[note: I am new to CUNY, and there continue to be rules that I am learning as I go. Below are the initial policies. However you are beholden to any existing policy by CUNY, Baruch, or the English Department at Baruch even if it is not posted here. As the semester goes on, if I learn of a rule or a point that should have been clarified, I will update it here. I will underline, bracket, and date any additions or updates to this page.]
Distribution of Grades:
Participation: 20 percent
*Attendance 50 percent
*In-Class Discussion 40 percent
*Pop Quizzes 5 percent
*Miscellaneous (i.e. in-class writings, additional posting, commenting on peers posts etc.) 5 percent
Individual Assignments 30 percent
*Blogs 25 percent
*Frankenstein Paper 25 percent
*Creative Project 25 percent
*Close Reading Paper
A Hood Project (group issue) 50 percent
Grading Scale:
On papers I use letter grades. I often use slash grades (i.e. “A-/B+”). You should interpret these grades by regarding the first grade as the actual grade, and the grade that follows as where the paper seems to be leading to. For example. If you get an A-/B+ it is because you just barely scraped into the A- section. You can almost rest assure that if you have a -/+ grade then you are with .5 of a grade. If you have a B/B+ this means you have a high B (85 or 86), but it is not high enough to just be a B+. If you have a B+/B, you have a low end B+ (probably an 87). The purpose of the second grade is to give you an indication of where you are for the purposes of grading but more importantly for revising.
While I do not put numbers down until I do final grades, you may generally keep track of where you are by considering the following range for letter grades:
92-100—A
90-91—A-
87-89—B+
82-86—B
80-81—B-
77-79—C+
72-76—C
70-71—C-
60-69—D
<60—F
Attendance:
Absences: According to Baruch Policy, you can only have 4 unexcused absences* before it affects your grade. Please Note: If you are a freshman or a sophomore, and you miss more than the university approved absences, I am obligated to give you a WU. This is Baruch Policy; it is not mine, and I cannot negotiate with you. While I have some lead way with juniors and seniors, I tend to stick to this rule and even where I make exceptions, having more than 4 unexcused absences will affect your grade.
Tardiness:
Every four time you are tardy, it counts as an unexcused absence. If you get one unexcused absence this way, it will affect your grade but will not necessarily put you over the line for a WU. If you receive two unexcused absences from tardiness (meaning you’ve been tardy 8 times), it may result in a WU. You are tardy if you not there when I do attendance (which could be anywhere between the first 2-15 minutes); no it is not consistent, but it is not unfair as technically if you’re not there when class starts, you are late. If you are late, you must make sure I mark you as present at the end of class. It is not responsibility to remember that you came in later. If I miss you, I will mark you absent.
Communications:
I am not constantly plugged in to the internet, and you should have reasonable expectation about communicating with me via email. While I will try to respond within 24 hours (and at times I will respond much more quickly than that), you should allow for 48 hours for any response. If I have not responded to your email in 48 hours, you should respectfully email me again to follow up and/or approach me AFTER class. I will not necessarily remember things you tell me before class.
If you are absent, it is your job to figure out what you missed. I will not give you an individual email instruction.
You should email me whenever you are confused about an assignment; however you should also realize that if the answer to your question is on the site and/or syllabus or a group email I sent to the whole class, my response may consist only of referring you to the appropriate document. If you are confused about the specific wording of that document, you should quote or paraphrase the part you are confused about and ask me a specific question.
If a link is not up or not working or a page number is missing or some other thing is hindering you from doing the readings, the post, or other assignments, you should contact me immediately and not right before class, or in class. I work with the assumption that you are on top of your education, and a missing link (unless I put the assignment up at the last minute) is not an excuse for you not doing your reading. I will do my best to give reminders and make sure everything works smoothly, but in the end it is your responsibility. Note: You will find that most of the texts you can find if you just google the citation information.
There will be a lot of logistics for the class with the group works, workshops, blogs, and end of term assignment. This means I need you to pay attention. I will not repeat logistics in class more than twice. If we are confused about what they mean, I will clarify, but I will not repeat things because you are late or you were not paying attention. If you miss something, you should check in with your group members and with online updates from me.
In general: You are too smart for BS. I’m too smart for BS. I care about you and your work. Let us use the time we have together wisely and maturely and with respect.
Late Paper Policy:
All deadlines in this course are firm. Except in the case of medical/family emergency, or religious observance, I give no individual extensions. You will note that there are no official paper grades before the end of term project. HOWEVER, you must submit your single authored paper drafts on time. Late assignments will affect your participation grade for the class and for your group project. I will give you a grade on these assignments, so you should have some feedback before add/drop, but that grade will not be official until it appears in the final project.
Deadlines are designed to 1) make sure your progress in the class is evenly paced (i.e. you’re not stuck in a situation where you have to turn in two papers and a journal in one week) and 2) -to be perfectly frank- the deadlines are also for me as an instructor. In order to give timely feedback and assessment, I need to receive work on time. I try to return papers within 1 week and no more than 10 days. If your paper is late, you forfeit the timely response contract. I will obviously still grade your paper, and I will try to get it back to you quickly, but my schedule is tight and if you miss the grading window, you will have to wait for feedback.
If an emergency occurs and you cannot meet a due date, please contact me as soon as you can so that we can set a new due date and re-work your schedule in the course. Email is the best way to contact me. Please make the subject to your email reflective of your overall concern/request.
