4G Homework From Katherine Harris, a math teacher at Patrick Henry High School in Ashland, Virginia: "Many of my students do not do their homework and believe that they ought to be able to master the material simply by coming to class. Since mathematics is not a spectator sport, this attitude leads only to poor performance and frustration. Now I assign two levels of homework- practice assignments (PA's) and graded assignments (4G's). The 4G is due the day after we have gone over the PA. True to form, few do the PA and almost all complain about the 4G insisting it is unfair for me to actually grade homework for accuracy and procedure. However, most of them actually do the 4G's and performance and grades have both improved significantly. In order to make all this paper work feasible for me, I use these guidelines for the 4G's. They consist of 5-10 of the even problems in the book. The answers to the odd problems are in the back of the book so I assign these as practice assignments. Students must present the work in accordance to my specifications. I find it easiest to grade if the answers are listed on the right and the supporting work is done on the left. Illegible papers, papers with just answers and no supporting work, nameless papers and late papers are put in the recycling bin and not graded. This system has certainly helped my I don't do homework because I don't think I should have to problem."