Critical Writers

Transitioning from High School to College is tough and it does not help when Covid-19 is in the mix. For all of us our spring semesters were cut short and brought online, with that came the feeling of uncertainty and laziness. Now fast forward to today we are all back to our new normal, which can come with some shock. There is also a huge difference between High School classes and College courses. High School is a steppingstone, high school was there to teach you the necessary materials to pass the year. Everything was geared towards the final exam at the end of the year, although they were in the process of transitioning us to be successful in college. College is where it all matters, it is where a person grows and learns to become that person they want to be. Dr. Beth McCoy’s writing seminar Risks and Rewards for Academic Partnership will aid in the growth of care for accountability, personal growth, and peers’ growth.

A huge factor this course plays with growth mindset is the ability that we will be learning to assess our own works. Dr. McCoy will assist by offering feedback, but we will be assessing our works using care for accountability, personal growth, and peers’ growth. This is an amazing growth opportunity because it comes with learning that it depends “on trust, transparency, accountability, care, and acknowledging the possibility of harm” (Dr. McCoy). All of these are important characteristics to learn when learning about the care of accountability. The care of accountability is an important lesson to learn and comes with many benefits. Accountability comes with a lot of trust, you are in control of your actions, if something is not done then it is on you. A benefit to learning this skill now is that we are learning to value our work as well as building confidence, which will be beneficial throughout the duration of college as well as life. You are learning the ability to go over your work and seek out the priorities. This is a privilege that will teach so many life skills, but if not gone about properly could risk a lack of trust. You will be affecting yourself, but also your peers. If you cannot properly determine your grade it could lead to the lose of trust from your Professor and your peers.

How you go about this course is on you, but your choices and actions reflect on everyone. This course comes with its opportunities, “You have the opportunity to care for the course, for yourself, and for others” (McCoy). If there is no care for the course, then the energy you put in will not help. Caring for the course will provide you with the right motivation that will help you to succeed. You have the ability to determine your grade, that does not mean that you give yourself a grade you do not deserve. The chance to look into your work and thoroughly go through and determine how well you did on that assignment is a really great lesson to learn. With grading your own work, you have the risk of failing yourself. It is a lot easier to fail ourselves because we are our own enemy. We are so tough on ourselves that we will critique our work to a higher degree than needed. Dr. McCoy will be there to help guide us in the right direction with her very helpful notes, in fact in the syllabus she states “Meaningfully, thoughtfully, and honestly assess their own coursework based on feedback they receive from instructors and from peers” (McCoy). As much as this course is about you learning new skills, it is also about working as a team. We can help and learn from each other.

This course offers so many opportunities to receive rewards, even if that means learning from the risks. Whatever you put into this course you will get out of it. For me I am excited to learn how to grade myself with just the right amount of criticism. I am my own enemy; I am so harsh on myself when it comes to reviewing my work, so I am ready to learn how to accept criticism from others and from myself. Something I have been working towards is having a growth mindset and with this course I will be able to make that dream a reality. This course has the potential to help every student learn new skills and reach their goals. By learning about risks and rewards I have learned that everything has a consequence, it is just whether it is good or bad. But the good thing is that the risks in this course will lead to more knowledge. With this course you set your goals and limits, and then its up to you to achieve them. Practicing “How to perform meaningful, good-faith, principled self-assessment and accountability is an important professional and personal skill” (McCoy). In other words, the class for The Risks and Rewards of Academic Partnership will help you grow both in a professional mannerism and within your own skill set.

The Risks and Rewards of Academic Partnership course offers so many great skills. With this course comes responsibility for it is up to you to grade and assess your own works. This course may prove difficult for some people since they must set forth their own discipline, but for some this may provide them with so much growth. At the end of the day this course will help each student grow and develop into who they want to be if they care for the course. Caring for the course will lead to the eagerness to learn. The good thing about learning new things is always remembering what you have learned so that you can look back onto it one day. This course will give you so much freedom to explore the rights and wrongs of how to self-assess. I am ready to learn and develop a good growth mindset.  

One of the most reliable ways to receive the truest grade of a student in my opinion, is to make them grade their work themselves. Just like the name of the course, “Risk and Rewards,” there are many risks and rewards that come with the course, being a self-evaluated subject. In this class, everything we do is based around care; care for my growth, care for my peers’ growth, and care for my course accountability.

In the course syllabus, a major part of our grades is determined based on our “care for my course accountability.” This makes up 20% of our grade at the end of the semester, which will be on a 1-100 scale. The risk of having this privilege is not having an in-person teacher to remind you to do the work, you just have to do it yourself. If you are not a motivated person, this freedom could be your downfall. For example, if you aren’t on the lookout, checking your email, checking canvas, doing extra credit, you’ll begin to forget to check your work, and gradually fall behind.

