Midterm
Grading
A
As a faculty, we give many As to our students at midterm.
An A means that a student has completed all work and has done
everything on time, a significant feat for a student since the
course requires 3-5 pages of developed writing per week alongside
multiple drafts, extensive revisions, and a variety of other
writing tasks. Many students, in fact, do manage to complete
100% of their work, with distinction, by the midterm and continue
to do so for the rest of the course. The faculty
expects such exceptional students to maintain their strong standing
and impress even more as the semester progresses. 1000c
classes are student-centered with many hands-on activities and
significant peer review; thus, an A student has also been
critically and consistently engaged in all classroom and online
activities. They have met with the consultants at the Writing
Center and they have also met with the first year writing faculty
in one-on-one conferences since 1000c students are required to meet
with faculty in conferences at least three times in the
semester. Likewise, an A student has maintained a disposition
of no absences or lateness, an important requirement since the
class relies on participatory action and dialogue.
B
As a faculty, we give many Bs to our students at midterms. B
grades have much in common with As. All the work has been
submitted; however, the distinguishing factor is that work may have
been partially fulfilled, a few assignments may have been submitted
late, and/or all of the work is not of superior quality. Late
work is serious because the writing demands are cumulative. Late
work, even if minimal, compromises the trajectory of what is
ahead. Student participation in the class, either in online
forums, class discussions, or in terms of general engagement, has
been strong, but not consistently strong. The faculty sees such
student as having exceptional potential and pushes them to impress
even more as the semester progresses. They have met with the
consultants at the Writing Center and they have also met with the
first year writing faculty in one-on-one conferences since 1000c
students are required to meet with faculty in conferences at least
three times in the semester. Students with a midterm grade of
B have also maintained a disposition of minimal absences or
lateness, an important requirement since the class relies on
participatory action and dialogue.
C
As a faculty, we give several Cs to our students at
midterm. Some of the work has not been submitted or
many assignments have been submitted late. Missing or late
work is serious because the writing demands are cumulative. Late or
missing work, even if minimal, compromises the trajectory of what
is ahead. It may be impossible for students to “keep up” if
there is missing work at the midterm. Student
participation in the class, either in online forums, class
discussions, or in terms of general engagement, needs much
improvement. Success in the class relies strongly on active
learning so disengagement from participation seriously limits
completion of the course. Students with a midterm grade of C
are also moving dangerously close to non-compliance with the
university attendance policy for 1000c: after 3 absences, students
are dropped from the class. If students have 3 absences
already at midterm, that is the equivalent to missing a week and a
half of writing and discussion time, roughly 20% of the course so
far (for classes meeting once a week, students can only miss one
class for the whole semester). Such students give themselves
very little leeway for unexpected absences in the second half of
the semester and seriously compromise their ability to keep up with
the work and participate in the course.
D
As a faculty, we give a few Ds to our students at
midterm. A significant part of the work has not been
submitted or most assignments have been submitted late.
Missing or late work is serious because the writing demands are
cumulative. Missing work compromises the trajectory of what is
ahead. It may be impossible to “catch up” at all if there is
missing work at the midterm. Student participation in
the class, either in online forums, class discussions, or in terms
of general engagement, needs significant improvement. Success
in the class relies strongly on active learning so disengagement
from participation seriously limits completion of the course.
Students with a midterm grade of D are also moving dangerously
close to non-compliance with the university attendance policy for
1000c: after 3 absences, students are dropped from the class.
If students have 3 absences already at midterm, that is the
equivalent to missing a week and a half of writing and discussion
time, roughly 20% of the course so far (for classes meeting once a
week, students can only miss one class for the whole
semester). Given the missing work and absences, there is very
little chance a student with a D can actually pass the class.
F
As a faculty, we give very few Fs at midterm. An F
means that no work has been done, that there has been no
participation in the class, and/or that sporadic attendance has
compromised the student’s standing in the class. Such a
student in 1000c would usually be regarded in the category of an
unofficial withdrawal and is usually asked to discuss retaking the
course in another semester with their academic advisor or the
director of the program.
UW
As a faculty, we assign some UWs at midterm. Little
to no work has been completed and sporadic attendance has
compromised the student’s standing in the class.
Students with a UW are non-compliant with the university attendance
policy for 1000c: there are more than 3 absences (for classes
meeting once a week, students can only miss one class for the whole
semester). Such a student is usually asked to discuss
retaking the course in another semester with their academic advisor
or the director of the program.
