Format
The class will consist of  two basic components, in which all students are expected to participate: two weekly lectures and two weekly discussion sections.

Classroom Civility
In both the lecture and discussion section setting, students will be expected to participate in a number of ways from contributing their ideas to listening to what others might have to say.  A premium will be put on treating everyone in the class with respect and dignity.  This will mean many things, but one should always expect to be both physically and mentally present when one appears for class.  (i. e. no newspapers, crossword puzzles, letters to or from loved ones, cell phones, or whatever else you might want to do during a class period that is not specifically centered on the learning encouraged for that day.)

Assignments

Connection Papers:
Each student will be responsible for writing two "Connection Papers." Section leaders welcome every opportunity to discuss any questions you may have about paper topics or review rough drafts of papers in advance of their due dates. 

Quizzes and Weekly Email Writing Assignments:
Almost every week, each student is required to submit (via email) a one paragraph response to that week's reading. These need to be submitted before Wednesday noon, and they are to be responses to a set of questions given for that week's reading.  Discussion sections will also have a short weekly quiz on the week's reading on most Thursdays.  Pop quizzes may also happen during the weekly lecture times.
 

Grading

300 total points, divided in the following way:
       100 points: weekly writing assignments
       150 points: quizzes
       50 points: connection papers (25 points each)

Your final grade will be determined on a straight percentage basis in regard to the total 500 points.  (e.g. 90-100% = A range ; 80-89% = B range; 70-79% = C range; 60-69% = D range; Below 60% = F)
 

1) Wait at least twenty-four hours before approaching your AI with your request for a review.  A student, however, cannot ask for a grade review if more than two weeks have passed since the original grade was assigned.

2) Bring your paper to the AI accompanied by a written statement explaining the reasons you think the paper grade should be reviewed.  Do not use email to send this statement.  The AI will then determine whether a new grade will be assigned.

3) If the discussion with the AI proves unsatisfactory, bring all the aforementioned documentation to the lecturing professor for review.  The lecturing professor will then work with both the AI and the student to determine whether a new grade should be assigned.
 

Pop quizzes might also be given during the lectures.

In addition to these regular reading quizzes, each student is responsible for submitting a weekly writing assignment via email.  These assignments are due by noon on the Wednesday of each week.  The computer system records when these assignments have been sent.  NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE GRADED.

These weekly writing assignments require the student to write an answer to one of a set of given questions for that week.  The answers can be no longer than one paragraph (100 words), and students need to cite (give the page number) of some part of the text to support their answer.  Using actual textual quotes is encouraged.

These assignments will be graded without comments, but will be judged on the following criteria:

Ten points are possible each week in these assignments.  (The grading system can be thought of as a check plus, check, check minus system.)  

10 points = above average answer: clear and innovative answer to the question,  good use of textual evidence, did not go over the word limit, no errors in spelling or grammar

8 points = average, solid answer: clear answer to the question, good use of textual evidence, may have gone over the word limit, may have one error in spelling or grammar

6 points = below average answer: not a clear answer to the question, may make no or poor use of textual evidence (or no page citation), may have gone over the word limit, may have more than one error in spelling or grammar

0 points = late assignment or no completed assignment 

At the end of the semester, a student’s lowest quiz score and lowest weekly writing assignment score will be dropped.