However, having the freedom to hold yourself accountable, has even more, long-term benefits. Later in life, when we all live on our own, without our parents or other guardians, we will have to hold ourselves accountable. No one is going to be there, reminding us about chores we have to do, or to pay our bills. This option we have in this course prepares us for the later in life experience we need.

The second evaluation that makes up a large portion of our grade is the “care for my growth,” mentioned in the syllabus. This makes up 40% of our final grade and is once again determined by us on a scale of 1-100. This section of our grade is made up of our ability to apply feedback given to us by our peers, apply key course concepts, essentially just how much care and effort we put into improving our work. The risk of this freedom that we have is that since our work isn’t graded by a professor, we may not concern ourselves with the quality of our work, leading to our work gradually becoming lower and lower quality.

The reward of having this privilege is in the future it’ll be easier to honestly evaluate how we’re doing. Even now just in other college courses we’re taking, we can be able to feel more motivated to remain consistent throughout the semester. Having the ability to grade yourself, makes you want to be even more on track with your work. I think there’s a direct correlation between the quality of work improving and being honest. Because once you realize that YOU grade YOURSELF, you don’t want to be dishonest, so you try to improve the quality of your assignments.

The last evaluation we have to make at the end of the semester is our ability to “care for peers’ growth.” In my opinion I think this is the most important section of our evaluation. This self-assessed section will make up 40% of our final grade and is once again based on a 1-100 scale. I think a unique quality of this course is that once we submit an assignment, the other students enrolled in the course have the ability to assess our work and leave comments and advice to improve our work. Now, obviously I think a risk here is that someone could become offended by the criticism on their work or disagree and become upset with the advice. Personally, the risk I see here is that some students could be anxious to make their assignments public, in fear that the other students will judge their work; or vice versa, they could be afraid to comment on another students work because they don’t want to upset anyone or have another student think their critiques were not legitimate. 

I think that this section is the most important because throughout life, everyone receives constructive criticism from others, and this objective in the course teaches us how to take the criticism and apply it to our work to improve it. Most of the time criticism is used to help better others, and in life, when people offer it, it’s probably better to take the advice and use it, rather than disregard it and stay the same. Having people there constantly being able to evaluate your work will help us all improve the quality of it, and hopefully if we remember their advice, we can apply it to our work in the future.

After reading over and evaluating the key concepts of this course, I’ve come to the conclusion that the majority of the time, the rewards outweigh the risk, at least academically. The rules of this course are more unique, and I think that rewards us with more experience for future courses.

In Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild,” there are many decisions made inside of a “preserve.” A preserve is a space where there is power, so much so that it can both make choices possible and set limits on them. In this course, we are almost in our own type of “preserve.” In fact, life in general is in some ways a “preserve.” No matter the choices you make in life, they are your choices, and most will have risks and rewards. The risks are what limits choices in a way that you cannot become too overwhelmed from the power of creating you own destiny. In this course specifically, we are given lots of freedom, yet that freedom can be exactly what sets some limits. A person is always they harshest critic, so the self-evaluation aspect of this course should make me dive deeper into my writing than ever before. The large emphasis placed on care in this course gives me enough freedom that I have to make critical choices, but not too much that I do not feel I have guidance. 

Going along with the course syllabus, the first aspect of care is care for course accountability. This is probably where the most critical choices will have to be made. As stated by Professor McCoy in the syllabus, she will “offer feedback on your work, but you will assess that work, a process that depends on trust, transparency, accountability, care, and acknowledging the possibility of harm.” That alone is so much responsibility, and it needs to be handled with grace and care. Although I can make choices for myself, this almost sets more limits. Although I technically choose how I am graded, I cannot give myself I grade I feel is undeserved. This gives me the responsibility to set my own limits and choose what is really fair for my grade. For example, if I am not keeping up with my work, even though I am self-assessed, I could not in good conscience give myself a good grade. Being held accountable is a blessing and a curse because I can choose when to do my work, but I also need to make sure I am keeping up with all my deadlines. Although the risks are high, the rewards have the potential to be so great that I just need to make sure I make the best of my time in this “preserve” of the course.  

Although this ties into care for course accountability, the care for self-growth is unique and important in its own way. I like to interpret this as the process of learning and thinking instead of just memorizing and repeating. Like Professor McCoy stated in the syllabus, “it is equally important to take care about process.” If I need to learn something, the process of this learning should be just as important as the lesson itself. Self-growth will not just happen overnight, it is a whole process. Although I am being provided the freedom to grow as an individual, the process of growth can be difficult to manage. I cannot just take the easy route in writing a piece, turning it in, and being done right then. I have to make sure I am double and triple checking before I turn in my first draft. Even from there I will have more edits to make and even more I can work on. This may be challenging, but it will allow me to someday have the tools I need to be an independent and hardworking person. Although these limits may seem invisible, they most definitely are not, and they will affect my growth in the future. 

