English 100/101, usually a student’s first real look into what they are getting themselves into for the rest of their college days. Being an introductory course it is thought that they wouldn’t overload a student with more than they can handle, which throughout the semester, is true. Although on the first day an assignment is brought up which is the Capstone. The Capstone seems simple enough, as it is the final paper handed in for the semester. But in reality, the Capstone holds so much more weight than what is originally thought. If the Capstone paper does not receive at least a two (out of a one-three grading scale) from the panel of teachers reading it, then no matter how well the student did in the class the rest of the semester, that student does not get to go on to English 102. Being a first year, that puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on an already new and sometimes stressful situation. Therefore, the English Board should remove the Capstone from the curriculum of English 100/101.
The main reason for dropping this assignment is the idea that it carries way to much weight with it. A single paper should not have the power to pass or fail a student regardless of how well they performed throughout the rest of the semester. If a student is so focused on the idea that they may not pass in the end all because of this one paper then they may not preform to the best of their abilities the rest of the time. On the other hand, the student may become too focused on this paper because they don’t want to fail, but in turn may start to ignore other work or studying that has to be done to insure that they pass. And if they don’t, then that is possibly turn out to be more than one class that they have to retake, all because of a final pap...
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...important as that is, there are other ways to check and make sure that the students work is where it needs to be to move on to the next step rather than using a pass/fail paper.
To reiterate, the English Board should remove the English 100/101 Capstone and use a more well-rounded method. Using a method, like used for the ACT, to where students come in at a scheduled final time and are asked to write a paper on a topic using the material that they learned throughout the semester right there in class would do a few things to help. This method would just add the final paper into their overall scores so that it is like another class. It would also insure that everything they turn in is coming from their own heads and not from someone else’s. The English Board should take these into consideration. This would make English 100/101 more enjoyable and less of a stressor.
The courses Math and Science were examples Staples used regarding the change in the grade point average weight. For some people math and science are hard course to take while in high school or college. However, math is very easy for me but I know it requires various steps to be done to receive one answer. On the other hand, I struggle in science learning parts of the body, different species, and etc. Staples proposal can be beneficial to all universities, online universities, and myself as well. I am challenged everyday by teachers to prove to them I deserve every grade I receive. I have to do the all my work to receive the good grades; however, failure to do my work results into zeros; thus, causing myself to have a low grade in the course or failing the course. I feel as if students should not have the opportunity to appeal their grades if they have a B and want an A. I know it requires a lot of paperwork and bring confirmation among the teachers and their
Some classes should not have grades, such as writing. If a teacher asks a student to write a paper about a highly debated topic, such as abortion, and the students opinion differed from the teachers. It is possible that the teachers
As a college student, is the idea of your final grade being based off of just a midterm and final very stressful? O 'Malley argues in his essay "More Testing, More Learning" that professors should give out more quizzes and assignments to reduce the stress and procrastination students face before midterms and finals. Although this might be helpful for a high school setting, it would not be completely efficient at a college level. This is because frequent testing takes up a significant amount of students and professors time, are added stress throughout the year, will not fix a students procrastination, and having high stake tests prepares students for their future. Some of O 'Malley 's ideas seem reasonable and would help students while others are an inconvenience for the professor and students.
Truthfully this method allows the student to simply memorize information and spit it back out for a test and severely lacks all critical
English 101 is one of the most common college courses in the world. When I enrolled in the class, I was bothered that I would have spend forty hours in a freshman writing class; along with at least another forty hours throughout the semester writing for the class. What surprised me, was that when I began writing my essays I was not annoyed or bothered; I actually enjoyed the assignments. Most importantly, throughout the course of the semester, I have become a better writer and have ultimately met the course goals of English 101.
