Overall class grade is determine by averaging each of your three assignment grades along with your participation grade. Percentage breakdown:
25 % Participation
25% Journal
25% Post Exercises
25% Project
Roughly around the middle of the semester, I will email each student a “Midterm Progress Report.” The progress report is not a midterm grade, nor is it a prediction of your final grade. The progress report will however indicate which assignments you’ve submitted (along with any available grade) and one of three status alerts: Green (Good to keep going); Yellow (Slow down and keep track of the risky areas); Red (Warning. Stop and talk to me ASAP as you might be at risk of not passing the course if you continue as you have been continuing).
What If I Have Questions About My Performance?
1 – Remember THE GOLDEN RULE
When in doubt or difficulty, reach out and check in.
You shouldn’t hesitate to meet with me in office hours or catch me briefly after class if you have any questions or concerns about navigating any aspect of this course.
I repeat: “When in doubt and/or difficulty, check in with me!”
2- Keep in mind this Friendly PSA About GRADE Inquiries
While I am happy to assist your academic and overall growth, I will not:
- Entertain efforts to debate, politic, bully, plea, negotiate, brown-nose, and/or (grade)grub for a better grade; (i.e. “grade-grubbing”).
- Suffer suggestions that I should charitably hold you to lower standards than those which I believe you quite capable of satisfying.
- Continue any conversation aimed (intentionally or not) at coaxing me to do your thinking for you.
Having said as much, let me reiterate the golden rule: When in doubt, reach out.
- In general, I trust that with a little time and reflection, we can discern between our desires for clarification about the outcome (in this case the grade) and our desire for a different outcome (i.e. grade). Nevertheless, we are human, and we are complicated even to ourselves. Sometimes we struggle to be fully aware of all the desires and motives that fuel our interactions and requests. If your inquiry about your grade or performance on an assignment seems less than productive, I will raise this concern and we can go from there. again, if in doubt, always reach out.
OTHER FAQs – Grading
Is there extra credit?
- Short answer: yes.
- Longer answer:
- You may contribute up to 1 additional close reading posts and/or up to 2 additional comments. To receive credit, your post and/or comments must be as substantive as the required ones. (See assignment description for details). Please check the “extra credit” box (in addition to any other relevant tags and category boxes) before submitting your post(s) or comment(s). Clicking the appropriate tag and category boxes is how you will flag this work for consideration as extra credit. You do not need to ask me if you can take advantage of these extra credit options.
- From time to time, I offer extra credit for one-off tasks and pop-up challenges. If a challenge has a due date, late challenges will not count for extra-credit. Most often I will announce any such extra-credit opportunity in class. While I may follow up my in-class announcement with written notice of the challenge in an email or on the class site, you should not expect me to do so. These challenges are like generous door busters. If you’re absent, late, or for any other reason “not present” when I announce the challenge, I am not responsible for notifying you about about the challenge or any of the details of the challenge. If you learn about a challenge from a classmate who was in class and are able to participate before any applicable due date, then you are welcome to do so.
What is the grading scale for this class?
The letter grades I assign on student work during the semester correspond to numeric values as indicated in the following chart:
Letter
High (+)
Mid
Low (-)
A
100-97
96-94
93-90
B
89-87
86-83
82-80
C
79-77
76-74
73-70
D
69-67
66-64
63-60
Can I make up or redo an assignment?
Because of the scaffolded nature of the assignments as well as the built-in opportunities for negotiating weekly workload, many of the exercises and assignments for this course cannot be made up once the deadline has passed. Examples include but are not necessarily limited to: one-off challenges; class discussion exercises; pop quizzes; project check-ins; thesis/intro draft workshops; midterm and final journal assessments; and final projects. The notable exceptions applies to post assignments. While late posts will be docked points because they fail to contribute to the group or classroom discussion, I will technically accept posts up until the reading period for the semester, provided that the late post represents your own original work as opposed to a summary or paraphrase of the class lecture, group discussion, or other aspect of the collective conversation.
I consider requests to revise on a case-by-case basis. If you are interested in revising an assignment, you must contact me to set up a meeting within 36 hours of receiving my feedback. If I grant permission for a revision, we will work out a revision plan and date, which will then be non-negotiable. When factoring in revisions, I do not average grades. I take the highest grade (meaning if your revised effort is weaker as a whole than your initial draft, you will not lose points).
I’m confused / concern about my grade, what should I do?
My desire is for every student to grow as thinkers, readers, writers, and whole people. And to the degree that it is possible and not in conflict with my primary desire, I want the growth students experience throughout the semester to translate into some quantifiable form of institutional success that they can leverage in their future endeavors (i.e. high marks, strong GPA, scholarly recognition, awards, etc.) Please know that I am rooting for each of my students.
