Required Writing, Exams, and Evaluation

10%: Class Participation and Commentaries. To foster reading comprehension and analytical skills via working together as a group, you will share a written commentary on current course material (film and written texts) at the beginning of our Wednesday class meetings (unless otherwise noted in the schedule). Each commentary must reference at least one current text or film and provide a quotation and proper citation. I will grade commentaries on relevance to the course, clarity of expression, depth of engagement with the material, and adherence to assignment directions. Examples of in-depth engagement with the material are striving for connections across course texts and attempting to answer your own difficult questions. Each week’s commentary will count as one class participation grade.

40% (4 x 10% each): Learning Activities. During the semester, you will complete four (of eight possible) learning activities. You will choose the four learning activities you wish to complete. Each learning activity is listed on the class schedule and must be completed by the listed due date. You may elect to submit a draft of any activity for review and feedback before the final paper is submitted. Optional draft due dates are listed in the syllabus.

30% (2 x 15% each): Exams. Mid-term and Final.

20%: Group Activist Project. During the semester, you will form a group with three others to design and carry out an activist project on campus and/or in the surrounding community that demonstrates your in-depth understanding of a theme or issue from the course. Groups will complete the project during the semester. They will then make a presentation to the class at the end of the semester which outlines (and, if applicable, displays) the project goals, methodology, outcome, and lessons learned. Projects should above all benefit the community, but projects and presentations must also be well planned, relevant, well researched, creative, and intellectually productive. Your project may originate from any of the approved Ideas for Activism lists on pages 139, 184, 241, 323, 388, 436, 507, 569, 623, and 712. More risky, but perhaps more rewarding, the group may elect to design and carry out an original project. Original projects must receive my approval to proceed, but I am happy to consult with students on both original and text-derived projects. Groups must meet with me and present a written project proposal and must receive approval before beginning any collaborative work for credit.

I use JMU’s four-point scale to record and compute grades.