Attendance:
Read this poem by
Tom Wayman to get a sense of my thinking about attendance:
Your contributions
to the class are essential to the class and to your growth as a writer and a
thinker. Be in class.
You are responsible
for the content of every class and it is YOUR responsibility to ferret out the
material and class discussion topics.
Identify a reliable colleague who will provide you with this information
when you are absent. AND by the way, let
me know if you must miss a class via email or voicemail.
That said, a
pattern of absences or tardies will be noted and you may be dropped from the
class automatically IF
§ you miss two classes for whatever
reason and/or
§ you arrive late to class five or
more times during the quarter
Late arrivals will
NOT be able to make –up the work/exam/quiz missed.
In conclusion,
attendance counts and is calculated in your final grade.
Grading: My JOB/YOUR JOB
I will do my best
to assess your work attentively using the rubrics provided in the
syllabus. I will record the appropriate
final grade based on the work you have submitted on time and your active
and thoughtful participation in class activities and discussion.
In essence, the
grade I record for you depends on the written evidence you provide AND the
successful student behaviors I observe.
The written
evidence will include
§ WRAPS
§ Class assignments
§ Assessments
§ Homework
§ Thoughtful postings on class website
discussion forum as needed
Student Behaviors observed will include evidence of
§ Intellectual engagement in class
activities
§ Respect for others’ learning
§ Productive collaboration in group
projects
§ Proactive consultation with instructor
during regular office hours
Just to be very clear, I’ll repeat----The
data I gather to support the grade I record will
be collected nearly every class meeting and for homework. These will include but are not limited to:
§ Starters (a short response to a text or question completed ONLY in
the first 10 minutes of class)
§ Discussion List postings on the website, graded using the
Posting/Response rubric in the website
§ Collaborative documents created in class
§ Reflections on an individual or group activity
§ Short Assessments given in or out of class
§ Formal individual writing assignments (WRAPS)
Grading
Informal papers
will be given a mark---0 (not done) or √ (handed in on time)
On every formal paper you hand in for
evaluation this term, I’ll write a letter grade indicating my qualitative
judgment of how well what you've written addresses the assessment prompt. I’ll
use A, B, C, and F, with no plus or minus modifier.
After 12 years of school you know what these
letter grades mean. But, let’s review:
Simply put…(and thanks to Mr. Morriss again)
"F" means that I’ve
found no evidence that the writer understands the assessment prompt.
"C" applies to work that's
OK, passable, or adequate. C work demonstrates some understanding, though
it may be substantially incomplete or contain conceptual errors or both. C
papers can be confusing or disjointed, hard to follow. They may fail to show a
clear line of reasoning. Alternatively, they may be clear but fail to
adequately address the prompt. A paper that demonstrates solid understanding of
the assessment prompt may also merit a
C absent appropriate evidence to support the
prompt.
"B" means good
work, not bad at all. B papers demonstrate a solid understanding of the
prompt and clearly express some appropriate ideas about it, though they may
contain minor conceptual or major logical or coherence errors. It’s also
possible that a paper with nothing identifiably incorrect in it can merit a B
if it fails to clearly and completely address the prompt, or if it takes
significant effort simply to follow the thoughts expressed in it. This
meaning of "B" could be expressed
as "not wrong, but could be a lot better."
"A" indicates excellent
or exemplary work. A papers clearly and completely address the assessment
prompt, and are free from conceptual errors, though they're not necessarily
error-free. They may contain minor errors at the sentence level or formatting
issues but A papers are always easy to read. Their ideas flow clearly from the
prompt through to the paper's conclusion. The A paper raises thought-provoking
questions that arise from a critical analysis of the ideas in the prompt. These papers show strong authorial voice and
a spark of creativity that demonstrates broad reading on the topic and a unique
perspective. The discussion of evidence
in an A paper is comprehensive and relevant.
That means that the supporting evidence you use is discussed in detail
and with logic that relates to the prompt and to your argument.
Late Assignments and the "assignment
complete" mark
I design assessment prompts to gather the
evidence I use to assess students' progress toward course outcomes.
An assignment turned in late generally
provides inferior evidence of such progress, compared to an assignment
turned in on time. So while I generally accept late work, I’ll simply mark it
as complete, without a qualitative assessment. I’ll use either
An asterisk, "*" on assignments
that have been completed, either under conditions that are
somehow not comparable to those under which
the rest of the class completed the assignment (for instance, if a paper is
handed in late),
OR
one completed in such a way as to provide
little evidence of individual understanding (for instance, if two or more
papers are substantially alike in process, phrasing, and/or format).
Note that "assignment complete"
marks provide evidence that a student is keeping up with the coursework, but do
not provide evidence to support any particular transcript grade.
Note also, an occasional "assignment
complete" grade is of no consequence by itself, but too many of them
reduce the chance that a student will be able to demonstrate understanding
sufficient to support a particular transcript grade. (In other words a final
letter grade in the class).
Helping others learn
The grade I record for you depends partly on
how helpful you are to others trying to learn our reading and writing material,
because I know from experience that helping others learn helps you learn.
You can help others learn either by adding
thoughtfully to the class discussion, or by helping group members in class or
study partners outside class. If someone helps you learn,
tell me!
Arriving late for class or leaving early is
distracting to others, the opposite of helping them learn, so I also make note
of times when you're late for class, or leave early, or show up and do not
demonstrate engagement with the class.
Makeup work
One NQA slip used
according to the rules specified in the syllabus. All NQA work is due Friday of Week 10 at
11:45 PM. Follow-through on this is the
student’s responsibility as an engaged learner.
Extra credit
None
The final exam
Our final exam will be comprehensive. It will
be held at the time and place scheduled and published by the college. Make a
note of it. Cancel your other plans for that time. If you are unable to take
the final exam at the scheduled time, please drop this class today and try it
again another time. Do not ask me to take the final exam at a time outside the
schedule
unless you experience an emergency during
finals week. The final exam is a vital part of the evidence I gather to
determine a grade. Without it, I have insufficient evidence to support a
passing grade, so I will record a failing grade for any student not taking the
final for any reason.
The Progress Report BUT not-your-grade sheet
In the end, the grade I record for you with
the registrar's office is my subjective judgment of the written work you've shown
me and the behavior I’ve observed, as specified above. It is based on the
EVIDENCE you have given me during the quarter. I don't make this judgment until
after the final exam but I try to let you know how you're doing along the way,
with the Progress Report that I update frequently and bring to class or post
online. It contains all the grades I’ve recorded for you up to that point.
Please check the Progress Report carefully to verify that I’ve made no errors
recording grades for assignments you've completed up to that point.
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