Journal Expectations :

Possibly for the first time in your life, you will be expected to keep a mathematics journal this year. You are to write a minimum of 2 entries a week, and it will be collected every other friday (approximately).

What do you do with a math journal? It should be a place where you write down your ideas about problems that we have completed in class (correctly) and write a written commentary about the methods used, new topics learned, theorems proven, extension questions it posed for you, and other entries that are related to the problems and topics we cover in your own words. It can also be a place where you question topics or specific problems that you don't understand. This gives the opportunity for you and I to have a little conversation in writing about what is confusing to you.

For the semester, the following are the major expectations:

• Journal entries handed in late will have a lower grade.
• Entries will be dated as of the date the topics was discussed.
• Entries will include written commentary on problems, formulas, class discussion and interpretation of ideas.
• This will be an ongoing process, not to be done all in one night before the journal is due.
• You will be able to use your journal as a resource during in-class problem sets.
• This notebook will NOT be a collection of formulas and problems. If you choose to put a formula in your journal, it must be accompanied by an explanation or proof of the formula, and an example.
• This will NOT be the same notebook in which you do your homework.
• Your journal grades will all count as a single assesesment grade at the end of the semester/midsemester.

At any time during the term, if you would like your journal critiqued, please don't hesitate to ask.