DIGITAL JOURANLS - 15%

The purpose of the journal is twofold: (1) to give you the chance to synthesize and respond to the issues raised in the readings, and (2) to ensure that you have thoughtful contributions to offer during our class discussions.

  

The guidelines for journal entries are pretty straightforward: I expect one entry a week, unless otherwise specified. Each entry should directly address the readings assigned for one day’s worth of reading assignments through the prompt I provide. Once you have responded to the readings, you are welcome to take the rest of the response in any direction you choose. Each response should be no less than 300 words. There is no upper word count limit.

  

Each week, you can choose what set of readings you wish to respond to; however your journal entry must be posted to your Tumblr by 8:00am. For example, if I were to respond to readings for March 1, my blog post would be due at 8:00am on March 1.

  

Your grade for the journals depends on both the number of entries and the quality of those entries. When keeping a reading journal, it is tempting to put off the writing until the very last minute, and frantically journal before class. I strongly discourage you from dealing with the journal in this way, for several reasons. First, and most obvious, it is much more stressful to write frantically than it is to sit down and write for twenty minutes immediately after you’ve read the essays, when the information is still fresh in your mind. Second, writing after reading makes for better learning: ideally, the journal will provide you with a place to work through your ideas before we’ve met as a class, to form opinions and to raise concerns about the readings. Finally, from a teacher’s perspective, I have found that the quality of journal entries is much higher when students work on it consistently than when they wait until the last minute. I do look at quality of thought when assessing the journals, and if I find that one or more entries are not satisfactory, those entries will not count toward your total.