<p>My Algebra II teacher is insane! He always says that I'm preparing my class for Calculus and what not, but it got to the point where it's getting annoying. He's teaching us Calculus material mixed with Algebra II and it's bringing my grade down to a 85. An 85 isn't bad but I'm trying to hit all A's to make up for my C in physics freshman year. </p>
<p>What do you guys think? Is it okay to teach Calculus in Algebra II?</p>
<p>Thats not really supposed to be part of the curriculum. I would talk to the math department chair if this is alright with him or ask other kids who have a different teacher in algebra 2 if they are doing the same thing.</p>
<p>It’s good that you’re learning material ahead of time, but I would recommend talking to your counselor and trying to self-learn some algebra 2 topics so that your finals will be easier to take.</p>
<p>My teacher will teach us Algebra II, then he’ll make a Calculus reference and teach us some of that, then go back to Algebra II.</p>
<p>In other countries there is not such a rigid distinction between subjects as it is in the US. As long as the problems don’t require some prerequisite knowledge that you haven’t learned yet, why does it matter?</p>
<p>I agree with the above poster. Also, are sure it’s actually calculus that he’s teaching?</p>
<p>To be honest, I’m really jealous that your Algebra II is so rigorous and can’t possibly understand why you’re upset. My school has a very poor math department, and my Algebra II class is equal to most schools’ Algebra I class. It is the 4th quarter of my school year, and we are just now finishing up quadratic equations and basic factoring, a topic that is covered usually halfway through the average Algebra I class. I’d kill for a challenging math class!</p>
<p>^ I thought my school was the only one! Yeah, we just did ax^2 + bx + c factoring last class. </p>
<p>Anyway, I’d talk to other kids in the class & see how they feel about it (if you haven’t already), and then approach your teacher. Or, if you really can’t stand it, see if you can change your schedule?</p>
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<p>Are you in Grade 11? The Quadratic Equation, and the formula to solve it, are usually taught in Grade 11. Although, if your grades are good, and your school offers the option to high-average students, some Grade 10 students are introduced to it as part of an “enhanced” curriculum. No big deal. It is pretty easy.</p>
<p>What? The quadratic formula for finding roots of quadratic equations is usually introduced in Algebra I, which for CC standards is taken in middle school. Students are only reminded of it in later classes.</p>
<p>You guys ^^ learned ax^2 +bx + c in 11th grade?? Dang I learned that in 8th grade or maybe even saw the basics in 6th 
when we learned the Pythagorean Theorem</p>
<p>If only more teachers did this, perhaps the US would begin to climb the ranks amongst the most educated compared to other countries.</p>
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<p>Ouch!! Not for us. I sure don’t remember anything like that in Grades 6 or 7.
In fact, I think we got seriously into Algebra only in Grade 9.
Then, in Grade 11, we did the derivation of the Quadratic Formula, its uses, applications, as well as a whole bunch of trigonometric identities. I remember a bunch of memorization, which I hated because I hated outright memorization.</p>
<p>He uses a Calculus book by Larson and gives us examples. One example was when we were graphing quadratics/listing characteristics/interval notation and what not. He introduced us into limits. He uses some of these in our test. Right now, he not really “teaching” us Calculus any more.</p>
<p>I don’t see the problem with learning limits in late Algebra II. They are relatively simple in the fact that they don’t require much previous knowledge except for some basic graphing and algebra knowledge. Plus, they’re useful to have, because they have many useful applications in other concepts that you’ll learn next year, or maybe even this year. They’re arguably one of the most essential things in Calculus, so I can see why he’d teach you it. They’re challenging, but they’re very useful to know.</p>
<p>Besides, it’s not really Calculus. He’s teaching you the things that you will need to use in Calculus, so it’s more like Pre-Calculus. When you said your Algebra II teach was teaching you Calculus I thought he was straight up teaching you things like derivatives. =p</p>
<p>Considering calculus is based on algebra, I don’t see the issue.</p>
<p>^Even derivs aren’t so bad - the PTV rule when you have polynomials, at least, is fairly straightforward. But even so, I really don’t think you should teach unrelated and untested stuff right when teaching something else. One, it’s not fair on the students, who expect to gain a coherent, cohesive and continuous knowledge from the teacher germane to a syllabus, and two, it just sucks to be tested on advance material.</p>
<p>If your teacher’s giving you all the essential tools to learn the calculus (i.e. giving you the algebra you need), it’s still a coherent and cohesive curriculum…</p>
<p>@MichaelH37:</p>
<p>No, grade 10, and I’m not on the honors math track. Not until next year, anyway, since I decided to sign up for Pre-Calc H.</p>