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1. For those who “opt in” to take the final exam:

This Final Exam, therefore, is reserved for those students who have chosen to keep reading, and who wish to try to earn a “better than average” letter grade according to the traditional “A, B+, B, B-, C+, C…” grading scale. To complete this final assignment you’ll need access to your course texts, and also (perhaps) some of the following: some pens and paper, basic MS Word software, select internet images of your choosing, possibly a scanner (though not required) or cell phone (as an alternative), and your own sense of the course’s connection to these historic times. The “work” of this final assignment will be to connect select course topics and figures to the historical moment that we’re living in (one in which a world that had “close down” in the Winter and Spring of 2021 as Covid-19 numbers spiked after a comparatively dormant summer and Fall of 2020), now seems about to open up once again as we vaccinate and anticipate the freedom offered with warmer weather and more time outside. To that end, the sense of “right and wrong” in this assignment is subordinate to your own effort to make sense of these strange times as the global pandemic enters what are hopefully its later stages.

The assignment will be based on the trend of the “one pager” described here: https://ncte.org/blog/2018/11/the-magic-of-one-pagers/. Yes, I know I can condense the hyperlink but I want you to see where this idea comes from. Please begin by reviewing this page (I’ll also link it in the “Final Exam” section on the content page. Your Final Exam, therefore, will be a “one pager,” with the first goal being to try to connect appropriate course authors, topics, and periods to the Covid-19 crisis that we’re enduring right now.

Please realize: the assignment isn’t perfect by any means. I’m fully aware of that. In it though, you are encouraged to articulate and develop your insights as you see them and, ultimately, to show whatever creativity or personality you see fit, mindful of the general requirements listed in the bullet points below. Also: because this is still something a “trial run,” of sorts, your work will be graded “charitably.” The most important thing will be to turn something in, something showing reasonable effort, insight, and personality, according to the appropriate deadline—and yes, on a single page, arranged and designed however you wish.

I hope this “new” version of your final exam offers a better option during finals week of a strange semester. Here’s a quote from the NCTE resource that helps explain the logic of the assignment:

“The one-pager made the writing component less intimidating, so students were focused more on the ideas in the text(s). They were not worrying about their transitions or writing a stance or a conclusion. As a result, a lot of anxiety was lifted when we did one-pagers as an assessment.”

If you prefer to write your one-pager free-hand and then scan your work to submit to the dropbox (or photograph and submit as a JPEG), that’s entirely OK. Not everyone has the means to do that, so there’s no requirement on that end. If you don’t have a scanner, please feel free to use whatever variety of fonts, graphics features and other (decent and appropriate, PG to low R-rated) pictorial details as you see fit. Feel free to get creative! Vary your fonts, color choices, images, boundaries/borders, etc. as you see fit! The goal is to connect your course content and the Covid crisis creatively, and to convey your conception of those connections clearly (“cee” what I did there?).

OK. At long last, here’s what I want you to do:

· Find (at least) three quotes from the readings that capture any aspect of the moment that you see fit, or more as you see fit, placing course writers and figures within comparable moments where the world seems to be collapsing and/or transforming into a troubling new reality.

· Include each quote with a proper attribution, an explanation (of a few sentences) of how or why the quote speaks to the present time, and any appropriate image(s) that you feel “fit” this connection.

· Include at least three accompanying illustrations or images which complement and complicate the overall theme of your document. These can be hand-drawn or downloaded from internet sources, but do be sure that they adhere to standards of decency and are otherwise appropriate for your effort to connect the course works to the current time.

· Feel free to use the guides, models, and explanations from our linked website, and adapt, design, and supplement as you see fit. Develop a “picture”—with images and words—about the connections between our class, this Covoid-19 Pandemic, and other notable factors within this current historical moment.

· Submit your one pager to the indicated dropbox according to the original deadline (i.e. by December 8), and I’ll offer brief feedback and a points grade within a day or so. I hope to have Final Grades completed and posted by about noon on December 10, so please do be mindful of this deadline.

· When grading, I’ve found myself focusing on basically four areas: first, the breadth, reach, and diversity of the quotes you’ve chosen; secondly, the depth of commentary that you offer on each to connect it to course themes; thirdly, the overall effectiveness of the document you’ve created; and finally (and a little less importantly), how your document “stacks up” with those of your classmates. I don’t have any preset idea of the grades I’ll be assigning, but this rating effort does help me in my honest judgment of each assignment.

Otherwise: Good luck! And thanks to all for your hard work and for your best efforts this term!