You are expected to respond to the assigned readings every week in the class discussion forum. These are not formal writing assignments. Our evaluation of your work will not be based on whether you have understood the reading or not, but on how thoughtfully you have engaged with the text.
Good questions, in your response, will be as valuable as good answers. In other words, we will be looking to see that you honestly try to understand what the given author is saying, that you have taken some time to sort out what you do not understand, and that you try to relate the author’s insights to your own life and perspective.
Your response will be due every Monday night by midnight to receive full credit, responding to the weekly reading before class each Wednesday. Responses posted late may receive partial credit, but those that are not posted by the beginning of the class period each week will receive no credit.
Each response should be two or three healthy paragraphs in length, and should consist of three elements:
- A summary of the author’s most important points. Be sure to explain the author’s position as sympathetically as possible. Do not tell us what you think. Try to step outside yourself and tell us what the author thinks. Try to take her/his point of view.
- The highlights of a difficult or poignant passage, or significant questions that the reading brings to mind. Be sure to go beyond simply asking a question or two. Do more than point to a difficult paragraph and say, “This is hard!” Try to explain why it is hard. Why is it meaningful? Why do questions arise?
- Try to relate the author’s insights to your own perspective. Evaluate the position. Do you agree or disagree? Why? You also might try to briefly answer the questions you raised, or you can reflect on what the conclusions suggest for your own life. In this section, in other words, we are asking for what you think!
Goals of the assignment:
- Demonstrate that you have completed the assigned reading(s).
- Prepare for class discussion.
- Practice the difficult task of understanding another person’s point of view.
- Process what you have learned to make it your own.
You will need to have a student account with this website in order to access the discussion forums. If you did not receive an email with your account information, please speak to Ed Whitfield in class and he will help setup your account.