Math 217 WES discussion section 312 description.

Discussion web page: http://www.math.wisc.edu/~ejohnson/217/

Instructor Information.

• TA: E. Alec Johnson (ejohnson@math.wisc.edu)
• SA: Abby Maki (aimaki@wisc.edu)
• WES coordinator: Dr. Concetta Gómez
• Instructor: Dr. Ke Zhu

Format.

• We will meet for six hours of discussion each week. Non-WES discussion sections meet for two hours each week to review lecture material, answer questions about homework, take quizzes, and go over them. We will spend at most two hours per week doing review (what normal discussion sections do). The remaining four hours per week will be devoted to workshop, which consists of working in your group on the problems in a worksheet given out that day.
• We expect each one of you to excel. You should enjoy coming to class, and you should expect to be challenged.
• One of the purposes of WES is to foster greater integration of your academic and social lives. Special events are a good way to do this. We will never cancel class on the day after an examination.

• You are expected to come to class every day prepared. This means that you have read the section that the lecture prior to the day we meet covered, and have worked on the problems that were assigned at the end of lecture until you finished them or got stuck. So you should be prepared either to ask questions or to answer the questions of other students.
• We'll start class by answering your questions. First try to answer your own questions in your group. If your group doesn't have the answer, ask me. I'll address the whole class regarding questions that many people have.
• Consider coming early. When you arrive at class, you have the opportunity to get answers to your questions. If you have more questions, you might want to arrive a bit earlier. I generally come to class twenty minutes early to answer questions. You're welcome to bring your lunch to class.
• I will regularly quiz you on the material covered by the homework. I reserve the right to give pop quizzes. These are more likely to happen if I see that people are coming to class unprepared.

• You will be assigned to groups. Typically there will be three people in each group. I will change the groups regularly. I may occasionally have you choose your own groups, but not initially. I want you to get to know all your classmates.
• In each discussion session you will be given a worksheet of problems to do with your group.
• You are not expected to finish each worksheet.
• Save your worksheets in a binder for future reference. This will come in handy when you are studying for examinations.
• Learning to work effectively in a group takes time and effort. We will talk about this regularly. Talk to us if you are having difficulty with this.

• You should be registered for math 298, worth 2 credits. If you have more than three unexcused absences from this discussion section, you will fail math 298. You cannot make up an unexcused absence.
• I will penalize lack of participation by giving half-absences and imposing make-up work. In particular, if you are more than 10 minutes late for class I will give you a half-absence until you have done the make-up I assign (such as doing an extra set of assigned problems, or coming early to class and presenting a problem).
• During workshop sessions conversation should be about the problems you are working on. Taking extended breaks and extensive socializing are grounds for a half-absence.
• You are never allowed to work on homework during class (except of course when we are going over homework).
• I encourage you not to bring your books to class. You won't be allowed to consult your books or notes while you are working on the worksheets. Textbooks these days are too bloated and heavy. Save your back and shoulders. We keep copies of the textbooks in the WES room in case there is a need to consult them.

• Mathematics is simply a shorthand for the English language. Just like in English composition, everything you write should be a complete sentence, and each sentence should follow logically from the previous. This means that there should be no naked expressions without equals signs. Every expression should be part of an equation. Each equation should follow from the previous equations or should be identified as given information. Every variable you use should be defined.

• Homework will be collected and corrected. The purpose of turning in homework is to give you more feedback. Homework will probably not be assigned a grade (unless I tell you otherwise). In any case, I'm looking for quality of work rather than correctness of answers.
• I view homework as a paper form of office hours. Put question marks by problems you didn't understand and write questions on your homework. The more effort you put into formulating your questions, the more effort you can expect us to put into writing a response. Structure your work neatly and copy the information in the problem. Your reader should be able to follow your work without consulting the problem in the textbook.

• I will give regular quizzes. I will throw out your lowest two quiz scores. If you miss a quiz (whether the absence is excused or not), it will count as one of the quizzes you drop.

• Your discussion score will contribute 15% to your grade for the course. (The rest comes from your examinations.)
• I will give regular (probably weekly) quizzes on the homework. These quizzes (as well as the worksheets) should help prepare you for the exams.

• Office hours: Talk to me after lecture or discussion section if you have questions. If your questions are more involved, we can wander up to my office together.
• Math Lab: Open Monday-Thursday, 3:30-8:30pm in B227 Van Vleck. Graduate students are available to answer questions. Math Lab opens beginning January 20th.

• You are welcome to bring food and drink into class. Please be considerate. If you order in food it's for everyone to share. Clean up after yourself.
• I hope that one day each week someone will bring in snacks. I'll post a sign-up sheet. Please everyone take a turn.