How do I make an A in this class?

There are no real shortcuts to becoming a better writer. It just takes time. You have to be able to have bad ideas at first, to get feedback, to draft, to sit with your ideas, to revise, to get more feedback, and to revise again. These aren’t signs of your failure or inadequacy: they’re just part of writing and thinking, even at the highest levels. My first drafts are never good, and I’m a writing teacher!

Grading writing can stop this important process. When a students gets a “good” grade, they stop revising. When they get a “bad” grade, it can be too demotivating to keep trying. And both “good” and “bad” grades are often determined based on skills that students developed long before this class. None of this is fair.

In this class, I will not put individual grades on your writing. The university makes me give you a final grade, so I will determine your final grade based on three things that we can both measure more objectively. Here they are:

What does it mean to “meet requirements” on homework and assignments? Isn’t this just the same thing as a grade?

Each homework assignment will come with a short or longer list of requirements. These requirements are geared toward getting you to engage with the writing process rather than being requirements about the quality of your draft. I try to be as specific and concrete as possible about how to meet requirements. So, rather than asking you to “write a clear and concise thesis statement,” a definition which we might not share, a requirement would be something like “write a 500-word draft,” or “participate in peer review,” or “use terminology from the Rhetorical Analysis handout.” We will discuss the requirements for each assignment in class and look at lots of student writing samples, so if you’re coming to class, these should be pretty clear.

I will also sometimes assign reading guides with tips to help you to prepare for class. These don’t have requirements and will not receive feedback, but I will occasionally ask to see them. However, I will only collect these if you miss class (via the exit ticket), or if you are consistently not prepared for discussions. These are mostly to help you with preparation. They don’t have to be perfect. If you don’t know the answer to something, it’s OK to make a note about this and bring your question to class.

If you don’t meet requirements on something and the unit hasn’t ended yet, you can revise it as often as you’d like until you’ve met them so that you receive credit. Once the unit has ended, there will be a “final due date,” and assignments within that unit are no longer eligible for revision. If you fail to meet requirements for that assignment before the end of the unit, it can no longer count toward your final grade. Major assignments are eligible for revision until the final day of classes.

What happens if I don’t do one (or more) of these things?

The class is divided into three units. You have the opportunity to earn 9 points in each unit: three for coming to class prepared, three for meeting requirements on all homework, and three for meeting all requirements on the final assignment. So the maximum number you could earn is 27 points.

Even if you don’t initially meet requirements on an assignment, you will have the opportunity to revise it until the end of each unit (dates and details are on the syllabus). This means that your grade in this class is a bit more within your control: if you didn’t meet all of the requirements, all you have to do is revise it as soon as possible.

How are points deducted from the total?

Here is a chart that breaks down exactly how many points equate to each of the three categories. If looking at a chart like this stresses you out, don’t look at it! Just come to class, do your work, and revise stuff when it hasn’t met requirements. This is really only for people who too far behind to catch up, or for people who are not working toward an A in the class:

	Coming To Class	Homework	Major Assignments
Three points	Come to every class or miss no exit tickets.	Complete all homework and meet all requirements or revise to meet them by the end of the unit.	Complete all requirements for the unit’s major assignment or revise to meet them by the final day of classes.
Two points	Miss 1 exit ticket.	Miss one homework assignment, or fail to revise by the end of the unit.	Complete at least 8 of the requirements for the unit’s major assignment or revise to meet them by the final day of classes. Must include a first and final draft.
One point	Miss 2-3 exit tickets.	Miss two homework assignments, or fail to revise by the end of the unit.	Complete at least 7 of the requirements for the unit’s major assignment or revise to meet them by the final day of classes. Must include a first draft.
Zero points	Miss more than 3 exit tickets.	Miss more than two homework assignments, or fail to revise by the end of the unit.	Complete fewer than 7 of the requirements for the unit’s major assignment.

By the end of the class:

• Students who have earned between 25-27 total points and completed all major assignments will receive an A.
• Students who have earned between 21-24 total points and completed all major assignments will receive a B.
• Students who have earned between 17-20 total points and completed at least a first draft of all major assignments will receive a C.
• Students who have earned between 14-16 total points and completed at least a first draft of all major assignments will receive a D.
• Students who have earned fewer than 14 points OR failed to complete a first draft of all formal assignments will receive an F.

