Grading Scale
A 93% - 100% B- 80% - 82% D+ 67% - 69%
A- 90% - 92% C+ 77% - 79% D 63% - 66%
B+ 87% - 89% C 73% - 76% D- 60% - 62%
B 83% - 86% C- 70% - 72% F 59% and below
Course Requirements and Assignments (See Canvas for Grading Rubrics)
1. DISCLAIMER: Please know I want to be a support to you and because I am operating
within a system, I am limited in what I can and can’t do to support you. If you are in need of accommodations, please reach out to the Disability Resource Center on campus who can help you access short-term and long-term accommodations. If you have a complaint about any professor or course on campus, please take the following steps:
- Talk to the professor
- If you feel like you can’t talk to the professor, please go to the chair of the department, contact information for this person can be found on the department’s website.
- Other resources include:
- Dean of the college where the course is housed
- Provost’s office
- Dean of Students
- Regardless of the steps you take, leaving feedback in your end of semester course evaluations is important. These are anonymous; instructors do not have access to them until after grades are posted.
2. Please pay attention to Canvas Announcements as this instructor uses Canvas
Announcements to communicate with students about important information. You
will be accountable for information provided through announcements.
3. Emotional Safety - There will be multiple lessons, activities and assignments
throughout this course that you may find uncomfortable for a variety of reasons. If you have experienced psychiatric issues such as depression, anxiety, trauma, bipolar disorder, or PTSD in the past or begin to feel emotionally overwhelmed during the course, you are encouraged to share this with the instructor so they can best assist your learning process, safety, and/or well-being throughout the course.
Due to the emotionally and psychologically vulnerable content that will be discussed throughout this course, it is essential that all participants contribute to an environment of emotional safety. In the event of a student participating in emotionally unsafe comments/behavior, the instructor will provide feedback which will serve as a warning. At that time, the student will be invited to converse with the instructor about what made their comments/behavior emotionally unsafe. If the behavior is repeated, students will be referred to campus services.
The use of derogatory language/terms when referring to people (individuals and groups) is an emotionally unsafe behavior - even if there is nobody the term references represented in the room. I will follow the same procedures for use of derogatory language as I will for any other emotionally unsafe behavior. If you are unsure about whether or not a term is derogatory, avoiding slang terms and practicing the use of professional and politically correct language is a safe way to avoid inadvertent use of derogatory language.
If you find you are emotionally overwhelmed by content in this or any other course, the University Counseling and Psychological Services Center (CAPS) is a resource available to you. The phone number for CAPS is: 435.865.8621.
4. As a student in this course, you are responsible for the content presented in this
course and for your own learning. If you need help, please ask. If you have
questions about the material that you are interested in or curious about that is not addressed in the course, please ask. If you do not understand a concept being taught/discussed, please ask. The instructor is a resource to you; however, if you do not communicate that you need help, the instructor cannot help you. Waiting until the last week of the semester to communicate about issues happening throughout the semester does not count as communicating with the instructor.
5. This is an action-based course. You will not likely pass if you are not actively involved
in applying the concepts we are learning. Every single assignment for this course is focused on application of what we are learning and building habits to support emotional resilience and well-being.
6. It is expected that all work you turn in is created and developed by you. If you use AI,
the expectation for this course is that you use it as a resource and not a robot. You must properly cite it if you use it. If it is discovered that you are using AI without properly citing it or you use AI to generate work that you turn in as your own,
SUU Policy 6.33 for Academic Integrity will be followed.
7. All assignments are due at midnight on the due date unless otherwise noted.
8. Assignments may be turned in early. You may turn in up to 3 assignments up to 3 days
late without questions or penalty. Any late work beyond this will only be accepted if you have formal accommodations in place through the
Disability Resource Center or support through the Office of Student Outreach and Support. This applies to all assignments that will receive a grade. Please do not rely on Canvas to remind you of when assignments are due; please be proactive and know when assignments are due. All assignments for the semester are already entered into Canvas.
9. All papers must be typed in either Arial or Times New Roman with a 12 point font, 1
inch margins and double-spaced.
10. Following instructions matters! Your grade will be affected if you do not!
11. Grading: Because the purpose of this class is to practice and learn emotional resilience
and well-being, most assignments are not worth points. Your participation, effort, and learning process is more important than your skill at earning a specific grade. Instead of points, you will earn a “complete” or “incomplete” on most assignments. The exception to this is the quizzes and only because of the way the grading of quizzes vs assignments works in Canvas.
