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ASSIGNMENT & GRADING BREAKDOWN:

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Attendance & Participation

Low-Stakes Writing & Homework

Projects

In the final installment of the Harry Potter novels, Harry prepares to confront and defeat the evil wizard Lord Voldemort once and for all. Along the way, he learns of

the Deathly Hallows, three powerful magical objects that, according to legend, render whoever owns all three

master of death - that is, immortal.

 

In order to become a master of ENG 101 and ensure your successful completion of  the course, you too must take ownership of certain "hallows." These hallows consist of

the three broad categories of assignments you must undertake in order to complete the course: 1) attendance

& participation, 2) low-stakes writing & homework, and 3) projects. Undertake them all, and you are guaranteed to succeed and become a master of ENG 101.

With regard to the specifics of how your course graded is calculated, it is derived from the following criteria:
 

  • Attendance & Participation:                                                                                                    10%

  • Low-Stakes Writing & Homework:                                                                                         10%

  • Project #1: Literacy & Learning Narrative                                                                             15%

  • Project #2: Rhetorical Analysis of a Visual Argument                                                            15%

  • Project #3: Adaptation & Analysis of a Scientific Report                                                  15%

  • Project #4: Annotated Bibliography                                                                                15%

  • Project #5/Final Exam: Writer's Website                                                                  20%

When calculating individual project and final course grades , I will use the following +/- scale :

Project and Final Grading Scale

A+   97-100

A     93-96

A-    90-92

B+   87-89

B     83-86

B-    80-81

C+   77-79

C     73-76

C-    70-72

D+   67-69

D     63-66

D-    60-62

F   < 59

ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION:

The participation grade will be based not only on your daily presence, but also your level of focus and preparation. Preparation includes, of course, reading and your ability to engagingly respond to that

reading both in the classroom and in online discussions. Rigor is the differentiating factor in curriculum, instruction, and assessment between a composition course in college and your previous classes. Determination and diligence are expected.

 

To be participating fully in class, you should:

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  • be actively engaged during class time and class activities

  • respond to class discussions at least once daily

  • offer insight into large and small group discussions

  • commit to peer response workshops and offer critical feedback to peers

  • complete all collaborative assignments (such as discussion forum posts) on our ENG 101 Moodle page

  • arrive to class on time and stay for the duration of the class

  • use technology (laptops, tablets, smart phones) when appropriate

LOW-STAKES WRITING & HOMEWORK:

Low-stakes writing and homework consist of relatively short writing tasks that are intended to help you brainstorm and draft course projects. Additionally, you may occasionally be asked to compose written responses to assigned readings. These responses are intended to 1) facilitate reflection on your writing development and thereby enable explicit transfer of learning from one context to the next, 2) familiarize you with requisite academic conventions (such as citation, the difference between a summary and analysis, developing a research question, etc.) typical of college coursework, and 3) cultivate your proficiency with these academic conventions so that you’re able to skillfully apply them in your “high-stakes” writing (i.e., your course projects).

 

You will be graded on these low-stakes and/or homework assignments in accordance with the five-tiered quality scale used to assess young witches and wizards from the Harry Potter universe: Outstanding, Exceeds Expectations, Acceptable, Dreadful, and Troll.

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Outstanding (100): You have really expressed yourself in a way that shows deep engagement with the topic, a clear understanding of what you were trying to accomplish, taken some risks perhaps with your writing by trying out new forms, and/or have made some real discoveries while writing the piece. This is top-notch thinking and writing.

 

Exceeds Expectations (92): You have produced writing that shows thoughtfulness, care, and attention to the assignment, but is perhaps less engaging than what an “outstanding” piece may be.

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Acceptable (85): You clearly understand the assignment but you could have completed it more thoughtfully – with greater attention to detail, reflection and/or analysis, etc.

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Dreadful (70): You either did not understand the assignment, or you did not try very hard. Either way, we need to chat. Make an appointment to meet with me, and we’ll discuss how you can improve your blog posts – I want you to succeed!

