Tips for Written Assignments in SPED 2000

We’ve had some very high-quality work turned in so far this semester and we appreciate the effort
you’ve put into assignments. As is often the case at the beginning of a course, there have been a few
folks who have been disappointed with their grades and would like more guidance. This document is
intended to help everyone – please take time to read it and let us know your questions or if you’d like to
meet in person to clarify anything!

This class requires 2 different types of writing assignments: Writing prompts and module assessments.
We’ll address these one at a time ….

Writing prompts

 Write specifically to the question, and include material from any specific resources mentioned in
the question
o Let’s take writing prompt #1 as an example:

“In her talk, “Our fights for disability rights--And why we’re not done yet”, Judith
Heumann discusses her early experiences with schooling and inclusion. Describe the
difficulties she mentioned. How are the challenges that she faced as a young child
related to the continuum of placements discussed in chapter two? Would it be
possible for something similar to happen today?”

So you’re asked to do 2 different things here –

1. Describe difficulties Judith shared in her TED talk
2. Relate those difficulties to the continuum of placements in the assigned chapter

So if this question asks you to do 2 things and you only do one of them, you’ve
basically only turned in 50% of the assignment. We didn’t deduct 50% for this, but if
you didn’t address how the continuum related to Judith’s school experiences, you
basically did half the assignment. As the semester moves forward, you should expect
that if you fail to address a part of the prompt, deductions will be taken accordingly.
Do you have to describe every difficulty and relate every school placement to the
continuum? No. But you do need to demonstrate that you paid enough attention to
the video to be able to talk about key challenges AND you need to show that you
read and understood the text and can relate it to the material, if we have asked you
to do so. We aren’t trying to trip you up here, but if we ask for something, provide it.

Bottom line: Break down writing prompts to make sure you are hitting all the
questions/key points

 Proofread your work

o This isn’t a writing course, but errors in grammar and spelling distract the reader. If
you include all required elements and address the prompt, you probably aren’t going
to lose points for typos … but if your work is between an A and a B and your writing is
sloppy, the reader is likely to assign the B. If you’re reading this carefully, use eLC
mail to send me a picture of a hedgehog and I’ll add a point to your lowest
 assignment grade. Back to business … Sloppy writing sends the message that the
assignment wasn’t important enough to run basic checks, and if a reader has spent
extra time trying to decode your errors or figure out what you’re talking about, a
lower grade is totally justified.

Module assessments

 All modules we assign will have an assessment at the end, and you will be graded based on
how carefully and accurately you address those questions. We expect to see you use
material from the module to answer the questions … so if a question asks how you might
approach a certain problem, you should refer back to how that issue was addressed in the
module, as opposed to coming up with what you think is a creative solution to the problem.
You may have wonderful and innovative ideas about how you would approach a problem, but
the point of the modules is to see if you can apply the material you were assigned. The
information in these modules is based on best practice in our field and is grounded in
research; that material should come out in your written response.

 Responses to modules will often be longer than responses to writing prompts , but don’t feel
you have to make them longer than is necessary to answer the question. If the question asks
you to “list 4 things …” find those 4 things in the module and list them. We don’t mind if you
want to elaborate but you don’t have to pad it. Just make sure you’re giving us an answer
from the module.

Bottom line: If you write a response to any assessment question that doesn’t refer back to
content in the module, you’re going to lose points. Check yourself before you submit.

Feedback

 When we grade your assignments, we will include basic information about why we deducted
points. If you aren’t seeing that feedback in eLC, please let us know! If you do see the
feedback, look back at your work and see if what we’ve written makes sense. It’s easy to feel
defensive when you lose points on the assignment, especially if you worked hard on it and
felt good about it when you submitted. By taking the time to consider what the evaluator
said and how it relates to the work you did, you can often head off future mistakes. And if
you are truly confused as to why you lost points, ask us … that’s why we are here!

 We are happy to meet with you to look over your work and help you identify ways to
improve. We are not happy to meet with you so that you can convince us to add points to
your grade, so please be aware that this will not be an outcome of any meeting you set up.

Finally, don’t spend time stressing about grades to date. When calculating the final grade, we will
drop your lowest quiz score and your lowest written assignment (which could be a writing prompt or
a module assessment, but not both). This class is made up of many small-point assignments and 2
exams. No one is at a point where they cannot earn an excellent grade by the end of the semester.
Let us know your questions! This is an online course, but we are on campus and available to the
extent you need us.