Throughout the semester I have learned an astounding amount of information. The English 101 curriculum has not only taught me how to write in general, but also taught me a variety of ways to get my point across to the reader. Before I took English 101 I was an average writer at best, but now that I am taking a class that focuses on writing strategies I feel that I have been able to improve as a writer. During the course we were taught how to write an informative essay as well as how to write a persuasive essay. The type of writing that this class has taught me will most definitely help me with future classes as well as my future in the real world. Throughout the English 101 course I have been able to improve as a writer by composing essays
One of the issues, which Boyer points out , is that teachers and students have different expectations from college education. She says that the teachers are mainly concerned about students’ comprehension of the material, their attendance and attention while students’ hopes are to get good grades and to be well prepared for exams. It seems that the system of grading pushes students to not care too much about what is being taught from an understanding perspective, but only promotes more concern about grades instead. Some students don't really pay attention unless the instructor mentions an exam or something that will be graded. Furthermore, be...
Which could leave questions for the professor to ponder on. Such as “Do they truly grasp the concept of…?”, “Have I myself done a successful job of educating them on this topic?” and “Why aren’t they putting their full effort into this assignment?”. Not only do students struggle when it comes to marks, so do professors. I highly doubt any professor wants to ever fail a student, because they know themselves the struggle of being a student once. Though when a student believes they can slack off and get a passable or high grade without doing the work, educators have no choice at times, but to fail
Writing papers has been one of my biggest fears as a student. High school English class prepared me for the editing of my essays, for example, grammatical errors, spelling, font errors, and things that were under the category of fixing my paper. I realized that the writing process requires more than just editing, you have to understand that the paper is like a human body, it cannot function if every single part is not effective. I can certainly say that I have improved as a writer a great deal and this portfolio and the final revised drafts of my work certainly can argue for that. English 101 was certainly different from my other English classes; we actually focused on different parts of the writing process in each class instead of wasting our time discussing the same components of the process over and over again. As I reflect on my experiences throughout the semester of English 101 I am aware that I have met very important requirements of writing that I feel were very valuable for me as a student and my writing has improved progressively.
English 101 is incredibly challenging and overwhelming to the typical college student. A narrative reflective essay, an expository essay, a novel, and the Nelson-Denny Reading Comprehension test are all crammed into ten weeks of backbreaking work. However, the most intolerable assignment of all has not even been mentioned yet: the argument paper! Students run around shrieking and cursing when they are handed the assignment. Most of them are enveloped by insanity during the writing process. When I mentioned the dreaded argument paper to a fellow classmate, he said that he felt my pain. English 101 students should not be required to write an argument paper because it is detrimental to their emotional well-being.
I had thought long and hard about whether taking English 101 would be a good idea, or not. It was a difficult decision because, I am still in high school, and my grade in this class will stay on my record for the rest of my college career. This school year happened to be the first year that my high school offered an advanced composition class to help students get ready for college writing. I chose not to take it, because I felt confident in my ability and up for the challenge. Out of all the classes I could have taken, I’m glad I took English 101. It was a great introduction to college-level academic writing, and I think it will help me out a lot for English 102. All of the assignments were related to each other and couldn’t be completed without proper knowledge of the one before it. The topic I chose was about solar energy. That is close in relation to my intended major, which has to do with technology. From the overall feedback given, I realized that I
to do his or her homework; but often times, the student forgets how to do the problems taught in
During the course of English 101, I learned many things. English 101 was my first English class that I took at the college level. Through my experience of this class, I feel that I have improved my writing skills. This course has been a great experience, much better than any of my past experiences. By improving my writing skills, I will now be able to use writing in my life to achieve great things. Using my knowledge and experience from the past and what I learned in this course, I will be able to do great things in the future.
...hods of fill-in-the-blank or multiple choice exams. In my classroom, grades won't carry as much weight as the actual learning the students undertake.
When I first signed up for English 101 I was slightly scared. I was not overly sure what to expect. For high school I went to a school that had long essays every three weeks and a thesis paper that had a minimum page requirement of 15 that had to be completed and passed before graduation. Mine was titled: Prudence from Virtue to True Power, in which I analyzed Machiavelli’s’ The Prince, Shakespeare’s Henry IV part 1, and the ancient Greek historian and statesman Thucydides’ Comprehensive Guide to the History of The Peloponnesian War. All of the papers that I wrote were based of a text we had read and discussed and they had a very firm topic that had to be written on. Even thought I had quite a bit of experience writing I was still nervous.