GRADING DETAILS TBD – INFORMATION ON THIS PAGE IS A PLACEHOLDER FROM GREK 102 IN SPRING 2021
Grading
Table of contents
Overview and Deadlines
Grading in this course will be slightly unorthodox. Every student will begin the semester with a point total of 0. Then, every assignment that you complete in the areas of daily check-ins, module quizzes, translations, compositions, exams, and external events will add points to your total. Your point total across all categories at the end of the semester will determine the semester grade that you receive, and you get to decide what combination of assignments and assessments will get you to your desired final grade. You choose the grade that you want, and you are in control of drawing your own pathway to get there.
Because there will be a number of pathways to get to the minimum point total for an A (900 points), every assignment is optional. This includes everything: check-ins, quizzes, translations, compositions, exams, external events. As such, if you don’t submit an assignment by its indicated due date, I will simply assume that you have opted not to complete it and I won’t chase you down for it. If you intend to complete an assignment but anticipate difficulty in meeting its deadline, please be proactive and contact me before it’s due. I am flexible with granting extensions, especially in the current pandemic atmosphere, but I can’t grant an extension that isn’t asked for! I reserve the right to deduct points from or not give any credit for any assignment submitted late without prior notification or discussion.
Grade Components
Daily Check-Ins (5 points per check-in)
There will be thirty-six (36) daily check-ins throughout the semester. Each will be administered at the beginning of the class period and test the topic that was discussed during the previous class period. Each will take about 5 minutes to complete.
Module Quiz (50 points per quiz)
There will be four (4) module quizzes throughout the semester. Each quiz will have a maximum total of 50 points, and it will be graded traditionally. Each quiz will cover all the material from one of the four modules of the semester. All quizzes will be open-note, open-resource, and open-Internet, and there will be no time limit.
Translation Projects (50 points per project)
There will be four (4) translation projects throughout the semester that will ask you to translate a longer passage of ancient Greek and answer grammatical questions about it. Each will be appropriately adapted for the grammar and vocabulary within the module that it’s meant to test, and there will be ample hints and vocabulary help with each passage. I will grade each project traditionally.
Composition Projects (50 points per project)
There will be four (4) composition projects throughout the semester that will ask you to compose a passage of ancient Greek according to guidelines and suggestions that I will supply. Each will be appropriately levelled for the grammar and vocabulary within the module that it’s meant to test. I will grade each composition project on a specification basis: that means that I will give it a grade of either satisfactory (full credit, 50/50) or unsatisfactory with a provisional grade (i.e., 35/50). A satisfactory grade means that there are few to no errors in your Greek and that you have followed most or all of the prompts in the assignment. If you receive an unsatisfactory, you will have unlimited attempts to revise your submission according to my suggestions until it gets a grade of satisfactory. If you opt not to revise, your provisional grade will stand.
Exams (100 points per exam)
There will be two (2) exams throughout the semester, one midterm and one final. Each exam will have a maximum total of 100 points, and it will be graded traditionally. Each exam will cover the material in its respective half of the course; this means that the final will focus on material from the second half of the course, but it will draw on material that you learned previously. Each exam will be open-note, open-resource, and open-Internet, and there will be no time limit.
External Events and Assignments (various point totals)
Throughout the semester, there will be a number of completely optional events that you can attend and projects that you can complete that will earn you points outside of the structures of the assessments listed above. To be clear, you can easily meet the 900-point threshold for an A in the course without attending or completing any of these events or projects, but they aim at getting you to engage with the material of the course (ancient Greek language and culture) in outside-of-the-box ways – they’ll be a lot of fun! Each opportunity will be advertised in advance, and undoubtedly, more will pop up, but here are some that are currently on the books:
- short response papers. There will be opportunities to read articles and chapters relating to the study of ancient Greek language and culture and to respond with your thoughts about them in 1-2pp. papers. More details to come.
- Helen Morales visit. In the week following Fall Break, Prof. Helen Morales of UC Santa Barbara will be paying us a (virtual) visit to discuss sections of her book Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths, which investigates how ancient myths interact with modern cultural topics. It will be an awesome discussion, and you’ll be able to write a reflection on the visit for a significant amount of semester points.
- Twitch streams. (At least) three times this semester, I’ll be streaming my playthroughs of video games based on Greek mythology and history on Twitch. If you attend and follow the instructions that I’ll talk about in the stream, you can earn some semester points!
Check out full details of the external events and assignments on this page.
Final Semester Tally
Homework, quizzes, exams, translations, and compositions will add up to a possible maximum of 980 points throughout the semester; points from external events and assignments will be added into your total point pool, equivalent to points earned through the core five assessment types. The following list indicates the point ranges for semester-end grade levels:
900-980 = A
850-899 = A-
800-849 = B+
750-799 = B
700-749 = B-
650-699 = C+
600-649 = C
550-599 = C-
500-549 = D+
450-499 = D
< 449 = F
Grades ending in .45 or greater will be rounded up to the nearest whole number; grades ending in .44 or less will be rounded down to the nearest whole number.