An excused absence will negate almost any penalty for the following missed in-class work: exercises, and drafts due on that day. It will not, however, relieve you of any late penalities for final assignments or journal entries. In the case of group presentation, you must present with another group. If you are in the last group to present, you are just out of luck. Regardless of the circumstances you cannot miss more than 6 classes.
When you submit your final portfolio you will include original copies of anything you think might qualify as an excused absence. I will not look at any documentation until I grade the final portfolio.
I cannot possibly verify what goes on outside of class except through whatever documentation you give me. If you can't document something, it will not be excused no matter what your story is.
Evaluation:
First paper: 15%
Second paper: 15%
Third paper: 15%
Fourth paper: 15%
Thoughtful, active, and responsible participation. This includes preparation for class and workshopping: 10%
Exercises: 5% (S/U)
Presentation 1 5%
Presentation 2 5%
Readings 5% (S/U)
Journal 10%
Papers include all drafts, revisions, and zine work. Participation in workshops, participation in class discussions, timely arrival to class, and preparation for class affect your grade. If you do not bring the appropriate text(s) to class you face losing participation points. Final papers should be accompanied by any and all drafts that I ask for. Final papers will be graded on such things as editing, revision, organization, thoughfulness, and originality. All other written and oral work will be graded on meaningfulness, thoughtfulness, appropriateness to the assignment, and originality.
Staple all papers.
Late paper: For each week day that the paper is late, I deduct ten points. If your paper is more than three days late, don't even bother turning it in. All late papers, if not turned into me in class, should be taken to 405 WMS. Ask someone at the desk to put a timestamp and date on the paper and place it in my box. If you place the paper in my box, you may misplace it and/or I may find the paper a day or several days after you put it in my box; without a timestamp from the English department I will assume that it has been turned in only moments before I found the paper. I go to no special effort to check my box in order to find late papers. Final papers and portfolios may be turned in early.
Late person: If you are not in class by the time that I have finished calling roll, you will be absent. I will call roll immediately after we finish the journal entry for the day. On a day with no journal, I will call roll at the very start of class.
Personal responsibility issues: Consult your syllabus frequently. The whole reason I have made a syllabus for you is so that I do not have to constantly remind you of what is due.
Please turn off the ringer on all cell phones.
Reading/Writing Center: The Reading/Writing Center offers one-on-one help for students with their writing, whether they need help with a writing problem, need assistance understanding what their teacher wants, or just want to do better with their writing assignments. The Center is staffed by teaching assistants who are trained in writing and teaching. Make an appointment by calling ahead (644-6495) or stopping in (WMS 222C). Another hint: They are not proofreaders, but they will show you how to proofread.
Gordon Rule: Succesful completion of all writing in this course and a final course grade of C- or better will allow you to satisfy the Gordon Rule requirement. The university requires you to write 7,000 words, but you will be writing much more than that in any 1101 or 1102 English course.
Drafts, revisions, workshops, and final papers: You'll always need to make three copies of your drafts for the each workshop day. I will keep one copy and compare these drafts to the your final paper to see how much revision you have made. Your workshop group should give you detailed response about not only the paper, but the individual paragraphs, and sentences. On workshop days, I will take roll by each person's draft. If your draft is not long enough, you will be marked absent. The drafts of papers one through three should be five pages long (excluding dialogue), and the final copies of papers one through three should be five pages long (excluding dialogue). The fourth draft should be three pages long and the final version of paper four should be three pages long. All drafts and revisions must be typed. However, you are free to make changes in pen or pencil on older drafts during the revision process, but an old draft with penciled in changes, crossed out lines, and strange arrows does not count as a new draft. Please indicate which draft of which paper your draft is somewhere in the heading.
If you are not here to workshop, the two drafts due that day cannot be workshopped elsewhere. I will supply questions for each workshop that you may use to supplement your own response. On a given workshop day, you will workshop one copy from a student for about twenty minutes, then you will workshop another student's draft for another twenty minutes. Write your name at the top of each paper that you workshop.
Final copy: The final copies of papers one through three should be five pages long (excluding dialogue), and the final version of paper four should be three pages long. Please put "final" somewhere in the heading.
Exercises: These will be small writing exercises that we will do in class. These can only be done in class.
Readings: You will write five one page typed double-spaced responses. Thus, you will respond to half of the texts that we read. You may pick which five to respond to, but you cannot write a resoponse on the same day that you are presenting. I must have the response on the day that the reading is due. This response should be specific and prove to me that you have read the text(s). If I have any doubts that you read, the response will get a "U." One text=one page. Three texts=one page. Each group will pick two readings to present on unless I have already selected one. The group will present the material and lead a discussion. The group will give me their notes along with the names of each person in the group. Your goals is to conduct an intelligent presentation and/or involve the class in an intelligent discussion about the material for 15 minutes or more. If you are absent on the day your group presents, you can, with an acceptable and documented absence, present with the next group unless you are in the last group.
Journals: We will start each class with a journal topic and write on that journal for 15 minutes. I will update the syllabus periodically with the current questions. Essentially, I will grade the journals on completion. I am looking more for quantity of writing than quality. While my old syllabi do have journal topics and lists, these will not all be the same ones. Use of first-person is fine. Please do not give me a three-ring binder with the journals. There is no need to type them. If we have extra time, we will share our journal entries aloud.
Conferences: I have set aside conferencing time. That is the time for you to come by for assistance if you have not come during regular office hours. Two conferences are required. You can also talk to me during office hours to satisfy conference requirements. Do not wait until the last minute. Once conferencing time is up, I will leave the building. E-mail is good for quick questions, but please do not e-mail me your paper and ask me to look over it.
Students with disabilities needing academic accomodations should in the first week of class 1) register and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) and 2) bring a letter to me from SDRC indicating the need for academic accomodations. Atheletes and other individuals who miss school due to unavoidable school related activites need, in advance, to provide signed documentation on letterhead informing me of any absences that they will incur due to participation in such activities in sports games or band performances.
Format and Heading:
The single-spaced heading, placed in the upper left hand corner of the first page, will adhere to the MLA format for headings. Here is an example:
Ginsberg Allen (lastname firstname)
ENC 1101-51 (course prefix, number, and section number)
Dr. Nesbitt (Instructor's name)
20 March 2002 (numerical day month year)
(one blank line between the heading and the title)
(one blank line in between the title and the first sentence of your paper)
The first sentence of your paper.
Papers will be typed and double spaced unless otherwise undicated. A page number shall appear in the upper right hand corner of all pages except the first (i.e., last name 2). Do not place a comma between your last name and the page number. The title will be centered, and the first letter of each major word capitalized, but will not be bolded or italicized, and, as shown in the above example, a blank line will both precede and succeed the title. Use 12 pt. type in the font of Times New Roman with one-inch margins surrounding the paper.
Portfolio: Each portfolio--no three ring binders--should have two pockets. In the left pocket, you will have the final drafts of papers one through four. Each final copy will be stapled. In the right pocket, you will have any documentation for absences. Under that you will have all drafts for each paper with comments. There should be eight drafts total. Each missing draft or draft without comments will incur a penalty.
A final word: Please don't come to me in the final days of the semester and tell me that you have to make such and such a grade or you will lose your scholarship/car/mind. This is a personal problem. The time to make a dedicated, concentrated effort is early in the semester. Also, if your grade is in danger don't ask me to give you an incomplete, drop you, or withdraw you from the course because it is not in my power to do those three things.