*Note: Adapted from the grading contract Asao B. Inoue adapted from the original developed by Peter Elbow (at UMass-Amherst)

Grading Quick Reference

	# of Absences	# of Late Assigns.	# of Missed Assigns.	# of Ignored Assigns.
A	3 or less	1	0	0
B	3 or less	1	0	0
C	3 or less	1	1-2	1
D	3 or less	1	3	2
F	3 or less	1	4	3

*WARNING!: This policy may not seem demanding, but each semester panicked students crowd my office because they haven't been keeping up on assignments.

Detailed Policy

Like Peter Elbow, I believe that home-studio situation is more conducive to learning than the one we have in this course – where many of you are not here by choice and I am obligated to give an official university grade. Therefore, I will try to approximate the evaluative conditions of a home studio course. That is, I will try to create a culture of support: a culture where you, your colleagues, and I function as allies, fellow-travelers with various skills, experience, and talents that we offer the group, rather than adversaries working against each other for grades.

Conventional grading often leads students to think more about grades than about learning; to worry more about pleasing a teacher or fooling one than about figuring out what you really want to say or how you want to say it; to be reluctant to take risks with your projects. Sometimes grades even lead to the feeling that you are working against the teacher or having to hide part of yourself from him or her. For these reasons, I am using a contract for grading in our class.

You will get lots of assessments on your writing during the semester from your classmates so that you may improve, and I will guide or prompt much of it. These assessments do not affect your overall grade in the course; however, they should be your guides to how you need to revise or rethink your projects.

Additionally, I want you to rely on your colleagues and yourself, not me for assessment and revision advice, but do know that I’m guiding your progress and the assessments you get from your peers. But ultimately, it’s up to you to make decisions about how to revise or assess texts.

Therefore the default grade for the course is a “B.” In a nutshell, if you do all that is asked of you in the manner and spirit it is asked, if you work through the processes we establish and the work we assign ourselves during the semester, and you put together a complete portfolio, then you’ll get a “B.” If you miss class, turn assignments in late, or forget to do assignments, etc., your grade will drop.

B Grades

You are guaranteed a course grade of “B” if you meet all of the following conditions:

1. Attendance/Participation.
You’ll attend and fully participate in at least 95% of our scheduled class sessions and their activities and assignments (that’s at least 41 of our 44 scheduled sessions). You may miss 3 class sessions. If you miss more than 3, your final grade will be lowered half a letter grade for each additional absence.

Attendance does not equate participation.
Therefore it is not enough for you simply to come to class. If you come to class unprepared in any way (e.g. without work done, assignments read, etc.), it will be counted as an absence, since you won’t be able to participate fully in our activities. This means any informal assignment given, or ones not outlined on our syllabus, fit into this category of attendance.

Obviously, there are times when nearly everyone must miss class for some ordinary reason: a cold or headache, a pressing deadline in another class, an interview for a summer job, a missed flight back to campus after Spring Break. The policy above allows for three such absences without penalty. (You should do your best, however, not to miss class even once!) If you need to be absent for some extraordinary reason: because of a severe accident or illness, a family emergency or death, a religious holiday (see http://www.secfac.wisc.edu/governance/ReligiousObservancesMemo.htm), or jury duty, please let me know, and we will try to work out some accommodations. For such absences, either prior notification or subsequent documentation is required.

2. Lateness.
You’ll come on time or early to class. Walking into class late 2 or 3 times in a semester is understandable, but coming habitually late every week is not. If you are late to class, you are still responsible to find out what assignments or instructions were made, but please don’t disrupt our class by asking about the things you missed because you were late.

3. Sharing and Collaboration.
You’ll work cooperatively in groups. Be willing to share your writing, to listen supportively to the writing of others, and, when called for, give full and thoughtful assessments that consistently help your colleagues consider ways to revise.

4. Late Assignments.
You will turn in properly and on time all essays, assessments, evaluations, portfolio evaluations, reflections, and other assignments. Because your colleagues in class depend on you to get your work done on time so that they can do theirs on time, all late assignments are just as bad as missed assignments.

Exception: once during the semester, you may turn in a late assignment.

All “late assignments” are due 2 days after their initial due date, no exceptions (e.g. if an essay was due on Wednesday, 20 Sept at noon, a late essay must be turned in by noon on Friday, 22 Sept). Please note that a late assignment may be due on a day when our class is not scheduled to meet.

If you have more than one late assignment, each late assignment after the first is considered a “missed assignment” (see #5 below). These affect your overall grade in the course more drastically.

5. Missed Assignments.
If you’ve already used your one late assignment, all additional assignments turned in incomplete, not on time (late), or otherwise not according to our guidelines are considered “missed assignments.” Note: A missed assignment is NOT one not turned in, it’s one that has missed the guidelines somehow but is still complete and turned in. In order to meet our contract for a “B” grade, you cannot have any “missed assignments.” Please note that assignments not turned in at all are considered “Ignored Assignments” (see #6 below).

6. Ignored Assignments.
Any assignments not done period, or “ignored,” for whatever reasons, are put in this category. Regardless of whether you’ve used your one late assignment or not, if two days pass and you have not turned in an assignment due, then it is considered an “ignored assignment.” One of these in the grade book means an automatic “C.” Two acquired gives you a “D,” and three ignored assignments means an “F” course grade – no exceptions.

7. Assessments.
All assessments should be courteous and respectful in tone, but honest. It’s okay to say something doesn’t seem right in a draft, or that something doesn’t really work. Respect means we are kind and truthful. It’s not the “golden rule” (treat others as you would have them treat you), but a modified one: treat others as you believe they want to be treated.


A Grades

As you see, the grade of B depends primarily on behaviors. Have you shown responsible effort and consistency in our class? Have you done what was asked of you in the spirit it was asked?

Grades of “A,” however, depend on acknowledged quality.

Thus you earn a B if you put in good time and effort; we should push each other for Bs. But to get an “A” you have to make your time and effort pay off into writing of genuine, recognizable, excellence that responds in some way concretely to your colleagues’ and my concerns (and also meets the conditions for a B). This means that not only is revision important, but a certain kind of revision: one that demonstrates a reflective writer listening, making decisions, and moving drafts above and beyond our expectations (delineated by our rubrics). Writing in the “A” category will respond to assessments, and be reflective itself.

Additionally for an “A” grade, you are expected to do consistently helpful assessments and evaluations for your colleagues that demonstrate two important things:

• an assessor who is trying to be more critical each time she assesses someone’s writing or reads a text (this includes the texts you assess for your use in your own writing); and

• an assessor who consistently helps her colleagues revise their work by consciously pointing to our rubrics and offering ways to rethink things in drafts, responding to our class’ concerns about what’s most helpful in assessments.

Grades Lower Than a B

I hope no one will aim for lower grades. The quickest way to slide to a “C,” “D,” or “F” is to miss classes, not turn in things on time, and show up without assignments. This much is nonnegotiable: you are not eligible for a passing grade of “D” unless you have attended at least 86% of the class sessions (see also #1 above), and meet the guidelines above. And you can't just turn in all the late work at the end. If you are missing classes and behind in work, please stay in touch with me about your chances of passing the course.