Because a letter grade must be submitted for you at the end of the semester, the number of complete assignments for each category of assignments that you earn will be averaged; that number will be averaged for your final grade. The assignment categories are as follows: quizzes, getting outside of your comfort zone, journals, labs, PLEASE Master, and general assignments. An example of how grading works: if you complete all general assignments assignments, 90% of the labs, 80% of journaling assignments, 70% of the getting outside of Your Comfort Zone assignments, all PLEASE Master assignments, and average 93% on your quizzes, your grade will be determined as follows: 100 + 90 + 80 + 70 + 100 + 93/6 = 89 for a “B+” grade. If you complete 100% of all assignments and average 94% on your quizzes, your grade will be determined as follows: 100 + 94/5 = 98.8 for an ”A” grade.
If you receive an “Incomplete” on an assignment, you will have 7 days from the time it was graded to revise and resubmit it for a Complete”. Any assignments due the last week of the semester will not have this flexibility; whatever grade you earn at the time they are graded will be the final grade on them.
Some assignments such as the Balanced Living Log and Mindfulness Log require you to practice skills several times in the week during or following when we learn about them in class. If you earn an “Incomplete” on these assignments because you did not practice the skills as required, you will not be able to make them up, and the “Incomplete” will be final. The weekly lab falls into this category as well; you will be unable to redo/revise if you earn an “Incomplete” unless specifically noted by the instructor when the assignment is graded.
12. Attendance: Being in class matters and your attendance will significantly impact your
grade. There are many concepts discussed in class that will be very difficult to effectively learn outside of class. The practice and application of concepts is an essential learning element for this course. Attendance tracking is built into your quiz and journaling/lab assignments. As missing class sometimes is inevitable, your 2 lowest grades for quizzes will be dropped. The syllabus quiz may not be dropped.. Additionally, you may miss 2 labs and 2 journals without any penalty to your grade. Quizzes, journals, and labs may NOT be made up if you miss class, unless you have formal accommodations through the DRC or a school-excused absence. You are responsible for providing/facilitating documentation for school excused absences. If you have attendance related accommodations through the DRC, your absences must be communicated to the instructor through the DRC in order for them to be excused and related assignments to be made up. Please use your free absences wisely. If you have extenuating circumstances that arise such as emergency surgery, a long term illness, or a death in the family, please be aware you may be eligible for temporary accommodations through the Office of Student Outreach and Support. If you communicate with me about such circumstances, I am happy to help you access these resources.
13. Quizzes: There will be 12 in-class quizzes throughout the semester worth 10 points each
that will cover the reading; occasionally, there will be a question about something from class on your weekly quiz. The Syllabus Quiz is to be completed outside of class and is worth 25 points; this quiz may not be dropped even if it is your lowest score. All quizzes are open-note and open-book. You will have limited time for each quiz, except the syllabus quiz. You will not do well if you are reviewing the reading during the quiz. Quiz passwords will be provided in class each Tuesday.
Either receiving the quiz password if you were not in class or providing the quiz password to someone who was not in class is considered cheating and SUU’s Academic Integrity Policy, 6.33 will be followed. If you miss class, you will miss the quiz. Because life happens, the 2 lowest quiz scores will be dropped; the syllabus quiz cannot be dropped.
14. Getting Outside of Your Comfort Zone. Each week you will be expected to do something
to get outside of your comfort zone. In the correlating assignment shells, please tell me about what you did and how it contributed to your personal growth within the context of emotional resilience and well-being. There is no page minimum; please keep it under the equivalent of ½ page. While you can repeat activities throughout the semester, you can’t do the same thing every week, and your activities should be progressively more challenging. Photos of your activity are not required but are welcome; I appreciate being able to celebrate your hard work with you! Due each week by Friday.
15. PLEASE Master Skills - Each week, you will be expected to intentionally practice one
aspect of PLEASE Master skills. This skill set will be taught the first week of class. For this assignment each week, please tell me about what you did to practice PLEASE Master skills. Some things you do will be obvious. If it is not obvious, please tell me how it relates to PLEASE Master skills. This will make more sense to you once we have learned the skills in class. Due each week by Friday at midnight.