Please talk to me if you have questions or serious concerns about:
- the requirements for a particular assignment;
- the rubrics for assessing your grade (available on the respective assignment page);
- how to interpret a comment I made on your individual work or to the class as a whole;
- whether your idea about how to improve on a particular aspect of the assignment your grade or confused about how the grading works, you should talk to me.
Office hours (even if virtual office hours) can be extremely productive. I am happy to elaborate on any feedback you do not understand. (Note having a specific question or being able to identify what about the feedback you’re struggling with will make for a more productive conversation.)
How DO I Get an A (or at least a B+) in this class?
The most accurate answer is that there is no one way to do well in this class. The class design can accommodate a variety of different learning styles. There are a variety of ways to successfully participate and complete the course requirements.
All the same, here are three reliable tips for success in any college level course:
1- Consistently and punctually attend class.
2- Come to class prepared to discuss the readings.
3- Know yourself (or at least be honest, with yourself).
Consistent Attendance
- You’ll notice that class participation is 25 percent of your grade. In accordance with University’s policies, you cannot fail the class based on attendance, however significant number of absences and/or tardies will undoubtedly affect your participation grade.
Coming Prepared to Discuss the Readings
- Being in class on time is certainly key, but it’s not all. Especially given the small class size, it’s essential that everyone show prepared to discuss the readings and/or any other assignment due for that class. Finishing the reading is important, but simply having finished the reading is not the same as being prepared to discuss it in class. Being prepared to discuss the readings means you have thought about various aspects of the text, identified places of interest, patterns, and themes. Being ready to discuss the text also means that you are relatively familiar with the language, structure, and other formal aspects of the text. Above all being prepare to discuss the readings means that you are ready to ask questions and and engage in a rigorous discussions of the text within the context of our course.
Know Yourself (or, be as honest as you can with yourself)
- Accomplishing any goal can be difficult if you don’t know yourself, or, let’s say if you’re not honest about what you do know about yourself at this point in your life. Take stock of your particular strengths/advantages and weakness/challenges at the beginning and then build a strategy that plays to your needs and situations. If you tend to have a hard time with the pacing and organization of longer projects, then in addition to trying to improve by using a calendar and tracking due dates, you might also wish to make sure you do best with the more contained, one-time assignments. Your final project and your journal grades are both worth 25 %. So yes, as learners, we’re striving to get the most out of every aspect of the class, but, as students anxious about GPAs, remember that you can also play to your strengths.
Overall class grade is determine by averaging each of your three assignment grades along with your participation grade. Percentage breakdown:
25 % Participation
25% Journal
25% Post Exercises
25% Project
Roughly around the middle of the semester, I will email each student a “Midterm Progress Report.” The progress report is not a midterm grade, nor is it a prediction of your final grade. The progress report will however indicate which assignments you’ve submitted (along with any available grade) and one of three status alerts: Green (Good to keep going); Yellow (Slow down and keep track of the risky areas); Red (Warning. Stop and talk to me ASAP as you might be at risk of not passing the course if you continue as you have been continuing).
What If I Have Questions About My Performance?
1 – Remember THE GOLDEN RULE
When in doubt or difficulty, reach out and check in.
You shouldn’t hesitate to meet with me in office hours or catch me briefly after class if you have any questions or concerns about navigating any aspect of this course.
I repeat: “When in doubt and/or difficulty, check in with me!”
2- Keep in mind this Friendly PSA About GRADE Inquiries
While I am happy to assist your academic and overall growth, I will not:
- Entertain efforts to debate, politic, bully, plea, negotiate, brown-nose, and/or (grade)grub for a better grade; (i.e. “grade-grubbing”).
- Suffer suggestions that I should charitably hold you to lower standards than those which I believe you quite capable of satisfying.
- Continue any conversation aimed (intentionally or not) at coaxing me to do your thinking for you.
Having said as much, let me reiterate the golden rule: When in doubt, reach out.
- In general, I trust that with a little time and reflection, we can discern between our desires for clarification about the outcome (in this case the grade) and our desire for a different outcome (i.e. grade). Nevertheless, we are human, and we are complicated even to ourselves. Sometimes we struggle to be fully aware of all the desires and motives that fuel our interactions and requests. If your inquiry about your grade or performance on an assignment seems less than productive, I will raise this concern and we can go from there. again, if in doubt, always reach out.
OTHER FAQs – Grading
Is there extra credit?
- Short answer: yes.
- Longer answer:
- You may contribute up to 1 additional close reading posts and/or up to 2 additional comments. To receive credit, your post and/or comments must be as substantive as the required ones. (See assignment description for details). Please check the “extra credit” box (in addition to any other relevant tags and category boxes) before submitting your post(s) or comment(s). Clicking the appropriate tag and category boxes is how you will flag this work for consideration as extra credit. You do not need to ask me if you can take advantage of these extra credit options.
