For this course, we will use a grading contract, which is a system of grades based primarily on your labors and efforts. That means your final course letter grade will be the result of your participation, attendance, and completion of homework, assignments, and revisions. Your grade will not be based on a subjective evaluation of your final assignments in comparison to the writing of your peers, which is how grades are usually assigned in writing and other courses.
Grading contracts are valuable for several reasons, including the fact that they:
● Offer you the opportunity to be experimental and exploratory in your writing—to take risks, rather than only producing writing that is thought to be “correct” or doing exactly and only “what the assignment requires” or “what the teacher wants.”
● Value the time, effort, and labor you decide to commit to the class.
● Provide you with a clear and concrete understanding of your grade at all times throughout the semester (grades are simple and easy to calculate).
● Do not unfairly penalize or reward you for how much experience with writing and language you have prior to entering our class, and do not grade you on “correct” or “incorrect” grammar. Use of your native, home, and other languages is invited and encouraged.
● Privilege all students who invest the time, energy, and effort into their learning.
While grading contracts focus on quantifiable outcomes (things that can be tracked, like attendance, participation, and completed work), quality matters too. You are expected to carefully write and revise your writing to meet certain goals. Grading contracts function on the belief that quality writing is the result of one’s efforts at drafting, getting feedback from others, and revising your work.
Below, this contract outlines the terms for earning grades and successfully completing this course.
General Terms of Agreement
- Attendance & Lateness. You agree to strive to attend required classes and to be on time. If extenuating circumstances prevent you from attending class, contact Prof. Gandhi via email, during office hours, or before/after class to discuss your options. Please note that showing up late to class (10 or more minutes after start time) will affect your grade. Three tardies equals one absence.
- Participation & Collaboration. You agree to participate in ways that best fit you and that are most appropriate for each day’s goal (for example: by actively listening, taking notes, asking questions, offering comments, etc.). You agree to work cooperatively in groups, to share your writing, to listen supportively to the writing of others, and, when called for, to give full and thoughtful assessments that help your classmates consider ways to revise their work.
- Homework & Assignments. You agree to strive to turn in all assignments on time, completing them fully and meeting all assignment requirements. If you are absent, you are still responsible for submitting on time any work that’s due. If you need an extension on any assignment, reach out to Prof. Gandhi sooner rather than later.
The following guidelines apply to all assignments, including homework, drafts, and final assignments:
Timeliness:
On-Time Assignments: An assignment is “on-Time” when it is completed fully and submitted before the deadline. It will be marked as 100 in the Blackboard grade book.
Late Assignments: An assignment is “late” when it is turned in after its initial deadline, but submitted within 48 hours. It will be marked as 90 in the Blackboard grade book.
Make-up Assignments: An assignment is a “make-up” when it is turned in at some point in the semester but after the 48-hour window. It will be marked as 80 in the Blackboard grade book.
Ignored Assignments. Any assignment not done at all, for whatever reason, is considered “ignored.” It will be marked as 70 in the Blackboard grade book.
IMPORTANT: If an assignment is not completed fully, it may be marked as late, makeup, or ignored.
Projects will not qualify as “complete” unless they have achieved all the goals and requirements of the assignment as discussed in class and/or explained on handouts. This means that projects are not just to be “done” but “done in the manner discussed.” If Prof. Gandhi finds that a given project is not complete, she will contact you about redoing it.
Improvement:
While you do not have to worry about anyone’s judgments or standards to meet the grading contract, you are obligated for all your class work to carefully listen to and consider your peers’ and professor’s feedback. Feedback is essential to improvement.
In this class, you won’t just correct errors or touch up pieces here and there. Each major essay and project will be substantially reshaped, extended, or complicated based on the feedback you receive. You will also make efforts to improve your copy-editing skills. While you certainly do not have to submit error-free texts, you are asked to take an active role in developing your language uses. If too few revisions are made to your drafts over the course of the semester, Prof. Gandhi will contact you so that we can plan and/or determine how this will affect your final grade.
Overview of Grade Breakdown Guidelines
| # of Absences | # ofLate Assigns. | # ofMake-up Assigns. | # of IgnoredAssigns. | |
| A | 2 or fewer | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| B | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| C | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| D | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| F | 6 | 5 or more | 5 or more | 5 or more |
***Remember: 3 late arrivals to class (10 minutes or more) counts as 1 absence.***
You only need one categorical item/column to dip for the entire grade to dip. In other words, having only 2 absences but 2 ignored assignments, for example, still puts your grade at a B rather than an A.
