Late Assignment Policy 2020b

[a] Early RF

Late Assignment Policy

All Classes

Autumn 2020

Robert André LaFleur                                                     Office Hours: Email me 

Morse Ingersoll 206                                                         (what a weird era this is)  
363-2005                                                                            lafleur@beloit.edu 

[b] Late RF

Please read carefully, especially if you 

have been in my courses before!

***  ***

All assignments for this course must be turned in by the due date (and time), or there will be a penalty. In order to be fair to students who have turned in work on time, yet taking into account the reality that everyone gets overwhelmed occasionally, I have created a late assignment policy that is meant to be fair to all concerned. 

There will be no exceptions to these rules.
[I will work with you if you have a letter from the college. There are never been problems working together in my courses over two decades at Beloit College].

Please note the following:

Weekly Quizzes 

Quizzes must be taken at the beginning of each class session. They will be collected twenty minutes after the beginning of class.

If a student comes to class “late” (and is not chronically late for class), it will be possible to make the best of the quiz at the end of class. This should be rare.

Quizzes not completed by the end of the class session receive no credit.

You may not miss class and still get credit for a quiz (even if a classmate brings you a copy).

You may do a quiz for no credit if you happen to miss class (in order to keep up with the flow of class). Just e-mail me if you would like a copy of a quiz that you have missed (no credit, though). 

Assignments Due During the Semester (Abstracts, Papers, Short Exams) 

Assignments are due in my office (or by .pdf message during the pandemic) by the time posted on the syllabus. If you turn them in on time, I will return them to you within ten days—and often much sooner than that.

[c] Markers RF

If assignments are up to forty-eight hours late, there will be a two-point penalty* (an “88” on a paper will become an “86”, and an “8” on a short assignment will become a “7.8”). In short, if you have left things until the last minute, and cannot print or send your paper on time, you will have to accept a small penalty. Just chalk it up to experience and make sure that your planning is better next time. There will be absolutely no exceptions to this penalty. It is meant to provide a wake-up call (with stakes that are not too great) for those who occasionally leave things to the last minute.

If assignments are between two days and one week late, there will be a five-point penalty*—no exceptions (an “88” on a paper will become an “83” and an “8” on a ten-point short-assignment will become a “7.5”).

If assignments are over a week late, there will be a one-time ten-point penalty (an “88” will become a “78” and an “8” on a short assignment will become a “7”). 

These assignments will be accepted (with the ten-point penalty) for three weeks after the due date. There will be no credit after that date (no exceptions).

On Time:                           Full Credit

Two Days Late:                 -2 points 

Up to One Week Late:      -5 points
Over One Week Late:       -10 points

After THREE Weeks:         NO CREDIT 

Assignments turned in after the syllabus deadline will be graded when time permits. On-time assignments will always be given priority.

*The full version is that they are (2.0/0.2), (5.0/0.5), and 10.0/0.10) penalties, depending on the assignment. 

[d] Blooming RF

[Adapt for modules, of course]
Midterm Assessment

Students who have done little written work by the beginning of ninth week (right after break) will need to drop the class. It will not be possible to continue if there have been multiple absences, and papers have not been turned in. I will send academic warnings so that students know where they stand, but there will be little chance of passing if the first two or three assignments have been missed. Do not let things get to that point—if you find yourself falling behind, please contact me. We will discuss it (lafleur@beloit.edu).

Incomplete Grades

Students who have attended class regularly and have kept up with most assignments—but have had a legitimate reason—according to the Dean of Students office—must get incomplete contracts from the registrar and fill them out for my signature by class time on the last day of classes or they will receive failing grades. Please note that professors at Beloit College cannot give incomplete grades; students must get approval through the Dean of Students office and registrar. Talk to me about this well ahead of time if you think that you might need an incomplete for the course.

I expect all work to be turned in on time. The spirit of the late assignment policy is simply to acknowledge that sometimes everyone (even professors) falls behind. It is unacceptable to be late with numerous assignments. 

This is a course in which weekly work is fundamentally important, and late assignments week-after-week will very seriously affect your grade. Assignments are due when the syllabus states that they are due.

Please respect these deadlines—for both of our sakes!

[e] Done! RF

China's Lunar Calendar 2020 08-31

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/31.............................................................................................................8/23

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.  

