Considering the introduction to the course

As I said at the beginning, what I want to do first is make sure that people have a real opportunity to understand what I'm trying to do and how I'm trying to do it in this section of English 1006. We'll spend a good part of today's class meeting considering questions that have been raised on the forum, and others that may arise during the discussion. Here's how we'll do that.

I'll divide the class into groups of four or five. Begin by making sure every person in the group knows every other person's name.

I'll give each group a copy of all the responses to one of the sections of the forum. Your job is, in a few minutes, to agree on items which aren't relevant (that is, which are duplicates of other responses, aren't answerable, or are already answered obviously in the text, or misunderstand the assignment), and cross them out. Then, take the remaining items and number them (put a number in the left margin) in order of priority -- that is, (1) for the one you agree is most important, (2) the next, and so forth. If there's something no one's actually mentioned, but which your group agrees should be talked about, write it at the bottom and number it. A suggestion: begin by appointing someone to read through the responses aloud, and decide quickly on each if it's a repetition or irrelevant, and cross it out; then rank the remainders.

When you're done, hold your copy up so I can collect it. I'll ignore the work of the last group to finish.

We'll talk about the highest priority items, and then move on to do the same with the next section of the forum. We'll do each in turn, except the one about contacting me, which didn't actually generate much in the way of questions open to discussion; I'll just respond to them.