Homework counts for 10% of the student overall grade in my classes.
To receive the 10%, students are expected to complete the homework assignments as indicated in the syllabus. All of the problems assigned MUST be completely worked out. The grade will be based on NEATNESS, COMPLETENESS, ACCURACY, QUALITY, and QUANTITY of work. In most cases students will get full credit or extra credit if the following criteria are met when doing their homework assignments:
A. FOLDER - 1 Total Point
Place your assignment in a paper type folder. Do not use a binder. Stapling the work is NOT permitted.
Why? In most cases the homework will take several pages of information. Therefore to keep everything together it is best to use a paper folder to secure all the pages together.
B. COVER SHEET - 1 Total Point
Assignment Title – E.g. " Chapter 2 Homework Assignment"
Class Name - E.g. "College Algebra - MAC-1105 Section 42287
Picture - (Use Google Images to provide a suitable picture)
Student Name and Number
Date of Assignment
Hint: Use Word or Power Point to create your cover sheet.
Why? It is important to know what the student is working on. There will be several homework assignments throughout the course and each MUST be clearly separated. Also it is a good idea to be organized with your work to prepare everyone for the Chapter Tests in the class.
C. DIRECTIONS/PROBLEMS - 2 Points
Student must write the directions to all problems, as stated in the textbook. Including word problems, graphs, and tables associated with the problems assigned.
WHY? There are many exercises that will required several parts to be resolved. Writing the problem will assist you in verifying and checking your procedural, conceptual, and skill understanding of the problem. In essence, I want to know what is asked of the problem, Does it have multiple parts?, Is a graph required? etc..
D. SHOW YOUR WORK - 5 points
Students must show proper documentation in determining the solution or answer to each problem. All logical steps must be shown including graphs, tables, equations, and expressions relating to the solution of the problem. The use of a calculator is NOT proper justification unless a graph, table, or statement is written justifying the use of a calculator.
WHY? Many students just write answers to homework problems without any justification. This is due to lack of procedural understanding or lack of logical methodology. I will give NO one credit for providing answers only (We all know that the answers are in the back of your book), incomplete work, or the work is impossible to follow or hard to read. Remember NEATNESS counts and the student must make every possible effort to give me the analysis, and development of the necessary work to achieve the solution to the problem.
E. ANSWER THE PROBLEM - 1 Points
The last statement or sentence to a problem should provide clearly and concisely the answer to the problem. If the problem is a GRAPH, proper labels and tables must be shown in the work to answer the question correctly. If answers are based on GRAPHS, be sure to say how and why the answer comes from the graph. Word problems MUST be answered clearly and in geometry type problems, the dimensions, angles, areas, volumes, perimeters, etc. must be clearly stated. Sometimes a picture CAN be used to answer a giving problem (a picture is worth a 1000 words). A highlighter or the use of a box is a great tool to emphasize answers, specifically whenever simplifying expressions, performing operations, solving equations and inequalities, coordinates, Maximum, Minimum, Vertex, etc.
WHY? It most cases, it is NOT sufficient to work out a problem and get an answer. It is often the case, that the answer found MAY NOT be the answer requested by the problem. Therefore it is important that after the work is done, the student READ carefully what is asked of the problem. The answer MUST be clearly stated, it is NOT your teacher responsibility to find the answer burried in a page or a half of page of student work, where the development of the problem is incoherent or almost impossible to follow. It is understood that the ANSWER must come from the work shown, that is your work MUST justify the correct answer.