My Deserved Grade

Based on the grading contract, I believe I should receive an A in this class because I meet most of the requirements to obtain such a grade. 

In Class Activities, Homework, Participation and Interaction:

Throughout the class, I made sure to work hard to try and submit all of my assignments before their due date. By being punctual about how I submit assignments, as a student, I demonstrated organization, responsibility, and a strong commitment to want to work and learn about the course's material. By the end of the semester, I turned in the vast majority of my work on time, and as part of the grading contract, all of those assignments met their own unique academic expectations and requirements, based on the assignment instructions. 

In the end, I only submitted three assignments after their due date, which were "The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts Annotation Practice", "Week 6 | Peer Review Workshop", and "Discussion Post: "The Voice" Annotation, Academic Summary, and Takeaway. As seen in the grading contract, to be eligible to receive A in the class, I need to turn in over 90% of my work on time. By considering how this class has 31 total assignments, having three late assignments would mean I submitted 28 assignments on time. So, after doing the math, I saw that 90.31% of 31 is 28, meaning that I turned in more than 90% of my work before its due date.

Regarding assignment resubmissions, any assignment resubmission I did were submitted prior to two weeks (14 days) after receiving the original assignment's grade. "Shitty First Drafts Annotation Practice", due on September 5, was resubmitted on September 6, one day later. "Google Docs Summary and Takeaway on Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing and 15 Ways to Develop Critical Thinking", due on September 10, was resubmitted on September 19, 9 days later. "Week 2 | Marie Foley's "Unteaching The Five Paragraph Essay" Reading & Annotation", due on September 12, was also resubmitted on September 19, this time 7 days later. 

I have points to argue about two of my resubmissions.

The first one is "Week 5 | Synthesis and the Literacy Narrative Revision". The original due date for this assignment was October 7

The second one was for "Rhetorical Analysis: Using Frith's "The Voice" to Explain and Evaluate a Song". The original due date for this assignment was October 22, but I resubmitted it with revisions and improvements twice. The first resubmission was done on November 1, 10 days after the original due date, and the second resubmission was done on November 8, 17 days after the original due date. The second resubmission was done as a result of the professor telling that my assignment needed further revision. What's important however, is that they had told me to revise it again after the two week resubmission period had already ended, on November 6. Ultimately, because the first submission was done prior to the two week resubmission period, I believe that this assignment should be considered as being submitted before this period.

Peer Reviews:

In the course of the class, I carried out peer reviews in this class in a very specific and critical manner. In my reviews, I paid extreme close attention in addressing both higher and lower order of concerns in my peers' writing, and provided clear and helpful suggestions to help them revise their assignment. Through my help, my partner showed significant improvement in their reading and writing abilities as the semester progressed.

Attendance:

I had no absences in this class throughout the entire semester, which demonstrates my commitment and dedication towards this course and its material. Having no absences allowed me to I consistently engage in class discussions and activities, interact with peers, ask questions, share ideas. All of these aspects further demonstrating my devotion to not only want to learn and interact with my peers and professor, but also improve my skills as a reader, writer, and researcher. Always coming to class and engaging in class material also helped me stay on track with classwork, know the overall direction of the course, and contributed to a positive relationship between the professor and I, which significantly enhanced the learning environment of the class for me. In short, my consistent attendance in this class has aided me in bettering my learning abilities and skills through a number of aspects that wouldn't have been possible if I skipped any classes. My lack of absences, along with what I got out of them, are part of the reason why an A grade would reflect my commitment towards this course.

Extra Learning:

The extra learning I did in devotion to this class include one office hour meeting and a visit to the Writing Center (Proof that I went to the writing center is provided by the image below). The grading contract states that in order to get an A, a student's extra learning should comprise of two office hour visits, the first before week 7, and the  second before week 12, and one visit to the Writing Center. Although I fell short of perfectly meeting the requirements to get an A, I strongly believe that my semester-long devotion, effort, and improvement in this class should outweigh my missing office hour visit. Throughout the semester, I had no absences, consistently participated in class, showed preparation for each lesson, submitted high-quality assignments, dedicated my classwork and homework to improve my skills as a reader, writer, and researcher, and asked the professor questions and advice on assignments. All of these consistent efforts I've made throughout the past five months show a desire to learn. While I did not meet the specific office hour visit requirement in full, I believe the work I’ve done, coupled with how I looked for additional resources and help when I needed, demonstrates that I have achieved a high level of understanding and success in this course. Given my dedication, initiative, and overall performance, I am still confident that I deserve an A in this class.