The joys of insightful jokes

We started the year in AP Calculus with a few explorations so the students could get an early grasp on the big ideas of the class, such as the derivative being a slope or rate of change and the definite integral being the area under a curve.

Yesterday, after handing back the first test of the year, I tried to explain that I would not be curving tests or report cards in this class, as they have multiple opportunities to reassess standards and improve their grades by showing me they understand the material. I didn’t say it quite so eloquently. Instead, I said “There are no curves in this class.”

To this, one of the quicker thinking kids asked, “Well, then how are we going to study definite integrals?”

Totally nerdy, yet pretty awesome for someone a month into calculus.