Barring extenuating circumstances, I reserve the right to enforce the following policies:
1st time: loss of one-third of a grade (i.e., from A to an A- or A- to B+ or B to B-) per 24 hours (or portion thereof) late.
2nd time: loss of two-thirds of a grade per 24 hours (or portion thereof) late.
3rd or 4th time: loss of one grade per 24 hours (or portion thereof) late
Completion of Work:
You cannot pass this class without doing all the work. You may be my best student in class, but a zero is a zero. If I don’t have the materials, there’s nothing I can do.
Because of the nature of the group work for this class, completing the work on time is essential. If you do not complete your work in a manner that allows your group to proceed on time, you will be penalized in your grade.
Cheating and Plagiarism:
Plagiarism, cheating, lying, cutting corners, and unethical behavior in your comportment towards anyone in particular or the class as a whole is just not a good idea It undermines the purpose of the class, and you will not be fooling anyone but yourself, so please do not waste your time or mine. If you are overwhelmed or confused about how to cite or acknowledge your sources for some reason and feel a temptation to cut corners, you should talk to me or your academic advisor. Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses. The following definitions are based on the College’s Academic Honesty website:
Ethical Behavior:
In class, out of class, in written, verbal and in any other work you are expected to conduct yourself and your work by Baruch College ethical standards of excellence. In addition to cheating and plagiarism (discussed below), I will not tolerate anything less than supportive, responsible, and respectful engagement with your peers and your peers’ work. Additionally if you have a concern with me or some aspect of the class, please let me know either in office hours or email in a respectful manner. I very much want to hear from you, and I will do my best within reason and limits of course and school policy to respond in an open and dialogic manner.
Cheating is the attempted or unauthorized use of materials, information, notes, study aids, devices, or communication during an academic exercise. Examples include but are not limited to:
- Copying from another student during an examination or allowing another to copy your work
- Unauthorized collaborating on a take home assignment or examination
- Using unauthorized notes during a closed book examination
- Using unauthorized electronic devices during an examination
- Taking an examination for another student
- Asking or allowing another student to take an examination for you
- Changing a corrected exam and returning it for more credit
- Submitting substantial portions of the same paper to two classes without consulting the second instructor
- Preparing answers or writing notes in a blue book (exam booklet) before an examination
- Allowing others to research and write assigned papers (including the use of commercial term paper services)
Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writing as your own:
- Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes (a functional limit is four or more words taken from the work of another)
- Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging them
- Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the source
- Failure to acknowledge collaborators on homework or laboratory assignments
Please Note: In the event of cheating and/or plagiarism, I am required by Baruch College policy to submit a report of suspected academic dishonesty to the Office of the Dean of Students. This report becomes part of your permanent file.
In-Class Expectations:
Please bring the text under discussion to every class. Make sure that you have read the material assigned and have done the writing required for a given day. If you don’t volunteer, I will call on you in class, so be prepared to have something to say. But please be aware that I am not trying to embarrass you or put you on the spot; rather, I am trying to involve you in the conversation, get some of your ideas out in the open, and explore the subject matter. A significant part of your grade will be based on class participation, on how well you present yourself orally in class discussions and workshops.
In-Class discussions:
Our discussions will consist of our discussions about the assigned texts, your writing, and your peers’ writings. I expect you to come prepared. You cannot participate fully if you are not prepared, meaning you have read the reading and you have completed any other assignment due for that particular class.
Scholar Eve Sedgwick wrote in her Epistemology of the Closet “People are different.” This will be our number one axiom in dealing with each other. We will assume that we are all different but that we are all committed to the class, the discussion and each other. This is to say, we will actively give each other the benefit of the doubt. This does not mean you cannot challenge someone’s ideas or disagree with what someone has said. On the contrary it means just that: you will challenge each other’s ideas and refer to their argument or their work not the person. We will not make assumptions about where people are coming from or why they appear to think a certain way.
Additionally I believe in games, exercises, and learning by movement and doing. This means sometimes I will have you doing things that seem silly. A sense of humor is really helpful but not required for this class. What is required is that you participate in all activities
Particular Attention:
If you have any kind of different learning styles, needs, or circumstances that might affect your work and participation in this class, please let me know within the first week of class. If you have not worked out any alternative work plans within the first week of class, you will be held responsible for the same requirements listed on this syllabus as everyone else.
Paper Rewrites
When revisions are required and/or allowed in this course, I expect both that you will revise and edit. Revision is not the same thing as editing. Editing consists of cleaning up typos and tightening sentences and changing wording around. Editing is important, but it is not the same thing as revision. If I ask for revision, and what you do is edit, you will receive no credit for the revision.
To be clear: Revision is different from editing. Revision involves more than fixing a few commas and changing two words. A revision is a major overhaul of structure, argumentation, and/or presentation of evidence. You actually have to delete and write again. If editing is like cleaning the kitchen and maybe hanging some new dish towels, revision is somewhere between getting new counter-tops or new appliances and a total gut renovation. I expect your revision to seriously take into account feedback from your peers and me.
Note: Generally speaking I work on the assumption that writing is revising. As such, I do not believe in averaging grades. If your revision gets a better grade than the first paper, you will have that grade (no averaging). However I will not penalize you for trying to revise (meaning I will take the higher grade regardless). You are required to do one revision, but you should feel free to revise two or three papers as well.