General Comments about Grades for Spring 2013

GENERAL COMMENTS

This British Literature class was a great pleasure for me.  Not only did I get to re-read some of my favorite pieces of literature, but I had the opportunity to discuss and “unpack” these with a wonderful group of students.  Each week they came prepared; not only had they read the sometimes challenging material, but they had insightful discussion questions that we used as a group to explore deeper meanings in the novels, poetry, and dramatic works.  I was initially concerned that with such a small class we’d have too much quiet, dead space.  On the contrary, they all contributed to our discussions and added many perceptive opinions.

Because this class required a lot of reading, I didn’t assign many writing assignments.  At the beginning of the semester, I modeled the kind of discussion questions that would help us examine the assigned readings.  After those initial weeks, the students themselves were assigned to bring in questions for the class to consider and explore.   At the beginning of each class period, we wrote our initial thoughts to the discussion questions.  They also wrote a short essay for Great Expectations and an end-of-the-year Reflections Paper. 

Their grades are then somewhat subjective.  This was not a class in which a student could sit back, not read the assignments, and refuse to participate.  A small class like this demanded much more interaction.  I don’t have any percentages or specific scores to use to determine a letter grade; however, as I considered each student’s grade for the semester, I asked myself these questions:

• Did he/she come to class having read the assigned portions?  Could I tell the student’s comprehension via his/her comments and participation?
• Did he/she bring thoughtful and insightful questions for the class to discuss?
• Did he/she think carefully over the discussion questions and share individual comments?
• Was he/she resistant to participating in the discussions?
• Over the course of the class, did he/she grow in his/her abilities to analyze fiction, poetry, and drama?

Each of the students did marvelously, and my suggested grade for each is an “A.”  I hope they enjoyed the class as much as I did.   If they ever need some ideas for more good British literature to read, I’d be more than glad to help them find more good books, drama, or poetry to read.