Introduction
This document discusses your responsibilities as a student in this program. Please read it carefully, because being a part of this program assumes that you both understand and agree with these responsibilities. Our goal, for you and your classmates, is to provide an optimum learning environment and to be clear about the expectations of this program.
1. Be mindful and aware of others in the program, respecting diversity in gender, race, age, ethnicity, class, religious and political affiliation, sexual orientation, learning styles, and emotional, mental and physical abilities. For faculty to consider your disability (in giving extra time on assignments, for example), it must be documented by the access services director and you must notify your seminar faculty in writing.
2. Please help create an optimum learning environment for our class community. Show respect when a faculty member, guest speaker, or another student is talking to the class or listening to the speaker. Talking, whispering, eating, text messaging, cell phone ringing, or using laptops is disruptive to the speaker and to those listening. One cell phone ring affects everyone in the room. If you have questions, ask the speaker and not someone else. If you are late for a class, please have your books out and coat off when you enter the classroom. Laptops are not welcome in class because of the irresistible allure of Facebook and e-mail.
3. Read and follow the Students Rights and Responsibilities page on the College website. It includes the Evergreen Social Contract, the Student Conduct Code, and the Campus Sexual Harassment Policy.
4. Attendance is required at all class sessions. There will be a sign-in sheet at the beginning of class. However, if you are ill, it is best to stay home and recover quickly rather than extending your illness by over-exertion. If you are ill or must miss a class for any reason, check in with your class “buddy” for handouts, notes, and announcements. If you miss 3 classes in a row, e-mail your seminar faculty and leave a brief message before the start of the third class. If we do not hear from you, we must call the dean who will call your parents or the police to begin a search. (If you marked “confidential” on your enrollment, federal regulations prevent us telling anyone besides law enforcement that you are even a student here.) The first few minutes of each day may involve important announcements such as a discussion of the assignments or changes to the syllabus, so being on time is essential.
5. Bring all appropriate reading materials to class on the appropriate day. The faculty may ask you to show us your book(s) for that day during seminar. Good seminar discussions depend on frequent citations to specific page numbers in the book. Almost all handouts will be available on the program website. Faculty do not have extra copies of any handouts, which is why this website exists.
6. If there is snow or inclement weather, first call 867-6000 to check on campus closure. If the campus is closed, class will not meet. If the campus is open, but there is heavy snow or flooding, call 867-6623 to check Sean’s outgoing message after 8 a.m.
7. Disagreements and differences of opinion happen in all groups (including faculty). If it seems reasonable to do so, talk with the person involved directly, but if you prefer, send an e-mail to your seminar faculty or talk with him or her in person. A heartfelt apology offered in a timely manner can work wonders in conflict resolution.
8. If you wish to bring a relative or friend to class, please inform the faculty and inform your visitor of items 1 through 3 above. The visitor should not ask questions during the lecture or seminar. You are encouraged to invite visitors to your presentations at the end of each quarter.
9. All forms of academic dishonesty, including cheating, fabricating, and plagiarizing are reasons for dismissal from the program with zero credit. Know the difference between plagiarizing (literary thieving) and appropriate referencing. See one or two plagiarism websites if you require further clarification. In particular, see the pages on plagiarism at the Purdue on-line writing lab (OWL). While visiting the OWL, notice some of their other excellent webpages on writing such as the grammar page.
10. You are expected to create music and to move your body. Please do so when asked.
11. In order to protect the health and well being of students, staff and faculty, the college prohibits the wearing of scents in campus buildings. Because the right to teach and learn in a healthy, toxic-free environment is far more compelling than the right to wear scents that may endanger the health of others, the college policy will be strictly enforced in this program. If you repeatedly wear a scent, perfume, cologne or other fragrant personal product to a program event, you will be asked to leave.
Portfolio
Your portfolio should be well organized and kept current. It consists of your class notes and all your assignments and handouts, including papers and essays. Your class notes should include your notes from lectures, films, texts, and seminar discussions.
Writing
All college work includes writing. In this particular program, you will have short responses to assigned questions that will function as a “ticket for entry” into seminar each week. If you do not bring this work in each week, you may attend seminar but you may not participate. We will keep track of who is participating and who brought in a paper. You will also have at least one medium-sized and one significant writing assignment each quarter. This, too, is normal college-level work.
