English 101 at Ashland

We will have two more times this semester when an in-class event counts for points and you lose out if you are absent: Midterm and Final. Both of these present problems because athletic teams have a habit of hitting the road several days before midterm and being out of town during Finals Week. As I have previously said, we will deal with these problems by scheduling the writing events through the University Testing Service for people who must be away on University business. Dealing with SOAR The official way to deal with those missed writing assignments is for you to make an appointment with the Ashland University Testing Service , after which they would request a copy of the assignment from me, so that when you show up it is waiting there for you. The problem is that all of this communication goes through the SOAR network, which I almost never touch. About the only use for the thing is for students to schedule office visits, and it is much more natural and convenient for a student t...

Now that (I hope) the majority of the severe winter weather is behind us, it is time to tighten up on attendance—to get more professional. Here is a reminder of the basics from our syllabus: The class actually begins at 10:00 AM. I expect to start doing things then and I expect you to be ready to start then too. If you show up between 10:05 and 10:10, I will count you as present but late. You get 50% credit for attendance. If you show up after 10:10, you do not get credit for attending, but you are welcome to stay. If you spend the time sleeping, staring out the window, doing homework for other classes, or playing on your phone, you get 25% credit for attendance. If you are in the habit of ducking out to use the toilet, etc., I will apply the “late” penalty—50% attendance credit for that day. I have been leaving the door unlocked during the class period, but if we begin having security issues on campus, the door will be locked at 10:10 AM. Reading...