With all this responsibility on myself, the care for peer growth aspect is so important. Although there is some freedom because of the ability to help others with their work, I think the important part of the peer growth is how they will help me. It sets limits for me, it will show me where changes need to be made and how to make them. It gives a level of guidance that would not be received if it were not for all of us caring about peer growth. Our discussions in the forums will be meaningful, not just for that very moment, but to help me grow in a long-term manner. These “discussions are places to bring people together sometimes as an entire class and often in smaller groups to contribute thinkING and get responses from peers,” as stated in the syllabus provided by Professor McCoy. The main purpose of this course is to see improvement as a thinker. With the help of many different perspectives, I will be provided with the clarity I need to become a better writer. I will be able to improve my craft with all the possibilities being provided to me by my peers, while they will also act as an editing tool to help me identify the limits.  

All of this cycles back to this course being a “preserve” in one way or another. I do feel like I have more freedom in this course than most others I have taken in my life, yet there is still a sense of limitation. I don’t necessarily feel like I can just do whatever I want whenever I want. I’ve noticed myself striving to be my best for me, not for the grade. I have found that this course has allowed my brain to flourish in ways I didn’t even know were possible. It is no longer just words on a paper, its thinking through every sentence and analyzing each piece to make sure it is the best it can be, and honestly, right now they never are the best they can be. This is why it is good that I submit it for feedback, because after each assignment I have the ability to go back and make it even better. I do this wanting to feel the fulfillment of doing a good job, not looking to up my grade. Even though I may be writing and editing more than I normally would, which most would consider a limit, I feel free to be the best writer I can be. 

In many college writing classes I get assigned an essay to write and the professor gives me my grade based on what he or she considers is the standard for writing. This standard could be different for every professor though. However, when I grade myself, the standard is mostly up to me and I get to decide what I consider meets that standard.

Self-assessed classes can be very freeing and less restrictive than other classes where I am getting graded by the teacher based on the teacher’s beliefs and standards. In this type of class I can decide myself what I have earned. Of course, I can lie and say I deserve an A when I put in little to no effort, but that could lead to not getting anything out of the class. I can also work extra hard and create high standards for myself to meet and learn a lot more that I would have.

In the class The Risks and Rewards of Academic Partnership, taught by Dr. Beth McCoy, I am able to assess myself based on the rubric by Dr. McCoy. This rubric is to measure my care for my course accountability, care for my growth and care for my peer’s growth. The rubric is something that comes along with assessing myself, though as long as I show care and effort I should earn the grade I want.Though, others may see the rubric as something that limits them, in my opinion, having the rubric is not a restriction, but more something to help us guide us through and get something out of the class. 

Although self-assessment has many positives, there are also some risks that are involved. In a traditional classroom, where professors give me the grade that they think is the most suitable for me, there is an incentive to try hard and get the best grade possible, when assessing myself, that incentive can go away. Suddenly, all of the will to try hard is on me. I have to decide what my standards are. I can have extremely low standards and put little to no effort in, which is fine, but will I really be getting much out of that class? Later in life when I have to work hard or apply the skills I should have learned in the class, I can’t. When I do not put in hard work into a class I can’t learn from it.

On the other hand, I can set really high standards for myself and work as hard in that class as I would for any other class I take. Self-assessment could work really well when the student actually works hard. In this case, the student has freedom to be as creative as they want and write in their own style. As long as they apply themselves, and grow in the class, they get the grade they deserve. 

After every essay I write in The Risks and Rewards of Academic Partnership, Dr. Beth McCoy gives me feedback on what she liked and what I can still improve on. This can be very helpful to the student who wants to get something out of this class. If the student has very high expectations for themselves, they can take Dr. McCoy’s advice and really use it to grow and learn. Although, if I am only doing the assignments because I feel I have to, and not to get anything out of it, these comments will not do anything for me at all. They can only help me if I want them to help me.

I have found Dr. McCoy’s feedback to be very helpful. Through her feedback, I have been able to improve my writing with every essay I write. I am also able to revise my writings to make them better and really learn through my mistakes. So far, I have learned to slow down my writing and really express what I am thinking. I know that by the end of the class I can improve immensely through applying myself and listening to her feedback.

In The Risks and Rewards of Academic Partnership, we read the short story “Bloodchild” by Octavia Butler. There are many comparisons you can make to this story and this class. In “Bloodchild”, the characters live in a preserve on another planet run by aliens. On this planet, humans are used as carriers for the alien’s eggs and are forced to undergo a birthing process that may be fatal. The aliens and humans must create a trust with each other in order to live and work together. This is similar to the relationship between the professor and student. A student must trust that the professor knows what they are doing and is guiding them through the right path. The professor must trust that the student is being honest and putting in as much effort into their work as they are showing. Another comparison is that restriction of having to carry and birth the eggs is similar to the restriction of the rubric. The humans are free to live on their planet rent free but the one catch is that they have to carry the eggs, similar to how the students in a self-assessed class have the freedom to grade themselves but the restriction of the rubric.