Section One
Solar Calendar Date

卅
一

一期星

Eighth Month, Thirty-First Day
Monday August 31
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
生時
氣陽

Timely Yang
Engendered Vapor

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉凶凶
酉巳丑
吉吉中
戌午寅
吉凶凶
亥未卯

吉中中
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious

01:00-03:00 In-Between
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
 13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
苫作
蓋灶

Stove Work
Thatched Coverings

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
三
丙
午

水
心
開

Thirteenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingwu (43/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (5/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
祭
祀
掃
舎
班歲
煞破
天陰
火將
————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Sweeping Rooms

Baleful Astral Influences

Generational Destruction
Yin General
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Conflagration

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
白 火

White, Fire
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation for is under the bottom characters)

廚
碓 灶

Kitchen
Pestle, Stove

Class Attendance and Participation Policy 2020b

[a] Standing at attendance RF

Class Attendance, Class Participation,
and Computer Use Policy

All Classes

Autumn 2020

Robert André LaFleur                                                     Office Hours: Email me 

Morse Ingersoll 206                                                         (what a weird era this is)  
363-2005                                                                            lafleur@beloit.edu 

Please note that I have kept the gist of this post (used routinely, with small changes, over the last decade). I have made slight adjustments for the pandemic era, but certain details ("classrooms") are left as they were (Zoom is also a classroom).

A specter is haunting Beloit College—the specter of missed classes, half-empty classrooms, and disjointed learning. I have tolerated these patterns of vacuity in the past, but it has reached a point in which missed classes affect both the students who are absent and more punctual class members (who have to hear explanations for material and key points more than once...or twice). It also detracts from the pedagogical goals of not only our little course of study, but of liberal education in general. 

From here on, attendance is absolutely required.*

*Of course, I will work with anyone who has a letter from the college, and encourage anyone it is needed to get one immediately. I will always work with you. The substance of what is covered below is about making sure that students don't lose the "threads" of the class through too-frequent absence. My concern is for student learning, not keeping some arbitrary rule about absences.

[b] Late RF

                    ***  ***
I will expect regular attendance and participation in class. I will take attendance during every class session, and students will be expected to be on time and respectful of the length of breaks. While this may seem draconian, it is simply meant as a way to create a positive learning environment (see * above)

Class Attendance
You are expected to attend every class session during the term. Period. This is not a policy that “allows” one or two (or three) “misses.” Short of significant illness, or a major—catastrophic—event, you need to be in class. 

Class will begin promptly at the scheduled time, and there will be a quiz at that time.  All quizzes will be collected no later than twenty minutes after the scheduled beginning of class. Be in class on time and use your twenty minutes for the quiz. [During the modular, pandemic, schedule, we will have to adapt certain things, but it is not o.k. to skip the quiz and just show up twenty minutes after the beginning of class. The entire purpose of the quizzes is to stimulate thinking for class. If you are later than that, you will receive the minimum score (70), although you are still encouraged to fill it out for your general academic benefit.

Please note (the following information is new):
Class attendance and participation is expected. 
More than four hours of missed classes will result in the loss of a letter grade for the course.*
Ten or more hours of missed class will result in an F grade for the course.*
*Unless you have a letter and we have discussed strategies.

 ***  ***

Class time will cover significant issues that go beyond the foundation of materials you have been assigned. In other words, you are supposed to prepare with the readings and then take the quizzes in order to think in new ways about that material. In the class that follows, we will take all of that preparation in new directions (that is the purpose of class, after all). Much of what we do in class will figure prominently on future quizzes and exams. 

Occasionally, it will happen that you are not able to be in class, no matter what. These occasions should be rare, occurring for most students once or twice every third semester, and only a handful of times during an entire college education (I am not kidding).

Attendance matters.

[c] Portal RF

When absences do happen, send me an e-mail message letting me know. Please note the wording. Do not ask me for “permission.”  Do not plead for “leniency.” I prefer to deal with these matters the way members of any civil society would—with a sense of decorum and mutual respect. That is ultimately how I will evaluate your attendance. It is really quite simple to tell the difference between not being able to pry oneself away from Madden NFL 25® and experiencing an illness or loss. Don’t be too “personal” in your e-mail messages. I don’t want to pry, and I don’t need explanations (or, worse yet, excuses).  Just let me know the situation.

Class Participation
By “participation,” I mean being fully engaged in the lecture or discussion. This may or may not include active voicing of opinions or interpretations. In short, I do not belong to the school of thought that equates “talking” with participation and “silence” with lack of engagement. It is easy enough, after a quarter century of teaching, to see the exceptions. What I seek is solid preparation, engagement with the subject under discussion, and (eventually) evidence in your writing that these things have come together.
[For Zoom classes, it is not acceptable simply to lurk in the background. You need to be engaged, which means being ready to ask and answer questions. I do not want to see those people who do not appear on video just to "be in the background" passively.]

