Syllabus

Understanding How You Earn Your Course Grade

Grading is my least favorite part of this teaching gig–truly, as I think it has little to do with teaching and learning. I’ll spare you my philosophical turmoil on this matter (unless of course you want to talk about it), but suffice it to say I want to try to separate this notion of grading as much as possible from the writing, reading, conversation, and the important work I hope you all engage in through this class. I want you to be able to think, write, explore, and take necessary risks without worrying about how “good” you are. I want you to be immersed in authentic learning. (I’ll do my best here, but you’ll have to do your part too.)

So, I’ve come up with a way of dealing with the necessary business of grading that I can live with for the moment and that will hopefully be liberating to your learning. It is based on my firm belief that if you engage fully in the writing, reading, conversation, and the action of this course–if you give yourself fully to the process–your writing will improve and you will learn. With this in mind, much of your grade will be based on your level of engagement–of doing–not necessarily on how “good” of a writer you are. The grading system I’ve developed here rewards hard work (i.e. a strong work ethic) and your personal investment in your own learning and the learning of others in the class. Practically, this means two things: 1) You don’t need to be a natural born talented writer to do well in this course; you just need to engage fully and work hard. 2) Good writing alone won’t get you a strong grade in this course; you need to engage fully and work hard. The grading approach we’ll be using is a form of “contract grading,” which I have described below.

The Grading Contract: Your final grade for this course will be based on two things: your participation in class according to the contract outlined below, and the quality of the writing you include in your final portfolio. If you follow the contract for the entire semester, you will receive a B for the course. If, in addition to this, the writing you include in your final portfolio is exceptionally strong, your final grade may be higher. Contract grading is intended to shift your focus productively: it assures you that, if you work hard and complete the contract, you will receive a grade that is above the average. I hope this will permit you to concentrate on improving your writing and engaging fully in this course experience, rather than fretting about grades. Here are the contract details:

To earn a B in this course, you must do the following:

1. Draft Work—Complete all draft work thoughtfully as assigned, on schedule, and to the minimum required length.
2. Peer Review Commentary—Complete all peer review commentary thoughtfully and thoroughly as assigned, on schedule, and for at least three of your classmates’ drafts during each peer review week. Peer reviews should be polished, focused essays of no less than 500 words each.
3. Conversation Center Contribution—Publish at least one substantial “Research Journal” post (250 words) to the Conversation Center area of our course site each and every week. (These “Research Journal” posts should be focused on your research reading and field work and do not include other postings you will make to the Conversation Center, i.e. general day-to-day course conversation. Each post should be concisely focused and cite one source.)
4. Personal Action Reports/Self-assessments—Complete all personal action reports and self-assessments as assigned, thoroughly and thoughtfully.
5. Class Activities—Participate in all class activities as assigned beyond regular drafting/revision, peer review, and Conversation Center posts.
6. Revision—Use the feedback provided by your instructor and your peer review team to improve your writing. You do not have to make every change suggested by your readers, of course, as readers will sometimes disagree. But you must take all feedback seriously, and your drafts should show evidence of your careful consideration of your readers’ suggestions. In other words, revise thoroughly and thoughtfully. Revision means substantially clarifying your ideas, reorganizing your argument, rethinking your claims, strengthening your evidence, deepening your research, adjusting your style, and/or reimagining your relationship to your audience. Even if you have not received thorough feedback from others, make at least one substantial revision for each of your drafts before including the final version as part of your portfolio.
7. Proofreading/Editing—Proofread final drafts to eliminate distracting surface errors and typos. Final drafts do not have to be perfect, but you should learn any grammar rules that consistently cause you trouble, by talking with a classmate, using a writer’s handbook, and/or meeting with me.
8. Respect—Show due respect to your classmates and the instructor by using respectful language, taking each other’s ideas seriously, and engaging civilly in the conversation of the course.
9. Leadership/Helpfulness—Demonstrate leadership and/or helpfulness in the course by offering support, answering questions, and/or providing insight that will help others improve their writing and better understand the course material.
10. Final Portfolio—Submit a complete and revised course portfolio that meets all the outline requirements by the due date.

Thus you earn the grade of B entirely on the basis of what you do—on your conscientious effort and participation. The grade of B does not derive from my judgment about the quality of your writing. Grades higher than B, however, do rest on my judgment of writing quality. To earn a higher grade you must produce writing—for your final portfolio—that I judge to be of exceptionally high quality (see the criteria below).