Although some may jump at the chance to take a self-assessed class, others may decide that it is not for them. They may realize that they don’t have the discipline for it or they may just not want the pressure to be all on them. Some may also decide that they do not like the restriction of having a rubric to follow when they are assessing themselves. That is why taking a self-assessed course can be both very freeing and very restricting at the same time.

It is certainly not news to anyone that the United States is enduring arguably one of the most strange and stressful times in our nation’s history. With uncertainty and fluster at an all-time high, education was a huge question right from the start. How would it be carried out? Could we go back to learn? Will everything be online? The question that scared not only students, but parents, teachers and staff as well. The outcome resulted in a hybrid-learning scenario in most cases, where students could attend classes in person while balancing online classes and completing numerous, if not all, assignments completely virtually. As many pessimists believe this is a disastrous way of learning, there really is no better solution due to the situation at hand. Although I am currently writing from my bedroom at home, taking the class INTD-105 from home certainly has its risks and rewards from the perspective of a freshman in college. 

Located about 6 hours from Geneseo, I am in no reach of any of my professors to say the least. I am an optimist and usually understand that I need to make the best of the situation I am given. The rewards of college being online are in equilibrium to that of the risks. A college course is a prime example of a “preserve” or a space wherein power both makes choices possible and sets limits on them. In other words, this means that given the situation of power, there are opportunities to reap the great rewards of a task, that being given after the risks are thrown your way. For example, as a fan of writing, I was fully aware that I was walking into a writing course that was completely online. Now for some, they insist that they need a professor with them around the clock to help adjust and tweak their writing following the submission of their work. This was not the case for me. Prior to following through on this decision of taking the class, I not only knew I could be independent if the class needed me to be as I am merely writing and gaining experience regardless if there is a professor to troubleshoot my work or not, but I also understand that Geneseo has had a colossal block of time to work on their online experience. I was sure this experience had now included communication amongst all my professors if I needed them or vice-versa, a smooth and organized hub for all of the courses I had been taking, an efficient and neat calendar where I could preview my list of assignments and when they are due as well as how they interfere with other due dates, and a source of communication with my other peers to comment and learn from their works of literature. These being all included in not only INTD-105, but for the rest of my other college courses has ultimately resulted in an immense weight being taken off my shoulders and an undeniably less stressful work environment being created. Although this was a major risk, I knew the consequences that I could have potentially faced. In the end, I could not have been happier with the overall result of online learning in INTD-105. Despite the fact that this class has currently stood the tests of time when it comes to online learning and the importance of retaining the information as stated by Dr. Beth McCoy “I had been moving steadily away from linking feedback for growth to stress-producing grades that end up inevitably becoming the focus instead of the learning that is one of the first words in Geneseo’s Mission Statement”, other classes have not so much followed suit.  

With many college teaching styles being completely foreign to upcoming freshman into college, I praise Beth in her understanding that no one alive has ever faced such a pandemic, not to mention the continuation of learning that has to be done along with it. In spite of taking advanced placement courses in high school, it is rest assured that no class or preparation can get you ready for college besides college itself. Time management is a completely different animal once you get to this level and in my eyes, that is one of the biggest rewards for such a substantial risk at stake. Certainly, high school teachers attempted to mimic the workload of that course at the collegiate level, but it is nowhere near the same. This being my first ever writing seminar course, I can say confidently, it is one in its own. Beth has taught me a multitude about not just writing, but time management, discipline, and thinking all in the short time I have been with her. With constant mindful revisions of my work, she is certainly a hefty reward for the risk I took in committing to Geneseo under strictly virtual circumstances!  Although I have taken it upon myself to take INTD-105 as well as my other courses online, there are several downsides to not living the college experience that I hope to soon gain. 

As all walks of education slowly adjust to the not-so-easy year of 2020, we can look back upon all the hardships that got us where we are today. Countless risks and rewards play a role in almost everyone’s lives and there are certainly limits that these choices give us to help answer the big question: are the rewards going to be worth taking the risk? In my eyes, life is full of risks and rewards and that is not necessarily a negative thing. With INTD-105 being one of many preserves in my life, it serves as a way I can honestly grade myself based on the effort I have put into the class in addition to having access to Beth who is always there (virtually!) to assist and improve upon my works of literature. While numerous risks I took included learning strictly through zoom and modules, the lack of college experience, and the struggle of being engaged in the lesson within my prominent setting still remain, the rewards of having a professor’s help at my fingertips, minimum distractions, economic relief, and more time to socialize with my friends still stands. Yes, students in INTD-105 have choices to make in taking risks in turn for rewards, but it is all a part of the process for a modern-day student forging their own destiny despite the monumental issues the nation faces today. 

