Getting Started in Am Lit II-2

Module 1: Getting Started in American Literature II

First DAY!

Textbook is REQUIRED--BUY it now: The students who call to ask if they really NEED a textbook are the ones who end up failing because they just don't believe me. You will need your textbook immediately:  The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Eighth Shorter Edition, Volume 2, edited by Nina Baym;  ISBN is 978-0-393-91887-8.  You’ll need that number to be sure you get the right book. 

Attendance

You have written assignments due twice EVERY WEEK, and these assignments are the verification for your participation in the class.  In other words, if you fail to turn in an assignment during the week it is due, you are counted absent.  After ONE absence in the short term, you will be emailed a notification of excessive absences, and you will have seven days to respond to me with appropriate documentation for absences and make up work or be dropped with an F. The State Board of Community and Junior Colleges says you must be in attendance at least 80% of the course's classes to get credit for the course, so we must abide by the law.

Assignments

 Assignments are turned in at the assignment links located in the module where the assignment instructions are posted—they MUST NOT be emailed to me unless, for some technical issue, I ask you to do that. (Google Documents do not open properly in Canvas, so use another program or save the document as a text file--Rich Text file--before uploading it.) The assignment may be a list of questions to answer and/or a paragraph or two to write, which should take only a few minutes to write and submit it if you have read the material.  Notice that 55% of your grade will be determined by the proctored quizzes and final exam (see syllabus tab), so it is important that you do each assignment, not just to turn it in, but also to have information to study for the quizzes and final exam.

How to Submit Assignments

 First, do the assignment and save it as a document on your computer so you will have a copy of it and so you won't have to redo it if it does not come through the site for some reason. Then, just click on the assignment link in the weekly page or in the Modules list. You will see an answer window where you can upload the document just like an email attachment. Or you can cut and paste the document into the answer window. Then you SUBMIT, and the document will be attached, and the grade will be automatically linked to the grade book. 

Un-Proctored Quizzes

There are two short un-proctored quizzes, worth 10% of the grade in the course. Although they are taken from your own computer, you need to be fully prepared because you will not have time to look up answers; the test is timed. (Unlike the un-proctored quizzes, the final exam and two quizzes are PROCTORED, so you must register for those at least a week ahead of time through the SmarterProctoring tab in the menu to left. 

Preliminary Assignment (Required by MSVCC!!): Due Tuesday, August 24

Read all the information and appropriate links in the Introduction module because you will need to know much of this later. Specifically, be sure to understand about withdrawal and proctor testing.  Finally, complete the ORIENTATION Survey due August 24. Notice that this five-minutes' work counts as an assignment, so do not omit it.