Assessment for this course is based on a model called "specifications grading."
Research shows that adults learn best when they are in an environment that is challenging (because standards are high and substantively tied to learning objectives) but not anxiety-inducing (because expectations are clear and lines of communication are open); and that empowers them by giving them agency and responsibility over their own learning, goals, and progress. This model of assessment is designed with those features at the center.
Each assignment for this course will specify a clear set of expectations for a good outcome (a satisfactory assignment) that roughly corresponds to what I consider to be B-level work. Rather than assigning a letter grade (A/B/C/D/E) for your work, I instead determine whether or not you have met these "specifications" and assign one of two designations: "Satisfactory" or "Not Yet Satisfactory."
Your final grade for the course will still be a letter grade (A/B/C/D/E), as I am required to assess you in that way by Smith College. However, this letter grade will reflect the number and kind of satisfactory assignments you have produced across different areas of the course rather than the average of different letter-graded assignments.
What this means is that your grade in the class is largely up to you: it will reflect the amount and kind of work that you take on, in line with what you want and need out of this class and the other constraints on your schedule. In general, higher grades will reflect satisfactory completion of a higher level of work in both quantitative and qualitative terms, while lower grades reflect either satisfactory completion of less work and less complex work, or a mix of satisfactory and unsatisfactory work. In other words, an A means that you took on and successfully completed more work (quantitative), some of which involved more complex or higher-order levels of analysis (qualitative), than students who earned Bs or Cs.
There is no moral judgment implied in this assessment: what you take on and what you complete is up to you, and I respect your choices in this area. I will do my part to make sure you have what you need to succeed in the course up to the level that works for your goals.
I explain in more detail below.
For each assignment, I will provide a clear and concrete set of criteria for successful completion (the assignment’s specifications). These specifications represent what I would expect for approximately B-quality work, and provide the benchmark for what counts as a "Satisfactory" assignment.
For each assignment that you turn in, I will: Indicate whether or not the assignment meets the specifications (assessed as "Satisfactory" or "Not Yet Satisfactory"), and provide feedback you can use to improve the assignment.
An assignment must meet all specifications to count as "Satisfactory." No specification is trivial; they all count. Read all instructions carefully, and come see me if you are unclear about what any specification means or how you can meet it.
Even if an assignment meets all specifications, in most cases you will still receive feedback on how to improve. In particular, your writing assignments for the course will go through a "draft" stage, and revising them represents the final project for the class. Thus even "Satisfactory" assignments will be revised in line with my feedback and your own judgments about how to improve: even good drafts are improvable; all professional writers revise their work, and most are required revise in ways that are responsive to feedback from peers, managers, editors, etc.
When an assignment does not meet all specifications, I will tell you exactly which specifications are unmet and provide feedback about how to meet them in the future. Assignments may be resubmitted for credit as part of the final portfolio, but the number of "resubmitted" assignments will affect your final letter grade. Any resubmitted work must meet all specifications to count as "Satisfactory" in your final portfolio assessment.
No credit will be given on assignments that I determine to be plagiarized or engaged in unfair use of generative AI. Such work may only be rewritten and resubmitted with my permission, which I may choose not to grant. Whether or not I allow you to resubmit your work will depend on the gravity of the breach of academic integrity as well as your willingness to honestly account and take responsibility for your use of AI and/or the choices that led to plagiarism.
The work of this course is subdivided into specific "bundles" of course activities, each with their own set of specifications. These are as follows:
Preparation: Reading assignments and Perusall annotations to prepare you to engage in class and make progress on the course learning objectives.
Attendance and Participation: Consistent presence in class; active participation in small-and large-group discussion; timely submission of assignments; direct communication with me regarding any issues that affect your ability to complete work as necessary.
Sequenced Writing Projects: A series of writing assignments that scale up in complexity as the semester progresses, designed to help you break down and comprehend the arguments of class texts; to encourage thinking and connecting across texts; and to develop your skills of critical summary, argument, and analysis of evidence. Each student will also work on substantively revising their work in response to feedback.
Reflection and Self-Assessment Projects: Short assignments that ask you to reflect on your learning and assess your progress through the course.
Below, you will find a breakdown of how many--and which kinds--of projects and assignments you must satisfactorily complete to earn different grades. While some parts of the course will be required of everyone (for example, no one may opt out of participation), you will have choice over others, depending on the grade you want to earn.
As a reminder, satisfactory completion of any individual assignment is a matter of whether, in my considered and professional judgment, you have met the assignment specifications, all of which are provided in advance.
Read all assigned material thoroughly and with care, taking notes and/or making other preparations to discuss the material in class.
Attend class regularly, arriving ready to discuss the material and to engage in good faith, missing only when truly unavoidable.
Participate actively in class activities and discussions--asking questions, offering observations, and making connections to contribute to the class's collective thinking. This commitment to participation includes the commitment to being mentally present: actively listening when others are speaking rather than reading email or the news or using social media/chat.
Commit to submitting work on time, or within the bounds of built-in extensions. All assignments are provided from the first day of the course, along with their specifications; and students have agency over when assignments are submitted and how many assignments are to be completed. Students requiring additional time on assignments are advised to begin their work early.
Complete reflection and self-assessment assignments. These include a participation planning exercise, mid-semester self-assessment, and final semester self-assessment. Self-assessments require that you track your own progress in the course, including attendance and participation.
All work must be completed within your Google Drive folder. No work submitted by email or created elsewhere and then uploaded to the Drive will count for credit.
Attendance (>21 points):
Miss no more than 4 out of 25 class meetings (21 points).
Use no more than 2 "alternative attendance" days (satisfactory completion of an alternative assignment that can make up for 2 additional missed classes).
Participation (>24 points):
Participate actively in all small-group and pair activities when in class (19 points).