College is a place where you get to know yourself and who you want to be in life. The campus life and people around you aid to shape your aims and ambitions. Any college class you take, whether required for your major or completely voluntary will also shape your experiences. Each course comes with risks and rewards that all depend on how much time and effort you put forth. College courses and college in general can be compared to a “preserve”, a space wherein power both makes choices possible and sets limits on them.

Nothing could come close to preparing you for a real college class. In high school they try to mimic the course load or teaching styles to introduce you to them ahead of time, but even AP classes do not compare. These courses you take are impossible to do well in if you do not manage your time or put in the effort. The first day of class you are given a syllabus which tells you all the goals and requirements in the course. INTD 105 risks and rewards of academic partnership is a course that introduces students to college level persuasive writing and reading. Your professor is the one that comes up with what you read, discuss, and write about, this could be the limit set on the coursework. You must stay within certain guidelines to get the grade that you want and/or deserve. According to the syllabus for INTD 105 all students should be able to “read significant texts carefully and critically, recognizing and responding to argumentative positions”. Whether this is an article or a video, you need to be able to thoroughly understand your source in a way that makes it second nature proving your point. Although you do not get to choose your topic, the prompt can be interpreted in multiple ways, so there is no way you can get it “wrong”.

Something new that affects our semester is online learning which has come with more risks and rewards. Academic partnership is hard to achieve when you cannot have conversation face to face. Although the face to face conversation is halted, seeing others posts and finding that my classmates opinions differ from mine increases my thinkING.  I find it very difficult to fully engage in online courses, including this one. Instead of courses giving me a great deal of interest in person, they seem to drag on when I must do all the teaching myself online. I cannot think of many rewards that come with learning online other than the fact that it makes me slow down and I can do everything at my own pace.

There is so much potential to grow in INTD 105, which is what I love about the course. Even with guidelines and limits made, you decide how well you do in the course. “Assignments for which you will receive feedback and offer feedback are ungraded assignments”, this takes the pressure off making the essay perfect and puts more pressure on making it so that you can spark a conversation. Including multiple check-ins within the course you can make goals and assess if you have met them or not after spending more time in the class. The feedback that I have been received is incredibly helpful in my goal making process and for fixing problems in my future essays.

Considering the limits placed on me in this course as well as the rewards I can obtain I have come up with a few goals for myself. I would like to take my time to enjoy the readings that we do more so that I can engage more in my writings. Dr. Beth McCoy’s extensive feedback makes having the course online tolerable, knowing that she and the class care about overall growth in the course and not just a number grade. I really need to learn how to support my arguments more and stick to the prompt, which hopefully will come with more practice writing. I feel as though if I enjoy the course and learn from my mistakes in my essays, I can accept that this course is one that will have shaped me for my future in college and beyond.

In “Bloodchild”, a short story written by Octavia Butler, Gan encounters risks and rewards by adjusting to difficulties and unknowns in his life. T’Gatoi is a more powerful species than Gan and his family. Gan was aware of being given an option of lesser power. This short story states, “If we’re not your animals, if these are adult things, accept the risk. There is risk, Gatoi, in dealing with a partner.” This dialogue was after Gan requested an equal partnership from his friend T’Gatoi, rather than of a relationship where T’Gatoi has power over him. Gan was only born because all Terrans must provide someone to carry the Tlic’s children because they offered Terrans land and protection many years ago. When Gan found this out, it did not annoy him or bother him in the beginning. After seeing a birth gone wrong and hearing many stories about it, he began to change his opinion. This emphasizes to me that there is a risk in any partnered work. 

By attending college, you are faced with an abundance of risks and rewards that can be presented on a daily basis. This way of thinking has never been presented to me before. Thinking about my own thinking is challenging and hopefully rewarding. Dr. Beth McCoy’s writing seminar course for the risks and rewards of academic partnership helps push students on their journey of self growth. In this course, using an epigraph as a throughline, we can be able to stay focused throughout the semester and on track with work. This course demonstrates that I will be more well versed in getting to know my thoughts and writing more than just scratching the surface of it. A few weeks ago, I quickly learned that I hardly knew anything about college writing. I assumed my AP English class in highschool would have prepared me for college writing. I was wrong. In highschool english, we barely scratched the surface of writing. By being expected to write about one thing and everyone’s paper looking very similar to it, normally. Due to this we can conclude that a high school education’s emphasis on summary as opposed to analysis. In high school, getting an A and doing the essay 2 hours before class go hand in hand. Although I know better by now, english was only a grade to me, in highschool. Just something you needed to take in order to graduate. However, this college course demands we dig deeper into what we’re being asked to write about. In highschool they give you a prompt and you complete the assignment. In this course, being able to loosely explain what your brain is thinkING and not writing what the teacher wants to hear is a big reward.

