Unit Overview Rubric

20% of course grade

(Each criterion is rated check‐plus, check, check‐minus, or zero to give you an idea of where you didwell and where you fell short. I grade holistically using letter grades, so criteria aren't necessarily of equal value.)

You will receive a letter grade A, B, C, D, F for this assignment.

1. Focus questions

• are limited to 1‐3 open‐ended questions that can be applied to any number of texts and

produce multiple answers, depending on the texts—questions that require nuanced,

critical thinking.

• do just that: focus the discussion, establishing the main point under investigation, posing a

problem that is personally relevant and socially significant.

• are rich enough to allow for multiple iterations. You have to be able to get a lot of mileage

out of it.

• set up a line of inquiry, clear yet compelling.  Answers aren't closed or predicable.

2. Text set

• includes about 5 texts, with the upper limit up to you. At least one text must come fromeither The Language of Literature or The Elements of Literature, available for check out in

Media Reserves, basement of Holland Library. At least one text must be informational/non-literary text generally considered reputable (i.e., a newspaper article; a sociological article on why middle school girls are so often vicious backstabbers; a reputable website; an article on architecture). And at least one needs to be a popular cultural artifact (i.e., a movie clip, a chart from USA Today, a trashy song, a commercial, a

bumper sticker).

• fits your focus questions.

• is age‐appropriate.

• works together to create a dynamic worthy of investigation over at least a couple of

weeks, if not longer period of time.

• is cited, indicating where each piece comes from, so that others can find these materials

easily. Hard materials to find are attached as separate documents.

3. Rationale

• summarizes each text as succinctly as you can and then explains the angle you're

plumbing for the inquiry at hand. At the same time, that angle should not be too fixed and

predictable, or else you're flattening your inquiry and shutting down discussion and

foreclosing critical thinking.

• explains your choices to an audience who will not necessarily know the texts you've

chosen, and even if they did, will probably not know why the hell you're putting this one

with that one, asking the same focus question of both. (If you're doing some pretty wild

juxtapositions, you'll get that kind of response—which is good.)

• indicates the ambiguities of a given text that will complicate and advance the inquiry in

significant ways.

• is well‐written. Your prose sings, and your final product is spit‐shined polished and

proofread.