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Assessment criteria and tools to evaluate students' performance in the course (E2)
Course and grading policies

Overall determination of the grade:

As indicated in the course description, various components of the course have been assigned a number of "points", adding up to 100. The final course grade will be determined on the basis of the total number of points earned, according to the following cut-off points:

A: 97-100; A-: 94-96; B+: 91-93; B: 87-90; B-:84-86; C: 77-83; F: <76.

Class Participation (26 points):

As mentioned in the course description, given the nature of this course, class attendance and participation is an essential pre-requisite and will count in the final grade. You will earn about 2 points for each class attended with full participation. In case you are unable to attend a specific class, or expect to be late, please let me know as soon as possible -- since I may have to modify some class activities and/or group assignments as a result of your absence, and I will also need to design some make-up assignments that will enable you to "catch up" with the rest of the class; in addition, it is your responsibility to make arrangements with a classmate to make sure that you receive information about what went on in the class you missed as well as a copy of all the material distributed in that class. In order not to miss class participation points, these arrangements have to take place and the make-up assignments need to be satisfactorily completed by the set deadline.

Points may also be missed for tardiness and/or lack of participation in class activities.

Class Journals (12 points):

Since the class journals are a way to communicate with and learn from each other, it is important that every one contributes an entry each week. Missing a journal entry or turning it in late (without prior agreement with the instructor), or not having sufficient copies for sharing it with the class, will involve missing 1 point from the total of 12 points assigned to this activity. So, if even if you need to be absent for a specific class, make prior arrangements with a classmate so that s/he can bring your journal entry to class. It is important to clarify that points are assigned only on the basis of having done or not the expected journal entries -- not on the basis of the content of those entries, since I want everyone to feel free to say whatever they want in their journals.

Weekly assignments (22 points):

A variety of assignments will be given each week (involving reading, writing as well as other kinds of tasks) and expected to be completed on time as the following class will often assume and make use of them. However, since there is no way for me to easily evaluate whether assignments that do not involve a "product" have been completed, points will be assigned only to the written assignments. These assignments will be marked as such in the weekly assignment sheets, and will need to be turned in on the day they are due; I will read and put comments on each of these written assignments, as well as indicate the number of points earned (2 points if completed satisfactorily and on time; 1 point if only partially completed and/or not turned in on time; 0 points if not done). Depending on the nature of the specific assignment, students who have not received full points may be given the opportunity of making revisions. It is important to keep in mind that these written assignments, though they will receive "points" based on their completion and as a whole will weigh considerably on the course grade, are not intended to be finished, polished reports, but rather they are meant to be ways to think on paper, so that your reflections can be recorded and shared with other members of the group.

Major assignments (40 points):

As indicated in the course description, a few "major assignments" will be given throughout the semester and will be graded (as usual with term papers) on the basis of the quality of the content and the writing. Once again, however, this will not be done using letter grades, but rather by assigning a certain number of "points" for specific aspects of the assignment, according to guidelines discussed in class prior to the deadline for each assignment. The nature of these major assignments and the points assigned to each are briefly summarized below:

• Midterm take-home exam (10 points):
  This will consist in an in-depth analysis of one classroom experience (to be selected among several assigned for reading in previous assignments) in light of the NCTM Standards and the principles of an inquiry approach to teaching mathematics. This assignment is intended to demonstrate (and enhance) understanding of the instructional implications of the reform promoted by many constituencies today's, and synthesize what they have learned in the course up to this point.
• Readings and presentation on the teaching of a chosen topic (elementary pre-service teachers only) (10 points):
  Each student (in small groups of 2-3 students) will be asked to choose a topic/issue related to the teaching and learning of mathematics that is of interest to them and to do some more extensive readings on that topic, based on a reading list provided by the instructor. So that everybody else in the course can benefit of this exercise, each group will be asked to give a brief presentation on what they learned about the topic, and distribute to the rest of the class a handout containing at least: (a) a 1-2 page summary of what they think are the "key points/insights" about their chosen topic, and (b) the complete bibliographic references of the readings they did on the topic, accompanied by a brief abstract for each reading.
• Original mathematical investigation (secondary math pre-service teachers only) (10 points):
  Each student will be asked to develop independently a mathematical inquiry on a topic of his/her own choice. The results of this inquiry will be shared with the rest of the class in both an oral presentation and a written report (to be explain in more detail at the appropriate point in the course).
• Final project (10 points):
  This project is intended to synthesize and consolidate what was learned in the course by means of an experience that involves some "innovative teaching". There will be several options to choose from to fulfill this requirement, although in each case the student will be expected to develop and implement a short but innovative teaching experience and report its results in a written report.
• "What have I learned" paper (10 points):
  At the end of the course, every student will be asked to look back at the experiences and readings done during the semester and, in light of the goals identified earlier in this course description, articulate the major insights about the learning and teaching of mathematics that they gained as a result. Among other things, this paper will provide the instructor with each student's own self-evaluation of his/her performance in the course.

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