Fourth Writing Assignment
EngC 1014: University Writing and Critical Reading
Section 007, Spring 2007
Instructor: Michael Coleman
Email: Cole0384@umn.edu
Assignment 4: Course Evaluation
For your fourth and final assignment, I’m asking you to write an evaluation of the materials and methodologies used throughout our class. The purpose of this assignment is to both demonstrate to me what you have learned over the course of the semester and to help me determine what changes, if any, might need to be made to future syllabi. In many ways, this is the most important assignment of the semester, in that it allows students who have been less willing to participate in large group discussions to show me that they have learned something during their time spent in class.
Begin the evaluation by telling me which reading assignments you enjoyed the most and why. What did these assignments in particular teach you about reading and writing? [N.B. I would rather you refer to particular parts of certain texts that you found useful as opposed to more generalized comments.] Which of the assignments did you find least helpful? (Or, which assignment would you remove from the syllabus?) Why? For the second part of your response, I want you to evaluate the variety of teaching methods used in class, e.g., large group discussions, small group discussions, peer review sessions, unravel and films. Which of these contributed most to your learning throughout the semester? Which contributed least? Why?
This is meant to be an informal paper; however, it does still count for 5 percent of your final grade. Therefore I ask you all to take the assignment seriously. That having been said, I want you to speak your mind openly, so you can feel free to use a more conversational tone (something that I have been telling many of you to remove from your writing throughout the semester). This is the only paper where it will be acceptable to use “I� when talking about personal feelings and/or profanity (if you determine it’s warranted). The paper MUST be at least two pages (that means two full pages). Aside from that, I don’t care how long it is. Also, please make sure that you proofread. While I will not be returning these papers with comments, I will still be paying attention to how much time you put into it, and frequent errors will be taken as an indication that you did not take the assignment seriously. One final point, you will also be completing the university’s anonymous course evaluation at the end of this week, so if you want to say anything that will destroy me emotionally, I recommend you wait until then. The paper is due no later than 5 PM on Thursday, May 3.