English 1006
Prompt #31
5 November 2013
Patterns in readings, moving on
In class today
There were a substantial number of responses (19 people began the
process, and about 16 seem to have completed it) to the sequenced
reading. I want to try to help everyone see what these responses
can tell us about readings and about how people respond in
similar, and different ways, to what is a pretty uniform
experience. This is, of course, not really how things are read in
the "real world," but then most of the reading that's done in
connection with class assignments isn't much like "real-world
reading," either. We can still learn things from it.
I've taken all the responses, arranged them by the section they
were responses to, and printed them out. I'm going to set up eight
groups, and give each group a set of the responses to one section
of the reading. I'm going to ask you to look for patterns in the
response -- especially patterns in what readers bring to the text
(what ideas and feelings and attitudes are invited by the text, or
assumed to be there in the readers). Each group should arrive at
an agreement and explain two or three patterns on the form you'll have. To give you an
idea of what you might look for, and how you might explain it,
I've already done that to the responses from the first section, on that same form (on the back of this
prompt).
When all the groups have completed the form, we'll ask each group,
in order, to report quickly on what patterns they've found in the
responses; I'll put the relevant section of the text up on the
screen.
For next time
If you haven't finished reading "The Tell-Tale Heart" (there are
many texts on the Web; one fairly readable one is here),
finish reading it and post a reflection on your reading on the "the
rest of the story" thread on the "Tell-Tale
Heart" Forum. Write at least a couple of
hundred words: discuss, for example, what a reader needs to
believe, value, or understand, outside the story itself, for the
story to work as Poe wanted it to work. Or discuss what Poe does
(how he chooses words, or orders things), to make it work. Or
whatever else seems relevant.
Then find one piece of information that's relevant to the story and might be of interest to others, about
Poe or about the story itself.
All you need is one; select something you
think most interesting, surprising, or valuable. Find
it any way you like, but keep track of exactly how and where you
found it; post the information and your detailed explanation of
where and how you found it on the forum in reply to the
"Information about the story" thread on the "Tell-Tale
Heart" Forum. By this evening I'll have an example
posted so you can see what this might look like.
A task for "extra credit"
There is no way for us to spend the kind of time on the current
Theatre UNB production of The Odyssey that we did on Private
Lives, but my expectation is that if we could it would be
worth it. So here's what I propose: the play is running at
Memorial Hall, starting on Wednesday night at 8:00, and ending
Saturday night. If five or more people attend, and post a
thoughtful (750 words or more) reflection on the experience on the
The Odyssey forum, and if you reply thoughtfully (250+
words) to two of those postings, I'll count is as a task
completed. If fewer than five people attend and write, it won't
count, and it won't count for you unless you post two replies.
Reflections on the show have to be on the forum by Sunday night to
count; replies will need to be done before class time next
Tuesday.
Continuing the midterm process
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