequence, and there's no external exam! What more could you ask for?!
What is missing?
These topics are covered in AP Calculus but NOT in the Full Year Calculus Curriculum.
- Limits of composite functions where the functions are not continuous
- Derivatives of tangent, cotangent, secant, and cosecant
- Derivatives of inverse functions
- Derivatives of inverse trig functions
- Derivative of a^x
- Derivative of logs of other bases (not e)
- L’Hopital’s Rule
- Linear Approximation (aka Tangent Line Approximation)
- Given the graph of f’, sketch the graph of f
- Integrals with inverse trig
- Integrals with a^x
You may also be interested in:
Free Websites for Creating Volumes of Revolution
How to Graph a Volume of Revolution with Autograph Software
Let's continue the conversation.
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