To earn an A in this course, you must do the following:

1. Successfully meet all the terms of the B contract as outlined above
2. Demonstrate exemplary writing in the final course portfolio, as described by the “A” criteria of the official Evaluation Criteria for written work in COM101/102. These “A” criteria are reproduced below:

For “A” quality writing: The assignment’s requirements are met. The writer is in command of the ideas; details to illuminate or support those ideas are specific, relevant and carefully crafted or presented.The work is tightly unified, and ideas are arranged logically with creative transitions. The introduction is original; it provides necessary context and engages the reader; the conclusion provides new insight and leaves a strong final impression.The writer’s sense of style is reflected in a variety of sentence constructions and sophisticated word choices; there are virtually no mechanical errors. Finally, if needed, MLA documentation rules have been applied precisely. The piece thoroughly satisfies, compelling the reader to think, reflect, or act.

To earn a C, D, or F for this course:

• Fail to meet the “B” contract as described above (This will earn either a C, D, or F at the instructor’s sole discretion and professional judgment. I am being purposefully vague here, as I want your focus to be on the B. Everyone can earn it if they do the work. If you do the work, plus your writing is exemplary as defined above, you can earn an A. It’s pretty simple.)

To guarantee yourself an F for this course:

• Fail to complete your course portfolio in its entirety, including all required writing and research. (The research component of this course, which is blended into the final portfolio work, is a state requirement. You cannot successfully complete this course without successfully completing the research component. Also, all major portfolio work must be completed in order to qualify to pass the course. Any significant gaps in the Final Portfolio, will result in a grade of F for the course regardless of performance in other areas of the course. This is a Department rule.)

Note that once you violate the terms of the “B” contract at any point during the semester, it is no longer possible to earn a B or higher in the course. The best you would be able to hope for at that point would be a C. When possible, I’ll indicate that the B is “slipping” from your grasp, but once it has fully slipped, you cannot earn it back because the contract is broken. To avoid the possibility of one moving continually in and out of a “slipping” status, I will use a three-strikes-you’re-out rule. At the instructor’s sole discretion, one can “slip” two times with minor infractions of the grading contract and still recover to stay on track for the “B.” A third “slip,” however, will result in a definitive break of the “B” contract. Again, what constitutes a “slip” or a full and immediate break of the contract terms is left up to the instructor’s professional judgment. Your best bet, of course, is simply to stay firmly on track throughout the whole semester.

Note also that continuing past the first week of this course constitutes your acceptance of these contract terms. If you cannot accept these terms, you should seek a different section of this course.

Getting Feedback on Your Writing

In this course, grades and feedback on your writing are not the same thing. In most cases, there is very little to learn from grades. The section above explains how grades work in this course. Feedback, however, is a different matter altogether. Writing is a social act. In many ways, it is about conversation. This is a major premise of this course in both content and structure. Feedback is a part of this conversation.

In this course, you will/can receive feedback on your writing in the following ways:

• Periodically during this course, after each major draft due date, you will write and receive peer feedback on your draft work. This is a central part of our course experience.
• There will be several opportunities throughout the course to participate in a whole class workshop experience, where your work will be the subject of the entire class conversation. This is a great opportunity for a lot of feedback if you want it.
• As the instructor, I am more than willing to offer feedback on your writing and to discuss it with you at length. However, to prevent the dangers of your adopting a passive stance on your learning and to avoid the possibility of my giving unsolicited feedback when you aren’t yet ready for it, I ask that you request such feedback from me if and when you want it. I will give you feedback in writing up to two times at your request, as long as my time allows. (Please note that if everyone waits to the last week or two of classes, it will be very tough to accommodate everyone). Of course more instructor feedback is possible–as much as you’d like in fact–if you want to seek it out in conference with me. (See below.)
• By appointment, you can and should conference with the instructor to talk at length about your writing. I absolutely encourage this, as it can be very helpful to your growth as a writer.
• As an option, you may visit the Writing and Speaking Center for readerly feedback on your writing. The Center is located A258 on campus. It’s a great resource with friendly and helpful people.
• You can always seek outside readers to offer feedback on your work–either folks in our class but outside of your review team or trusted readers outside of our course entirely.

Remember, writing and reading are social activities. Seek out the conversation and participate in it fully.