When you post on our discussion board it is expected that you have given the problem a fair attempt. Granted, the first attempts may end in failure, but perseverance is how learning is accomplished! Thus if your posting, please put more than simply, “I don’t know what to do”. Describe thought process, post screen shots of work, and ask pointed questions.

In general, we are informed at an early time in our teaching careers that its best to let students ruminate on things for a bit. So the standard advice is to NOT answer immediately. So when students wait until the final day that homework is due, 6 hours until the deadline, post 5 questions with simply “I don’t know how to approach this”, and the problems are token problems for each section that we have done in class… What should my response be?

Think of what you would do if a friend asks you to move yet you’ve asked them multiple times and they said no. There’s an expectation in most relationships that there is an equal give and take to some degree. I will bend over backwards to help if I feel you are also putting in a solid good faith effort with the material. If I see you have poor attendance, wait to the last minute, etc… I will probably let you ruminate and leave it to your classmates to fill in gaps if they can.