An overview of ENGL 151 L, with tips about how to do well and Bonus Point Opportunities.

1. English 151L
Spring Late-start Session 1 - 2019
Highlights from the Syllabus
detailed schedule & policies in the full syllabus

2. Hi! Welcome to the class.
I am Kathryn Gordon (you may see Elizabeth
in a few places – same person!)
My email is kgordon@northampton.edu
Backup e-mail is walk33@gmail.com
Office hours: Monday 10-noon and Wed. 7-9 PM
& by Appointment
Office hours by phone, skype, text or email.
I do not mind texts: 518/364-6813

3. The Book
The Norton Introduction to Literature
12th Edition, 2-17, by Kelly Mays
ISBN number: 9780393938937
NOTE: The bookstore may offer laminated tip sheets. These
are not required and will not be used. Equivalent, and free,
online resources will be supplied.

4. Get the book ASAP
You need the book from the start. This is
an intensive, compressed course. Sixteen
weeks in ten! Get going!!
Find a way to have the book at the start.
Give yourself the tools you need to
succeed. Make your education a priority.

5. Part of the course 1,100 Point Scale Point-earning chances Pace
Essays 400 4 essays. All essays earn points.
No essay turned in “fails”
See guidelines in the weekly
Learning Content folders.
Forum discussion 200 + many extra point
opportunities
Up to 20 points per week with
many extra point & Bonus Point
chances. Not your usual forum
One forum with 3-4 threads
per week. Forum closes
Sundays 11PM.
Response Journal 200 + 2 extra posts accepted
after maxing out
Up to 20 points per post One per week. Always open.
No late penalty. No more
than 2 catch-up posts in a
week.
Reading Checks 200 + occasional Bonus
Point Opportunities
20 points each. Test your
memory of readings & lectures.
One per week. Always open.
No late penalty. No more
than 2 catch-up posts in a
week
Creative Blog 100 + 2 extra posts accepted
after maxing out
Up to 25 points each post.
Topic options given each week
Self-paced, serious attempts
only counted
Bonus Point
Opportunities
No maximum. Worth 10-20
points each and very rare Big
Bonus Point Opps worth 50
In all above areas Self-paced, unlimited

6. About those Bonus Point Opportunities
Where Bonus Points go Ways to earn Bonus points
Essays
Added to your points for that essay. No max
Essay guidelines describe ways to earn bonus points.
Weekly Forum Discussions
Added to your Forum points for that week, which
adds to your forum total for the semester
 Look for Bonus Threads
 Go above & beyond the 3-5 required posts. Write a lot, reply to other posts.
 What We Said looking back Summary - Summarize our discussion on a certain
lively thread. Announced and turned in by email.
 Student Started Threads. In some weeks, students are invited to start and
moderate a thread. Keep it going to earn as much as 20 extra points.
Improve the course points
Added to the Bonus Pts column in the gradebook
 Flag a schedule glitch or bad link (I apologize in advance)
 Find a typo, misspelling or other mistake in a lecture or guidelines posted by the
professor. Forum and individual feedback excluded . . . two finger typist here (0:
 Offer detailed feedback about how some part of the course could be better
5 bonus points. Turn in by well-written email. The quality of the email effects the
points, and there is a mistake in this sentence. (Hint: some nouns try to be verbs).
Journal and Blog
Added to your post for that week
 Exceptional journal and blog entries can earn an extra 5 or even 10 points.
 Once you have maxed out in points, up to 2 extra posts will be accepted.
Reading checks  Look for bonus questions right in the test.
 Look for bonus offers in feedback to questions. Turn in any time by email.

