+1 862 207 3288 Project description
ENGLISH 219 B, F, I, K, & O: FALL 2014
CONTRACT GRADE ASSIGNMENT PORTFOLIO
General Requirements:
To complete the requirements for the contract grade component of this course, please submit a portfolio consisting of the following:
the five informal (contract grade) assignments you have done this term (six in the case of section K, including assignment 3A),
the first formal essay and the marking rubric, and
a 500-word self-reflective introduction as described below.
Please note the following:
Use the copies of assignments that I commented on and returned to you, not clean copies. In the event that you have lost or mislaid the original, provide a clean print copy (if it was word processed) or just omit it (if it was handwritten). Do not redo the assignments. I have a record in my grade book of which assignments you have completed.
Please make sure that each assignment is labeled clearly with the assignment number; if you had not labeled the assignments originally, please do so in pen at the top of the first page of each assignment.
Put the 500-word introduction at the beginning of the portfolio.
Sequence the contract grade work in numerical order, followed by the first formal essay (again, the marked copy).
Staple or clip your portfolio together; do not use a folder of any kind.
Portfolio Introduction:
Write a 500-word introduction to the portfolio, reflecting on the writing that you have done this term, and on how you see yourself at this point as a writer. The point of this exercise is to engage in meaningful self-reflection about your performance, progress, and plans as a writer. In particular, this is an opportunity for you to identify what strengths you want to build on in writing your final essay (the take-home exam), what problems you aim to overcome, and how. You may want to consider questions such as those listed here.
What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of your writing?
Have there been ways in which your writing has improved this term? If so, how, and where in the portfolio is this improvement evident?
Have there been topics covered this term or readings assigned that have helped you get a better grasp on what constitutes good writing? Were there topics covered or readings assigned that you did not gain much from? Comments?
Are there concepts, principles, or strategies that you have learned this term that may not yet have made a difference in your writing? Explain.
What improvements do you wish to make in your final essay of the term (the take-home exam), and how do you plan to work toward those improvements?
Feel free to consider other relevant questions as well. As noted above, the point of this exercise is to engage in meaningful self-reflection.
Note that I am NOT asking you to evaluate the course or my teaching of it. That is done separately, through the College-administered Student Feedback Instruments. This reflection is about YOU!
Note: In writing your introduction, be careful not to simply list a jumble of unrelated points; instead, focus and organize it as you would a short, informal essay. You may make use of shorter paragraphs than you would in a formal essay if that seems to help you group and sequence your points most effectively. (Think of the examples of the informal essays we have read.) Do not submit one 500-word paragraph.
Format:
Your introduction should be approximately 500 words in length; it should be word processed, double spaced, and have the usual title page information at the top; as a title, please use Contract Grade Portfolio Introductionwithout the quotation marks!
Assessment and Feedback:
As long as you meet all the conditions of the contract grade (submission of all required work, including the portfolio introduction + meeting the attendance requirement), you will earn a minimum grade of B- on the contract grade component of the course (which, remember, is worth 30% of the course grade). Grades above this will be based on the quality of your informal assignments and on the quality of the introduction to your portfolio. I will judge the quality of the portfolio introduction based on the thoughtfulness of your reflections about your writing, and on the overall quality of the writing. As noted in the course outline, students who have not met all of the conditions of the contract grade may earn a grade less than B-.
Given the relatively personal nature of the reflections you will be exploring, I will not make detailed critical comments on the ideas or writing; instead I will provide a summary comment responding in a general way to your self-assessment. So, for instance, I may write something such as, I agree with your view that in the final essay you need to pay more attention to the organization of your ideas, but please also remember that I will be weighing sentence structure more heavily when I grade the final essay, and I think you need to pay special attention to avoiding sentence errors when revising your draft. Or I may say, I think you are being a little hard on yourself about your sentence structureits actually quite good. What will make the most difference to your final essay is the extent to which you develop your thesis with good evidence and explanation. In this waythrough your own self reflection, and my response to ityou can be well prepared to tackle your final (exam) essay with a good sense of your priorities.
Questions:
Many of you will not have written a self-reflective piece like this before, so if you have any questions please raise them in class, drop by my office and talk with me, or send me an email.
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