Homework a.k.a. Practice Assignment

I'm pretty sure math teachers give more assignments than teachers of other subjects.  Students hate the word homework, so I called mine a practice assignment.  I personally believe that regular practice can and is an effective tool in the math classroom.  Of course it's always important to design assignments that are meaningful to the student.  Have you heard the saying "If it's important enough to assign, then it's important enough to grade"?

In the past I've tried different methods in collecting and recording daily practice assignments, such as...

• Giving a numerical grade, based on completion, for every daily practice assignment.
• Keeping a non-graded record of daily practice assignments that were completed on-time.
• Randomly collecting daily practice assignments (roll a die, flip a coin, etc.) for a numerical grade.
• Not accepting daily practice assignments that are late.
• Accepting late turn-in daily practice assignments with a penalty to the grade.

This is what I found to work best for me...

1. Daily practice assignments would be assigned to the students each class, with the expectation that each student is to show work and attempt all problems before the next class.
2. Daily practice assignments were checked randomly (about 75-80% were checked) and given a numerical value based on the percentage of the problems attempted with work shown.
3. Daily practice assignments could be submitted without a late penalty if turned in no later than the next class.
4. Daily practice assignments that are submitted beyond the one class buffer are reduced to 50%.

This was wonderful because I didn't feel attached to checking every single assignment.  I also thought it was very fair to students that went home and discovered they didn't know what they were doing or had other commitments.  It gave credit to a student's work no matter if it were completed late and it encouraged students to complete assignments as soon as possible.  

What works or worked for you?

Check back soon, as I will share my secret of how to keep track of all the assignments that students turn in.