PARTICIPATION, 50 Pts.

FOR PARTS IN THIS PAGE, SCROLL DOWN OR CLICK HERE:

FOR RELATED PARTS IN OTHER PAGES, CLICK HERE:

          
            Welcome to the course!  The most important thing you can do in this course is to participate fully.  Participating fully means much more than just attending class and doing the assignments.  It also means actively putting your mind, heart, and will into learning in this classroom.  It means talking, listening, responding, thinking beyond the text, and being interactive with the instructor and other students.  It means that for this part of your grade, even if you find the assignments easy, you still won't get a good grade unless you learn and participate beyond what you know now.  It also means that if you have difficulty doing the assignments, you can still get a good, strong grade in participation just for working hard, learning a lot, asking questions, and seeking help.

            Of your 200 overall points possible for the course (to get an A+), participation is worth 50 points.  As with the other two parts of the course--papers and attendance--you start with 0 points for participation and build up as high as you want.  Here are the kinds of things you need to do to build it to 50 points:  

1. Participate very verbally by talking in class and in your small-group sessions and class trips, and/or in seeking me out for questions and help before/after class, in my office, or by emailing or telephoning me.  
            
2. Get several hours of tutoring help from tutors or me when you are revising and editing your Final Project Paper.  (More time counts for more credit--in fact, traditionally, I usually give the person with the most tutoring hours at the tutoring centers an automatic "A" for Participation.)  I will give you some report forms for your tutors to fill out, so that you can return them to me for tutoring credit.  
          
3. Show significant extra effort on assignments--by extra length of writing or, clear for me to see, extra time.
         
4. Attend the individual consultations between you and me that are planned as part of this course, or otherwise get help from me when you need it in my office.  
         
5. Demonstrate significant attention to and good attitude about learning--not just to me but also to others in our class.  

            Can you get a very low score for participation? Yes. You can do the following to keep it low::

• skip class a lot (over two weeks in a row, and you are automatically flunked)
• keep very quiet in class (offer few, poor, or overly short or overly simple answers and responses), 
• avoid me, 
• avoid tutoring assistance, 
• avoid individual consultations, 
• be negative or cynical about learning or about other students, 
• leave work unfinished, 
• have poor attendance, and/or 
• get a "C" or lower for your weekly papers.

            I enjoy teaching a lot, and I want everyone to enjoy their learning as much as possible, too.  If you are having some kind of significant problem that keeps you from learning, I hope you will come talk to me about it so that together we can seek a possible solution.  Anything you tell me in this regard cannot be reported to other teachers without your permission, and I also would never tell other students in any way that would personally identify you.  I've had students tell me quite a bit over the years--a wide variety of sorrows, problems, joys, and many other things--and my normal policy is to keep everything I hear to myself, even if minor laws have been broken or past mental or physical health compromised.  I only reserve the right to seek help from a counselor or dean if I am strongly concerned about your future health and safety or that of others around you, or if I believe that a really major legal problem may exist.  If you are worried about what I do or do not keep to myself, ask me more about this before speaking to me of your problems.  Otherwise, I hope you will feel free to talk with me about problems that may keep you from learning.      

Return to top.

            To figure your participation, please see the table called "2 Tables for Determining Participation Grade"" in the GRADING page of this Web site.

Return to top.

Required reading: Developing an academic community--and maintaining a positive, balanced, objective tone in class, emails, bulletin boards, and other communication--is very important.  To read this required document, click here to go to

"Talking as an Academic Community."

Return to top.

------------

Most recent update of this page: 8-01-05

- End -

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.