Can you believe it?? This coming week is the final week of class! Below is everything you need to know about what needs to happen between now and the last day of the semester.
Office Hours
If you need to see me for anything, my last days of office hours until the Fall 2014 semester are Tu 5/20 (5-6pm) and Th 5/22 (11am-12pm).
Final Exam
As you know, your final exam will consist of reading a short article and then crafting an essay in response. The final exam (writing a response essay to the article) will take place in class on Tuesday, 5/20. You will have 75 minutes (1/2 of our class period) to complete the essay.
You have the exam article already, so you should read and re-read it many times, looking up words you don’t know, highlighting important sections, summarizing it, and reverse outlining it for the main ideas (both content/purpose) of each paragraph. Please take advantage of the fact that you have the reading ahead of time, and prepare as much as possible. Don’t forget to bring back the article (with your notes on it) to class on Tuesday.
I also encourage you, if you have not done so already, to do the practice exams I gave you. Remember, for the response essay, while you should use your own experience (you can use the first person), you have to place that personal experience in dialogue with the text/article you are given (you must show connections between the article’s points–use details/quotes from the article–and your experiences/evidence).
All of the skills you practiced this semester (critical reading, summarizing, reverse outlining, creating an Introduction, developing a thesis statement, paragraph development, creating strong topic sentences, analysis, incorporating/citing sources, providing claims/evidence) apply here, so you should be be well-prepared for this exam.
The final exam is worth 10% of your overall course grade, and you must pass it to pass the course.
Make sure to arrive to class on Tuesday, as we will begin the exams promptly at the start of class and will end exactly 75 minutes later (then we will finish up remaining Research Project presentations). If you arrive late, you will not be given extra time to complete the exam.
Final Course Reflections
Your Individual Final Course Reflection is due in class on Th 5/22 (this is a mandatory–not optional–assignment). Please visit the Final Course Reflection page on our site for more details on this assignment.
Final Course Grades
The deadline for professors to submit final course grades for the Spring 2014 semester is Tu 5/27. Please wait to view your course grade online through CUNYfirst (I will not be giving out final course grades via e-mail). Once you see your final grade posted online, you should feel free to e-mail me for your final exam grade (you have all of your other grades already).
Final grades are non-negotiable, though I am always more than happy to discuss them/your work with you at any point in person. If you would like to discuss any of your grades/receive additional feedback on the final assignments/exams, you should e-mail me to schedule an appointment to discuss your work when we return to campus at the end of August.
Thank you, & stay in touch!
Finally, it was a pleasure to work with you all this semester. I wish you the best of luck wrapping up the semester and on your final exams, and in your future endeavors at City Tech and beyond. You all worked hard this semester, and I really appreciate your consistent effort and good cheer day in and day out! I hope you enjoyed yourselves and learned a lot about digital/networked identities/relationships, and reading, writing, and critical thinking. Have a wonderful summer break, & don’t hesitate to be in touch in future semesters to discuss your work in this course/beyond, and/or to just say hi 🙂
