Nonverbal Communication class: grading of Assignment #5

1. If your writing is done well, you develop the explanations of concepts well, you describe the NVC well, and you explain how the NV actions helped to communicate an idea well, then you need to include at least three concepts from the text other than the 10 Nonverbal Codes to earn a "C." You will need at least five concepts for a "B," and at least 7 concepts for an "A."

2. Be sure to fully describe the nonverbal actions first, before discussing any concepts. The description section would be a good place to refer to nonverbal codes, if you want. You don't have to refer to them, though.

3. Remember that you are allowed/encouraged to use a "could have used" approach if you can't find the number of concepts you need for the grade you want in the NVC you observed. By "could have used" I mean you can say that the communicator could have used certain actions that you clearly identify, but didn't use them, and then explain the concept from the text that relates to to the actions he/she could have used. If you do this, it should come in the section that you explain the concepts.

4. It will probably help me a lot, and thus help your score, if you put each concept in bold type when you start to explain it. That will help me recognize the ideas you consider the concepts, which helps me give you the appropriate credit. After the first time for each concept don't continue to use bold print.

5. Remember that this assignment is about ideas, not feelings. When you observe someone there will inevitably be feelings involved in the NVC but including them is not helpful for this assignment. And don't try to get around this by saying something like, "The idea the person communicated was that he was angry."

6. Remember that your purpose for this assignment is to show that you know a good deal about NVC and that you can write like a college student ought to be able to write. This is not the time to write as little as possible.

7. Remember that there's a good chance that the NVC you write about accompanied verbal communication. It could help you to also include what the person said in your description.

A generic outline of the assignment looks something like the following. (Sorry about the formatting, but my mail software won't allow me to indent any other way and your mail software may change it in unexpected ways.)

I. Whatever introduction you want. I don't really need much of an introduction, but if you like to develop introductions it won't hurt you.

II. Description of the nonverbal communication you observed for this assignment. Remember to make it action-by-action without summarizing or interpreting. Summarizing is something like, "The person I observed kept looking away." Interpreting is something like, "The person I observed was angry."

III. Connections to concepts from the text

A. Concept #1 (use bold print when you identify the concept)

1. Well developed explanation of what the concept means

a. What Anderson said it means. Be sure to introduce any quotations and always put the page number in parentheses at the end of what Anderson said. For this assignment you should do that for both quotations and summaries of what he said.

b. Your interpretation of what Anderson said (DO NOT write anything like "This concept is just what it says." That doesn't help you explain the concept and makes it look like you're evading the issue.) I think a good way to think of this part is try to explain the concept as if you were talking to a fairly intelligent 9-year-old. Another way to explain this part is to take the different segments of the concept and and explain what each of them means. Think of this as if it were a short answer test question like, "What does concept X mean?"

2. Clear and well developed explanation of how the concept was apparent in the communication you observed. You will probably refer back to what you said in part II here. DO NOT expect that this is obvious and you need little or no explanation. That kind of thinking doesn't help you show that you know a good deal about NVC.

B. Concept #2