I expect you to listen to my (and your peers’) comments, and to add your interpretations whenever you feel compelled to do so. The best advice is for each student to push her or his “comfort zone” a little. If you are inclined to speak often, pull back (a little) and listen. If you rarely speak, push yourself to do so.

[d] Gathering RF

You need to have the required books with you for class discussion. In cases for which reserve materials have been necessary, you need at least a series of notes to which you can refer during our discussions. Reading books on reserve (or leaving it to the last minute) is never a valid reason for being unprepared.

After an initial “getting acquainted” process, I will start calling on people. This will never be punitive, and will only occasionally create (unwittingly) the kind of “I-don’t-know/deer-in-the-headlights” terror that makes everyone uncomfortable…for about ten seconds. I plan to get people talking about the materials with a minimum of fuss and worry—and will explain the process once the course gets underway.

The most important part of the “participation” expectation is note taking. I want you to explore various note-taking skills as part of your expanding liberal arts education. You will more than occasionally hear me say “write that down.” That is for emphasis. I expect all students to develop note-taking strategies so that they have useful materials for further analysis when writing papers or studying for exams. 

Do not dismiss the neurobiological power of physically writing the notes on paper. Not everything has to be digital (something I never had to mention before a few years ago).

[Unfortunately (for me), the following paragraph will not be enforced until we are back together in the classroom...whenever that will be].
Because I take the note-taking process so seriously, I am requiring that you keep a notebook that will be turned in as part of your class work. Notebooks will be due several times during the semester and at the end of the term. Do not "just listen." I don't deny the value of listening, but I feel that note-taking is becoming a dying art in our society, and I am requiring that you actively take notes about the course's subject matter, both in and outside of class.

[Obviously, the following paragraph will also not be in effect during Zoom classes].
Laptops and Classroom Computers
There will be no use of laptop or classroom computers during class time without approval. I realize that taking notes on computers can be a useful practice, but I would like to emphasize a number of other note-taking strategies in our class (see above). Part of a liberal education lies in pushing one’s boundaries. Experiment with various note-taking strategies. The only possible exception to this policy will be for clearly stated (mostly medical) needs. See me if you need approval. If you are curious (or incredulous) about this requirement, it is because there is a pandemic of social media monitoring in far too many classes, resulting in (while I am, for example, speaking of a tragic event or very serious issue) a loud guffaw and laugh while someone else has been checking social media feeds. This happens far, far, too often.
Keep your laptop, tablet, phone (etc.) in your bag during class.

[e] Connected RF

You may do a quick check of e-mail and social media during break if you wish, but you must complete your work before class resumes (with time to spare). Then put away your device.

Occasionally during class something will come up that might benefit from a quick on-line search. In those cases (these seem to occur a handful of times during the term), I may give permission for people to do a quick in-class check.  Such times are the exception, not the rule. For the most part, we will be engaged in a distant intellectual world of books and paper. It will be a healthy contrast to our “connected” worlds beyond the classroom.

Just to reiterate (and I shouldn’t even have to say it), turn off your phones…and everything else, too.

I fully realize that this is a great deal of legalistic material to handle at once. A single, sensible thread runs through all of it, though—a learning community that is engaged in examining old questions and pondering the new. Or, as Confucius was said to have said:

溫故而知新可以為師矣

Acquire new knowledge while pondering the old, 

and you may become a teacher of others

[f] Teaching RF

China's Lunar Calendar 2020 08-30

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/31.............................................................................................................8/23

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.  

Section One
Solar Calendar Date

三
十

日六星

Eighth Month, Thirtieth Day
Sunday August 30
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
合歲
日德

Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉中吉
酉巳丑
吉凶吉
戌午寅
吉凶凶
亥未卯

凶中中
23:00-01:00 Auspicious

01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 In-Between
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
 13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

 ————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
遠栽
行種

Planting and Cultivating
Distant Journeys

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
二
乙
巳

火
房
收

Twelfth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yiji (42/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Edifice (4/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
開會
市友
開訂
倉婚
捕嫁
捉娶
納理
畜髮
水
痕
重下
日兀
————

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Marriage Alliances
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Opening Granaries
Seizing and Capturing
Livestock Payments

Water Scar

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee
Doubled Days

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
白 神

White, Spirit
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation for is under the bottom characters)

碓
牀 磨

Pestle
Bed, Mortar