Gan, from “Bloodchild” demonstrates and teaches college students about the risks and rewards of academic partnership. Also, he teaches how students have the ability to understand how trust and power relate to consent. In addition, some actions that appear negative may actually be helpful. In high school, an academic partnership can be observed between the students and the school. On one hand, students engage in an academic partnership with teachers in high school. However, this relationship in college is more meaningful due to the greater risks and rewards. Due to the greater consequences of risks and rewards in college, the relationship needs more work and thought. When in college, you are working toward specific goals. Your major, your future, your life, not what highschool wants you to take. What you learn in college sets up a basis for the rest of your life. By creating the building blocks to use in your career path. Throughout high school, most students complete work in order to get a grade. This changes in college because we are working to adulthood and becoming a full time member of the working class. Risks and rewards in college create a stronger academic partnership. 

In this course there are many risks and rewards. There are many things in place to help you in this course. For instance, the class rubric serves as guidelines to follow when grading your assignments. The rubric states, “Demonstrates a central through line. Provides and unpacks evidence from course texts to illustrate/support claims. Furthers thoughtful conversation. Makes clear how it connects to larger course questions and concepts.” Also, “Have I taken as much care as possible with proofreading and mechanics?” and, “How consistently have I looped back to early material, texts, and activities and applied them to current material, texts, and activities?” The rubric is a tool that can prove to provide many rewards. By knowing what Dr. McCoy is looking for in a certain piece of writing. 

According to the syllabus, an area of growth in this course is the ability to assess or grade your own work. Following the structure of three; “care for course accountability, care for growth, and care for peers growth” will allow me to develop the ability to grade my own work. Being able to grade your own work can be a big reward or a big risk. As a reward, it can make students move away from doing homework just for points to making them more aware of why and how doing the work helps them learn more. When you do something just for a grade you do it extrinsically, by only doing it for the end result. But when you know you have to self- grade yourself you are more intrinsically motivated, by performing an activity for your own benefit. Any partnership involves risk and responsibility. Anytime two things are connected, there are risks and rewards involved. An academic partnership creates risks when you grade yourself. By focusing on reading the rubric and grading it the “correct” way. Grading your own work focuses on making sure your work is personable and you are thinkING. 

If students grade their own work, they see exactly where the mistakes are and how to fix it. Especially with Dr. McCoy’s detailed notes showing where we need to improve. In fact, in the syllabus, it states, “meaningfully, thoughtfully, and honestly assess their own coursework based on feedback they receive from instructors and from peers.” There are risks when you grade your own work.  You are more critical of yourself. Moreover, when grading yourself you have to be aware how you grade yourself because it could appear you’re cheating the system. Are you giving yourself enough credit or are you giving yourself too much credit? These findings have consequences for the broader domain of learning more about yourself and grading based on your effort and your willingness to do the work. Risks of negative feedback from Dr. McCoy can give you more motivation to become a stronger writer. 

By learning about risks and rewards, I understand that everything you do has a consequence attributed to it. Attending college in person and living on campus is a big risk that many of us took during a pandemic. While it is true that in person classes are a huge risk in this current time, it is one that is important to me. Even knowing that learning online is very difficult for me, being on campus is important. Specifically, learning and being in class is the way I am used to learning, like many others. Seeing the professor’s hand movement and gestures helps in many ways to understand the material. Being in class is important, although it is dangerous too. As scary as risks can be sometimes, they can also be a positive thing. Risks could possibly lead to failure but feedback and thinkING can help you in other classes as well. Throughout the duration of this class, my goal is to expand my knowledge of a growth mindset and be very open to help me grow into the teacher I hope to be one day. 

This past spring semester, the world stopped due to a global pandemic virus, COVID-19. In terms of the way college was run on March 13, 2020, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo shut down all schools in the state, elementary, middle, high school and all colleges in the state. Geneseo had to send all students and faculty home for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester and wouldn’t know when we could come back to campus. 

I thought the Spring semester would be normal but it couldn’t ever be a normal college semester from home. Some professors slaked off and left us hanging while others did everything in their power to keep our heads and spirits high even though we were away from our Geneseo home. When I went home, I did so great for the first few weeks, keeping on track with all my school work and tests and studying. But as the weather got nicer and warmer over in Buffalo, I was slacking off and spending more time outside and forgetting I still had college work and homework. In the last few weeks of April and May, I just kinda stopped doing all my work. And this happened before in high school, I almost didn’t graduate my senior year because I was just done and burnt out and drained from school because the rain and the grey skies came to good old Buffalo New York and even some snow, believe it or not. I tried to get some work done in each class but some classes I did great in and other classes got no attention or any work put in. It was a hard semester to say the least. 

