Response Journal - CLAS 199 - F22

Response Journal

  Commonplace Book

Key Details

Over the course of this semester, you will be required to keep a response journal. My hope is that keeping a response journal will help you to work towards two of our course goals. First, frequently writing reflections will not only help you to become a more attentive and mindful reader, but it will also give you practice grappling with and synthesizing complex ideas that you meet in the readings. Second, looking back on your response journal will help you make connections between different readings and discussions we have had throughout the course. I am also hopeful that these reflections will serve as fruitful jumping off points for in-class discussion.

Instead of a physical journal, you will keep all your response journal entries in a Google Doc which you will share with me. There will be an opportunity to complete a response journal entry in advance of most classes. Some response journal entries will have specific prompts; others will be more open-ended and allow you to comment and reflect whatever you find most interesting in the assigned reading.

Assessment

Each individual entry in your commonplace book will be grading on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

If a 3-2-1 response is required, a satisfactory response will:

  • Be completed by class time (3 PM)
  • Highlight three key ideas that emerge from the reading
  • Bring up two aspects of the reading that you found unclear
  • Pose one question that reading raised for you
  • Be written in complete sentences
  • Cite explicitly the places where the key ideas and confusions appeared in the reading

If a broader reflection is required, a satisfactory response will:

  • Be completed by class time (3 PM)
  • Have a paragraph (4 - 6 sentences) explaining what you found interesting in the reading and why it was interesting to you
  • Have another paragraph discussing how what you founding interesting relates to key themes and discussions we have met in other readings and in class
  • Be written in complete sentences
  • Cite exiplicitly the places where key ideas discussed in your response come from

Your grade for the response journal will be determined by the number of satisfactory entries you complete over the course of the semester.