Assignment Categories
The "projects" page offers detailed information on how various assignments work together, in each of the following major categories.
Exercises (30%)
Participation (25%)
Portfolios (20%)
Term Paper (25%)
Term Paper (25%)
A series of assignments, culminating in a 10-page essay that cites academic sources in order to support your own original argument about one or several of the texts and/or issues examined during the course.
Thesis/Bibliography (5%)
Presubmission Report (0%)
Rough Draft (0%)
Oral Presentation (10%) emphasizing changes made since rough draft
Final Draft (10%) with all changes highlighed and annotated
Portfolios (20%)
Portfolios are collected twice, and count for 10% each time.
Much of the material in the portfolio will already have been marked, such as discussion agenda items and exercises. But you will also be asked to include blog entries that go in greater depth, that follow up on or challenge issues we discussed in class, or that respond to issues raised by your classmates on their own blogs. (More details will be announced after everyone in the class has had some time to adjust to blogging.)
In addition, you will be asked to reflect on your accomplishments.
The portfolio is also an opportunity for you to check to make sure I have returned to you everything that you submitted (especially late papers).
Participation (25%)
This component of your grade evaluates your level of engagement with the subject matter, including preparation, meaningful contributions to the class discussion (both in person and online, via weblog), performance on pop quizzes, and other in-class work.
Students should keep a record of their contribution to each class discussion. (For example, did you volunteer to share your agenda item? Did you do your own research to settle a question that came up in discussion? Did you supply textual evidence to support or challenge a claim made by someone else?) From time to time, I will ask you for a brief statement evaluating your contributions to the class discussion (both in person and online).
To evaluate your participation mark, I might collect printed agenda items from everyone, but in order to save time, mark only half of them. The next time, I would mark agenda items from the other half of the class.
I might give a pop quiz, and only mark those belonging to students who already have low participation grades. During the next discussion period, I might call first on students with low quiz grades, in order to see whether they have caught up on the readings.
I might ask for volunteers to comment in class, and then after class, post questions on the weblogs of students who were quiet. A few days later, I might check to see whether students have answered my questions.
I might check student weblogs before class, and call on students who have already posted interesting blog entries on the day's discussion. On the other hand, I might deliberately call on students who have fallen behind in their weblogs.