Recitation Syllabus
Sociology 1006: Social Construction of Sexuality
Spring 2006
Teaching Assistant: Marshall Smith
My Office: Ketchum
310
Office Hours: Mondays 2:00-3:00,
Wednesdays 2:00-3:00 and by request
Coffee Hours: Selected dates and times,
to be announced.
My Email:
Marshall.Smith@Colorado.edu
Recitation Times/Locations:
SOCY 1006-031, Tuesdays 8:00-8:50, KTCH 303
SOCY 1006-032, Tuesdays 9:00-9:50, DUAN
G2B60
SOCY 1006-033, Thursdays 8:00-8:50, MUEN
D144
SOCY 1006-034, Wednesdays 2:00-2:50, MUEN
E417
Recitation Description
The recitation sessions for SOCY 1006: Social Construction
of Sexuality supplement the lecture, allowing students to discuss and expound
upon the themes brought up by Glenda and the readings. In addition,
recitations give students the opportunity to explore some themes not addressed
in the lecture or the readings. Since recitations require discussion,
student participation is required for a successful class. Despite the
title of “recitation” I will not be reciting material given by
Glenda in lecture. We will focus on application and evalutation of concepts
introduced in lecture and readings through discussion of media examples and
current events.
Classmate Information
Classmates may be an important source of information and aid
for the class. Should you have to miss class, you are asked to get missed
notes and assignments from your classmates. The teaching assistant will
not supply missed material for you barring special circumstances. In
addition, classmates will peer-edit papers and may be used to form study groups
for exams. Please take a moment to get the contact information of at
least two classmates.
Name: ________________ Email: ______________________ Phone: ________________
Name: ________________ Email: ______________________ Phone: ________________
Office Hours and Coffee Hours
Office hours are an additional resource available where
students can discuss course concepts, paper topics, concerns about the class,
or anything else of sociological relevance. Students who visit office
hours tend to earn better grades. I encourage you to come and discuss any
concerns, issues, or ideas you have in office hours either with me or Glenda.
Coffee hours are similar to office hours, except they are
held at coffee shops nearby campus. Instructors are not required to hold
coffee hours; I hold them because the casual environment is more conducive to
good discussions. Hopefully, each of you will be able to frequent coffee
hours and join the discussion. These will be announced throughout the semester.
WebCT
WebCT will be an essential resource for this class.
Important class-related information, lecture outlines, and announcements will
be posted to WebCT. Students are responsible for all material posted to webCT.
You should check webCT at least once a week in order to keep current with
class. There will be also be opportunities for students to post to the
Discussion area of webCT themselves. You should be automatically entered into
the webCT component of the course as you are officially enrolled in the course.
If you do not have access to this course from your webCT page please let me
know as soon as possible so this can be remedied.
Assignments and Grades
There will be several required assignments that will comprise your recitation
grade. You will find that in addition to the multiple choice exams there is a
lot of writing required for this course. Please consider this when choosing
whether or not to remain enrolled at the start of the semester. I reserve the
right to change the assignments and grading scales for recitation based on
class specific interests and demands.
Reading Summaries (20 Points)
Every Monday before lecture, you should submit a
short summary for each of the readings assigned for that week. Reading
summaries that have not arrived in my InBox prior to 1:00pm on Monday
afternoons will not be accepted for credit. Reading summaries will become a
resource that students can use both for studying and for writing papers.
An example of this assignment will be available on webCT. These are meant to
become a resource that will be useful for you both for studying for exams as
well as for writing papers. They also let the instructional team gauge
students’ assessment and comprehension of readings in comparison to what
we expect.
Reading summaries will have two parts. First each
summary should include three to five (3-5) main points from the reading
and should contain no more than 150 words. You may write the summaries in
paragraph form, or you may create a bulleted list of the main points.
Regardless of which style you choose, please write in complete sentences and
use correct spelling and grammar.
The second part of each summary will be to include one to
three (1-3) verbatim quotes from the article that you thought were most important.
Each quote may be no longer than 50 words. At the end of each of these quotes
you should include a complete citation for the quote including, in parentheses,
the author’s last name, the year the article was published, a colon, and
the page number where the quote appears i.e. (Rubin 1993:114). Please see the
guide for referencing and quoting material for papers and/or the online example
assignment to clarify questions about how this should be done.
