| ENGLISH 2235 |
| ENGLISH 2235 |
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ATTENDANCE HOMEWORK/WEEKLY PAPERS FINAL PROJECT PARTICIPATION MAKEUP/EXTRA CREDIT
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The grading for the semester is based on 100 X's (100 points or 100%) being equal to an A+. The X's you can earn are divided as follows:
45 X's (or points): weekly homework papers
35 X's (or more) for attendance and/or extra credit
20 X's: final paper (up to 20)
Participation, attitude, attention, hard work--can slightly lower or raise final letter grade
You earn X's by completing the work. In attendance, an "X" (or a "V") is about 50 min. of work. The same is true for extra credit - about 50 min. of work per X. In weekly homework, most assignments are worth 1 X each, with a few being equal to 2 X's. By the end of the term, your total X's will determine your grade as follows:
100 (or more) X's = A+
90-99 X's = A
80-89 X's = B
70-79 X's = C
60-69 X's = D
0-59 X's = F
Basically, you can determine your grade by how many X's you earn. The method of doing well in this class is to earn as many X's as you can, depending on what grade you want. 2009 is the first year in which I have started using this system in online classes. However, I have used this X's system of grading for three years in writing classes on campus, and about 90-95% of students - once they get used to it - report by the end of the term that they think it is a great system, one of the clearest and most fair they have ever used, and they recommend I use it with future classes.
HOMEWORK (WEEKLY PAPERS), 45 X's
This portion of your grade will be determined by how many of your weekly,
rough-draft, non-graded assignments you turn in. Most assignments are worth
one X, a few of them two X's. The most you can get is 45 X's. You
cannot be more than one week late with homework assignments (and Drafts I and II
of your term paper cannot be late at all). The X's you earn will be added
to the total X's you earn for the semester.
FINAL PAPER, 20 X's
This is a writing-intensive course that transfers officially to UM-Twin Cities as a lower-division writing-intensive course. To qualify for this distinction, all term papers must be 10+ typed, double-spaced papers and, without exception, must be "significantly revised" after they have been turned in for a grade the first time. The higher your grade the first time you turn it in, the higher your grade can be when you revise it. I will provide a clear and extensive checklist of requirements for writing your papers. And after you turn in the full, formal paper, I will provide a clear checklist of what you need to revise in it.
No paper can be accepted as revised unless it receives a grade of "C" or better on the revision, and it must keep being revised until it is at a minimum of a C or higher level of quality. If you do not revise, your course work is considered incomplete, and you cannot receive a passing grade. Your final revised paper will be given a letter grade and awarded X's or points as follows:
A+ = 20 X's
A = 19 X's
A- = 18 X's
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B+ = 16 X's
B = 15 X's
B- = 14 X's
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C+ = 12 X's
C = 11 X's
C- = 10 X's
One great
advantage of this revision requirement is that you have a chance to improve your
paper, rather than being forced to simply take the first grade on it that you
get. Another advantage is that you will learn to write better - possibly
much better - in the field of literature and in general. I usually have at
least one or two students tell me after the course is done that they have
learned more about writing in this course than they did in their composition
classes. For more details about the final paper, see "Final
Project."
REVISION, PARTICIPATION, IMPROVEMENT, ETC.
This part of the grade generally is based on the average of what you have done for attendance, weekly papers, and the term paper. If your grade is on the line, it could go down or up because of your participation, amount and quality of your revision on the term paper, and your hard work. In general, the best thing you can do to assure yourself a good standing in this part of the class activities is, simply, to get a good grade on everything else. Beyond that, here are some other ways to establish a better standing in this part of the class activities:
(a) Participate very verbally by "talking" actively in the bulletin-board classes, sharing your ideas, responding to others, and asking questions. It also helps to ask questions at the museum visit and to ask me questions after you've already checked the FAQs pages and still don't know something.
(b) get 1/2 hr. or more of tutoring help from IHCC Writing Center tutors, Smarthinking online tutors, me, or someone else qualified in tutoring writing when you are revising and editing your final project paper,
(c) show significant extra effort on assignments--by extra length of writing or, clear for me to see, extra time,
(d) Attend the individual consultation in person or by phone between you and me that is planned as part of this course, or otherwise get help from me when you need it, and
(e) Show respect, kindness, and care for the opinions and feelings of others on the bulletin boards, and
(e) demonstrate significant attention to - and good attitude about - learning, to both me and everyone else in our class.
How can this part of your grade go lower? You can keep quiet; in the bulletin boards, offer few, poor, or overly short or overly simple answers and responses; avoid me, individual tutoring assistance, and the individual consultation; be negative or cynical about learning to other students; leave work unfinished; have poor attendance; resist doing much of anything to revise your final term project; and, especially, earn very low points (X's) on attendance, weekly papers, and your final term project.
The great
majority of students who take this course demonstrate good to excellent
behavior, the all of those who finish the course also work hard. I look
forward to great behavior and hard work from each of you.
ATTENDANCE GRADE, about 35 X's
Attendance in is very important. Why? Some people think that taking an online course means there is no attendance. However, there is supposed to be either attendance or more work to replace it, so really, no time is saved in taking an online course (except for commuting time). In this class, just as much attendance is expected of you as if you were taking the class on campus. However, the majority of attendance for this class (or all of it, if necessary) is online in bulletin boards (discussion boards) and sometimes in other online activities. There are about 35 attendance X's to earn - or more if you want extra credit X's. Each attendance activity "X" (or "V") is designed to be about the equivalent of 50 minutes long. Some of you will be able to do some attendances in much less time; others of you - especially if you take more time than most to write or read, or if you like to write or read at a leisurely, careful, or meditative pace - will need to spend more time.
(Please note: it is okay - sometimes even good and wise - to learn to write and read faster, especially in a course like this that requires large amounts of both reading and writing. Generally, when people read faster - without skipping sentences - they tend to actually remember the contents better. And when people write faster, at least in rough-draft writing - as for most of the weekly papers - they tend to get more interesting and varied ideas out. So please, seriously consider learning to read and write faster in this class.)
You may make up missed attendance by doing extra writing. Weekly papers cannot be turned in more than one week late (and Drafts I and II of the term paper cannot be late at all.) After weekly papers are late, you cannot make them up. (However, you may still read and write about them, state how long this took, and receive extra credit for the time you spent.) You also may do a number of extra-credit assignments, write about them, and earn extra credit at the rate of one X per 50 min. To see how makeup and extra-credit work, please go to "Attendance/Makeup and Extra Credit."
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Step 1: Count your total X's you have now: how many X's have you already earned for attendance and weekly papers?
Step 2: Count your future X's: how many X's do you plan to earn for attendance and weekly papers in the rest of the semester?
Step 3: Estimate how many X's you will earn for your term paper. What do you plan your final grade to be, and how many X's will this be worth (using the chart above)?
Step 4: Estimate how many X's you will earn in extra credit (counting 1 X for every 50 min. of extra work).
Step 5: Then add the total, and estimate your grade using this chart -
100 (or more) X's = A+
90-99 X's = A
80-89 X's = B
70-79 X's = C
60-69 X's = D
0-59 X's = F
Email me if you are having trouble figuring out how to do this: send me your X's (points) totals and ask me questions about what you don't understand.
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Most recent update of this page: 2 May 2009
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date of publication: May 1, 2004 |
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