Reading Responses

Overview

Each week, except where noted on the schedule, you will post a response to one of the readings we are scheduled to discuss in the next class. Responses should be a minimum of 250 words. There are a number of different approaches you can take with your response, such as:

• A reflection on how the the reading relates to you directly. Did it change a belief or opinion, or help you to see something from a different perspective? Did it relate to an important aspect of some part of your life?
• Write about something in your experience, or that of someone that you know, that you feel either supports or contradicts the author’s arguement.
• Relate the information or concepts in the reading to a current social, political, or technological context.
• Critically analyze an argument, or stance made by the author. Do you agree or disagree with the author and why?
• Write a short story that utilizes concepts presented in the reading.
• Compare or synthesize the concepts presented in the reading with those from others readings from the week or previous weeks.
• Surprise me

Deadlines & Extra Credit

Response posts are due on your WordPress by 8:00 AM on the day of the class. You will write a minimum of ten posts for the semester. If you look at the class schedule on the syllabus, you will see that there are eleven classes for which the response post is due. This means that you can skip one post if you want like without it impacting your grade. There are also a couple of ways to write posts for extra credit.

1. Post a response for all eleven due dates.
2. Each week, I will include a list of suggested readings at the bottom of that week’s class post.  Write a reflection paper on one of these, in addition your response to a required reading. You can receive credit for a maximum of five suggested reading response post.

Grading

Response posts are worth 10 points each for a total of 100 points, with the additional potential for up to 60 extra credit points.

Scoring for posts is as follows:

 Writing (0-4 points)

(4) – No grammatical errors, paragraphs and overall piece are well structured , clear and concise. (3) – Minimal errors, a discernable but inconsistent structure, or some ideas not clearly expressed. (2) – Lots of errors, little structure to either paragraphs or overall piece, or difficult to understand ideas expressed. (1) Grammatical errors consistently interfere with understanding of author’s message, no real structure to paragraphs or overall piece, or no discernable point to the piece. (0) Grammatical errors consistently interfere with understanding of author’s message, no real structure to paragraphs or overall piece, and no discernable point to the piece.

Analysis of Reading (0-4 points)

(4) Demonstrate careful study of reading, include points relevant to the reading. (3) Demonstrate general understanding of article, points mostly relevant to reading. (2) Demonstrate that you read article, points are at least tangentially related to reading. (1) Lack of indication that article was read or  apparent relevance to reading. (0)  Lack of indication that article was read and no apparent relevance to reading.

Additional Points

In-depth analysis of reading and/or relating concepts from reading to other class readings (0-3)

Inclusion of relevant multimedia elements (0-3)

While full points in all four areas would add up to 14 points, the maximum received for a posting in 10.

If you receive a score of 3 or lower on either the Writing or Analysis of Reading areas, you have the option to rewrite your post to  improve your score. You have five week days days from the time I send your score to post your rewrite and email me to let me know that it is complete. I encourage you to contact me before you rewrite for suggestions on how you can improve your score.