Final Grading
A
As a faculty, we give many As to our students at the end of the
1000c course. An A means that a student has completed all
work and has done everything on time, a significant feat for a
student since the course requires 3-5 pages of developed writing
per week alongside multiple drafts, extensive revisions, and a
variety of other writing tasks. Many students, in fact,
managed to complete 100% of their work, with distinction, by the
midterm and continued to do so for the rest of the
course. The faculty regards such students as
exceptional and has worked with them to maintain their strong
standing and impress throughout the whole semester.
Particularly impressive was the way the semester’s work and thought
culminated in an exceptional final writing portfolio (see FYW Weave
portfolio rubric). 1000c classes are student-centered with many
hands-on activities and significant peer review; thus, an A student
has also been critically and consistently engaged in all classroom
and online activities. They have met with the consultants at
the Writing Center and they have also met with the first year
writing faculty in three one-on-one conferences since 1000c
students are required to meet with faculty in conferences at least
three times in the semester. Likewise, an A student has
maintained a disposition of almost no absences or lateness, an
important requirement since the class relies on participatory
action and dialogue.
B
As a faculty, we give many Bs to our students at the end of the
1000c course. B grades have much in common with As.
Virtually all of the work has been submitted; however, the
distinguishing factor is that a few assignments may have been
submitted late, and/or a small number of works is not of superior
quality. Late work is serious because the writing demands are
cumulative. Late work, even if minimal, compromises the trajectory
of what is ahead. Student participation in the class, either
in online forums, class discussions, or in terms of general
engagement, has been strong, but not consistently strong. The
semester’s work and thought culminated in a strong final writing
portfolio (see FYW Weave portfolio rubric). The faculty sees
such students as having exceptional potential and pushes them to
continue to strive in their lifelong learning. Students with
a grade of B have met with the consultants at the Writing Center
and they have also met with the first year writing faculty in three
one-on-one conferences since 1000c students are required to meet
with faculty in conferences at least three times in the
semester. Students with a midterm grade of B have also
maintained a disposition of minimal absences or lateness, an
important requirement since the class relies on participatory
action and dialogue.
C
As a faculty, we give several Cs to our students at the end of
the 1000c course. Some of the work has not been
submitted or many assignments have been submitted late.
Missing or late work is serious because the writing demands are
cumulative. Late or missing work, even if minimal, compromises the
trajectory of what is ahead. Student participation in the
class, either in online forums, class discussions, or in terms of
general engagement, needs improvement. Success in the class
relies strongly on active learning so disengagement from
participation seriously limits completion of the course. Students
with a grade of C have met with the consultants at the Writing
Center but they were late or were resistant in discussing their
writing. 1000c students are required to meet with faculty in
conferences at least three times in the semester since it is
crucial to improving student writing. Failure to do this
compromises student success with writing. The semester’s work and
thought culminated in an uneven final writing portfolio that
required more critical reflection (see FYW Weave portfolio
rubric). Students with a grade of C have also
maintained a disposition of minimal absences or lateness, an
important requirement since the class relies on participatory
action and dialogue. No more than 3 absences are allowed.
D
As a faculty, we give very few Ds to our students at the end of
the 1000c course. Most of the work has not been
submitted or most assignments have been submitted late.
Missing or late work is serious because the writing demands are
cumulative. Students with a grade of C have not met with the
consultants at the Writing Center and/or have not met with their
faculty instructor three times in the course of the semester.
1000c students are also required to meet with faculty in
conferences at least three times in the semester since it is
crucial to improving student writing. Thus, the
final portfolio was incomplete. Student participation in the
class, either in online forums, class discussions, or in terms of
general engagement, needs significant improvement. Success in
the class relies strongly on active learning so disengagement from
participation seriously limits success in the course. Students with
a grade of D have maintained a disposition of minimal absences, an
important requirement since the class relies on participatory
action and dialogue, but did not take the work expectations
seriously.
F
As a faculty, we give a few Fs at the end of the 1000c
course. An F means that no portfolio was submitted
and/or too little writing was done over the course of the semester
to really constitute a full portfolio. No 1000c
students can receive an ABF (though final portfolios function as
the course’s final exam, there are no make-up exams for 1000c).
Students with a final grade of F are also non-compliant with the
university attendance policy for 1000c: at the 4th absence,
students are dropped from the class, the equivalent to missing a
week and a half of writing and discussion time, roughly 20% of the
course (for classes meeting once a week, students can only miss one
class for the whole semester).
UW
As a faculty, we assign some UWs at the end of the semester.
These students stopped attending the class before the course was
over.