Blog Assignment

There are three parts to the blogging portion of your grade: 1) two full posts 2) serving as a discussion leader 3) commenting on others’ posts.

See Grading Rubric Here.

1) Throughout the semester, each student will be required to write two 300-500 word posts on the day’s assigned reading. Responses should be posted no later than 5pm the day before our class meeting to ensure all class members have time to view the response. If we are reading more than text on your assigned day, you may choose to focus on one text.

Note: If you miss a blog post or are unhappy with the grade, you may choose to write an optional third blog post, and I will drop your lowest grade of the three.

What to do in your posts:

• Provide an interpretation (close reading) of a certain aspect of the text: you may focus on a certain section of the text or a certain theme; you don’t have to account for the text in its entirety
• Point us to a particular passage or part of the text you’d like to focus on
• Try to stick closely to the text, its language, and concerns, images, characters represented in the text (as opposed to writing about the author, historical/social context, etc).
• Raise or attempt to answer challenging questions
• Use specific examples from the text
• Pay attention to spelling, grammar, punctuation, word choice, and proofreading

You may also:

• Make connections between the text and another text we have read for class
• Connect the text to a contemporary theme or issue
• Include images or video if applicable.

What NOT to do:

• Provide a summary of the plot: we’ve all read the text as well, we don’t need you to repeat to us what happened
• Focus entirely on outside information: while you may want to make connections to another text, the main focus of your post should be the reading itself

 

2) Discussion Leader

Additionally, one student assigned to post for the day will be the informal leader of our class discussion that day. (Each student will do this once during the semester.)

A successful discussion leader will:

• Have read the other blog posts for the day, and any comments already posted. I’d like you to be prepared to talk about and expand upon whatever ideas you raise in your own blog post. You should have in mind specific passages and/or ideas that we should focus on and in general, you should be prepared to be the go-to person during the class discussion–ready to answer my questions or raise your own if called upon.

 

3) Commenting

Students will be expected to comment on the blog at least three times throughout the semester. These should be substantive comments–a full paragraph or two in length–that respond specifically to the posts, rather than a simple “great job!” or “I agree!” These should be spread out throughout the semester, and not posted on a day you are assigned to write a primary post.