What about in 115?

All students enrolled in my 110 are also enrolled in 115 with me. To make an A in 115, come to all classes, or make up the classes that you missed with an exit ticket. To make a B, miss no more than 1 exit ticket in each unit. To make a C, miss no more than 2 exit tickets in each unit. To pass the class with a D, miss no more than 3 exit tickets in each unit. If you miss more than this, you will not pass 115.

Will I get feedback on my work?

Getting feedback on your work—not just from me, but from a variety of readers—is essential to improving your efficacy as a writer. We will discuss techniques for giving feedback and getting better feedback from your readers, and you will receive lots of feedback from me and from your classmates as well. I will also teach you some strategies for directing your own feedback process so that you and I are collaborating closely on what you most want to know. As long as you’re turning in your work on time, coming to classes, and coming to conferences, you will get lots of feedback on your work.

Are there penalties for late work?

I don’t take off points for late work, because your assignments will not be individually graded. However, when you turn in work late, I can’t give you feedback on it. This is because I need to concentrate on the work that has been submitted on time. I can tell you whether or not something has met requirements within a week of you submitting it, but if you turn work in so late that you’re effectively making it impossible for yourself to revise and resubmit it before the end-of-unit deadline, this can mean that late work results in a penalty.

If you know that you need an extra day or two on a homework assignment, just ask for an extension, which is extra time on the assignment. If you and I have agreed that you’re going to turn something in a few days late, I can make time to give you feedback. But if I don’t have advanced warning and you just turn in a bunch of work a few days before the unit ends, or if you come to me at the midterm and want to turn in all of the work that you’ve missed since September, this doesn’t give me the time to give you feedback or you the time to revise what needs to be revised, so there’s a good chance that you won’t earn full points.

If you get REALLY behind—let’s say you get COVID or the flu or you have a family emergency and need to be out for a couple of weeks—just come to my office hours or make an appointment with me when you’re ready so that we can come up with a makeup schedule together. I am very happy to help you catch up as long as you’re communicating with me.

How will I keep track of how I’m doing if there are no grades?

We will be using a platform called Slack: an instant messaging system that will allow us to conference on your papers, and that will allow you to get in touch with your classmates, see stuff that you’ve missed, and see class announcements.

On that platform, I will make you a channel that will only be visible to you and to me. There, I’ll keep track of what work you’ve submitted, what has met requirements, when you’ve been absent or late, and what still needs to be revised.

✅ This green and white checkmark means that you’ve completed the work for this assignment or exit ticket and no further work is necessary.

⚠️ This yellow caution sign means that you need to revise something in this assignment or exit ticket to receive full credit.

❌ This red X means that you can no longer revise or complete this assignment because the final due date has already passed.

• If you see a bullet point like this one next to any assignment requirements, it means that you haven’t yet submitted an assignment, or I haven’t yet given you feedback on it.

Here’s a screenshot of what it will look like in your personal channel. You can see that the student didn’t complete one of the Unit 2 homework assignments and one of the exit tickets by the time that the unit ended:

At the end of each unit, we will have conferences to discuss your major assignment for that unit. During the conference, along with talking about your draft, we’ll also discuss how many points you have earned so far for the unit. This should give you a good estimate of how you’re doing in the class at least three different times during the semester. But if you’re ever confused or worried about your grade, you can always come talk to me about it in office hours.

This system is confusing to me! I’m worried…

I get it. It’s a weird system. I don’t know if this is reassuring, but every semester, about 98% of my students report that they love being graded this way because of the control that it gives them over their grade. In fact, the perception of this class is that it’s an “easy A.” I don’t know if that’s true: there’s a lot of work in here! But many of my students do earn As because it’s very clear how to earn them.

The bottom line: come to class prepared to discuss the materials, do your homework, revise when necessary, do the major assignments, and be in communication with me when you’re falling behind. If you do those things, you will absolutely succeed in this class.