“A” Grades
Grades of “A” depend on you 1) being absent two times or less, having two or fewer “late” assignments, and two or fewer “make-up” assignments, and no more than one “ignored” assignment.
“B” Grades
Grades of “B” depend on you having three or fewer absences, having three or fewer “late” assignments, and three or fewer “make-up” assignments, and no more than two “ignored” assignments.
Grades Lower Than “B”
I hope no one will aim for lower grades! The quickest way to slide to a “C,” “D,” or “F” is to miss classes and/or not submit (i.e. ignore) assignments. You can dig yourself a hole quickly by not showing up for class and/or not turning in your work, and that hole is difficult to get out of as the semester goes on. If you find yourself missing class and/or not submitting your work, please reach out to Prof. Gandhi to discuss accommodations, extensions, and other options for passing our class. You cannot pass our class if you miss 6 or more class meetings.
Note here that in FIQWS, a D grade is passing. An F grade means you have to retake the course. Passing this class is required for you to graduate at CCNY.
***The two sections of FIQWS are graded separately by your two instructors, meaning Prof. Powell grades your topic section and Prof. Gandhi grades your composition section. You must pass BOTH sections.***
Grade “bump-ups”:
You will have several opportunities to bump up your grade by doing some or all of the following:
- Extended assignments: Prof. Gandhi will provide information in individual assignment prompts for how you can earn additional credit towards your grade. This usually requires extra writing (for example, writing 7 pages instead of 5) and/or additional sourcing (for example, using 2 scholarly sources instead of 1).
- Visiting the Writing Center: Each time you utilize the Writing Center, Prof. Gandhi will offer you additional credit in our class that will bump up your grade (maximum of three bump ups, though you can visit the Writing Center as much as you’d like throughout the semester—and you are encouraged to!). When you visit the Writing Center, please tell them to send a session confirmation to Prof. Gandhi’s email.
The Writing Center is a FREE service for CCNY students that connects them with experienced writing consultants in person (use entrance on the 3rd floor of the Cohen Library or via Amsterdam Ave. at 136th St.) or online via Zoom. Each Writing Center session is 50 minutes, or you can submit your work for online asynchronous feedback (meaning you email your work and a writing tutor emails you feedback within three days). Writing Center consultants can give you assistance and feedback on any step of your writing process. They can help on things like essay organization and outlining, developing a thesis, citations, grammar/spelling, revision, better understanding writing prompts, and simply discussing your writing assignments and ideas.
+/- Grades:
+/- grades will be assigned at Prof. Gandhi discretion. They will be used in cases when:
1) your assignments and participation suggest you labored above and beyond the expectations
2) the quality and completeness of your major projects, smaller assignments, and participation is lacking in one way or another
3) you completed “bump ups
4) in the case that a “gimme” is granted and/or we determine special accommodations are in order (see below)
Gimmes:
Because we all know that life isn’t perfect and that each semester does not always go according to our plans, you are offered one “gimme” that you can use to change your progress in the course. For instance, you might use your gimme to get a late or missed assignment removed from your record so that you may still meet our contract, or to wipe one absence from your attendance record, etc. You can use your gimme once during the semester.
Accommodations and Inclusivity:
The goal of this Grading Contract is to meet you where you are in your reading and writing experience and to support you in growing as a critical thinker, reader, writer, communicator, and collaborator. Additionally, the purpose is to ensure students are having the opportunity to work in a just environment that adapts to their needs and equally supports each student’s learning. Thus, when necessary, Prof. Gandhi will work with individuals on a case-by-case basis to determine how best to accommodate your needs as a learner and the course’s learning outcomes. Ultimately, the Grading Contract functions as a model for forming professional relationships and professional communication practices. Such relationships and practices include individualization and accommodation.
University and Military Obligations
Any absence due to a university-sponsored group activity (e.g., sporting event, performance, band, etc.) will not count against you, as stipulated by university policy, as long as you FIRST provide written documentation within the first two weeks of the semester of all absences. This same policy applies if you have mandatory military-related absences (e.g., deployment, work, duty, etc.). This will allow us to determine ahead of time how you will meet assignments and our contract, despite being absent.
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Grading contracts in the field of rhetoric and composition originate from researchers like Dr. Peter Elbow and Dr. Asao Inoue who have sought more equitable and just grading practices. This grading contract has been adapted from their work, as well as from the contracts of Dr. Missy Watson, Dr. Nicole Howell, and Dr. Kate Navickas.
By staying in our course, you agree to all of the above terms, and Prof. Gandhi agrees to keep track of the above details responsibly and enforce them democratically.
