Course Policies

Grading and Evaluation Criteria

As we will discover in our course work, writing is a process. With this in mind, grading for each project in the course includes the process of completing all three of our projects in addition to the products that you submit. This means that grades for each project are determined by a combination of participation, homework, drafting, and revising. Each of the four projects in this class constitutes 25% of your grade.

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Attendance and Tardiness Policies

Regular attendance in this course is crucial to your learning and your success. You are allowed three (3) absences over the duration of the course. Any additional absences may result in the deduction of a third of a letter grade from your final course grade (for example, an A becomes an A-). If you anticipate a high number of absences for any reason, please speak with me early. If you are unable to attend regularly, you may wish to take ENGL 101 in another semester.

Your first late arrival to a class meeting will not have an immediate impact on your grade (aside from the potential impact on participation points for that day). Chronic late arrivals—or otherwise missing significant chunks of class—may result in point deductions in the process/participation category. Please note that leaving class early may also negatively impact your grade, as both late arrivals and early departures reflect incomplete engagement in the learning process.

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Late Work Policies

This course is a carefully constructed sequence, and many of the class activities are based on you having your work completed for that class. You are expected to complete all course assignments on time. This expectation simultaneously facilitates your own learning and respects the other members of our learning community. If dire circumstances arise that prevent work being turned in on time, please contact me before the due date of the assignment. As a rule, however, you should plan to have work completed and with you in class by the day that it's due.

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With that said, if you do not complete an assignment on time, you should still plan to do it. Assignments are sequenced in such a way that skipping smaller tasks will negatively impact your success on larger tasks. Therefore, all late submissions will receive half-credit (which is, mathematically speaking, better than zero credit).

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Use of Digital Devices in Class

I understand that everyone has their own strategies for taking notes, and many of our class activities will involve the use of a computer (or, if you do not have access to a computer in class, a phone). Thus, you may feel free to use digital devices in class, as long as these devices are being used to support your learning, and not as a distraction. You may benefit from disabling notifications and enabling a white-listing program (such as Freedom, Cold Turkey, or StayFocusd) to help you manage distractions during class (and, ideally, when doing homework). If your device use is clearly impeding your learning experience, I may ask you to put your device away and/or deduct points from your participation grade.

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Communication Between Class Meetings

If you need to contact me between class times, please send me an email at [my email address]. I will do my best to respond within a 24-48 hour period. Note that I will respond during standard business hours, but will not respond to emails in the middle of the night, so as with the late work policy, communicating earlier if issues arise is better than communicating at the last minute.