Reading summaries will be graded on a full-credit/half-credit/no-credit
basis. To receive credit, you must demonstrate having put forth
reasonable effort toward correctly summarizing the article and identifying
important quotes, while staying within the guidelines described in the previous
paragraph. If you did not read every word of the assigned reading please
be honest. When this is the case please summarize as much as you did read and
then write, “I did not do/complete the reading,” and you will
receive half credit, so long as you do not abuse this privilege.
Reading summaries should be
submitted to your TA via email before 1:00pm every Monday. The subject of
your email should be "Reading Summary." Please write your
summary in the body of the email; do not send attachments or include other correspondence
in the email. If you have difficulty accessing a computer for the purpose
of email, obtain permission from the TA to submit a hard copy of the summaries.
The TA will not send
confirmation that your summary was received. Instead, you may look on
WebCT for confirmation. You should also save a copy of your email should
a discrepancy arise.
Attendance (20 Points)
An attendance sheet will be passed around during each
recitation session. It is your responsibility to sign the attendance
sheet; failing to do so will result in no credit. If you show up late for
recitation, you will not be allowed to sign the attendance sheet.
Every student receives two free absences, regardless of the
reason. There is no need to inform the TA of an impending absence, nor do
you have to divulge the reason for your absence. If you miss a recitation where
we participate in an activity worth points you will have the opportunity to
come to another recitation section or complete a make-up assignment similar to
what we worked on in class. It is your responsibility to contact me in order to
arrange for this within 48 hours of missing recitation. If you choose to come
to another recitation section you do not need to notify me ahead of time but
let me know at the recitation section that you do attend.
Short Paper (30 Points)
You will be writing a short ‘practice paper’
that will be worth 30 points of your recitation grade. This practice paper is
intended to give students the opportunity to get feedback on their writing
before working on the activity paper which is worth a large portion of your
final grade. Details about this assignment will be posted to WebCT later in the
semester when this is assigned.
Participation in Class Activities (20 Points)
Throughout the semester there will be opportunities within
recitation to earn points for participating in in-class activities. Given the
difficulties of trying to measure participation by some standard of frequency
and ‘quality’ of contributions to discussions, points that would be
attributed to participation will come from these activities. These activities
will vary and the point values of each activity will therefore vary as well.
Blog Submissions (10 Points)
You will be asked to submit two items related to course
material to the class blog during the course of the semester. Each post will be
worth up to 5 points. Posts to the class blog can be anything you find on the
Internet that is relevant to course material. Your post should include a few short
sentences explaining how the item is related to course material including which
particular course themes or concepts from readings the post addresses.
Blog submissions will be graded on a
full-credit/half-credit/no credit scale. Submissions that specifically identify
course material, either from lecture or reading, and explain how it connects
with the item they posted should receive full credit.
Students are encouraged to respond
to the blog entries, and doing so may be taken into consideration for your
final grade should you have a border-line grade at the end of the semester.
Extra Credit
CU sponsors a number of guest
speakers and events throughout the semester relevant to class concepts.
To complete an extra-credit assignment, attend an approved speech or
event. Then, write a blog entry about the event you attended and submit
it to WebCT. You may do up to five extra-credit assignments, each of
which will earn you one point on your overall course grade. Thus you have
the opportunity to earn an additional 1.25% of your final grade with extra
credit.
Possible extra-credit speeches and
events will be announced via WebCT, which you should check on a weekly
basis. Alternatively, you may approach the TA with an extra-credit possibility
prior to writing the summary.
An extra-credit blog entry should be
about 250 words in length and should briefly summarize the speech or
event. In addition, it should answer the question, "How does this
illustrate or relate to class concepts?" using at least one class theme
and one class reading. Be sure to correctly cite the class reading(s) as well
as the speech or event. Failure to follow these guidelines or to
adequately relate the speech or event to at least one class reading will
result in no credit.
Students are encouraged to respond
to the blog entries, and doing so may be taken into consideration for
your final grade should you have a border-line grade at the end of the
semester.