During all of this, I have learned so much about the human race and myself which was eye-opening and very interesting to say the least. I learned that no matter what happens people will always show a hand of support and try to help you through everything life throws at you.  Getting stuck at home for 6 months doesn’t do anyone any good unless you have a good team in your corner. So the last few weeks of the semester were very hard and was a big uphill battle with turns in the road. I started slacking and it was hindering my success of the semester because I really needed this to be a good semester after the Fall 2019 semester because it was a big change from high school to college and I had to do more things by myself and I didn’t know how to ask for help from trusted adults and teachers. 

After all of this, I tried to get myself back on track with the majority of my classes and it did work. Once, I had a sit down with my mom and really talked with her, we made a new study plan and it was a few hours a day with breaks and it really worked. But not for every class. Both my INTD courses suffered from this and it was still hard for me to focus on these classes. Because I was putting so much effort into my major required classes and needed to pass them so I don’t need to retake them and not graduate on time. The INTD’s suffered the absolute most and I had no way to try to focus because everytime I tried to write an essay or do grammatical quizzes my mind would just go to everyplace else and couldn’t make me focus on what I needed to do. 

In the end, I learned so much about myself as a person and as a student. This fall semester 2020, will be different and come with its own challenges but I have learned so much that I should be able to overcome everything that life throws at me. I am happy to be back on campus even if some classes are being done on my bed with a bowl of popcorn next to me or having a burrito for breakfast. My in person classes are so nice to have after the last semester at home. It will make me work harder, ask for help when I need it and reach out when I am stuck. This will be a very interesting year but I will overcome it. 

College courses are in a whole different ballpark than that of a high school class. In high school, classes were designed to help students pass the big A.P test or final exam at the end of the year. College classes do much more than that. They teach skills and lessons that spark growth and help students develop into open minded individuals. Dr. Beth McCoy’s writing seminar for the risks and rewards of academic partnership helps guide students on their journey of self growth, both academically and mentally, while maintaining a safe environment to do so. In using a self assessment grading technique, students are faced with the challenge of balancing their freedom of self reflection, while staying within the limits of a class mandated rubric. 

Dr. McCoy allows students to grade their own assignments by following the three pillars of, “care for course accountability, care for growth, and care for peers growth” which can be found in the class syllabus. Holding yourself accountable to your work comes with the added responsibility of depicting “trust, transparency, accountability, care, and acknowledging the possibility of harm” (McCoy). Students are expected to grade their work honestly and be forthright about the actions they took in preparation for the class, and what grade is deserved because of it. 

Being able to grade your own work is a huge reward! You learn important skills such as trust and accountability, you learn how to look at yourself and your work objectively, and you have the ability to reevaluate your priorities and abilities. However, there is an equally big risk that comes along with this privilege. You risk the possibility of failing to accurately determine your grade, either overselling or underselling yourself, and you can break your professor and peers’ trust in the process. 

Even though the risks sound scary and severe, they are necessary in order to receive a reward as influential as this one is. The lessons you can learn from being able to look at your work and determine how well you have done is something that severely outweighs the possibility of failure. In fact, these risks can serve as motivation to try your best and put your best work forward. And even with the possibility of failure, McCoy will help point you in the right direction by offering insightful feedback that you can take into consideration, as well as setting limits, which unlike popular belief, are more beneficial than restraining.

McCoy’s limits are set in place to help you avoid crashing and burning. There is a class rubric which serves as guidelines to follow when grading your assignments. Some examples from the rubric are, “I participate frequently and thoughtfully because doing so helps my peers and me grow” and, “I frequently review our course concepts and get to thinkING about how they apply in my conversations, writing, and reading. I bring the course concepts outside the course and into my conversations with others, including those outside of the course”. Though these may seem as limitations for the work that needs to be done and behavior that has to be exhibited, the rubric is actually a helpful tool that will guarantee success. 

The successes that come from these rewards will take you far in life. For example, I plan on using my new skill of transparency to further continue along my journey of becoming an open minded human who is open to changing and growing. Something I struggle with is accepting criticism, so by learning how to judge myself and my own work, I am hoping to be more open to other peoples constructive comments. My goal is to achieve having a growth mindset, and this course is a great opportunity to strengthen the skills needed to make this dream a reality. These limits are nothing but a guideline to help me on my journey and keep me in check along the way. Having a guideline is a reminder that I’m not in this alone, and that there are people and resources available to help me along the way. All things considered, this course will help each student grow exponentially in a well guided way. Though there are risks that you will encounter in order to succeed, they are worth the lifelong reward of being able to equitably look at yourself and the things you do. McCoy’s set up for this course allows a lot of freedom which may be intimidating, but by being in a supportive class setting such as this one, with a rubric intended to keep us in check and not to hold us back,  it will all turn out for the best. The lessons you learn will stick with you for the rest of your life, both inside and outside of the classroom.  

