Department of English
Section III: Teaching Information
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Add/ Drop:
Deadlines: Please see the Registrar's Website for add/drop deadlines.
Policies: You may add students at your discretion. To add, you need to sign the student’s pink add-drop slip, and the student should take it to the Registrar’s Office as soon as possible. We have pink forms available in the departmental office. We do not have a departmental stamp. See sample add/drop slip in PDF format.
Online Overrides: In lieu of filling out an add-drop slip, you may complete an online override through UNCGenie. For faculty instructions for the online override, please refer to these PDF instructions. Once the instructor completes this online form, the student MUST log back into the Registration system and actually register for the course. It is the responsibility of the student to register for the course.
All Freshmen Read:
Please contact Kelly Ritter at 256-0482 or karitte@uncg.edu for more information.
Audio-Visual Equipment:
Data projectors and VCR/DVDs set up in all classrooms in the HHRA Building
The department has a small slide collection. The MFA office (Room 3302) holds the Lannon Library, videotapes of readings by and interviews with contemporary authors.
TLC’s Learning Stations: You must contact Victor Sutton in the Teaching and Learning Center (vosutton@uncg.edu or 334-5078) to receive training on how to use the equipment and get your key to the console.
Humanities Lounge::
The Humainites Lounge is located on the third floor of the HHRA Building. This lounge is shared by all the Humanities Departments in MHRA. Faculty members will not be allowed to use this lounge for meetings. If you would like to book the lounge after 5:00pm you will need to contact, Kristina Wright at kristina_wright@uncg.edu.
Blackboard is a course management system that can be used by faculty to communicate with students registered for a particular course in a particular semester. You may post announcements, course materials (including Word Documents and PDF files), grades, and provide a discussion forum for your students. The website for Blackboard is http://blackboard.uncg.edu/
To receive training on Blackboard, please go to the Workshop Website and follow the link for ‘TLC Blackboard Workshops’. If you have any technical questions, please call 6-TECH.
Book Orders:
The bookstore sets an unrealistically early date for book orders every semester, usually in late October for the Spring semester and early March for the Summer and Fall semesters. Melanie will place a form in your box for each of your courses. Please fill it out and return to her as soon as possible. If you lose your form, extras are available in the departmental office. You may also order online at http://uncg.bkstore.com/ under the heading of Faculty Services. Instructors are responsible for checking their book orders at the Elliott University Center Bookstore prior to the start of each semester. You may print off a copy of the bookstore order form here.
Returning books: The bookstore begins to return its supplies of texts to the publishers around the middle of the semester. They will send out a form to every department asking them to keep certain books should be kept. We will make every effort to inform you when we receive notice from the bookstore, but it is the instructor’s responsibility to ensure that books will be available to students. Please be aware of this if you have a textbook that will not be used until the end of the semester.
Calendars:
Semester: A printable 2008-2009 academic year calendar is available here as a PDF file. You may find the academic calendar for the current semester and future semesters at this website.
Class Roster:
Class rosters may be accessed and printed through the Secure portion of UNC-Genie. You will need your faculty ID number and your pin number. If you do not know your pin number, please contact Client Services at 6-TECH. Instructions for accessing and printing class rosters are available here.
Classrooms:
Bryan Building: If you are teaching in the Bryan Building, you must get a key to your classroom door from Pamela Sparks in Associate Dean McCrickard’s office, 401 Bryan, 4-5338. You must put down a $10.00 refundable deposit for the key. If you already have an electronic key for the Bryan Building or any other building, you do not need to leave a deposit, but you will need to have the key re-programmed through Dean McCrickard’s office.
Changing: If you are dissatisfied or having problems with your classroom, please contact Libby Sexton at libby_sexton@uncg.edu.
Locked: If you are locked out of your classroom prior to 1:30, please find the housekeeper for your floor. If you are unable to locate your housekeeper, ask the administrative staff to have a housekeeper paged. If you are locked out of your classroom between 1:30 and 5:00, ask the student worker or administrative staff in the department to contact the Zone Manager. If you are locked out of your classroom after 5:00 pm, you may call John Pierce at 6-1231 or, as a last resort, call campus police.
Problems with: If your classroom heating or air conditioner does not work or if the room is falling apart, please tell the student workers or administrative staff in the department. If they are not available, call the Physical Plant’s request line at 4-3456 or email your request at request@uncg.edu
Supplies: We provide most necessary teaching supplies, such as chalk. Please see Supplies in Section I: General Office Information for a more complete list.
Compact Disc (CD) players:
The department has two CD players which can be borrowed for university classes. You may reserve a CD player by putting your name, the date and time you will need it, and your course on a piece of paper and taping it to the player. Please do not take one that has already been reserved. Please use with care and report any problems to the administrative staff immediately.
Contact Information:
For students: Please provide the following contact information to your students – email, office number, and office phone number.
