Grading

What Does Your Grade Mean to You?

Is it a means to a certain GPA? Is it a ticket into nursing school? Does it hold additional value to you? What would you do for an A?  Do you see your grade as fair indication of how much you achieved in a certain class?

I encourage you think about these questions and explore your answers.  

What Your Grade Means to Me

I see grades as a measure of where a student is in the process of learning and mastering the course content of Bio 45. 

Something along the lines of....... 

In short, your course grade is my assessment of how thoroughly and completely you learned the course content of the Biology 45 material.  That assessment is determined through assessment tools, like exams and the diet assignment.

What Your Grade DOES NOT Means to Me (and shouldn't mean to you)

Your grade is NOT a judgement of who you are as a person. Or as a student.

A low grade is NOT indicative of lack of drive, dedication or commitment.  

A low grade does NOT mean a student is stupid, dumb, or has no potential.  A LOT of factors goes into a student's "performance" on academic tasks.

Assessments are Flawed

Here's the thing: Assessment tools are not a perfect way to measure a student's mastery of the material. Far from it. 

Exams, quizzes, assignments -- these are all ways an instructor ascertains how well students have mastered a course's learning tasks. Some are better than others.  Essay questions on an exam might be more revealing than multiple choice questions.

And there are alternative methods, like having a conversation with a student and from that, identifying the level of comprehension a student has acquired.  

Unfortunately, a teacher like myself who has ~150-200 students combined in single quarter has limited resources--time and energy. With no teacher's assistant, it is impossible for me to give assessments that take a lot of time and effort to evaluate.

So, I am forced to settle for traditional exams -- with true/false, multiple choice and short answer questions.

I try VERY hard to make my exams fair, clear and reasonable. They reflect the course content. The good news is you will have a Study Guide for each exam, and exam review sessions on Zoom before each exam.

Do This!

To help reduce that stress and improve the likelihood of getting the grade you want, PLAN to give yourself the time and space you need to do your best work. 

Don't procrastinate. If you're a procrastinator, find strategies that have been shown to help people break that tendency. They exist and some might work for you.  To get started, you can read 6 great tips for stopping procrastination in this LifeHack article

And use the resources I give you.  I offer many over the course of the quarter.

If you find yourself confused, lost, frustrated, feeling like you want to give up, reach out to me.  I might be able to give you concrete ideas for ways you can change the way things are going for you in Bio 45.

Points Earned

 

Orientation Quiz                                    10 points

Welcome to Biology 45 Survey       5 points

What Do You Know....Quiz                      5 points

Pronto Participation                               5 points

3 Feedback Surveys (5 pts each)   15 points

2 Discussions (5 pts each)                 10 points

4 Exams*                                                320 points

Diet Assignment                                   100 points

                       Total Possible Points   470 points

 

*5 exams are given. The lowest exam score is dropped from your cumulative score

        How the Coursework is Weighted

Easy Points = Task 1 & 2 from Week 1, the Orientation Quiz, Pronto Participation, 3 Feedback Surveys and the Points for Discussions

 Course Grading Scale 


A+  =  456 - 470 points 

A =  437 - 455 points

A-   =  421 - 436  points  

B+  =  400 - 420 points 

B =  390 - 408 points

B -  =  374 - 389 points

C+  =  362 - 373 points

C =  327 - 361 points 

C-   there is no C-

D+  =   315 - 326  points 

D =  296 - 314 points

D-   =  282 - 295 points     

F  = <282 points

                          

                     


There are "Easy" Points to Earn -- Earn Them!

There are 50 points in this class that are super easy to earn:

Takeaway Messages

Don't overlook the small tasks that are tied to these "easy points" opportunities! 

Be Totally Clear on This

These points are NOT Bonus or Extra Credit Points. They are points that are included in the total points earned in Bio 45. 

So if you don't submit the surveys, don't participate on the discussions, don't take the Orientation Quiz, etc. your score would be 0/50, or 0% . And that will skew your grade downward. Similarly, participating/submitting on some but not all of the above, could leave you with 30%, 50%, 70%, etc., and not 100%. 

That would also have an undesirable effect on your course grade. 

Strive for 100%, or 50/50 points :-)

Bonus Point Opportunities

There ARE 10 Bonus Points are offered in this class.

FYI: Partial submissions will NOT earn Bonus Points. Submissions need to be complete.

These are the ONLY Bonus Points/Extra Credit Points in Bio 45

These points can REALLY boost your grade on the Diet Assignment

 (Additionally, getting Parts 1 & 2 done and submitted EARLY will REALLY help you in the last 2 weeks of the quarter)