A Final Word on Recitation Grades
Altogether it is possible to earn 100 points in recitation. This is out of 400
total points for the course or one quarter of your final grade. The breakdown
of points will be as follows:
|
Assignment |
Points |
|
Reading Summaries |
20 |
|
Short Paper |
30 |
|
Class Activities |
20 |
|
Blog Submissions |
10 |
|
Attendance |
20 |
|
Extra Credit |
5 |
Assessment of Papers
All papers, except the reading summaries, will be graded on the following
scale:
|
Grade |
Percentage |
Description |
|
A |
90-100 |
Exceeds all required elements of an assignment, and the quality of the work is considerably greater than required. |
|
B |
80-89 |
Meets all required elements of an assignment, and the quality of the work is better than required. |
|
C |
70-79 |
Meets all required elements of an assignment, no more, no less. Quality of assignment is satisfactory. |
|
D |
60-69 |
Only meets some of the required elements of an assignment, and/or the quality of the assignment is considerably lower than satisfactory. |
|
F |
50-59 |
Fails to meet all required elements of an assignment, and/or the quality of the assignment is somewhat less than satisfactory. |
Final Grades will be assigned based on the following scale:
|
Average |
Grade |
GPA |
|
93+ |
A |
4.0 |
|
90+ |
A- |
3.7 |
|
87+ |
B+ |
3.3 |
|
83+ |
B |
3.0 |
|
80+ |
B- |
2.7 |
|
77+ |
C+ |
2.3 |
|
73+ |
C |
2.0 |
|
70+ |
C- |
1.7 |
|
67+ |
D+ |
1.3 |
|
63+ |
D |
1.0 |
|
60+ |
D- |
0.7 |
|
59- |
F |
0 |
________________________________________________________________________
University Statements
Expected Workload
As per university policy, an undergraduate student should expect to spend
approximately 3 hours per week outside of class for each credit hour
earned. Therefore, you should expect to spend approximately 12 total
hours per week in the completion of this course. You may see the
definition of a credit hour at
http://www.colorado.edu/FacultyGovernance/MOTRES/BFAxm_90105.html.
Add/Drops
Class-size limits are set according to departmental guidelines and the fire
code, both of which specify the number of students that can be enrolled in each
course. Therefore, please do not ask the instructional team if you can be
added to the course. Students who do not attend at least one of the first
two recitations will be automatically dropped, and those on the waitlist will
be automatically added. Use the CU Connect to verify if you have been
dropped or added. The address is https://cuconnect.colorado.edu.
Disability Accommodations
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to the
instructor a letter from Disability Services by the end of the third week of
class so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines
accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671,
Willard 322, or www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices.
Religious Holidays
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every
effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all students who, because of
religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments, or
required attendance. If you need to miss class for a religious holiday
please submit a letter to the instructor by the end of the third week of
class. For a copy of CU’s policy regarding religious holidays,
visit: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html.
Classroom Behavior
Students and faculty each have the responsibility to maintain an appropriate
learning environment. Students who do not adhere to behavioral
expectations will be asked to leave the class and will forfeit their attendance
points for that day. Severe or repeated infractions of behavioral
expectations will be subject to further discipline. Instructors have the
professional responsibility to treat students with understanding, dignity and
respect, to guide classroom discussion and to set reasonable limits on the
manner in which students express opinions. See CU’s behavioral polices at
www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html and at
www.colorado.edu/studentaffairs/judicialaffairs/code.html#student
Academic Integrity
All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for
knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this
institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism,
aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening
behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the
Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-725-2273). Students who are
found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to
both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions
(including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion).
Other information on the Honor Code can be found at
http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html and at
http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/
You may be asked to submit any written work during the
semester to www.turnitin.com. This is a measure we are taking to prevent
plagiarism, recycling old papers, and students turning in the same paper to
different instructors. TurnItIn.com is a plagiarism service provided to all
faculty at CU-Boulder. This service retains a copy of the submitted work for future
comparisons.
Sexual Harassment Policy
The University of Colorado Policy on Sexual Harassment applies to all students,
staff, and faculty. Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual attention.
It can involve intimidation, threats, coercion, or promises that create
an environment that is hostile or offensive. Harassment may occur between
members of the same or opposite gender and between any combination of members
in the campus community: students, faculty, staff, and administrators.
Harassment can occur anywhere on campus, including the classroom, the
workplace, or a residence hall. Any student, staff or faculty member who
believes s/he has been sexually harassed should contact the Office of Sexual
Harassment (OSH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at
303-492-5550. Information about the OSH and the campus resources
available to assist individuals who believe they have been sexually harassed
can be obtained at: http://www.colorado.edu/sexualharassment/