16. Lab - There will be weekly in-class labs, beginning the second week of
class, in which you will be working with a small group of peers in the class to discuss and practice applying concepts learned in class each week. You grades for the lab assignments are dependent upon your participation in the weekly assigned lab/activity and will be assessed by feedback from you and/or your peers and instructor observation. You must be in class and participate in order to earn a “Complete” on these assignments; these cannot be made up. 2 of these will be dropped from your final grade. Please choose your absences wisely. Due Friday of each week beginning with Week 2.
SUU Outdoors Lab: Please choose 1 activity to participate in with SUU Outdoors at some time during the semester. It can be anything that you can relate the course to. Connect the activity to 3 specific concepts/topics that are addressed in the course. Then, discuss the relevance of the activity to emotional resilience and well-being with someone who understands this topic. If you are physically unable to participate with SUU Outdoors, please email me about an alternate assignment. This assignment will be due on December 5; you may complete it at any time throughout the semester. I recommend visiting SUU Outdoors early in the semester so that you have time to make a plan to complete this activity. This lab may not be dropped. You will not be excused from completing it due to your lack of planning/preparation.
17. Journaling - Please keep a weekly journal in which you are writing about and reflecting
upon what you are learning in class and applying it to you and your life. There is no right or wrong way to do this as long as you do it. In order for meaningful reflection to happen, please plan on writing a minimum of 1 page per week. If you do not have at least 1 full page, I will mark it as Incomplete. If this happens, you may add to your journal for a Complete grade. It will be up to you to get it marked off if this happens. Please keep in mind that this assignment can be an important part of your learning experience in this class or busy work - the difference is up to you and how you complete the assignment. The instructor will not read your reflections but will check to make sure you have completed this assignment each Thursday. You must be in class on Thursdays in order to earn a "Complete" for this assignment. The only possible exceptions are school or DRC excused absences. You may miss 2 journals without any penalty to your grade. It is your responsibility to make sure your journal is marked as "Complete" each Thursday.
18. Mindfulness Log. During the week we discuss mindfulness in class, you will
be expected to intentionally practice mindfulness at least 3 times. At the end of the week, please submit a log of what you did, when you did it, and any observations you make about the process as you are completing it. Please see Canvas for the due date.
19. Values Exercise - Please complete the values exercise that can be found in both the
assigned reading module and Values Exercise assignment shell in Canvas. Once you have completed the assignment, upload the completed assignment to Canvas along with a 1 - 2 page summary of your experience in completing the assignment. Please see Canvas for the due date.
20. Balanced Living Log. During the week we discuss balanced living in class,
you will be expected to intentionally practice balanced living at least 5 times. At the end of the week, please submit a log of what you did, when you did it, and any observations you make about the process as you are completing it. Because balanced living is very subjective to the individual practicing it, the way you practice it will be very individual. Be prepared to justify your examples of intentional balanced living to the instructor. Please see Canvas for the due date.
21. Coping Strategies Plan. Everyone experiences times of being emotionally
and/or psychologically overwhelmed at times. For this assignment, you will complete a detailed plan for what you are willing to do both preemptively and during times of feeling overwhelmed to safely and effectively manage your emotions and/or emotional distress. Because this should be something that is useful to you, you can format it however will be useful to you - there are many, many, many possibilities. Please see Canvas for the due date.
22. Gratitude Letter. The expression of gratitude may be particularly effective
when done directly face-to-face with another person. Choose someone you would like to express gratitude to. Perhaps it’s your mom, favorite uncle, or an old friend; perhaps it's an old coach, teacher, or supervisor. Write them a letter now, and visit (most effective) or call and read the letter out loud. For the purpose of this assignment, please choose someone whom you can read the letter to either in person or over the phone. Describe in detail what they did for you and exactly how it affected your life; mention how you often remember their efforts. Then, write a one-page reflection of how the experience went for you and attach your gratitude letter. You’ll need to upload 2 things to get full points on this assignment: 1. The letter you wrote and 2. Your one page reflection. Please see Canvas for the due date.
23. Reflection Paper. Think about the version of you that began this semester. You might
use your assignments and notes from throughout the semester to refresh your memory. Please write a 3 - 5 page paper reflecting on what you have learned, how you have grown, and your understanding and ability to practice emotional resilience and well-being throughout your life. Please specifically address the learning objectives outlined in the syllabus. Due by Tuesday December 9. Because of the timing in the semester, this assignment cannot be revised and resubmitted if you earn an “Incomplete”.