In this program, assignments and projects are creative in nature. The final outcome of a project is often open-ended with tons of opportunities to add your own creative voice and experiences. Letter grades and rubrics don't work well for this kind of creative work, so what you see on ProgressBook reflects meeting or missing deadlines as well as your personal evaluation of the effort you are making in class to complete assignment and project goals.
¶ How does this work?
¶ Complete Weekly Self-Assessments
At the end of each week, you will complete a short Self-Assessment to reflect on your individual effort, preparedness, and participation for the week's projects and activities. Considerations for this reflection include:
- Participation in class discussions, brainstorms, and hands-on activities
- Effort and initiative
- Notetaking and Feedback Journal completion
- Coming prepared to class each day / Using your Quick Reference card(s) during labs and production
- Respecting yourself, fellow students, and instructors
Based on your reflection, you will assign yourself a point value of 1 to 20 points. These points are entered into ProgessBook as a "Student Self-Assessment." You may be asked to explain your reasoning for your decision, but Mr. Weaver will never change your self-reflection grade without asking you to explain it and coming to an agreement about it.
¶ Meet Deadlines
Creative industries rely on deadlines every day to shape production schedules and meet clients' expectations. In the Entertainment Marketing program, students are expected to meet deadlines in order to recieve full credit for projects and assignments! Turning in a project on time earns you 5 points of Deadline Credit.
Project and assignment deadlines may be adjusted by Mr. Weaver if a class loses time due to testing schedules, in-school activities, snow days, etc.
- On-time projects and assignments: 5 Points
- Late projects and assignments: 0 Points
Important Note: You cannot earn Deadline Credit for an assignment until ALL past assignments are turned in. This means it is in your best interest to turn in assignments and projects on time!
¶ Complete Primary Goals
Every assignment/project includes a short list of goals and requirements to meet in order to earn full deadline credit. These goals are closely connected to the idea of "effort." It is always evident when effort is put into your work.
- All primary goals met: Full deadline credit
- Everything else: returned for revision (see below)
When planning your projects or working in groups, remember to focus on the primary goals FIRST, then add all the other cool stuff you thought of during your brainstorm... Primary goals are meant to be a starting point for your work that gets you moving in the right direction.
¶ Revise Work
Revising our work is an essential part of the creative process. Creative work is never really finished, and creative professionals often have to choose between delivering on time and completing all the tasks they really planned to do.
If your work doesn't meet primary goals for an assignment, it will be returned to you for revision. You will have one week to revise during in-class open lab time, at lunch, or after school during scheduled times. If your revised work meets all goals, you will receive partial deadline credit (3 out of 5 possible points) for the assignment.
Even if your project meets all the assignment goals, you are always welcome to revise and improve your creations. Revised projects will always get a second screening / listening during class time to show off your hard work, so don't be afraid to jump back in and change something!
¶ Notes and Feedback Journals
¶ Notes
We take notes while we learn to help internalize information and gain understanding of new concepts and skills. Digital note-taking templates are provided on Classroom for students comfortable with using a Chromebook for note taking. If you prefer to take notes by hand, make sure you are organizing your physical notes well and keeping them in the same notebook or binder. In the event you miss a day of notes, check Classroom for a video of the notetaking you missed.
- Completion of Notetaking: Considered in Student Self-Assessment
¶ The Feedback Journal
We use a Feedback Journal to reflect on each project completed for a course. Just like a sports team watches film after a game, creators look back at their projects to decide what was great and what to work on improving next. You will always have the opportunity to revise a project after feedback from Mr. Weaver, though there may not always be time for revision during class time.
- Completion and quality of Feedback Journal Entries: Considered in Student Self-Assessment
¶ ProgressBook Entries
¶ Weekly
Your Self-Assessment will be recorded in ProgressBook each week as well as deadline credit for any assignments and projects. Assignments and project briefs + goals are posted on Google Classroom along with their deadlines.
- Self Assessment: 20 pts
- Deadline Credit: 5 pts
¶ Quarterly
Each quarter, you will evaluate your in-class notes, Feedback Journal, and collected projects. This will replace one of your normal self-assessments in ProgressBook.
- Google Drive Portfolio (quarterly): Considered in Student Self-Assessment
¶ One-time Only
There are a small number of assignments that only show up once a year. Most important is the end-of-course WebXam, a state requirement for all CTE programs in Ohio. The online exam usually takes place in late April, and it's the only traditionally graded assessment in the program.
- Course-specific WebXam: 30+ pts (up to 5 bonus points)
WebXams consist of ~40 multiple choice questions covering content specific to your course. A goal for proficiency is set for each exam, for example: 70% of questions correct. Achieving "proficient" on the exam means you recieve full credit for this assignment. Any correct answers over this threshold will turn into bonus points! If you do not earn "proficient" on your first attempt, you will have a chance to retake the test once before the end of the school year.
- Google Drive Portfolio (final): Considered in Student Self-Assessment
As you complete projects in class, you will collect completed work in a folder on your personal Google Drive. You will end the school year with a collection of ALL your finished projects and assignments. Seniors can transfer all their data to a personal Google account at the end of the school year to keep the files on Drive from being deleted after they graduate!