Dos and Don'ts (Dr. Grant's Pet Peeves)

1. Do come to class on time. Those who consistently come late to class will inevitably fail to learn some things they otherwise would have learned. Homework is due at 10:00, not 10:05 or 10:10 or 10:15. If you have a reason why you will be late, you should make arrangements to turn in your homework ahead of time.
2. Do turn in your homework on the way into class. I will not take class time to remind you that your homework is due or to ask you to pass it forward.
3. Don't continue your conversations with your classmates after the opening bell has rung. Every time (including at the very start of class) that I have to ask students for their attention because such conversations are taking place, the students participating in those conversations will lose citizenship points. Students who consistently engage in such behavior will have lost the equivalent of half an exam's worth of points by the end of the semester.
4. Do ask questions in class. If you're wondering about something, there's a good chance others are, too. It will probably be a much better use of our class time for you to ask questions and for me to respond to them than for me to give a 50-minute monologue.
5. Do correct me when I make a mistake. If, for whatever reason, I add 3 and 2 and get 6, please point that out, so that others in the class won't think I've invented some sort of new math.
6. Do take the placement test and prerequisites seriously. There is a fairly strong correlation between students' performance on the placement test and their final grade in this class. Occasionally, very hard-working students can make up for poor preparation, but it is more common for poorly-prepared students to do poorly (and then to blame me for their failure). Don't think that you'll be able to succeed in this class without being able to differentiate every elementary combination of elementary functions. Don't think that you'll be able to succeed in this class without knowing the definitions of trig functions, the properties of their graphs, the basic identities they satisfy, and their values at special angles. Don't think that you'll be able to succeed in this class without an understanding of the rules of exponents. Don't think that you'll be able to succeed in this class if you can't add fractions. Etc. Etc. Etc.
7. Don't ask for your grade to be adjusted for nonacademic reasons. It would be dishonest of me to raise your grade just so you can keep your scholarship. It would be dishonest of me to raise your grade just so you will stay off of academic warning or academic probation. It would be dishonest of me to raise your grade just so you won't have to repeat the class. Please don't ask me to commit these dishonest acts.
8. Do attend devotional and forum assemblies. Once you're there, listen to the speaker instead of talking to your friends about which coach doesn't know what he's doing or about who's asking whom to what dance. We may let out class a few minutes early on some Tuesdays in order to make it easier to find a seat in the Marriott Center.
9. Don't believe everything you hear from Math Lab tutors.
   1. Class policy is determined by the instructor.
   2. Definitions of mathematical terms are determined by the instructor and the author of the textbook.
   3. Homework instructions are determined by the instructor and the author of the textbook.
   4. The correct answers are determined by 6000 years of logic.
   Math lab tutors do not speak authoritatively on (a–c). The information they provide on (d) is subject to verification by the student. If they say: "You don't need the '+C' on an indefinite integral", "It's okay to divide by zero", or "Good is evil and evil is good", don't believe them. Excuses that begin with "But someone in the Math Lab told me that …" are not considered valid.
10. Don't turn in answers you don't understand. If someone (e.g., the T.A., a classmate, a Math Lab tutor) tells you that the final answer to a complicated homework problem is 3, but you have no idea why the final answer is 3, academic honesty dictates that you not write down that answer as part of your homework solutions.
11. Do handle your absences as conscientiously as you would if this were your job. Most employers would find it unacceptable if an employee were to miss work several days in a row with no notification or explanation, even if that employee were to say something about having felt sick when he finally showed up at work again. For similar reasons, if you want full credit on homework turned in late due to illness, you should do more than scribble "I was sick" at the bottom of your assignment when you finally get around to turning it in.