Honors Precalculus with Trigonometry with Mr. Fredericks
SASS: What is your favorite thing about teaching Honors Precalculus with Trigonometry? [From now on, we'll refer to this class as "Precalculus".]
Mr. Fredericks: My favorite thing about teaching the course is watching the students work on problems in class.I enjoy watching the discovery process, as well as seeing new ideas for solving problems.
SASS: What challenges students the most in Precalculus? How would you recommend that students overcome these challenges?
Mr. Fredericks: The more abstract concepts in graphing and trigonometry can be challenging since they are difficult to grasp without very clear visual explanations. I would recommend hands-on practice as well as working with online graphing tools, such as Desmos and Meta-Calculator.
SASS: What types of students do well in Precalculus?
Mr. Fredericks: The students who do well will normally be the students who follow our guidelines (watching the lectures and reading the textbook before class as well as doing the before-class participation sets). They will also participate regularly, even if they’re not always sure about how to get the solution. Sometimes the best way to learn how to solve a problem is to just start working on it even if you aren't entirely sure of all the steps you want to take. That is when you can make new discoveries. This idea is why I value breakout rooms as a tool in class. They allow students to be more free in exploring problems within their small group without the pressure of being in front of the entire class.
SASS: What does the average workload for each week look like?
Mr. Fredericks: There will be 2 to 2.5 hours of class, approximately 1 to 2 hours of before-class participation problems, 1 to 2 hours of homework after classes, 2 to 4 hours of studying/review, and sometimes 1 to 2 hours for an exam. All in all, the workload for this class can range from 7 to 12.5 hours each week.
SASS: How do you recommend that students prepare for exams in Precalculus?
Mr. Fredericks: Doing the MyMathLab assignments regularly and putting forth their best effort in class and in the weekly assignments will be very helpful. Also, studying their notes from class can be very helpful. This task requires that they first take good notes in class, and taking notes is integral to being successful in a rigorous mathematics course. If my students misplace their notes, they can download the slides used in class from our Google Drive page. If there is a review session before the exam, then the students should definitely review the problems from the review session as well as those from any practice exams.
SASS: How is the participation grade for Precalculus determined?
Mr. Fredericks: The participation grade is based on the before-class participation assignments and working on one problem per week in class. Participation beyond that is strongly encouraged.
SASS: How is a student’s overall grade in Precalculus determined? What percentage of a student’s overall grade is determined by exams, homework, quizzes, participation, etc.?
Mr. Fredericks:
Participation: 10%
Homework: 10%
Chapter Exams: 30%
Midterm Exam: 20%
Final Exam: 30%
SASS: What materials do students use in the course (textbooks, lectures, online resources, etc.)?
Mr. Fredericks: The students will be expected to use the textbook, the online lectures on Canvas, and MyMathLab.
SASS: Are students expected to be on camera for the entire class?
Mr. Fredericks: I do not require that the students be on camera for the entire class, but they should come on camera when solving a problem on the board in class. Of course, in terms of technology, the students should also have a working microphone as well as a working graphics tablet.
SASS: Have you had any experiences with students in Precalculus that could encourage those who think they cannot excel at the material to take the class?
Mr. Fredericks: This is my first year teaching Precalculus at the OHS, but my past experience with students in Beginning Algebra, Intermediate Algebra, and Calculus has shown me that students who are struggling can benefit from study groups. It would be especially helpful if both struggling and students participated in the study groups as I have seen students lacking confidence improve tremendously after working with students who are doing well. And, the students who are already doing well will usually get a deeper understanding of the material.
SASS: What about Precalculus interests so many students?
Mr. Fredericks: From my experience, the way in which Precalculus ties the more basic topics in Algebra to much more advanced topics in mathematics can be an eye-opening experience for many students. Some students will be amazed at how such basic concepts can be used to discover much more complex ideas, giving us methods for modeling almost any problem. In Algebra, we give students the tools for their toolbox, and we teach them how to use them for more basic tasks. In Precalculus, we start to teach them that they can find novel uses for those tools by creating new tools out of the basic ones for more complex tasks.