Grade Contract for ENG102: Research, Writing, and Rhetoric.

Instructor: _________ Spring 2018.

This section of ENG102 will use a grade contract to determine your grade for the course. Rather than
assigning individual grades for each assignment, the contract will assume a grade of B as your standard
grade. As long as you meet the requirements outlined below, you will earn a B for the course. You will
also have the opportunity to achieve a grade of A, while failing to meet the requirements for a B can
result in earning a lower grade, as outlined below. Although I, your instructor, will not assign individual
grades to your work, I will still read and provide feedback on your major projects using the First Year
Writing rubric. It will be your responsibility to use this feedback to improve your writing and to guide
your revisions to your work for the final portfolio. You will receive a tentative grade at midterm based on
your progress up to that point. Your final grade will be determined by completion of work and
participation throughout the semester and by the quality of your work submitted in your final e-portfolio,
as outlined below.

My reason for using a grade contract and portfolio, rather than assigning individual grades on each paper,
is to encourage you to focus more on learning and writing throughout the semester. It will allow you to
take pleasure in your words and thoughts, as opposed to feeling anxious and insecure. As long as you are
keeping up with the work as it is assigned, you can be confident in earning a B for the course. Instead of
worrying about your grades, you can instead try out new ideas and ways of writing. Sometimes “failing”
or messing up on something is what really helps us to learn--the grade contract and portfolio gives you the
freedom to take risks with your work and makes room for these kinds of productive “failures.” You’ll
have lots of time to write, revise, and grow as a writer throughout the course--I anticipate that you and
your peers will be impressed by the work you produce by the end of the semester!

Earning a grade of B

1. All the labor of the course (e.g., reading, writing, and other activities) should be done in the
spirit it is assigned. This means that you will meet the minimum time and effort (intensity)
requirements. If asked to write for 20 minutes on a prompt, the expectation is that you will write
for at least 20 minutes and address or respond to all the elements or questions in the prompt
(depending on what the prompt asks you to do). Additionally, should you receive feedback from
the teachers or colleagues that suggest you spend more time or effort on your assignments than
what is directed in assignment instructions, you will do this so that you meet the expectations of
your readers (your colleagues and the teacher).
2. Attendance: University policy distinguishes between excused and unexcused absences. In this
course, students may not miss more than 3 unexcused absences and still earn a B. This class is
fast paced and we will be doing important work together in class. It will be really easy to fall
behind. In the interests of creating an environment for you to succeed, I have decided to set these
limits. Excessive tardiness and/or early departures will also count towards your total absences.
a. Excused versus unexcused absences: For the purposes of this course, "excused
absences" include verifiable medical or family emergencies, university approved
activities (accompanied by a university excuse), illness (yours or a family member’s),
absences related to pregnancy, and other absences as outlined in the University’s
 Grade Contract 2

“Student Absence from Class” policy

(http://policies.eku.edu/sites/policies.eku.edu/files/policies/4.1.6_student_absence_adopte
d_12.1.14.pdf). When requesting that an absence be excused, students should be prepared
to provide documentation verifying the reasons for the absence. Students with an excused
absence must make up the absence by scheduling an appointment at the Noel Studio,
where they will work on the topics/material/assignment covered on the day(s) of their
absence. The student must bring me (the instructor) a copy of their Record of
Consultation (RoC). Students who do not provide a copy of their RoC will still have their
absence counted against them, so be sure to schedule your appointment in a timely
manner. The purpose of the consultation is to make sure you do not fall behind in your
coursework. Students without an excused absence will not have the option to make up
their absences in this manner. Students who anticipate having a high number of excused
absences should contact their instructor as soon as the situation arises so that they can
make arrangements for how to handle missed class time.
b. Tardiness: Coming in late or leaving early is disruptive and disrespectful to the rest of
the class. Everyone is late occasionally, but a pattern is evidence of a bigger problem. If
you are consistently coming to class late or leaving early, you are telling me and your
fellow students that our time is not important to you. Therefore, coming in late or leaving
class early 3 times, without previous arrangement, will count as an unexcused absence.
3. Assignments (Low Stakes and High Stakes Assignments): Students are expected to turn in all
low stakes assignments (blog posts, reading responses, short reflections) on time and on their due
date. High Stakes Assignments are to be turned in on their due date, unless the student has asked
for an extension at least one class period before the scheduled due date. To get a B, you are each
allowed to miss 2 low stakes assignments with no penalty. Missing more than 2 low stakes
assignments will result in a lower grade. All high stakes assignments must be turned in and
missing a high stakes assignment results in an F in the class.
4. Participation: This class works best as a long conversation, one in which our class community
shares ideas and develops solutions to common writing and research difficulties together.
Everyone should be prepared to share in class discussion as well as online discussion on your
WordPress pages. College level reading can be difficult, especially in a class where you will be
working on independent research. Therefore, it is important that class discussions are fruitful,
meaningful, respectful, and informed.
5. Peer feedback: We are a community of writers and thinkers. Therefore, it is important that you
give thoughtful peer feedback during class workshops and work faithfully with your group on
other collaborative tasks (e.g., sharing papers, commenting on drafts, peer editing, responses to
blog posts). You need to know how your ideas are translating for other people, and the only way
to know this is to share. Group responses and comments will help you revise your ideas as we go,
as well as in the final revision section of the class.
6. Revision: I expect you to make substantive revisions when the assignment is to revise—
extending or changing the thinking or organization—not just editing or touching up. Your E-
Portfolio should be a cohesive project. In revision, you need to consider how all of the
components work together to make connections and meaning. You also need to consider the
audience for the project- what do you need to explain or define for us. You will discuss your
revision process in your final reflection.
 Grade Contract 3