For the Department: Please give Amy your home address and home phone number in case of emergency. Your home contact information will remain unlisted unless you have given us permission to make it available.
Desk Copies:
The department has a form for desk copy requests if the request needs to be mailed or faxed, but most publishers have their request forms online. If you need help requesting a desk copy, please be certain to provide the following information: Author, Title, ISBN, and publisher information.
Disability Services:
The Office of Disability Services can be found at http://ods.dept.uncg.edu/index.html
Contact the Office of Disability Services at 4-5440 or ods@uncg.edu
Drop/ Add:
Deadlines: Please see the Registrar's website for add/drop deadlines
Policies: You may add students at your discretion. To add, you need to sign the student’s pink add-drop slip, and the student should take it to the Registrar’s Office as soon as possible. We have pink forms available in the departmental office. We do not have a departmental stamp. See sample add/drop slip in PDF format.
Online Overrides: In lieu of filling out an add-drop slip, you may complete an online override. For faculty instructions for the online override, please see the PDF instructions. Once the instructor completes this online form, the student MUST log back into Genie and actually register for the course. It is the responsibility of the student to register for the course.
DVD players:
Please contact the Teaching & Learning Center at 4-5078 for information on the DVD players in the learning stations.
Email:
You may create your new UNCG computer and email account at this web page. If you are having any problems setting up an account, please contact the Help Desk at 6-TECH.
If you are in a class, your office, or McIver Building and you have an emergency situation, please either call the campus police at 4-4444 or contact the administrative staff and ask them to call for you. Do NOT call 911 if the emergency is on-campus.
If you have a student who is behaving aggressively towards you or your students, please contact the campus police at 4-4444 and inform them of any incidents. In addition, please give the staff information about the student, including name, date of the incident, class in which the incident occurred, and any follow-up actions with the police. This information will be kept confidential; we only want to have full information on any potentially violent situations in our department.
E-Reserves:
We encourage all faculty and lecturers to place as many required items as possible on E-Reserve to reduce photocopying. Please see refer to the Jackson Library’s website for information on e-reserves.
Evaluations:
Course evaluation forms are available from the English office at the end of every semester. Please distribute to your students and ask one student to collect and return them to the student workers in the main office.
According to the Department of English Expectations of Faculty, “Faculty will conduct student evaluations, using the standard department form, on a regular basis: at least one course each semester for all faculty’ every course for probationary and temporary faculty. Faculty should not be present while students complete evaluations. Evaluations will remain on file in the Department office for five years.”
You may read your evaluations only after you have submitted a copy of your grade sheets to Melainie. The evaluations are kept in 3114.
Grading:
Copies: At the end of every semester, give Melanie a copy of your grade sheets for every class. This is a departmental requirement for every faculty member, lecturer, and teaching assistant.
Web submission: The Registrar’s Office requests that all grades for all courses be submitted online. Please see the instructions for web submission of grades. If you are unable to submit grades online, you may contact the Registrar’s Office at 4-3163 to order grade sheets.
Grade changes: If you need to change a grade or to change an incomplete to a grade, the Grade Assignment/Change Form is available in a blue file on the side of the first metal cabinet in Rm 3114. See sample grade change form in PDF format.
Grade Sheets: The Registrar’s Office requests that all grades for all courses be submitted online. If you are unable to submit grades online, you may contact the Registrar’s Office at 334-3163 to order grade sheets. These must be delivered by the faculty member directly to the Registrar’s Office.
Laptop Computers:
The Teaching and Learning Center has a limited number of laptop computers available. Contact Cathy Rothermel at 4-5078 to book the equipment.
Learning Station:
Several classrooms in HHRA have learning centers that include a computer, data projector, VCR and DVD. You must contact Victor Sutton in the Teaching and Learning Center (vosutton@uncg.edu or 4-5078) to receive training on how to use the equipment and to get your key to the console.
If you would like a list of all of the classrooms that are Multimedia Equipped, please see this website.
Please call 4-5078 to report problems. The English department’s administrative staff is not trained to handle problems with the equipment.
Office Hours:
You are required to hold at least 3 office hours per week. You must give these hours to Amy no later than the end of the first week of classes, and they will be posted for students.
Plagiarism:
The department trusts that the faculty will exercise their professional judgment and maintain high standards in evaluating student work. See theStudent Affairs' Office of Student Conduct's Academic Integrity website for more information.
Portfolios:
If your students are required to turn in a portfolio at the end of the semester, make arrangements to collect them in your office. Boxes may not be left in the hallways of the HHRA Building. Portfolios cannot be left in 3114 or 3143.. They will not fit in your personal box, and they cannot be left on top of the boxes or on the floor.
Remember not to leave graded portfolios in the hallways to be picked up. Please return them personally. There are legal and privacy issues involved, so thanks in advance for your cooperation. If a student does not return to collect a portfolio, you are required to keep it for one semester.
