Grading

Over time, I have come to agree with teachers and researchers who have found that giving students grades does not enhance learning and may even be detrimental to it. There are many reasons for this. For example,

• Learning is better achieved through intrinsic motivation (you want to learn) than extrinsic motivation (you want to get a good grade).
• Learning involves taking risks and being comfortable with failure, and you are more likely to take risks if you are not worried that your grade is at stake.
• Learning can happen in unexpected or unpredictable ways, and what you learn does not always match exactly what I think I am trying to teach you.
• The quality of your learning does not always match the quality of your performance. One student’s “B” might take them more work and involve more learning and personal development than another student’s “A.” Similarly, the “A” student might take a risk and try something new in their writing, ending up with “B” quality work but having learned more than if they wrote an “A” paper that did not challenge them.

With this in mind, I will not be grading your work on individual assignments throughout the semester. I will provide feedback on your work in writing and through individual conferences, so I will offer my sense for your strengths as a writer and your opportunities for improvement. I am happy to meet with you in office hours or by appointment to discuss your work and your learning further.

Of course, Bonaventure requires that you receive a grade for this course, and I will submit midterm and final grades. Your grade will mainly be determined by the amount of work you do (in terms of your attendance, participation, and completion of required assignments, but also in terms of optional work) rather than the quality of your work, which is subjective and does not always correlate to your learning.

For our purposes, a B will serve as our baseline grade, with the following expectations:

• Regularly attend class, complete assigned homework, and participate in class activities;
• Meet the criteria (such as minimum length and citation requirements and main objectives) for all course assignments;
• Put in a good faith effort on all assignments, using our assignments as an opportunity to learn, challenge yourself, and do good work.

In other words, if you regularly show up, do the work, and put in a good effort, you are guaranteed a B in the course. Your grade can go up or down depending on different aspects of your semester. This page offers a detailed account of things that will lower your grade and opportunities to raise your grade.

In addition to the specific grading guidelines, you should also keep in mind the following policies for attendance, late work, and class content.

Attendance.  You should arrive to class on time with all assigned readings and assignments completed. As noted in the grading guidelines, having perfect attendance for the semester can raise your grade, and missing more than four classes can lower your grade. Similarly, tardiness can also affect your attendance; every three times you are late to class will count as an absence.

Note that our class will not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences depending on the reason for your absence. Every absence counts toward the attendance policy regardless of the reason (although remember you get four absences without a grade penalty). To have an absence excused, you must complete the activities we did in class that day and submit your work to me. Most days we will have a “Notes” handout that outlines activities for the day. If you are absent and want to have the absence excused, you should complete the activities in the handout and send them to me via email. If there is not a Notes handout for the day and you are not sure what you need to make up, email me and I will let you know what to do.

If you have more than ten absences, regardless of whether they are excused or unexcused, you will automatically fail the course. If you have circumstances (health or family concerns, athletics, other outside circumstances, etc.) that require you to miss more than ten classes, please discuss the situation with me so we can ensure you are able to succeed in and meet the expectations and goals for the course.

Late Work.  I am pretty flexible concerning late work as long as you let me know ahead of time. I would rather you spend the time you need on your writing in order to succeed, and if you need time beyond the deadline or due date to achieve that, I want you to take advantage of that time. That being said, excessive or unexcused late work will not be acceptable and will negatively impact your grade. If circumstances prevent you from being able to submit an assignment on time, you should discuss the situation with me in advance.

Content. While I expect you to complete all readings and in-class activities, I understand that certain types of content may be difficult for you to engage with depending on your experience and background. For example, reading or writing or talking about issues such as racism, sexism, abuse, assault, or harassment might be difficult if you have had traumatic experiences related to these issues. Many of my classes take up challenging content, and I will ask you to engage with this material and with your classmates to the best of your abilities, in a respectful and responsible manner. Taking up ideas and topics that make you uncomfortable can be a valuable part of learning. At the same time (again, depending on your background and experience), sometimes this content is too much – too personal, too closely associated with trauma, etc. – and engaging with it will be a negative rather than positive learning experience for you. If you ever need to opt out of a particular reading or in-class discussion or writing activity based on the content, please let me know and we can figure out another reading or activity that will help you accomplish the same learning objective.