Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 06:36:12 -0700 (MST)
Message-Id: <1.5.4.16.19971029083536.0dffbba6@pop.uvm.edu>
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To: socgrad@csf.colorado.edu
From: TR Young <TR.Young@uvm.edu>
Subject: Point Menu: How to Spend Your Points
At 07:45 AM 10/29/97 -0800, Angela wrote:
>TR,
>
>will you please elaborate on your method of a point menu? (Category C3
>in your outline)  what type of assignments and for how many points?  do
>you only give an 'a' or 'b' -- no matter the content (or lack of)?
>i like this idea but would appreciate some more detail.
>thanks in advance.
>
                                ********
Angela: I'm happy to share my point menu.s with you.

Each class has its own point menu but I usually adapt earlier versions
to the class at hand.  

For example...in an Intro course, I would set 200 points as the totality
of points a student has to 'spend'.

        A = 180 pts or better
        B = 160 pts 
        C = 140 pts
        d = 120 pts.

        Some universities count '+'s and '-'s; if they define 88% as an A-,
I adjust the point total accordingly...

I charge the student a given number of points, for example, I usually set
a small 25 point quiz in the 3rd week so students can learn about content
and format of other tests...mid-terms and finals...without risking too much
of their point total...


They can spend them on:

        1. TESTS   I usually require 50% of points be spent on tests...students 
                can spend points before the final and thus, avoid
studying/taking 
                the final...students tend to like that...and, if they have
points
                left over at the final, they can spend them on the final...thus
                if a student has 15 points left to spend, they can do the first
                and only the first 15 items on the final...I structure the final
                such that blocs of ten items cover a range of lectures/concepts.

        2. FIELD ASSIGNMENTS: 25 points each. These assignments are action
research 
                assignments. There is a separate guide sheet for these field
assignments. 
                Mentors sign and state the due date on it. There was a limit
of FOUR 
                for any one person.

        3. Movie Labs: There were eight or nine lab meetings at which a
movie is shown.
                A list of concepts is handed out; a mini-lecture [about 30
minutes] 
                responds to questions about given concepts from lecture/chapters
                already assigned. One is to use concepts with which to
explicate the movie
                shown. 25 quality points possible for each movie; there was
a limit of
                four [sometimes three] movies upon which any given student
can spend points.
                Movies include: My Fair Lady, The Dead Poets Society,
Beverly Hills Cops, 
                Other People's Money, Boyz'ntheHood, New Jack City, the
Wizard of Oz
                among others.

        4. SPECIAL Events worksheets were given out from time to time
coordinated with 
                events on campus. I attend myself...hand out worksheets and
collect them
                after the event...
                Usually these cost ten points; sometimes, to encourage the
student to attend                      and analyse the event, I will offer a
'profit'; i.e., they can spend 10
                points; answer ten questions and earn up to 12 points.

                An address by Howard Zinn at Radford University offered one
such project. An                      address by a theology professor,
Jacqueline Carr-Hamilton on the Presidential                     Campaign
offered a second. Sue Rosser spoke about women in science offered
                a third for students at Virginia Tech
           
        5.  SECRET ASSIGNMENTS: Sometimes, I pay a student 5 points to help
set up a special
                learning situation in class...typically, they have to
challenge my authority,
                ask questions which take the students breath away...or
generally open up new
                territory...these can be fun...   
 
        6.  SPECIAL PROJECTS: Students may submit two personal assignments
for up to 10 quality                   points each. Creativity is of the
essence for work. Cartoons, brochures, 
                editorial pieces in the school paper, even three dimensional
models of the 
                ideas in the various chapters qualify as extra credit work. 
                Songs, poetry and two page essays are also acceptable.

        7. SOAP OPERAS.  These are very popular.  I use four or five and let
students create
                more; Typically, a student who writes, produces, directs and
acts in a soap
                can earn 10 points...s/he can 'hire' up to four students and
pay them 5 points
                to act out...generally, the soap clarifies/illuminates three
concepts and one
                theory...I help write them if asked.    

                Soaps included: 
        
                Captain Science. Remember he is smarter than you are; he's
got a doctor's                 degree....in SOCIOLOGY! One episode of
Captain Science involved cultural 
                conflict; a tourist in a foreign restaurant made a gesture
of appreciation
                for service and food which was offensive in that culture.
Captain Science saved                 the day by explaining the varying use
of gestures to create social realities in                   differing societies.
                
                Life with Bev and Jack:  In one episode of Fun with Bev and
Jack, Bev meets Jack                  and brings him home to meet her
parents. Jack is unacceptable to the upper middle                 class
parents (Dad is the Black Governor of Virginia; Jack is a poor white boy in
                college on a scholarship).

                Fun with Dick and Jane: Usually these had to do with gender
relations; dating,
                role conflicts, role reversals, Valentine Day Gone Wrong and
such.

There is no limit to your creative genius in setting up ways for students to
spend their points.
and...over the course of two or three years, you will have a data bank upon
which to draw for
any given course...I have them for Social Problems courses, Crim courses and
for Intro courses.
You can create them for other courses in which you specialize.

Oh, and sometimes I have a Music Director who earns 5 points for having a
tape to play as 
students arrive...a tape which embodies the lecture or the soap scheduled
that day...one has
to work with the MD to have it done well.

                                        what ever you do, do it well and
have fun doing it,  TR
TR Young
The Red Feather Institute
8085 Essex, Weidman, Mi.,
  48893--ph: [517] 644 3089
  Email: tr@tryoung.com
         TR.Young@uvm.edu