Policies

Attendance

Be in class, end of story. Your responsibilities in/to the class include the contributions you make to the learning experiences of your classmates and your instructor. If you must miss a class (and sometimes, I agree, life happens), please notify me in advance (if possible) of your absence and complete any work you missed in the Internet Classroom.

Late work

I expect you to be prepared for every class. This means that you will have completed the reading assignments, thought about them, and, in all likelihood, already written about them in your journal.  All assignments are due when the syllabus says they are due. I reserve the right to read late work at my leisure, and I also reserve the right not to accept late work

Participation

Accounts 10% of your grade and, undoubtedly, 100% of your learning experience,  but it is (more pragmatically) necessary for tests, journal entries, and your final paper.

Sleeping in Class

Students in my other classes have learned that if they sleep, I feel it is my duty to play stupid slumber party tricks on them :).

Technology

The-computer-ate-my-homework excuse doesn't fly with me, so make certain you save your work on your hard drive, on two discs, on the H-Drive space the university has set aside for you, as an email attachment. Pick three or four places to save your work.  Print your work early to avoid messy printer problems that mysteriously (read: maniacally) occur when we wait until the last minute to print a document for class. Since course materials, due dates, and assignments are available online, I expect everyone to be prepared for class. The fact that the class also meets in this Internet classroom, however, does not mean that you need not be a physical, embodied presence in the classroom. Having said all of that, I ascribe to the belief that 99.999% of computer problems are the fault of the computer, not of the student. Nevertheless, we have to learn to deal with these machines by preparing for the worst.

Contacting Me

I generally check my email once a day on weekdays and once (generally Sunday Night) on weekends. I will respond to student e-mails received Monday 10:00am-Friday 12:00pm within 24 hours (give or take an hour). I will respond to email received Friday 12:00pm-Monday 9:50am within 48 hours (give or take). I generally check messages on my office phone only when I am there (so, typically only during my office hours). I do not return calls from students. You may also write a note on my office door. Please do not go to the English Department Office looking for me and do not leave correspondence or assignments in my department mailbox. I am happy to meet with you outside of class time and office hours, but you should make an appointment with me first. In addition to teaching this class and taking three classes, I serve as a program administrator and work on various committees, so while I am almost always in the building, I am not always in my office. While I have these additional responsibilities, I consider the work we do together to be of the utmost importance, so I will make every effort to meet with you on your schedule.

Conferences

I will cancel a class at mid-semester to conference with the writers in our class who have questions, concerns, etc. about their final projects or other course-related issues. These conferences are not mandatory, but if you sign up for one, I expect you to show up.

Grading