Below you’ll find a detailed breakdown of how you’ll be graded and what projects need to be completed.
Here’s how you’ll be graded:
Grades for the class will be based on the following:
- Weekly Padlet Responses: 20%
- Field-Work Ethnographic Observation: 20%
- Content Analysis: 30%
- Creating Online Content: 20%
- Attendance & Participation: 10%
And here’s what you’ll be graded on:
Weekly Padlet Responses: Each week I will post a prompt on the Padlet platform. Padlet prompts will serve to generate discussion and foster dialogue amongst and between you and your peers in our classroom community.
You are responsible for responding to each week’s Padlet prompt. Your direct response to the prompt should incorporate at least two course materials from that assigned week including Prezis, films and/or videos, and readings and should be between one to two paragraphs in length. Be sure that your response is a dialogue with the prompt– thoughtful, interactive, and rich—not a simple yes, no, or affirmation. Engage to the best of your ability!
Each weekly Padlet board response 2 points. There will be 10 prompts total throughout the semester. To be considered for full credit you must respond to the prompt in addition to meeting the above criteria. Incomplete and/or superficial answers that do not wrestle with the course content will be given partial credit.
If you’re curious about what a Padlet response should look like, check out the sample below!
Sample
Padlet Prompt: Where do you learn how to “do” gender?
Response to Padlet Prompt: “I learned how to ‘do’ gender from multiple places but perhaps most prominently from my family. Like Judith Lorber suggests in Gender Paradox, gender is everywhere and we learn from seeing, hearing, and observing. For example, my mother taught me that girls should do most of the housework. She would do this by assigning particular chores to me–she never really had to explicitly say “only girls should do dishes” but when she told me to do the dishes and not my brothers, I learned quite quickly. In addition to dishes, most of the domestic chores fell on my shoulders if my mom couldn’t do them. This is still evident today. NPR notes that the pandemic highlighted the gross inequalities in housework and made them more readily apparent.”
If you’re wondering how to respond to Padlets, you’ll find a link for each weekly Padlet will be embedded on the course schedule under the corresponding topic. Simply click the embedded link and respond to the prompt! You will need to create an account (for free) and be sure to include your first and last name so your instructor can identify you.
Padlet responses will comprise 20% of your final grade by the end of the semester.
The due date for this assignment can be found on the course schedule section of our CUNY Commons site.
Take a Look Around: Ethnographic Observation: The type of ethnography you’re going to embark on is called fieldwork. Sociologists conduct fieldwork to explore patterns in social phenomena. For this project, you’re going to look for gender patterns and gender segregation in public space at the nexus of race, class, and gender. Your site selection will be your neighborhood or any neighborhood of your choosing and the task will be to examine patterns of gender segregation and/or gender division in public space in the year 2023.
You can take a look at stores, schools, beauty salons, barbershops, playgrounds, sidewalks, buses–the options are endless! Think about who is doing construction. Who is doing the shopping at the supermarket? What do you notice about who goes where–and who does what? What kinds of gender patterns emerge? How are the patterns you witnessed an example of “doing gender”? Are there any disruptions to gender patterns that you witnessed? How does this mirror–or not mirror–gender divisions in your own home?
Your ethnographic observation will be 2 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman font and must incorporate at least three sources from class.
Your Take a Look Around : Ethnographic Observation project will total 20% of your final grade by the end of the semester.
The due date for this assignment can be found on the course schedule section of our CUNY Commons site. Detailed guidelines can be found here.
Content Analysis: For this project, you’ll conduct a small-scale content analysis of comments on Reddit posts to better understand the role of aggregate discussion and news sites in reflecting and shaping current attitudes about varying sociological topics. Basically, you’ll analyze the deep recesses of the comment sections of subreddits to get a pulse on what people think about our social world.
Your content analysis will be 4 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman font and must incorporate at least three sources from class.
Your Content Analysis project will total 30% of your final grade by the end of the semester.
The due date for this assignment can be found on the course schedule section of our CUNY Commons site. Detailed guidelines can be found here.
Online Content Creation. For this project, you’ll be tasked with creating your very own online content! In many circles, this is known as doing public sociology. So let’s bring the classroom into the virtual world!
Your Online Content Creation project will total 20% of your final grade by the end of the semester.
The due date for this assignment can be found on the course schedule section of our CUNY Commons site. Detailed guidelines can be found here.
Attendance & Participation: Consistent attendance and participation are essential for this course. Because the course is predicated on involved participation, and dialogue, you must be present to fully engage in the course and get the most out of it. Excessive absences and/or absent participation will lower your grade–this is particularly true if you don’t communicate with me around these issues. Participation will be assessed in ways that we will collaboratively discuss together. Attendance and participation are a combined grade.
Attendance & participation will total 10% of your final grade by the end of the semester.
