Your Grade for Our Time Together: Self-Evaluation and Grade Proposal

After you've completed your final essay, please write me a short assessment of your participation in our sections of this course, and tell me what grade you think is appropriate and (very briefly) why.

This is due by 5:00 PM on Tuesday Dec. 12 11 (the essay is due at noon that day), unless you have arranged for an extension.

As we've discussed more than once, I don't like grades and wish it was possible for every class I teach to be offered pass fail.  Many of us who are influenced by the principles of humanistic education agree with the assertion that "the only meaningful form of evaluation is self-evaluation."

Here are different aspects of the class to consider:

• reading the readings and listening to the listenings
• thinking about, reflecting on, and engaging with the readings/listenings on your won
• interacting with others about the reading/listenings through participating in the blog and class discussions
• attendance
• participation in class activities, including drum circle playing and leading, improvisation games, etc.
• participating in developing plans for the class musical event, including doing informal interviews of fellow students during the potential-audience research phase
• participating in producing and/or performing at the event
• writing a final, in-lieu-of-a-final-exam, essay
• and, possibly, already applying the ideas and activities of the course elsewhere

In reflecting on your participation, you could copy the bullet points above and briefly respond to each. This should only take 10-15 minutes.  

In suggesting a grade, please sum up your participation using the general DePauw rubrics:

• A, A-: Achievement of exceptionally high merit
• B+, B, B-: Achievement at a level superior to the basic level
• C+, C, C-: Basic achievement 
• D+, D, D-: Minimum achievement that warrants credit

So if you would give yourself an "A," explain how your participation in the various learning activities was "exceptionally high."  Or for a B, how your activities went beyond "basic" but weren't quite "exceptionally high."  More in one area can compensate for less in another.  If you write an exceptional final essay, that could compensate for little blogging.  If you really put yourself out there in improv or drum circle leading, but didn't write much, take that into account.  And if you just didn't do all that much, well, then there's that!

What If I Just Don't Do the Final Essay and/or Self-Evaluation?

If you don't submit the final essay, your grade will be a D-, whether you submit a self-evaluation and grade proposal or not.

If you submit the final essay but not a self-evaluation and grade proposal, your maximum grade (depending on the essay) will be a C.

Email me with any questions.

Update 12/10 11:58PM:

Q. Hey, Edberg, How Should I Submit This?

In the text of an email is fine.  Or as an attachment.  Or as a shared Google doc--just make sure your name is in the name of the document.