This class is comprised of 100 points. The breakdown of those points is as follows
30: Attendance and Participation
15: Reading Notes
25: In-class activities and quizzes
30: Exams
Attendance and Participation
Attendance and participation in this class are crucial, and they are worth 30% of your grade, which makes each day’s attendance worth 1% of your grade. You will receive a half point for showing up and another half point for actively participating in class. Active participation will mean both preparing for class and participating in our discussions. Prior to class, each student will be assigned a specific reading prompt. Everyone is responsible for the entire reading and for their specific prompt. During class, I will often roll dice to determine who I call on during our class discussions. My hope is that this will invite as many voices as possible into this conversation. During each class, students get one chance to “pass” when called on. Each student also gets one day off from discussion per semester. If you are using your day off, please let me know at the beginning of class.
Reading Notes
We will read a good bit in this class. We will be reading the entire Conley text as well as four primary works of rhetorical theory. In terms of the number of pages, the reading is not extensive, but that reading will provide a lot of detail about the history of rhetoric. You are required to take detailed reading notes for each of our readings, and you should also take notes during our class lectures and discussions. I will check reading notes at the beginning of each class, and they will be graded on a credit/no-credit basis. If you put forth a good-faith effort at taking detailed notes, you will receive credit. All assignments in this class are open book and open note, so the more effort you put into notes the better off you’ll be during exams, activities, and quizzes.
We will talk about how to approach notes in class. When taking notes, I recommend that you do two things.
- Create an outline of the chapter, paying close attention to subheadings. That outline should be as detailed as possible, making note of important terms, concepts, people, etc.
- Choose 2 (or hopefully more!) quotations from the reading that you find interesting, compelling, confounding, or confusing. Write these in your notebook along with your thoughts or questions about those quotations.
Your notes will also include your answer to a specific prompt that I assign prior to completing the reading. We will discuss your response to those prompts in class, and prompt assignments will rotate as we move through the semester.
In-class activities and quizzes
Every class will feature an activity or quiz completed at the start of class. These activities will range from questions that you might see on an exam to an activity that asks you to apply some of the ideas we have been discussing. Activities should take you no more than 10 minutes, and we will reference this activity during lecture and discussion. You will turn in activities once they are completed, and they will be graded on a credit/no-credit basis. If your activity shows evidence that you have done the reading and thought carefully about the material, you will receive credit.
Exams
We will have three exams during the semester, and each exam will be worth 10 points. Note that the bulk of the graded work in this class is actually reading, taking notes, and participating in class discussions. Exams are a smaller portion of the grade, but they do give you a chance to demonstrate that you are engaging with class material. Each exam will feature three short answer questions that you will answer in 2-3 sentences, and one essay question that you will answer by writing a full paragraph. We will practice both kinds of questions during class, which is just one more reason to attend class on a regular basis.