In this class, you have three assignments that involve being present in a seminar meeting on a given day, and there is an in-class presentation component to the final project. That means that extensions can’t really be that flexible.
Still, I am committed to giving everyone the best possible opportunity to say what they think and show what they can do to develop their ideas. I don’t believe in deadlines for their own sake.
If an assignment or assessment is part of your final grade, and for reasons beyond your control you are not able to complete the work for it on time (because you are sick, attending a funeral, etc.) then,
but
and
When you are approved for special consideration, the kind of “consideration” will be different for each type of assignment:
For your in-semester “opener” presentations, Ryan will try to move you to a later week. You will have to give your presentation on whichever week you are assigned.
For your exhibit and presentation on your essay, Ryan will set up a special session for students with extensions.
For other in-class activities, Ryan will consider dropping the assignment and reweighting the other assignments in the class. This will be a last resort, only when no other options are available. (It can create an unreasonable situation in which certain assignments are weighted too highly and it goes against my philosophy of giving each student the best opportunity for them as an individual to demonstrate their learning. “Best of X assignments” plans are scams because they often put students in a corner.)
The autoethnographic reflection and the final project are properly “assignments,” tasks I give you to carry out on your own and deliver by a deadline, so they can get (1) automatic five-day extensions, and (2) special consideration in the form of an extended deadline.
For obscure technical reasons that are too boring to explain here, SAS sees the final project in this class as a 3000-word essay called “Research essay.” If you were to apply for either SC or a five-day extension, you’d get it for all of the components of that assignment, including the in-class components. The upshot is that this makes managing students’ extensions for this project a bit easier. If you are approved for an extension, all the components get bumped to the new deadline.
However this does not mean that any approved extension is flexible or suited to each student who has it.
If you get a five-day extension on the project, you will get bumped to a special session in the following week which Ryan will schedule. Bumped students will come for the whole session and present in order assigned by Ryan. If you have a short SC extension, you will get bumped to the special session also.
If you have a longer SC extension, you might be moved into (1) another special session with the same format in the following week or (2) a one-on-one appointment with Ryan.
Students with an approved academic plan (AP) are entitled to and will receive an accommodation that gives them the best opportunity to demonstrate their learning. Normally for work in anthropology classes, the accommodation is just an extension. That’s not always the accommodation that matches the student and it doesn’t always work for in-class assessments.
I will be guided by Disability Services on what kinds of accommodations to create. They created individually tailored academic plans so the arrangements may be different for each student. Also, since they work with students individually, they need a lot of time to create APs. We will just have to take it one step at a time. If you have concerns about whether an assignment does give you the best opportunity for you to demonstrate what you can do, please talk to me about it. While I can’t freely change everything, I can at least be aware of who might benefit from flexibility.