Grade Abatement: Threshold #1

Note: If you received an email last night from me, you must reply to it. It takes a long time to construct that kind of feedback, and you will not benefit from it without a careful consideration of what it says; you must, therefore, send me an email in reply that continues the dialogue and shows me some introspection and understanding.

Your first self-assessment of this quarter was the QORAS assignment for Francine Prose. Your second is the synthesis essay and attached scoring work that we will finish tomorrow. You should, therefore, already have a sense of your progress—or lack thereof, as the case may be. Continue to follow the same protocol this quarter for grade abatement. Monitor your learning; be reflective and metacognitive regularly; ask questions whenever necessary; and make yourself be honest and accurate about how you perform with every lesson, exercise, or assignment.

About Q3: Many of you will get typed feedback tonight, but not all. If you were close to the right score, or if you were only a few shades off, you might not have been written. That is because of how long it takes to draft and revise that kind of feedback; it is not because I have nothing to say to you. If I could, I would devote an hour to each of you, either in writing or in person, discussing your thoughts on this process and how you have performed. Unfortunately, I do not have an extra 70 hours.

Here’s what I can do: I will set aside the next three days for conferencing in class, which will give you—if you keep it short and focused—a chance to ask questions and speak to me in person. We can continue these conferences even into Friday’s writing exercise. (Like last week’s, the goal is to approximate a timed exam setting; if you lose a few minutes to conference with me, and that requires you to extend your writing into the afternoon or weekend, that is your choice.)

Watch your email, and remember this comforting fact: We don’t have to talk about grades—numerical, draconian, awful grades—again until the end of the quarter.