Commonplace Document
The entries in your Commonplace Document will respond to the prompts in the syllabus and, as a whole, demonstrate your engagement with our primary texts and the critical conversation surrounding them.
Sometimes, the syllabus will give you specific instructions for the post of the day. Most days, however, the syllabus will require you to do one of the following three kinds of posts, according to your group number.
Regular Response Posts
Each of you will select a "special interest" that you follow throughout the course readings. You should always be alert to that topic as you read and be prepared to discuss it in class. At least half of your regular response posts should concern your special interest directly.
A regular response post begins with two short passages: one from the day's reading, and one from the previous day's readings. (If you're writing for the very first set of readings, so there is no previous day, simply write about a connection between two different passages from that first set of readings.)
Each of your passages should consist of no more than five lines of text. Start your post with the text and page citation of these two passages. Then write at least 250 words about the connection you perceive between the two passages; why have you chosen these two anchor points as a way to move from the previous day to the current one?
Reading Situation Posts
Write at least 250 words about your experience of reading in one of the following situations. Your goal is to reflect on how you read and think--and how your reading and thinking change in different situations. Strive to make your description as concrete and detailed as possible. What did you do to create your reading situation, and what did you learn about yourself in the process? What was comfortable or difficult about the situation? What did you notice or miss that you may not have noticed or missed in another situation?
Your first reading situation post will respond to being read to on the first day of class. After that, you will have five more reading situation posts to do. For each, you can choose one of the following situations, without repetition:
- Read for one hour as you normally would do reading for a class, except ensure that none of your electronic devices are in the same room with you as you read. Make yourself internet-unreachable for one uninterrupted hour of reading.
- Read outdoors for one hour. Find a hammock, rock, bench, or patch of grass. Do not bring any electronic devices with you (or turn them completely off).
- Read a chapter to someone else.
- After reading the whole assignment for the day, read the first chapter again and see what new things you perceive.
- Read with a sketchpad and make quick sketches of what you read as you go.
- Read silently in a group, with everyone committing to reading without conversation for at least half an hour. (This can be done with classmates or others who are doing other kinds of reading.)
- Make yourself a fancy snack to enjoy while you read. Make it special: pay attention to the preparation and arrangement of the food. Accompanying tea is optional.
- If you normally listen to music while you read, read in silence for at least half an hour. If you normally read in silence, listen to music that you think will be a pleasant and focusing accompaniment to your reading.
- Invent a new reading situation for yourself. Be sure that the situation will produce a striking break from your usual habits.
I thank Andrea Kaston Tange for the inspiration--and many details--of the reading situation assignments.
Quotations-Only Posts
A quotations-only post involves entering the quotations in your Commonplace Document, just as you would for a regular response post, but not writing the post itself. You may have an opportunity in class to talk about why you chose your passages.