7. Q & A about Bonus Points
Q: What if I have enough points for an A before the end of the semester?
A: You can skip the last essay, or other work. You earned it. But please do stay around in the discussion
forum.
Q: Do I have to try to earn bonus points?
A: No. Bonus points are not in the grading scale. You can earn none and still get an A. Bonus points provide
a buffer should experience a crisis during the semester or a very busy period. Plus, less experienced
writers who score low on essays can still do well in the course. Because Bonus Points.
Q: Where do bonus points go?
A: Most go into the Bonus Point column in the gradebook. Forum bonus points go in the forum column.
Essay bonus points add to an essay’s overall score.
Q: What is the maximum bonus points I can earn?
A: There is no maximum! Some students last semester earned close to 20% of their total from Bonus Points.
Some earned none or very few yet still received a high final grade.
Q: How come we can turn in only 2 Bonus Point opportunities in a week?
A: I don’t want people disappearing and then bulking up on points at the end. It would be unfair to those
with busy schedules who don’t have time to do much extra work at the end yet have worked steadily all
along.

8. Schedule Note
Our week runs Monday morning through Sunday at 11 PM.
Students have persuaded me that this works best. If you
prefer your week to end on Friday or Saturday, great. You’ll
always be early and I’ll score your work first.
Avoid weekend-only discussion forum posting. If you must
do most of your forum posts on the weekend, post in the
next week when you can (i.e., early rather than late). This
way more of the class hears what you have to say.
Some threads allow you to post in the forum even before
finishing the reading / viewing. And pre-reading the threads
even before you read / view helps focus your work.

9. Overview of the Schedule
 Forum closes Sunday 11PM unless announced otherwise.
 Reading Checks also close Sundays 11 PM except in
weeks when essays are also due. Extended
deadline Wed 11 PM.
 A Journal post should be done each week, but the
deadline is flexible. Post any time, just two max per week.
 Creative blog is self-paced. Posts can be done any time as
many or as few as you like.
 Most Bonus Point Opportunities are self-paced. Can be
done any time. No semester maximum!

10. Where & When to turn in Essays
 Essays are due Sundays at 11PM (unless
announced otherwise). One-hour grace period.
Sunday a bad day for you? Give yourself an
earlier due date. I’ll read yours first.
 Turn in essays through the Learning Content
folder for the week when the essay is due. It’ll
be on top & easy to spot. Email is the back-up
turn in.

11. If you have to turn an essay in late
 Don’t panic! The late penalty is only 10 points, or less than
1% of the overall grade. You can make that up easily.
 Do get moving! Essays are accepted late for only one week.
 If you have to quit on an essay, don’t quit on the course.
The 4 essays are different. One may be hard for you, the
next easier.
 You could miss or opt out of a whole essay and still earn an
A or B in the course. There are many ways to earn points.
Don’t quit.

12. E-mail details
 I’ll get to know your writing through your
essays. I’ll get to know you through your forum
posts & e-mails.
 This is a writing class. Take care with words.
Think about your tone. Revise before you send.
 To help me respond fast, use a clear subject line
that includes your section such as Essay Question
and your section (WD or WE)
 I apologize in advance for any emails I may lose.
It’s fine to send a follow-up e-mail or text after a
few days if you have not received a response.

13. Forum Posting
To earn the 20 weekly points, aim for 3-4 posts totaling about 800 words. Post early in the
week and come back to read replies and add more. Finish by Sunday 11 PM. Weekend-only
posts may earn less points. Good rule, if you come to the course for anything,
post something.
Posts should be interactive:
 Comment directly on assigned reading. Quote the reading and other
students’ posts
 Connect someone’s post to the reading, your life, world events
 Compare and contrast posts
 Point out a theme running through the posts that week
 Ask questions of the other students. Answer questions
 Use people’s names
Mine is not a post-once reply-twice type forum.
Take more time, get more back.

