policies
Caveat emptor: the
fine print
Below you'll find outlined your most important responsibilities and obligations for the course, and the consequences of not fulfilling those obligations. All of these policies are outlined in the syllabus; I've gathered them here to provide a quick reference to the ground rules for this class. Please read over these requirements. I won't accept ignorance as an excuse for failing to meet your obligations. I try to be as flexible as possible whenever or wherever I can, but certain missteps and omissions are irreparable and might well result in your failing the course.
Attendance: Hear me now; believe me later. Everyone is entitled to miss four classes--no explanations, no apologies necessary--to cover the contingencies of life: illness, family emergencies, busted alarm clocks, flood, fire, famine. Note that: the contingencies of life. If you choose to miss class because you're unprepared or just don't feel like showing up, that's fine, but don't expect me to extend additional absences later when a genuine crisis arises in your life. I'll make an effort to let you know when you've used your permitted absences, but the burden of keeping on top of this rests with you. I'll have the attendance records with me each class session; feel free to ask me what your standing is if you're unsure.
Miss more than four, and your final grade will suffer. You can fail this class because of excessive absences; if you miss more than six classes, you will likely fail the class (at six absences, you’ll have missed 20% of our class sessions) unless you can provide documentation of extraordinary circumstances (legal or medical) and you are otherwise in good standing in the class.
A sign-in sheet will circulate every class session. It's your responsibility to see to it that you've signed the sheet for each class session you attend.
There will be no extra credit or other opportunities to otherwise compensate for poor choices earlier in the semester. When most students speak of "extra credit" they're usually talking about "substitute credit"--"I failed to meet some course requirement so now I want a chance to do something else instead." It's worth noting that "extra credit" for the student also means "extra work" for the instructor.
Please note that missing a class doesn’t excuse you from completing the assigned work for the next session; remember, any homework will be available at the updates page whether you made it to class or not. If you know in advance that you must be absent when a major assignment is due, let me know; I'm happy to grant extensions given sufficient notice (see policy on late work below). Otherwise, routine absences should not include sessions when assignments are due.
Please don’t expect me to make individual exceptions to my attendance policy; I don’t think it’s fair to ask me to judge the validity of other people’s priorities. Ultimately, the decision to attend or to miss class is your decision; use your sanctioned absences conscientiously and wisely.
Tardiness: a quaint term for an irritating and rude practice. Repeat offenses will affect your final grade.
Late work: I'm willing to grant an occasional extension on major assignments, but I insist that you inform me at least 24 hours ahead of time that you'll need an extension and that you indicate when you will be handing in the assignment. But if you don't contact me ahead of time to request the extension, the final grade of the assignment will be significantly reduced.
Note that the informal assignments during weeks 2 through 6 are ineligible for extensions. They must be uploaded to Moodle, and there will be a deadline. Don't ask to hand one in later in the day; I won't accept it. These are very informal assignments and they're graded strictly on a C/NC basis; if you hand in something crappy, the worst that will happen is that it won't be of much use to you when you write your formalist analysis. But they'll be coming quickly, and if you get behind it will be that much harder to catch up.
All assignments must be produced on a computer. From time to time you'll need to print out copies for submission as well, but for the most part you're welcome to bring your computers or tablets to class to reference online materials. Please don't email papers to me without prior permission. It's not my job to print out your work for you. In very, very rare cases I'll permit email submissions of major assignments (a family emergency that takes you away from Humboldt, for instance), but you must clear it with me first.