Hi everyone, and happy Monday!
We’re almost there! There are now just officially 10 days left to the Fall 2022 semester. Time really does fly …
I know that some of you are going to be taking final exams at the end of this week. Wishing everyone the best of luck with those, and also offering a gentle reminder to be kind to yourself in what will likely be a stressful time. You got this!
Before we get into this week’s work, a few important reminders:
This Wednesday (12/14) is a Reading Day, which means there are no classes scheduled. However, we will continue our work together that day, as we want to maximize our time spent on drafting and revising both the Final Portfolio and the Final Reflection. Remember … we don’t have a final exam in our course. Unit 4 takes the place of that. So continuing to work on Unit 4 on Reading Day makes a lot of sense!
Wednesday (12/14) is also the last day to withdraw from a course. If you have not been participating in class or turning in work, you should consider this option (otherwise you will either receive a WU or an F). You can learn more about withdrawal grade designations here: https://www.citytech.cuny.edu/registrar/grade-policies.aspx
Before making any decisions though, you should definitely discuss with your faculty advisor as well as the financial aid office, as it may have financial aid implications. You are also welcome to come discuss your situation with me in my Pop-Up Office Hours tomorrow (see below and on the Schedule for more details on that).
On to this week’s work! As you know, we’re spending all of time for the rest of the semester working on Unit 4. You should be working simultaneously on your revisions of prior work (Units 1 and 2) and drafting your Final Reflection, as these two things go hand-in-hand.
A full draft of your Final Reflection is due on Wednesday (via Dropbox), as is a check-in post about your progress on revisions to date (via the OpenLab).
Later this week we’ll be doing peer review on your Final Reflection drafts, and also continue to discuss revision and reflection in our Unit 4 Writing Workshop (new content will be added mid-week, and new comments from you all will be due as well).
As always, all details can be found on the Schedule page.
All of this week’s work requires a thorough review of and engagement with all of your past work for the semester, as well as resources and feedback you received along the way.
Did someone say feedback?
If you haven’t done so already, it’s super (duper!) important that you consult and incorporate my feedback to guide your revision. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about this, so I want to review once again how to check your grades and view the feedback.
Grades and feedback for all formal assignments can be found in OpenLab Gradebook (you can access that from the right-hand menu of the course homepage, or from the top left-hand menu of the course dashboard). Don’t just look at the letter grade and then leave! I have provided detailed written feedback for all formal assignments, and sometimes leave other comments as well. To access this content, click on the darkened chat bubble next to your grade for each assignment.
A few notes:
- Unit 3 grading is still in progress, as you only recently turned that work in. I’ll get those grades up in OpenLab Gradebook as soon as they are ready, so check back soon.
- If you don’t see your grade or comments for a particular assignment, please reach out to me privately via email ASAP (I don’t discuss individual grades publicly, for privacy reasons). It could be that you’re looking in the wrong place (user error), there could be a technical glitch (this has been known to happen!), or I may not have ever received the work from you (eek!). Regardless of the issue, I can help you troubleshoot and get you what you need to move forward with the Portfolio, but I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on. So be in touch if necessary, and sooner rather than later.
- Some of you have asked about what number grades letter grades correspond to. You can find more about that here: https://www.citytech.cuny.edu/catalog/informations.aspx?Cat_ID=1009 (scroll down to the section entitled “Grade Point Average”)
Keep in mind that, in addition to all of this feedback on formal assignments, you also have a ton of feedback on low-stakes work through posts, comments / class discussions / writing workshops, conferences, peer review, etc. I encourage you to also make use of previous material from the semester (e.g., rhetoric, integrating quotations, reverse outlining, citing, revision, plagiarism, etc.). Simply scroll back on the Schedule and look through previous Weeks’ content and also check out the “Resources” menu on our OpenLab course site. Visiting the City Tech Writing Center is always a great option too!
If you would like additional individualized feedback, please come see me during my Office Hours. To get the most out of conference, review the materials and feedback first.
Speaking of Office Hours …
Office Hours this week are the usual time slot (Thursday, 12/15, 11:30am-12:30pm) along with a pop-up Office Hour on Tuesday (12/13) from 12:00-1:00pm.
Please note that because the last day of the semester is next Wednesday, 12/21, there will be no Thursday office hours next week.
I’ll hold a pop-up Office Hour on Monday (12/19), but since that’s the day before the deadline (and Unit 4 has a number of components, including the reflection and the portfolio), don’t wait until then to get started. If you have questions or want to discuss revisions, best to come this week! I look forward to seeing many of you there.
Ok, on to this week’s low-stakes discussion …
How did last week’s self-care go? What did you do? Did it help? If so, how? How will you continue to incorporate self-care this week?
Remember, self-care doesn’t have to be grandiose (especially with finals, “aint nobody got time for that”!) … the important thing is that you prioritize it in whatever way you can, when you can.
Drop a comment below to share an update about your self-care.
Also in your comment, provide some motivation / inspiration for your classmates in this final push of the semester. A little bit of community & solidarity go a long way!
Comments required by everyone by EOD (end-of-day) today, Monday, 12/12. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts.
Thanks all, happy drafting & revising, good luck with finals, and have a wonderful week 🙂
Last week’s self-care went well as I am able to find a nice balance between doing school work and then taking care of my mental health by listening to music and being to talk with my friends. Going forwards I will continue to find the balance between class work and personal time. I will continue to also branch out of my comfort zone and talk to new people and socialize more.
Self care last week wasn’t as much as I would have liked. I Did not have time for a whole routine but I managed to find time to relax and read for a while to take my mind off of my own life. Finding something to distract from reality is something everyone should find especially during finals.
Self care is for the weak. Only grind.
Just kidding. I have been a bit lacking on the self care department, but I am trying to do better. Making sure I maintain a healthy habit and managing my time is what I am focusing on at the moment.
Final exams are coming up and it’s important to get enough rest. I think one of the best ways to make sure you get enough rest is to break up your work and create a schedule mentally if you don’t have one already. It really helps you stress less and keep track of everything you need to do.