Update on grading Work Habits

Well, planning on percentages isn't going to work very well with the grading program I have.
I am forced to give it a point value for it to show up on the student report. Therefore I gave the prepartion or work habits assignment a low point value. You say I should give it a high one? Well I disagree. I intend to form good work habits, but I don't think I can actually motivate children by penalizing them against their grade for it.
The math of it didn't work for me. The logic of it didn't work for me. My primary job is to teach math and science. I didn't want work habits to take away their hard work (studying, asking questions, taking notes, turning in most of the work) in those core subjects. It can be impacted as a matter of course, by their slovenly work habits (has to borrow a pencil, paper; shares a book with a friend frequently; forgot last night's work).
If I were teaching a course in organization, then I'd weigh the preparation score much higher. Since it's a byproduct or... um, a small part of learning my material, I gave it a small score. Hey, it's only five points in a week. But it could be the difference between a B+ student and a A- student. For some of us, that's important. Low points also ensures that I don't A+ students who truly are C+ in knowledge of the subject. SOME kind of points gives value for the students' efforts in trying to keep it together. So ... I decided on one point per day, or five points per week. Not bad. To compare, my homework is about 20 points per week, and a quiz is 30 points.

Think about what you're doing: WHAT exactly is your job? It's a myriad of tasks, including teaching skills on organization, but the actual purpose is to teach the material so I can't defend giving "preparation" more value than 5 points per week. By being unprepared, the students' grades are impacted ANYWAY. My keeping points on their work habits just provides a graphic for evidence of the impact.

Happy Teaching!