Contribute occasionally (minimum of 5 times during the semester) to large group discussions when in class (5 points).
Preparation (>15 points):
Complete 15 out of 23 annotation assignments on time (15 points).
A single annotation assignment consists in at least 4 quality, substantive annotations per day of assigned reading.
Writing Projects (>75 points):
Complete 4 Satisfactory writing projects worth a total of 70 points:
2 Critical Summaries (15 points each) and 2 Strong Response Essays (20 points each) or equivalent.
All projects submitted on time or within the bounds of an extension.
Up to 3 assignments resulting in an assessment of "Not Yet Satisfactory" may be resubmitted for full credit. Assignments resulting in an assessment of "No Credit" may only be resubmitted with instructor permission.
Each resubmitted work must be accompanied by a short paragraph explaining the steps you took to address the specifications not met in the first draft.
One assignment fully revised in line with assignment specifications (5 points). If you needed to resubmit one or more essays, one such resubmission will count as your revision (provided you revise substantively, not just fix technical issues).
Attendance (>22 points):
Miss no more than 3 out of 25 class meetings (22 points).
Use no more than 1 "alternative attendance" day (satisfactory completion of an alternative assignment that can make up for 1 additional missed class).
Participation (>31 points):
Participate actively in all small-group and pair activities when in class (21 points).
Contribute regularly (once per week, or a minimum of 10 times during the semester) to large group discussions when in class (10 points).
Preparation (>18 points):
Complete 18 out of 23 annotation assignments on time (18 points).
A single annotation assignment consists in at least 4 quality, substantive annotations per day of assigned reading.
Writing Projects (>90 points):
Complete 4 Satisfactory writing projects worth a total of 80 points:
1 Critical Summary (15 points), 2 Strong Response Essays (20 points each), and 1 Defend, Amend, Reject Essay (25 points) or equivalent.
All projects submitted on time or within the bounds of an extension.
Up to 2 assignments resulting in an assessment of "Not Yet Satisfactory" may be resubmitted for full credit. Any additional resubmissions may earn only partial (80%) credit. Assignments resulting in an assessment of "No Credit" may only be resubmitted with instructor permission.
Each resubmitted work must be accompanied by a short paragraph explaining the steps you took to address the specifications not met in the first draft.
Two assignments fully revised in line with assignment specifications (10 points). If you needed to resubmit one or more essays, these resubmissions will count as your revision (provided you revise substantively, not just fix technical issues).
Attendance (>23 points):
Miss no more than 2 out of 25 class meetings.
Use no more than 1 "alternative attendance" day (satisfactory completion of an alternative assignment that can make up for 1 additional missed class).
Participation (>38 points):
Participate actively in all small-group and pair activities when in class (22 points).
Contribute frequently (more than once per week; minimum of 16 times during the semester) to large group discussions when in class (16 points).
Preparation (>21 points):
Complete 21 out of 23 annotation assignments on time (21 points).
A single annotation assignment consists in at least 4 quality, substantive annotations per day of assigned reading.
Writing Projects (105 points):
Complete 4 Satisfactory writing projects worth a total of 90 points:
1 Critical Summary (15 points), 1 Strong Response Essay (20 points), 1 Defend, Amend, Reject Essay (25 points), and 1 Ask & Answer Essay (30 points) or equivalent.
All projects submitted on time or within the bounds of an extension.
1 assignments resulting in an assessment of "Not Yet Satisfactory" may be resubmitted for full credit. Any additional resubmissions may earn only partial (80%) credit. Assignments resulting in an assessment of "No Credit" may only be resubmitted with instructor permission.
Each resubmitted work must be accompanied by a short paragraph explaining the steps you took to address the specifications not met in the first draft.
Three assignments fully revised in line with assignment specifications (15 points). If you were required to resubmit an essay, it counts toward this total (provided you revise substantively, not just fix technical issues).
Grades of "D" or "E" represent large gaps in fulfilling the required work for a "C," and signify a larger breakdown in the process of the course.
A "D" grade will be assigned in cases in which some substantive work was completed in line with the expectations for a C, but there are some missing writing assignments (or those that cannot count for credit, as in cases of plagiarism and AI use), minimal meaningful participation, and/or a pattern of substantial absence beyond what is acceptable within the framework of the course. This is a matter of large and substantial gaps, rather than small ones or a single issue.
An "E" grade signifies all but total non-participation in the course (written projects and in-class activities), and/or a pattern of plagiarized or otherwise unacceptable work.
The grading tiers defined above are for whole letter grades; they do not contain "pluses" or "minuses." Those grades (A-/B+/B-/etc.) come from submitted work that fulfills most, but perhaps not all, of the above requirements (there are small gaps), or from work that fulfills slightly more than the above requirements (without doing enough to earn a full letter grade higher).
For example, if a student were to complete all of the B-level work to a satisfactory degree, except they were absent from class at a C-level, that would likely result in a B-. Alternatively, if a student were to complete all of the B-level work to a satisfactory degree, and also opted to complete annotations at an A-level, then that would likely result in a B+. The allotted points for each component of the course will help you assess where you stand when your progress puts you between whole letter grades.
By Smith College standards, all letter grades C- and above count as "S" (passing), so students opting for S/U grading for the course as a whole should make sure, at minimum, to meet the specifications for a C (though you are welcome to do more as fits your learning goals). Make sure to fill out the required paperwork to change your grading option to S/U if that's what you'd like to do. That form, and the relevant deadlines, can be found here.
This grading model depends on clarity and transparency. I will do my best to make course standards, assignment specifications, and other expectations clear and readily available to you. But if you have any questions about how to approach an assignment, what a particular specification means, or how you might meet the given specifications, please come talk to me in office hours.