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 mastering the course content of Bio 45.
Something along the lines of.......
95-100% is True Mastery
85-94 is Real Proficiency
75-84 is Getting There
68-74% is Room for More Potential
In short, your course grade is my assessment of how thoroughly and completely you mastered the course content of the Biology 45 material.
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 an assessment.
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 exams are more revealing than multiple choice, for example.
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 -- true/false questions, multiple choice and short answer.
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.
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
Task #1 Welcome to Biology 45 Survey 5 points
Task #2 What Do You Know....Quiz 5 points
Early Participation on Pronto 10 points
Feedback Surveys (2) 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
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:
The Orientation Quiz earns 10 points. It will consist of 10 True/False and Multiple choice questions, taken from the information found in the Orientation Module and this syllabus. It will be open from Monday--the first day of the quarter--at 6 am until the following Sunday night at 11:59 pm. You have up to 1 hour to answer 10 questions, and you will have 2 tries to take it. The higher score is kept. Getting 10/10 points is super easy!
The Task #1 What Do You Know about Nutrition Quiz earns 5 points.
The Task #2 Welcome to Biology 45 Survey earns 5 points
Participating on Pronto in the first week of the quarter earns 10 points
Filling out 2 Feedback Surveys earns 10 Points
Getting 50/50 points = 100%. Having a score of 100% helps to skew your total point percentage upward
Don't overlook the small tasks that are tied to these "easy points" opportunities!
Be Totally Clear on This
These points are NOT Bonus Points. They are points that are included in the total points.
If you don't do them, your score would be 0/50, or 0% .
And that will skew your grade downward and have an undesirable effect on your course grade.
Bonus Point Opportunities
10 Bonus Points are offered in this class.
If you submit Part 1 of the Diet Assignment early--by the date listed on the last page--you will earn 5 Bonus Points.
If you submit Part 2 of the Diet Assignment early--by the date listed you--will earn 5 more Bonus Points!
But these points will only be earned if Part 1 has also been submitted by the time you submit Part 2.
FYI: Partial submissions will NOT earn Bonus Points. Submissions need to be complete.
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 week of the quarter)