Real-Time Sentence Prompts

Just before the end of each Wednesday full-class session, I’ll give you a prompt to write one well-crafted, thoughtful, original, provocative sentence of scholarly prose — in five minutes. The prompt will most often require you to think through something you’ve learned in that week’s readings and lectures; it will likely ask you to apply that learning to something we’ve been discussing during that day’s full-class session. Once you’ve written your sentence, you’ll email it directly to your TA with the title “RTS [date].” In order to produce each week’s sentence, you’ll need to have paid close, engaged attention to all course material since the prior Wednesday.

The limited time you’ll have to produce each sentence — five minutes — is the point of the assignment (we’re honing in on your reflexes and habits as a writer). We’ll likely grant you an extra two minutes’ grace period after class ends. Your TA will announce your name aloud in the Zoom session when they receive your email; once you hear your name, you’re dismissed for the day (though you can always stay on for Office Hours). If you need an accommodation or modification to this ongoing assignment, click on this link for instructions.

As long as your sentence demonstrates a basic understanding of that week’s course material
(AND, after Week V, as long as its grammar, usage, punctuation, and spelling are reasonably correct,)
you’ll receive 1.56 points toward your final Real-Time Sentences grade
(for which the highest possible total is 24 points).
If you get a solid 1.56 points for each of our 12 full-class sessions,
you’ll wind up with a final Real-Time Sentence Prompts grade of 18.72/24 (that is, 78%, a solid B+).

No partial credit is available: if your sentence does not adequately demonstrate a basic
understanding of that week’s material, or (after Week V) if it has any significant errors in
grammar, usage, punctuation, or spelling, you will receive 0 points for that sentence,
which cannot be restored later.

If your sentence is especially well-crafted, thoughtful, original, provocative,
you’ll receive an extra 0.55 points toward your final Real-Time Sentences grade.
The highest possible grade is 24/24, so if you get enough 0.55-pointers to exceed 24 points, you’ll max out at 24.

By well-crafted, I mean that your sentence is clear on the first read (and grammatically pristine), that it uses its words precisely and economically, and that its tone feels just right for its audience (your TA).

By thoughtful, I mean that you’ve used intelligent logic to produce a focused answer to the prompt, one that attends to a specific element of the course material to which the prompt refers.

By original, I mean that you’ve innovated enough to stand out from among your fellow students — you’re trying to get at something quite different from what others will most likely do.

By provocative, I mean that you’ve dug deeply into a complex interpretation of the prompt and the material with which it engages, enough to get at the stakes of the thing — and to provoke real thought in your reader.
  

If you miss a Wednesday full-class session for any reason, including late registration… 

…you are still responsible for making up that day’s Real-Time Sentence Prompt (if you don’t, your TA will count all missed prompts as incorrect answers). Here’s how to do it: 

1) Catch up on all missed readings and lectures and listen to the audio recording of the Zoom session you missed (you can find it in our class Google Drive file, usually a couple of days after the session).

2) After reviewing what you missed, email me (at sergi.utoronto@gmail.com) to request new questions; 

3) I will email you and your TA a replacement prompt (likely more in-depth than the one I asked during class), testing whether you have read, listened to, and processed the reading and lecture/discussion material you missed. From there, email your make-up sentence to your TA.

Important Clarifications:

• You can email me for replacement Real-Time Sentence Prompts any time before the last day of class, but no later. (There will be no questions available to replace those I ask on the last day of class.)

• You must email your TA answers to the replacement questions I send within one week of when I send them to you.

• You cannot use replacement prompts to make up for sentences you got a zero on previously — only to make up for questions you weren’t present for.

• Make-up comprehension questions only restore credit for your Real-Time Sentence mark, not for your Actual Attendance or Engagement and Participation marks.