Joan Bergstrom Smith

Joan Bergstrom Smith

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I started off trying to be flexible and understanding and found that I was flexing too much. This caused a lot of stress for me. If you accept late homework, you will receive a wave of late work at the end of the quarter. I have tried making the penalties stiffer and stiffer until I actually saw some results. I tried 10% penalty for late homework (little impact), then tried 50% penalty (that made a difference). In some classes I do not accept late homework at all (this way, we can grade the homework together in class). There is complaining… >>>

I teach math. I was perplexed that students couldn't compute the percentage that they scored (after all, it is a math class). So, I made everything a round number. Every homework assignment is worth 10 points. When I had 19 sections of homework (this matched the number of sections in the textbook), I threw in one "freebie" so I would have 20*10 = 200 points. It makes it easier for the students to track (and me too).

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