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Troll (0): You did not complete the assignment.

Harry Porter 5.png
Harry Porter 5.png
Harry Porter 5.png
Harry Porter 5.png
Harry Porter 5.png

COURSE PROJECTS:

Assignments in ENG 101 are designed to develop students’ understanding of, and facility with, practices

of critical reading and writing in academic communities. For that reason, much of what we write in this course is situated within specific disciplines - the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. However, because texts composed exclusively via word processors are no longer the only or even primary means of writing, assignments are also designed to develop students' competency in multimodality - that is, the application of multiple modes of communication to convey a message (pictures, videos, sound, etc.). Altogether, therefore, course projects may be grouped according to the following categories:

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Expressive and

Multimodal Writing
 

Literacy & Learning

Narrative

Writing in the

Humanities
 

Rhetorical Analysis

of a Visual Argument

Writer's Website

Writing in the

Natural Sciences
 

Adaptation & Analysis

of a Scientific Report

Writing in the

Social Sciences
 

Annotated Bibliography

Project #1: Literacy & Learning Narrative

Narrative writing is all about telling a story. In this case, you’ll be telling your story. All of us come from different backgrounds with unique experiences that have, in many ways, shaped who we are at this moment in time. Because of this, those backgrounds and experiences are tremendously valuable not only to us but also to those who might learn from them, both as we have learned and in new and different ways. This project will therefore challenge you to reflect upon and articulate your story – who you are,

who you want to be, and the role literacy and learning have had on both.

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Project #2: Rhetorical Analysis of a Visual Argument

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A rhetorical analysis is a genre of writing found almost exclusively within the humanities, and the goal of

a rhetorical analysis is to examine the relationship between meaning itself and the ways in which meaning is conveyed, such as speech, symbols, images, and sound. Consequently, this assignment asks you to choose a short video – for example, a commercial, political advertisement, music video, etc. – and conduct a rhetorical analysis in order to discover how the video works, the rationale(s) behind its design elements, and how those design elements (are designed to) impact viewers.

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Project #3: Adaptation & Analysis of a Scientific Report

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Scientists regularly write reports of their research that are meant to be read primarily by other experts in their field, and it is for this reason that such reports are often full of technical jargon, advanced statistical charts and figures, and discipline-specific theories and formulae. In many cases, however, other writers use and adapt material from those reports to persuade and inform non-specialized readers. This is because new ideas and discoveries are vital to all kinds of readers, and it is through the dissemination of these ideas and discoveries that progress is possible. Consequently, these adaptations of scientific reports, such as what you might find in a newspaper or popular science magazine, are an especially valuable genre of writing. This project therefore pushes you to consider the ways in which scientific knowledge is written about both within and outside of academia as you compose your own adaptation and analysis of

a scholarly scientific report.

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Project #4: Annotated Bibliography

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An annotated bibliography is a genre of writing used in all academic disciplines – sometimes informally

as a research tool or sometimes more formally as a published record of available resources concerning a particular topic. This is because an annotated bibliography is a compilation of citations and accompanying summaries of the source material cited. These summaries are referred to as annotations, and they often include additional commentary about the significance of the source itself, the credibility of the source’s author(s), and/or how the source complements or connects to other sources. This project will therefore challenge you to not only understand and articulate what a particular source is about in and of itself but also to evaluate and convey how it relates to other source material.

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Project #5/Final Exam: Writer's Website

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A writer’s website is a kind of electronic portfolio, or ePortfolio, that is specific to this class. EPortfolios

are collections of work in an electronic format that showcase not only learning over time but also expertise in something – in this case, academic writing and multimodal composition. Your writer’s

website will therefore be just that – a website – that includes ten blog posts and two digital multimodal compositions adapted from the academic writing you produce for this course.

To access the course calendar, daily work, grades, and to upload assignments, please visit our English 101 Moodle page.

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