No late papers will be accepted. In college, as in real life, a deadline is a deadline. We don’t care what your other professors have done; a late paper is a no-credit paper.
Being able to write at a college level requires you to pay careful attention to writing mechanics; this means that the inclusion of typos, incomplete sentences, slang, texting-style writing, and poor punctuation will hold you back at a 7th grade level. Never turn in the first draft of a paper; we expect your best work, every time.
Your name and date should be at the upper right of all homework assignments, and your paper needs to be uploaded to our Moodle site. We have a strict policy of no late papers, and we in turn will give you back your work in a timely manner. Fair is fair.
Workload
Expect about 14 hours of in-class time and about 32 hours of out-of-class time per week. (This is typical for 16 credits.)
Our rough estimate for the time required for your out-of-class activities:
4 hours – Review your lecture and seminar notes
12 hours – Active reading (200 – 300 pages per week) and practicing
2 hours – Discussion outside the class
14 hours – Writing and presentation preparation
TOTAL: 32 hours per week
Studies show that students who work at a job for fewer than 10 hours per week do as well as those without a job. But there is a sharp drop in grade point average when students work more than about 12 hours per week at a job. The main reason students fail or do poorly in college is not due to the difficulty of the material (although it is challenging), but due to a lack of sufficient hours of out-of-class work.
Four missed classes = 1 credit lost. Every two missed classes after that = another credit lost. We strongly suggest that you save missing classes for when you’re terribly sick, and since you never know when you’re going to be struck by illness, plan wisely.
Seminar and Workshop Expectations
1. Be Kind
See points 1, 2, and 3 on the first page of the covenant. Treat others with respect. It is fine to question someone’s statements or reasoning but do so in a kind, mature, and professional manner. Support each other’s efforts to work on their music and dance skills.
2. Be Mature
If you have not read the book, don’t talk. Be aware of your behavior. Listen actively. If you talk frequently, choose silence sometimes. If you don’t talk often, choose to participate sometimes. (It is your responsibility to participate in the discussion at least once per class. You can even read your writing.) Silence is OK. It gives us all time to think and it gives time for those who aren’t as aggressive to speak. When you are doing music or moving your body, you or your classmates or teachers may well make mistakes. That’s fine. We all do. No need to be mortified.
3. Be Professional
Refer to the text frequently during the discussions! Take notes on the discussion. Try to tie your comments to those that went before. Learn and use the names of those in your seminar and workshop group. Learn to express your ideas clearly by observing yourself and your peers. Hone your critical thinking skills by reading actively and striving for the author’s evidence and main points. This is about your art and your understanding.
Self-evaluation and Evaluations of Faculty
Plan to stay through Friday of evaluation week at the end of fall and winter quarters. (That’s December 14th and March 21st.) Do not make (or let someone else make) your airline reservations ahead of this time. These are official weeks of the academic year. Evaluation conferences are required. If you miss your evaluation conference, you agree to accept your evaluation as written without changes.
Your self-evaluation is due at the registrar’s office within 2 days after your last quarter in the program. The registrar will not send out your transcript and credit may be lost if you do not file your self-evaluation. Bring a nearly-final draft self-evaluation to your conference. There are very strict guidelines for granting incompletes, and they are almost never granted.
You may write whatever you want in your self-evaluation, but here’s a possible outline.
1. Why are you here? (That is, why are you attending college, why did you choose TESC and this program?)
2. What did you learn? (Tell a few stories about what excited you, NOT a list of the topics covered. These are discussed in both the “program description” and the “faculty evaluation of student” sections of your transcript.)
3. HOW did you learn? Employers and graduate skills seek those with high “meta-level” skills: attendance, on-time work, group work, organizational skills, critical thinking skills, professionalism, etc.
4. Where are you going from here? What are your future plans? Be sure your self-evaluation reflects your best writing!
You must also bring faculty evaluations of each of the 3 faculty on separate sheets of paper to your conference. The student self-evaluation and the three faculty evaluations are your entry ticket to the evaluation conference. If you prefer to give the faculty evaluations to the program secretary, do so before your conference. The secretary will give us your evaluations of us after you leave the program.