Welcome to the online discussion forum for English 2025-2! Here is where I will post discussion prompts, and then you will leave your reading responses in the Comments section.
A few ground rules:
1. You must respect yourself and others with the words you post.
2. I encourage you to respond to things your classmates have already said, but you are required to read through existing comments so you don't simply repeat what someone else has contributed.
3. Responses are due (and therefore must be posted) before the class meeting where we discuss the assigned reading to which you're responding.
4. In addition to posting your response here, you will also turn in a hard copy to me the class period your response is due.
Reading responses are just what they sound like: your personal response to what you've read. However, don't take these lightly: the 5 responses you'll write over the course of the semester count 20% of your final grade, so I expect a high degree of thoughtfulness about what you've read. That doesn't mean that you have to have all of the answers -- exploring questions or highlighting problems or complications you find in the text is perfectly valid -- but you should have a focused point to make or a focused question to pursue, and you should spend your words fleshing out that point or question. You should demonstrate that you've read the text, but don't summarize: we want to know what you think about it. I also expect these responses to adhere to the conventions of standard, edited English and to be free from careless errors. I encourage you to draft and revise these; typing up some sentences an hour before class starts is not likely to produce a response that will earn you full credit.
To compose your response, simply click on the Comments link below the post. A separate window will pop up. To minimize the risk of losing your responses, I highly recommend that you compose your responses in a word processing program, save them, and then copy and paste into the comments window. When you're ready to publish it, choose Other under "Choose an Identity" (unless you have a Blogger account), and type your name (first name and last initial is fine). Next, you'll have to fill in the Word Verification letters. Then, click "Publish Your Comment." It may not appear right away, but it will show up eventually.
To practice before you actually have a response to write, please leave a comment on this post telling us what the worst book you ever read was and why you disliked it (a couple of sentences will do). Please do so before class on Tuesday, September 4.
