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Homework


SHOW YOUR WORK!!!!!   BE NEAT!!!!!!   REDUCE FRACTIONS--EVEN RATIOS (BUT NOT RECIPROCALS)!!!!!!!


**********MAKE SURE THAT YOU EXPLAIN, OR JUSTIFY, OR SHOW YOUR REASONING WHEN SAXON EXPECTS YOU TO DO SO********


By the way, our new testing system, Smarter Balance, will have you write about your math process.  Unlike NECAPS, you will be responsible for showing that you understand the process.  To get ready for this, take your homework seriously and spend an extra minute or two a night using clear language or pictures to show how you know.  I will do my part and work on the math vocabulary more with you!


MISTAKES ARE NOT ONLY ACCEPTED AND NORMAL, THEY ARE NECESSARY FOR LEARNING! 

By showing your work, step by step, you will actually save time since you will be able to check your work.  If you don't show your work, you'll be forced to start at the beginning again and again and again......


When setting up this page, I could hear you students groaning, so I googled "why math teachers make students show work."  This was one of the best answers I read, the writer is also a teacher.

You have to show your work because in higher math, the thought process matters as much as the answer. Yes, you probably could whip through the easier questions in 30 seconds, but you would be left wondering when you get to the harder questions.

Higher math is made up of patterns and processes; the same patterns and processes that you are made to show work for on easier problems are used to solve the really complex ones - there are just more of them involved. However, because it's more about the process than the arithmetic, you will often get at least partial credit for showing the process you took.

Also, if you do get a wrong answer, your teacher can quickly go to the exact part of the process and make a note next to it so that you'll know to watch that in the future. Instead of "crap, I got it wrong", it's "oh, THAT's what went wrong. Ok."

I promise, we're not trying to make you waste time, and we're not messing with your head...we're preparing you to succeed down the line, in many ways.
 
CONGRATULATIONS IF YOU ARE READING THIS!  IT MEANS THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR, OR YOUR CHILD'S, HOMEWORK IS.  PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO LOOK THROUGH YOUR OR YOUR CHILD'S AGENDA AND SEE IF THE CORRECT INFORMATION IS WRITEN DOWN.  YOU MAY HELP YOUR STUDENT, THE ONLINE BOOK IS ACCESSIBLE AND I HAVE POSTED A PDF OF COURSE 1-3 ON MY PAGE.  YOU OR A HIRED TUTOR MAY USE THESE RESOURCES TO HELP YOUR CHILD.  MAKE SURE THAT YOUR STUDENT UNDERSTANDS THE PROBLEMS ON THE PRETEST; IF THEY CAN DO THE PRETEST, THEY CAN DO THE TEST! THIS YEAR SOME STUDENTS ARE MARKING INCORRECT PROBLEMS ON THE PRETEST AS CORRECT, WHICH DOESN'T REALLY HELP THEM LEARN MATH OR SCORE WELL ON THE TESTS.  I NOW ONLY DO TEST CORRECTIONS WITH STUDENTS WHO ASK OR DO THEM WHEN THE TEST IS FIRST HANDED BACK.  AS STUDENTS GET INTO HIGHER MATH, THEY NEED TO LEARN HOW TO HELP THEMSELVES LEARN AS HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS WILL NOT BEG THEM TO SIT NEXT TO THEM DURING STUDY! 
 

UPCOMING DATES:

 

 

 

Monday (6/15)  Happy BIRTHDAY to Mr. Bergang!

We will do Day four on Pascal's Triangle's from Joan Boaler's website.

Collect books

Discuss links for calculator help and how to succeed next year in math.

How do you make next year's class a personalized one?

 

Tuesday (6/16)

Field Day-- bring lots of water and a change of shirt!

 

WHILE I AM COLLECTING SCORES, MAKE SURE TLHAT YOU LOOK AT THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM IN THE BOOK AND DECIDE IF YOU MADE A COPY ERROR, A SIMPLE MATH ERROR, NOW UNDERSTAND HOW TO DO THE MATH, OR NEED HELP UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT.  DO ***NOT*** JUST INTERRUPT AND BLURT OUT IF YOU GOT ONE WRONG WHILE WE ARE CORRECTING.  THIS SLOWS US DOWN.  WE HAVE LESS TIME TO DO HOMEWORK TOGETHER.  RESPECT YOUR CLASSMATES, CHECK YOUR WRONG ANSWERS, AND THEN LET ME KNOW AT THE END OF CLASS IF YADDITIONAL HELPOU NEED  TO UNDERSTAND A CONCEPT.  WE ARE SPENDING QUITE A BIT OF TIME FOR A FEW KIDS WHO WANT US ALL TO WAIT WHILE THEY WORK OUT THAT THEY MADE A SIMPLE MATH OR COPY ERROR.

Please note our grading scale:
 

Report card grading is as follows:

 

 

                     A  +    98-100                           
                   A        95 - 97                         
                 A -      93 - 94                       

                B +     91 - 92                      
                B        87 - 90                      
                B -      85 - 86                      

                 C +     83 - 84                      
              C        80 - 82                   

C -      78 - 79    

             

               D +    76 -   77  
                

                   D        72 - 75                       

D -     70 - 71     

                      

F        Below 70

 

Author: Marilyn Knapp
Last modified: 6/27/2015 6:55 AM (EDT)