7. Copyediting: You will need to copyedit all final revisions of main assignments until they
conform to the conventions of edited, revised English, as outlined in the First Year Writing
rubric. Your audience needs to understand your thinking, therefore copyediting is a must.
8. Conferences: You need to attend at least two conferences with the instructor to discuss drafts:
We have one week blocked out at the end of the semester to discuss the final e-portfolio, but you
must schedule your first conference on your own. The first conference can focus on any of the
modules, and will be held during your instructor’s office hours. You may schedule additional
conferences at your discretion. Your instructor may suggest that you schedule more conferences
in order to bring your work up to a B level of quality, in which case you should do so.
9. Complete and submit a final e-portfolio with accompanying reflection: Your final project
will be work to connect all of the module elements (images, PSA, podcast, written texts, and any
creative options) into a project with a clear and cohesive message, supporting evidence, and a
meaningful context, both in ideas and in visuals. Your e-portfolio is a reflection of you, of what
you think and how you put together the puzzle that is a larger research project. In its final form, it
should exemplify the thoughtful and complex person you are.

Earning a grade of A
A student will earn an A in the course by meeting all of the requirements for a B, listed above, in addition
to achieving the following:

1) Completing an additional component to be included in the portfolio: a creative option such as a

series of poems, a short story, painting or drawing (or series of paintings or drawings); or produce
an additional audio essay or video. This additional component must, as for all work turned in for
this course, be your original work and be produced specifically for this course. It must have a
clear, substantial connection to your project and be fully integrated into the portfolio along with
the rest of your coursework.
2) As a whole, the works of your portfolio should distinguish themselves in at least two of the
following criteria:
Clarity Accuracy Precision Relevance
Depth Breadth Logic Significance
Fairness Seamless Coherence Sophistication Recognizable Voice

Earning a grade of C, D, or F
While the default grade for the course is assumed to be a B, a student’s grade may slip to a C or lower if
they do not meet the basic requirement for the course and assignments. The easiest way earn lower than a
B is through unexcused absences, repeated tardiness, turning in assignments late, or not turning in
assignments at all. Note that failure to turn in any one of the major assignments (the key assignments for
each module) will result in an F for the course. See the chart below for a breakdown of how absences and
missed assignments will affect your course grade.

Absences, assignments, and determination of final grade

Absences (unexcused or Low-stakes Major assignments
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excused absences that were assignments missed

not made up) missed

A 3 or less 2 or less none

B 3 or less 2 or less none

C 4 3 or 4 none

D 5 5 or 6 none

F 6 More than 6 1 or more

Any of the items in any of the columns may cause a grade to fall below a B—for example, missing more
than 3 days will drop your grade from a B to a C, even if you have turned in all the assignments; likewise,
missing 1 major assignment will result in an F even if you have not missed any days.

The Plea: You may use a plea one time over the course of the semester. You must arrange a meeting with
me to discuss your concerns about not meeting the B criteria on this contract. The plea can be used in
situations that are ongoing or threaten your standing in the class. In the spirit of Rogerian Argument, you
and I will negotiate a fair and mutually satisfying solution or compromise. The plea is not an out for
anyone who happens to not fulfill part of the contract, rather it is for rare or unusual circumstances
outside of your control.

Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty: All work submitted for this course is required to be your own
work and to be work done specifically for this course. Therefore, failure of the course can also result from
submitting work that is not your own (plagiarism) or submitting as work for this class something you had
done for another course, work, or activity (in this case, the failure would be for academic dishonesty).
Plagiarism and academic dishonesty are considered violations of EKU’s code of student conduct and so
may trigger further penalties at the university level in addition to failure of this course. If you are found to
have plagiarized intentionally, your paper will be removed from this general contract, and we will follow
guidelines for an infraction of Academic Integrity. You can see EKU’s Academic Integrity policy at
www.academicintegrity.eku.edu.