Collecting and returning portfolios in a timely and sensible manner is YOUR responsibility as the instructor.
PowerPoint:
PowerPoint is available on the department’s laptop computer and data projector. For access to the classroom learning station, contact Victor Sutton in the Teaching and Learning Center (vosutton@uncg.edu or 4-5078) to receive training on how to use the equipment and to get your key to the console.
Problem Students:
If you have a student who is behaving aggressively towards you or your students, please contact the campus police at 4-4444 and inform them of any incidents. In addition, please give Amy information about the student, including name, date of the incident, class in which the incident occurred, and any follow-up actions with the police. This information will be kept confidential; we only want to have full information on any potentially violent situations in our department.
Recommendations:
If a student asks you for a recommendation, you are welcome to use departmental letterhead and envelopes.
Sickness:
Student in classroom: If you are in a class, your office, or HHRA and you have an emergency situation, please either call the campus police at 4-4444 or contact the administrative staff and ask them to call for you. Do NOT call 911 if the emergency is on-campus.
Your own: If you are unable to teach your class because of sickness or family emergency, please call the office and let us know. In addition, you need to email your students and post a message on Blackboard, if possible (see Blackboard in Section III: Teaching). It is departmental policy that we post class cancelled notices only in McIver Building. We are not able to send administrative staff to other buildings on campus to post notices. If you are given a classroom in a different building, we suggest that you make prior arrangements with your colleagues to post notices for each other during emergencies. (see Emergencies for related information).
Speaking Center:
Please see the Speaking Center’s website or call 6-1346 for more information.
Speaking Intensive – Writing Intensive:
For guidelines and information, refer to the CAC (Communication Across the Curriculum) website . Forms to propose Speaking Intensive and Writing Intensive courses are also available through this website.
Standards:
The department trusts that the faculty will exercise their professional judgment and maintain high standards in evaluating student work.
Syllabi:
Syllabi should include
- Instructor information (office number, office hours, office phone number, e-mail address)
- Student learning outcomes (expressed as skills, knowledge, or understanding that student can demonstrate after successfully completing the course)
- Evaluation methods and guidelines for assignments
- Required texts / readings
- Calendar of assignments
- Academic honor code (each student is required to sign the Academic Integrity Policy on all major work submitted for the course. See Undergraduate Bulletin or http://saf.dept.uncg.edu/conduct/
- Attendance policy (Do not make it so inflexible that students with legitimate, documented emergencies are unfairly penalized for absences.)
- Additional requirements, if any
- See General Education: Core Category / Marker Descriptions for University learning goals and the Department's Goals for the English Major at UNCG for departmental goals
- See past syllabi page for samples.
Tape Players:
The department has two tape players which can be borrowed for university classes. You may reserve a tape player by putting your name, the date and time you will need it, and your course on a piece of paper and taping it to the player. Please do not take one that has already been reserved. Please use with care and report any problems to the administrative staff immediately.
Transparencies:
We do not provide transparencies; you must purchase them yourself. Please make transparencies at the Kinko’s on Tate Street and not on the copiers in the main office.
Withdrawals:
Students can withdraw without penalty (W) until mid-semester. The specific deadline varies from year to year (please see the academic calendar on page 5 for the 2004-2005 deadlines). They receive a failing grade (WF) if they withdraw after the deadline.
Writing Center:
The University Writing Center offers any UNCG student the opportunity for individual assistance at any stage of any writing assignment for any course. Students are welcome to either drop in with their work-in-progress, or to call 334-3125 for an appointment. Located in 3207 HHRA Building, the Writing Center is open 53 hours a week.
Sunday: 5 pm – 8 pm
Monday – Thursday: 9 am – 8 pm
Friday: 9 am – 3 pm
The staff consists of first-year teaching assistants from the English department, some graduate students from other programs, and advanced undergraduates who have taken a special Practicum or training class. They serve as facilitators and advisers – helping students to focus on what they want to accomplish in a piece of writing; read their own drafts with a more discerning and critical eye; learn strategies for addressing a variety of writing issues; become more confident and competent as writers.
The Writing Center Director, Sara Littlejohn, hopes that you will encourage your students to use the Writing Center as a way of developing their strengths and giving themselves an edge as writers. She’d be happy to talk with you about ways to introduce your students to the Center . However, she would ask that you NOT issue a blanket requirement that all your students visit the Center for the same assignment, since that usually results in more traffic than the Center can handle at a given time and resentment on the part of students who come in to fulfill the requirement but who have no intention of making any changes in their papers.
Writing Intensive – Speaking Intensive:
For guidelines and information, refer to the CAC (Communication Across the Curriculum) website. Forms to propose Speaking Intensive and Writing Intensive courses are also available through this website.
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