Matt King

Grading Guidelines

This page outlines specific ways you can raise or lower your grade in my classes. I have outlined my grading philosophy and policies for attendance and late work here. As noted on that page, your grade will mainly be determined by the amount of work you do rather than on specific grades I give you on your assignments.

For our purposes, a B will serve as a 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.

Here’s how this works out practically. You automatically start the course with a score of 85, and you can raise or lower this score according to the criteria below. First, here’s an overview of how specific scores will translate into a specific Midterm or Final grade.

A = 93 or above
A- = 90-92
B+ = 87-89
B = 83-86
B- = 80-82
C+ = 77-79
C = 73-76
C- = 70-72
D+ = 67-69
D = 63-66
D- = 60-62
F = Less than 60

Ways to Lower Your Grade

Excessive absences. The attendance policy allows for four absences without a penalty. Any unexcused absence after four lowers your grade two points. Remember that more than ten absences will result in automatic failure of the course.
Not meeting assignment requirements. Our assignments have specific requirements, generally focusing on the assignment purpose, word count, citations, etc. If you do not meet the assignment requirements (for example, your work is under the word count or you do not have the proper citations), your grade will be lowered by one point for a short assignment and two points for a main assignment. If you do not submit any work for a short assignment, your grade will be lowered by two points. If you do not submit any work for a main assignment, or your work is substantially underdeveloped, your grade will be lowered by up to fifteen points. Depending on the assignment, you may be required to submit work for it in order to get credit for the course.
Participation. If you are not participating in class activities, your grade can be lowered up to five points. By “not participating,” I mean actively disengaged and/or unprepared: regularly looking at an electronic device for reasons not concerning our class, regularly not paying attention to class discussions, regularly unprepared to contribute to discussions or activities because you did not complete the assigned readings or homework, regularly leaving class for extended periods of time, etc. This does not mean you always have to be speaking up in class; you can participate by being an active listener. But you need to be engaged with the class.

Ways to Raise Your Grade

Perfect attendance. If you do not have any absences for the semester (no unexcused absences, up to two excused absences), your grade will be raised two points.
Consistent submission of work. If you submit all assignments on time, meeting all assignment requirements, for the entire semester, your grade will be raised two points.
Revision work. Our main assignments will go through a drafting and revision process, giving you an opportunity to get feedback from your classmates and from me. If you complete substantial revisions to your work that address my feedback from our individual conference, you would get two added points to your grade for each main assignment you revise.
Target and Above Target assessment. I will be using a rubric to assess and offer feedback on our main assignments. If you score at Target level or above on all our main assignments, your grade will be raised by two points. For any assignment where your overall score is Above Target, your grade will be raised by two points.
Additional work. These are opportunities for doing additional work to further address our class goals and to develop as a writer, student, and person. Completing any of the following would add two points to your grade.
- Lead a class activity. This would likely involve leading a class discussion or activity on an assigned reading, although it could potentially involve leading an activity beyond what I have assigned and prepared. Check with me if you are interested in this option so that we can plan accordingly.
- Attend a relevant event. This option encourages you to attend relevant events on campus and in the area. This would include events in the English department such as poetry readings, theater and music performances, art exhibits, talks that discuss topics relevant to our class, etc. If you are not sure if an event would count, check with me. To get credit for attending an event, you would also need to email me a write-up reflecting on your experience and what you got out of it (minimum 300 words).
- Meditation and mindfulness. Our class is interested in thinking of mindfulness practices as part of our writing process. This would be an opportunity to practice meditation and mindfulness outside of class. You would need to complete at least five meditations or other mindfulness practices outside of class and then write about your experience (minimum 600 words).
- Complete additional writing. This option encourages you to explore interests and produce writing beyond our class assignments. You should check with me on your plans before pursuing additional writing. There are many potential options here, so let me know if you have something in mind beyond what is discussed below. Here are the sorts of things I have in mind (minimum 600 words for any option; you cannot submit more than two of the following in the last three weeks of the semester and not more than one in the last week of the semester):
  - Research into a topic of your choice;
  - Write an op/ed piece, personal narrative or reflection, or analysis of a book, film, album, television show, etc.;
  - Complete a Midterm Reflection (the Final Reflection is required) before midterm grades are submitted;
  - Work on specific grammar concerns.

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