How will you be graded?

>> How are you going to be
graded in this course?

How are you going to be graded in this course?

The grading for this class is relatively simple,
in the sense that you are expected simply.

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How will you be graded in this course?

This class has two main components,
in terms of the grading matrix.

There are a number of assignments
that you have to do.

These are responses, in writing.

Think about them as reflections
that you have to write

about the readings that we're
going to be reading.

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How will you be graded in this course?

There are two main components to
the grading matrix for this term.

The first one is what I call assignments.

These are reflections that you
have to write about the readings

that are going to be assigned to you.

As you will see from looking at the Canvas
site, the class is structured in a way

that reflects a Monday, Wednesday,
Friday schedule.

So, very Monday, every Wednesday, and
every Friday, you'll have two things due.

An assignment where you write a reflection
about a particular piece, focusing on a scene,

on an episode, or on a phrase
that stood out for you.

And trying to share with me, as the audience
for whom you're reading, why that scene,

event or episode from the
reading was so meaningful to you.

So, these are interpretive writing
assignments, where I ask you to essentially,

interpret the story by focusing
on a particular part of it.

So, the second part of the grading
matrix is what I am calling quizzes.

These are a series of quizzes that you are going
to be taking at various points in the semester,

every Monday, Wednesday and Friday,
that are meant to test your knowledge

of the short stories that
are assigned in the syllabus.

So, the best for you to visualize
what you should do for this course,

is that of the 5 weeks that we have, every
week has a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule.

With the exception of the last week,
because the last week is only 4 days.

So, we don't actually get to the Friday
in the very final week of the term.

But every week, aside from that last
one, you have something assigned to read,

something that you have to write,
and a quiz that you have to take,

on Monday, on Wednesday, and on Friday.

In terms of the grading, for those
two different kinds of assignments,

the quizzes it is explanatory, they
are quizzes, they're multiple choice.

So, you get right or wrong answers.

And the assignments, where you have to
write an interpretation of the story,

those are graded on a no credit,
half credit, or full credit scale.

Now, what does this mean?

No credit means that you didn't do it, or you
submitted something that is so shockingly poor,

that I couldn't read it or it
was only a couple of sentences

when it's supposed to be maybe a page or so.

So, no credit really just means that
you didn't really do the assignment.

Half credit means that you did
the assignment, but it was sloppy.

It was not clear that you put any time into what
you wanted to say, or into editing your writing.

Full credit means that you did
the assignment, you did it well.

You thought about what you
wanted to say, in your own voice,

and are saying something original about the
story, based on your interpretation of it.

What I am looking for with these
assignments above all, is a kind of honesty

and authenticity in your writerly voice.

So, if I can hear you thinking with the story,

chances are that you will get a full
credit check for that assignment.

But if you submit something that is half-cooked,
not very well developed, or I'll say something

that was produced or sounds like AI, you will
not do particularly well in these assignments.

Now, these assignments are relatively short.

They're about 400 words each.

So, we're talking about less
than one page of writing.

It's something that you can do in 1 hour,
max 1 hour and a half, if you really sit down

and think about the story after having read it.

So, in terms of the grading, just
to summarize this once again,

you'll have your writing assignments, which
are exercises in writing and interpretation.

Credit, half credit, no credit scale.

And then you have your quizzes.

Which are 10 questions, multiple choice,
and then you get a score out of 10.

Now, I want to say something that's
very important about both of these,

that I already eluded to in a previous video.

And that is that both the writing assignments
and the quizzes have a deadline of 11:59 pm.

If you miss them, you cannot redo them.

Also, the quizzes in particular,

which are multiple choice, you
can only take them one time.

And you can only do them
for a period of 25 minutes.

So as soon as you click on
the quiz, your time begins.

You cannot stop it, and you cannot restart it.

And so, my recommendation to all of you,
is that don't open the quizzes until you're

at your desk, in a place where you can
focus and devote 25 minutes of your time

to really paying attention and doing a good job.

Again, because once you open
it, if something goes wrong

because you opened it while you unconnected
from wi-fi, or you opened it while you were

on the bus, you'll just have to take it.

And so, make sure that you give
yourself all the tools that you can,

in order to do well in this class.

Final thing I'll say about the grading
for this class, especially the,

the quizzes, is that they are open book.

So, you can consult back the story,
but you don't have that much time.

You only have 25 minutes.

Which means that you are expected

to have already read the story before
obviously you can answer questions about it.

Now, the kinds of questions that you're
going to get when you're opening the quiz,

they're questions that are going to be
very, very easy if you read the story.

They might be questions about the characters,
about the events that happened in the story.

But they are not questions that
you can BS your way through

and guess, if you haven't read the story.

it's like answering questions about the
plot to a movie that you haven't seen.

You just, if you haven't
seen it, you just don't know.

But if you just watch the movie,
then obviously you will know.

What this means is that the
questions that you're going to get

in the quiz are not exceptionally difficult.

They're not out to get you.

They're just testing whether you've
done the work of reading the stories,

and thinking about them,
closely and intentionally.

So, as far as grading goes,
assignments and quizzes.

Quizzes, you only have 25 minutes.

You will have on shot.

You cannot redo it.

The assignment you can upload
whenever you're ready.

But both of them are always due Monday,
Wednesday, Friday at midnight, or 11:59 pm.