My goal for the remainder of the semester is to enable everyone to earn a 4.0 by completing work that will be intellectually meaningful and rigorous without being an undue burden.
Here’s what I’d like to offer as the new standard for a 4.0 in the course:
- Weekly contributions to the discussion forums in weeks when you are not presenting an Appetizer
- 3 posts per week to the Reading Diary (Mo / Tu / We)
- 3 posts per week to your assigned Appetizer group (Mo / We / Th)
- Weekly attendance at our Thursday Zoom meetings
- If you are unable to attend, just let me know with as much of an explanation as you’re comfortable sharing.
- 2 Appetizer presentations
- This includes live presentations in the first half of the course, and discussion forum presentations in the second half
- Final project
- In lieu of the independent research and artistic projects we had originally planned, I’m now asking you to do a scaled down project: full instructions here.
- Research projects will involve reading an extra section of Bakhtin’s Rabelais and His World and using it to interpret a work of art or literature
- Artistic projects will involve writing (or otherwise creating) a missing piece or work of one the authors we’ve read this semester, and writing a short reflection about the process.
- Projects will be shared to the website either as texts posts or as recorded presentations during the last week of classes.
- Final portfolio
- Instead of the original final portfolio, I’m now asking you to simply write a reflection about your experiences this semester: full instructions here.
If you do not believe you can complete these requirements, or would prefer to aim for less than a 4.0 for any reason, please contact me as soon as possible to discuss an alternate plan.
