Class Goals

Here are Laura’s goals for this semester of MATH 231. Think about your own goals for this course and how they can best work with these overall learning goals.

  1. Make sure that you learn Calculus at a level appropriate for your desired college math or science major.
    Note that this is may involve a higher level of difficulty, theory, and expectations than you have had in previous math courses, even if you have had calculus before.

    To achieve this goal I will give challenging quizzes, tests, and a final exam to measure your success, and hold you to a high standard on those exams.

  2. Help you learn how to take control of your own learning.
    This is perhaps where things will be most different from your high school learning experiences. I want you to leave this course with the confidence to tackle any subject or new skill on your own with confidence.

    To achieve this goal I am requiring you to read before class, choose your own homework exercises, and do work for yourself in your Notebook rather than for a check-box grade.

  3. Help you learn how to communicate and share what you know.
    If you can’t share what you know, then people can’t know that you know it! In addition, working with other people makes everybody stronger than if they were working individually. You need to be able to communicate your knowledge confidently and effectively, and that takes practice.

    To achieve this goal I am requiring you to work in groups and make presentations in class, and encouraging you to study together outside of class.

  4. Help you suceed!
    Calculus is hard, and many of you will have to struggle and fight to succeed in this course. I want to help you get through that struggle by rewarding behavior that helps you build your own success, and by helping you develop strategies that best prepare you for quizzes and tests.

    To acheive this goal I will give daily quizzes to reward you for staying on track and showing up, allow you to use your Notebooks on some quizzes and at the end of exam periods, and encourage homework completion by basing quiz and exam problems on the textbook exercises.