I am inviting you to perform a “syllabus self-assessment,” to return to the syllabus (our contract) and review the course goals and your responsibilities.
In “project-based” or “exam based” courses your progress is visible through individual grades given on discreet and bounded tasks (the quiz, the test, the paper,…). You are familiar with these models of teaching and learning; they have been central to your educational experience; they are what you expect. How many of you have stressed over a test or panicked when the due date on a paper or project sneaks up on you? Is stress a necessary feature of learning? In this learning community we work with a different model, one that values your work with others, sees learning as a social experience, and values “difficulty” (of a particular kind, see syllabus).
This is our “check in/check-up” week, a moment of reflection and self-assessment. You want to know how you are doing in the course and I want to see how you understand what you are learning.
You should include the following:
- An overview of the course. Use the syllabus to describe what our learning community values.
- How do you understand yourself as a writer and reader? Have those identities been challenged by the work we have done in this course. If so, how? Look back to early discussion post to support your claims.
- What has been expected of you? Quoting the syllabus what are your responsibilities to this learning community? Have you met them? If not, why not?
- Review the learning goals for the program (on syllabus). Have you accomplished these goals? If not, why not? Note: Take each set of goals separately. Speak to each. This is not a yes/no moment. I want to see evidence. (Also, there may be goals that I have yet to give you the opportunity to accomplish. Highlight those.)
- Return to our conversation over the past two weeks (a conversation focused on “uncertainty” and “problems”). How do you use this conversation to understand yourself as a learner? Pull from other writers in this community and the course texts to define and develop your view.
- Finally, what grade would you give yourself? Why? What criteria did you use?