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Is there a place where I can buy well made calculus 2 and calculus 3 lesson plans and power points?

There is a good chance I'll be having my first semester of full time teaching next semester. If so, I'll be teaching four different classes, which would obviously be a ton of prep work. I was thinking if I could find a place to buy good power points to guide my lectures that would be great.

Thanks!

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    $\begingroup$ Many of the big publishers will have such things available if you adopt their textbook for your course. (Answer for the U.S.) $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 8, 2021 at 1:42
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    $\begingroup$ @GeraldEdgar Well, they'll have something available; in my experience I wouldn't count on them being good. $\endgroup$
    – chepner
    Commented Jul 8, 2021 at 15:35
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    $\begingroup$ Please don't use Powerpoint style presentations in a classroom, or in a research lecture. The slides might help you to organize your thoughts, but you need to be free to redirect your lecture to the students' questions, and to keep the students awake. (See Edward Tufte and Patrick Winston (youtube.com/watch?v=Unzc731iCUY&t=3174s)). $\endgroup$
    – Ben McKay
    Commented Jul 8, 2021 at 17:09
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    $\begingroup$ You can still redirect your lecture if need be with either the whiteboard behind me or some virtual pen. The persona of the instructor is what matters for keeping a student awake, not whether the instructor is writing on a board or using a powerpoint. That being said, examples will be worked through live, but having pre-prepared graphics in classes like calculus three has been a huge benefit to me. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 8, 2021 at 18:38
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    $\begingroup$ If there is, none of my professors ever knew about it... $\endgroup$
    – Ken Zein
    Commented Jul 8, 2021 at 18:58

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Assuming you are newly part of a department, ask someone in the department if they have anything you can use. They may direct you to publisher-provided materials or just give you a big pile of things.

Many instructors are worried that this kind of question will be seen as a sign of weakness, but actually seeking out expert materials well in advance of the semester is often seen as a sign of strength. This is also a good excuse to talk to some people in your department.

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As noted in a comment, most major calculus textbooks at this time (or more generally: almost anything in the standard undergraduate track, at least freshman-sophomore years) comes with slideshow presentations for the instructor. It's a very common use-case, and one of the principal value-add selling points for textbook publishers these days. It's likely you'll need an instructor account at the publisher's website; ask your publisher textbook sales contact.

That said, to date, I haven't personally seen any that were grade-A "well made". In my experience, I have to commit to revising/editing/upgrading/rewriting them on an ongoing basis, to tune them to my specific course and stylistic focus. Maybe all instructors are too idiosyncratic to fully accept another person's slide organization; but it can be a strategically smart way to get started (esp. if you've received a lot of big new preps at once, and/or you need to focus on your research).

Chris Cunningham's suggestion to ask around at your institution is a good one, of course. I'm the point person at my department for resources like that, and I consider it a good sign of planning and professionalism when people ask. It's probably less likely for slides to be in use/available by traditional math faculty -- but I have friends in other disciplines for whom using department-provided slides is mandatory, so you should check to be sure.

Finally, as one example, the free OpenStax calculus textbooks likewise have instructor slide decks available for free. Again, you'll need to make an instructor account to access them. See the page below and search for "PowerPoint Slides":

OpenStax Calculus 2 Instructor Resources

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