As we move through the course, this website will become an archive of our proceedings: our thoughts, discussions, ideas, questions, and challenges. You’ll contribute to that archive by posting responses to the material we consume for class, by responding to what happens inside the class itself, and by responding to your classmates’ responses.
Every week, you will make a post on the website. Your post will take one of three forms:
- A reflection on one of the assigned readings, due 24 hours before class begins (ie 3.30pm on Wednesdays)
- A comment in response to one of your classmates’ reflections or comments, due 2 hours before class (ie 1.30pm on Thursdays)
- A reflection on the conversations we have had in class, due 48 hours after class ends (ie 6pm on Saturdays).
You will sign up in advance for readings and post-class reflections. In the weeks where you are not signed up for anything, your job is to read and comment.
Follow the instructions on this spreadsheet to sign up for online responses
Here are some guidelines for posting:
- Posts should be between 200 and 500 words long
- Comments should be at least two sentences long. Questions count.
- You are always welcome to include media in your posts
When you respond to a text, use the following questions as guidelines. You’re welcome to focus mostly on one of them, but you should at least try to answer the first.
- What is the purpose of this piece – what conversations is it responding to, and what intervention is it hoping to make?
- What lit you up? What passages, moments, ideas left you breathless and excited?
- What shut you down? What passages, moments, ideas made you confused, angry, depressed?
- What do you want to talk about? Where would you like our class discussion of this piece to go?
When you respond to a class session, your response may take any form you like so long as it includes specific reference to what we have been discussing. You may write a description of the class day, return to the readings, or use a particular moment to expand to a broader discussion or connect to related events.