14. Forum posting continued
Posts should be respectful:
 Good communication is a sign of respect. Be clear and readable.
Casual is fine for the forum, and some texting-type shortcuts are ok,
but keep your readers in mind. Explain & clarify where needed.
 You can edit or even delete your own posts.
 Are you a weak typist/speller? Try writing in your word processing
software first, then post. If you are an ESL student, put in the time to
be clear. Perfection isn’t necessary, but be clear.
 Contact me if you feel attacked or disrespected. Our studies will
generate lively discussions. Disagreement is fine; disrespect is not.
 Be respectful in what you write and how you react to others. I
read/skim all posts. Personal attacks will lose the attacker the points
for the week. Continued disrespect will lead to forced withdrawal.

15. Response Journals
 Up to 20 points each post for a max of 200
 Do one post per week on the assigned reading. Two
catch-up posts accepted in any week
 Learn and practice skills needed in the essays
 Other students cannot see journal posts
 We cycle through 3 types of responses
 React & Reflect
 Compare & Contrast
 Analyze a Literary Element (elements taught in lectures)

16. Creative Blogs – a self-paced part of the course
 Up to 25 points each for a total max of 100 points
 Self paced
 Try out creative writing. Creative options to
choose from each week
 Other students can see blog posts (commenting
not required but appreciated)
 Want more creative writing? Petition to trade up
to 100 points from another part of the course.
Send an email for details.

17. Mid-term and final
 there is no mid-term
 & no final
 (0:

18. My teaching approach
I revise the course often to make it more:
 Interesting, Enriching, Inclusive
 Fair & Bias-free
 Challenging but Supportive
 Low-stress
 Useful to you in your career and life goals
I respect my students. You work hard, often juggling one,
two, even three jobs while caring for family and carrying
heavy course loads. I’m here for you, not you for me. I take
pride in my work.

19. Quotes from recent course evaluations
 Loved this course. You can tell she [Prof Gordon] really loves what she does and
cares about her students!
 Quite frankly, I yawned when I selected this course. I thought for sure it would be
boring. As it turned out, of all the courses I took this semester, I enjoyed this one
most.
 What I most appreciate is that Prof. Gordon selected a variety of literary types
which made the course very interesting. She also helped us engage in thought
provocating [sic] discussions.
 The course outline doesn't appeal to just one type of student. There's an area for
everyone to excel in: weekly discussions, quizzes, essays, a free-write response
journal, and a creative blog. Professor Gordon definitely doesn't make it easy for
you to fail. While you do have to maintain a steady work ethic, there's always a
desire to be part of the class and let your voice be heard.
 What an amazing online class experience! I wish all professors were as helpful as
you. I really felt like you cared about helping us understand the material and you
were always giving us tips throughout the week to help us!

20. Earn Bonus Points already!
Explain the use of brackets on the previous slide.
They are used twice. Earn 10 points for a clear
answer in a well-written email. Research may be
needed. Informal citation expected. (Mention
where you found the info.)
Most Bonus Point Opportunities can be turned in at any time during the
semester. Please include a brief cover letter explaining what points you’re
trying for. Clear cover letter = more points. If I have to search to remember
what was asked for = less points. Communicate clearly. I offer many Bonus
Point Opps and add new ones unique to your class, so help me help you get the
most points as fast as possible by communicating clearly what you are sending
and why. Cover letters are used in business and academia to introduce
important communications and attachments.

21. These are highlights from the syllabus presented in
a way that I hope is
 Clear
 Encouraging
 Inviting
 Low stress
Send questions and comments any time to
kgordon@northampton.edu or 518/364-6813.
I do not mind texts. Texts are fine

22. About me: Born in Queens (Flushing), raised upstate then S. Fla. U of Mich. Grad.
Author of 2 published books and, um, I forget how many unpublished. I started
teaching at NCC in person in 2005 while also teaching at the U of Scranton. I live
now in NY’s Capital District. I discovered performance poetry 7 years ago and have
been slamming regularly since. I also paint.
Albany NY’s Nitty Gritty Slam team after a win
in Buffalo. I’m on the end, right side.

23. Let’s all make it to
the end of the
semester.
Everyone starts
with 25 bonus
points. Because
zero is so, well,
zero. Let’s go!