- From time to time, I offer extra credit for one-off tasks and pop-up challenges. If a challenge has a due date, late challenges will not count for extra-credit. Most often I will announce any such extra-credit opportunity in class. While I may follow up my in-class announcement with written notice of the challenge in an email or on the class site, you should not expect me to do so. These challenges are like generous door busters. If you’re absent, late, or for any other reason “not present” when I announce the challenge, I am not responsible for notifying you about about the challenge or any of the details of the challenge. If you learn about a challenge from a classmate who was in class and are able to participate before any applicable due date, then you are welcome to do so.
What is the grading scale for this class?
The letter grades I assign on student work during the semester correspond to numeric values as indicated in the following chart:
Letter
High (+)
Mid
Low (-)
A
100-97
96-94
93-90
B
89-87
86-83
82-80
C
79-77
76-74
73-70
D
69-67
66-64
63-60
Can I make up or redo an assignment?
Because of the scaffolded nature of the assignments as well as the built-in opportunities for negotiating weekly workload, many of the exercises and assignments for this course cannot be made up once the deadline has passed. Examples include but are not necessarily limited to: one-off challenges; class discussion exercises; pop quizzes; project check-ins; thesis/intro draft workshops; midterm and final journal assessments; and final projects. The notable exceptions applies to post assignments. While late posts will be docked points because they fail to contribute to the group or classroom discussion, I will technically accept posts up until the reading period for the semester, provided that the late post represents your own original work as opposed to a summary or paraphrase of the class lecture, group discussion, or other aspect of the collective conversation.
I consider requests to revise on a case-by-case basis. If you are interested in revising an assignment, you must contact me to set up a meeting within 36 hours of receiving my feedback. If I grant permission for a revision, we will work out a revision plan and date, which will then be non-negotiable. When factoring in revisions, I do not average grades. I take the highest grade (meaning if your revised effort is weaker as a whole than your initial draft, you will not lose points).
I’m confused / concern about my grade, what should I do?
My desire is for every student to grow as thinkers, readers, writers, and whole people. And to the degree that it is possible and not in conflict with my primary desire, I want the growth students experience throughout the semester to translate into some quantifiable form of institutional success that they can leverage in their future endeavors (i.e. high marks, strong GPA, scholarly recognition, awards, etc.) Please know that I am rooting for each of my students.
Please talk to me if you have questions or serious concerns about:
- the requirements for a particular assignment;
- the rubrics for assessing your grade (available on the respective assignment page);
- how to interpret a comment I made on your individual work or to the class as a whole;
- whether your idea about how to improve on a particular aspect of the assignment your grade or confused about how the grading works, you should talk to me.
Office hours (even if virtual office hours) can be extremely productive. I am happy to elaborate on any feedback you do not understand. (Note having a specific question or being able to identify what about the feedback you’re struggling with will make for a more productive conversation.)
How DO I Get an A (or at least a B+) in this class?
The most accurate answer is that there is no one way to do well in this class. The class design can accommodate a variety of different learning styles. There are a variety of ways to successfully participate and complete the course requirements.
All the same, here are three reliable tips for success in any college level course:
1- Consistently and punctually attend class.
2- Come to class prepared to discuss the readings.
3- Know yourself (or at least be honest, with yourself).
Consistent Attendance
- You’ll notice that class participation is 25 percent of your grade. In accordance with University’s policies, you cannot fail the class based on attendance, however significant number of absences and/or tardies will undoubtedly affect your participation grade.
Coming Prepared to Discuss the Readings
- Being in class on time is certainly key, but it’s not all. Especially given the small class size, it’s essential that everyone show prepared to discuss the readings and/or any other assignment due for that class. Finishing the reading is important, but simply having finished the reading is not the same as being prepared to discuss it in class. Being prepared to discuss the readings means you have thought about various aspects of the text, identified places of interest, patterns, and themes. Being ready to discuss the text also means that you are relatively familiar with the language, structure, and other formal aspects of the text. Above all being prepare to discuss the readings means that you are ready to ask questions and and engage in a rigorous discussions of the text within the context of our course.
Know Yourself (or, be as honest as you can with yourself)
- Accomplishing any goal can be difficult if you don’t know yourself, or, let’s say if you’re not honest about what you do know about yourself at this point in your life. Take stock of your particular strengths/advantages and weakness/challenges at the beginning and then build a strategy that plays to your needs and situations. If you tend to have a hard time with the pacing and organization of longer projects, then in addition to trying to improve by using a calendar and tracking due dates, you might also wish to make sure you do best with the more contained, one-time assignments. Your final project and your journal grades are both worth 25 %. So yes, as learners, we’re striving to get the most out of every aspect of the class, but, as students anxious about GPAs, remember that you can also play to your strengths.
The Golden Rule
When in doubt and/or difficulty, reach out and check in!