When I reflect on my experience and the different ways, I’ve grown; throughout this semester our epigraph, “If we’re not your animals, if these are adult things, accept the risk. There is risk, Gatoi, in dealing with a partner.” –Octavia Butler, “Bloodchild”, makes me think back to the beginning and everything makes sense now. I remember our first class discussion about the epigraph and everyone was very confused to say the least. We had no idea what or who Gatoi was. We partially had an idea that someone in the story would be risking or at risk in some way, but we didn’t know. For me, once I finished the story and being done with the class this epigraph and story has taught me to look at things in different ways. I look at the relationship between educator and student differently. 

In all honesty I thought that this writing class was going to be like any other writing class I had ever taken. I thought I was going take this class and possibly fail but at my best barely pass. I had previously taken an INTD class during the summer and that was the outcome so there was no reason for me to believe any differently, I truly dreaded the idea of taking another INTD class. The class I took in the summer was fine. No more no less. It was a class that was doable but not at all memorable. I remember the professor I had was a good professor; however, a complaint he had was my facial expression, or rather my lack of facial expressions along with my body language. Looking back, I understand what he was saying, I assume he wanted me to look more engaged in the class discussions. However, I believe his teaching style wasn’t aligned with my style of learning. So, because of my past experience I wasn’t hopeful coming into this INTD class. I anticipated having to read whichever book was going to be assigned and truthfully, I didn’t think I would finish the book simply because in the past I had no interest in what I was learning. Throughout this semester I realized that I’ve become more open with my opinions, which is something I had hardly ever done. Growing up I’m never usually the type to express myself nor share my opinion in class. 

What helped me grow as a writer was the different teaching style by you, Beth McCoy. One thing I’ve always had trouble with was elaborating and by you constantly saying “unpack”, “what do you mean”, those phrases have been something that I ask myself every time I think I’m done writing. When It came to class discussions, I grew more confident in speaking, it had a lot to do with the size of the class as well as who was in the class. I felt as though my classmates where supportive and although I didn’t realize how much it had affected my performance; I appreciated the reactions and the feedback. The reactions and the feedback were in my opinion a product of the guidelines set by you. In the past, I feel like when reading a book there was no long-term purpose which is why a lot of the time, I didn’t care to finish the reading assignment. With this story I appreciate the long-term impact I feel the lesson from this story will have. The story along with all the unpacking and the different real world connections such as the integrated learning showed me how connected the real world is to the learning process. One discussion that really impacted the way I viewed situations was the integrative learning. As Steve Prince said in the video “the most important part of this project is not the product, it’s the process.” With that this lesson reminded me that there is a different process for everyone. Everyone’s journey is going to be different and when working with another person it’s important to take into consideration that people might be having a harder time than me, but their experience only means a different point of view. The point of view wont me anymore or any less than another individual but it will be a unique view that all participants can learn and grow from. What I appreciate about the learning process this semester was it taught me that sometimes you have to look at things how you don’t want to look at things. There’s always going to be different views and some of the new ideas might make me uncomfortable to think about but it’s important to be understanding because it will allow me to grow as a learner. 

The conversation with robbie routenberg really reminded me about what the syllabus had touched on. They spoke about the responsibility in the commitment when agreeing to be apart of a partnership. Sasha Eloi-Evans had said it was important to her to put students first and make students feel valued. When students feel that was it is able to make partnerships. I think what Sasha is able to bring to the conversation is a perfect balance between the students, the faculty and the administration. Sasha mentioned a student who was completely in the wrong when it came to their academic work, Sasha made it clear that she was a support system for the student, she wasn’t there to make excuses for the student but there to make them feel like they had someone although they were away from home. To me, what she was saying and what she does is very comforting. It’s nice to know that there is someone like that at the school especially as a first-year student. A part of becoming a successful student is having a great support system. It’s comforting to know that although I’m away from home and if I were to have no friends or feel like I have no one on this campus there is someone whose job is literally to make sure my experience is enjoyable and most doable. 

The thing that I believe is absolutely necessary for me to continue becoming a better writer is unpacking. I may be wrong, but I feel like it’s better to over explain than to under explain. For the future papers I’ll have to write it’s important to explain my point along with give examples for what I mean. If I were to write a paper on a specific subject, it’s important that whether or not the reader agrees with my point they will be able to understand my point. With that being said as a learner I have to make sure I am always open the points that others are making. Like I previously said everyone is unique and everyone bring something different to the table. My job is to at least be open minded towards the points of others being made. It’s important to be that I am not ignorant, because if I were to explain my point about any topic to someone, I wouldn’t want them to have a closed mind. Coming into this INTD class I had said I had negative expectations based on my previous INTD experience. Although I don’t think my expectations affected my work ethic coming into this semester, it is very possible that another negative experience can affect my work ethic in the future. So, moving forward I need to keep an open mind and not base my future on my past experiences.