"Only connect! . . .Live in fragments no longer.” E. M. Forster, Howards End (1910), ch. 22
"One day when I was twenty-three or twenty-four this sentence seemed to form in my head, without my willing it, much as sentences form when we are half-asleep, ‘Hammer your thoughts into unity’. For days I could think of nothing else and for years I tested all I did by that sentence ...” William Butler Yeats (cited in Frank Tuohy, Yeats, 1976, p.51 )
JOURNALING & DISCUSSION BOARD INSTRUCTIONS
What are "journals" and how are they submitted for discussion and grading? Journals are your responses to the assigned readings submitted to the relevant Discussion Board on Blackboard by 8 P.M. the evening before the readings are to be discussed.
Are they required or optional? You have to do a minimum number of journals, the ones that are specified in the schedule as REQUIRED. All the other journals are optional. If you do not do a REQUIRED journal, following all the instructions, it will be -8 points.
Where do journals fit in the grading scheme? Up to 20% of the final grade may be determined directly by the reading journals. An additional 10% or so is determined by participation in class discussion and performance of literature. Often this performance grade too will depend on the journals, as they enable you to be prepared for class. An additional 15% or so of the final grade is for the portfolio and some of that will be based on the overall quality of the journals.
There will be over twenty journal opportunities this semester worth up to eight points each (160 points). Additional points may added for replies and addendums. To help you meet one of our primary goals, good time management, the journals uploaded by 8 P.M. the night before class discussion that show that the authors have followed instructions, read the assignment CAREFULLY AND THOROUGHLY, and incorporated at least two key quotations, is eligible to receive eight points.
Parasite journal entries will be awarded minus points. A parasite entry is one that uses the same quotes that someone else has used earlier in the discussion and shows no evidence that the author actually read the assignment closely. Avoiding a parasite journal is another lesson in time management. The earlier your entry appears in the discussion the fewer prior entries you will have to scrutinize to make sure that no one else has already used your quotations or made your points.
Journal entries that help us "hammer our thoughts into unity" will be graded higher than those which remain fragments. They may receive more than eight points.
One point will be deducted for each class day the journals are late, with a maximum deduction for lateness of 50% (4 pts.).
What does a journal entry consist of? The complete journal consists of the initial entry (and all subsequent additions or replies before 8 P. M. for that assignment). In other words, more points are given for DISCUSSION, that is, reading others' entries and replying, especially with new quotations from the readings.
All quotations from the readings must include page numbers (in parentheses) after the quotes, unless the quote is from the edition of a novel other than the one assigned (in that case supply chapter nos.).
How long should a daily reading journal be? If one tried to earn an "8" on quantity alone, an average of 500 words would be required for each assignment. For some idea of how a teacher grades the quality of a reader-response journal see the grading rubric below.
What should the format be? It is wise to look ahead to the presentation of your journals in your portfolio. Thus, they should be prepared on a word processor and the electronic file retained for the portfolio. You should paste the journal entry into the Discussion Board unless you have incorporated pictures or music. In that case you can link to it from your own website.
What should I write about in the journals? These are what are known as “reader-response” journals. The goal is to discover who you are as a reader, to record your responses as you read, including thoughts, feelings, memories, associations, guesses about what will happen next, opinions, etc. (see sample prompts below).
Among your thoughts you would be well advised to consider how the text relates to the other readings assigned for that day and to all the other readings in the course and the course themes; in other words, “hammer your thoughts into unity.”
In any case you must prove that you have read the material and therefore you must include at least two quotes with page nos. from the readings. Three or four quotes from very different parts of the reading would be best.
In addition, quotes from other relevant sources would be quite valuable. Illustrations are helpful because your portfolio will be evaluated on the basis of its visual rhetoric as well as its completeness.
from E603
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/E603/web/brette/journals.html
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/E603B/web/ada/E603FINALtexts/journaldirectory.htm
from Senior Seminar on responses to nature
https://webspace.utexas.edu/lmitch03/www/journalpage.html
from a Nature Writing class
http://www.geocities.com/adecuir81/journal.html
What should I write about? Part II:
Reader’s Response Journal Prompts from http://www.lowndes.k12.ga.us/lhsweb/reader's_response.htm1.
1. Overall, what kind of a feeling did you have after reading a few paragraphs of this text? After reading half of the text? After finishing the text?
2. What do you feel is the most important word, phrase, passage, or paragraph in this text? Copy it and explain why it is important.
3. Do you think the title of the text is appropriate? Is it important? Explain.
4. From whose point of view is the story told? Why do you think the author chose that point of view?
5. Describe your favorite character and tell why you made that choice.
6. Describe the character you like the least. What do you dislike about the character?
7. Does anyone in the text remind you of anyone you know? Explain.
8. If you could be any character in this text, who would you be? Why?
9. Are any of the characters good role models? Why do you think so?
10. Write an imaginary conversation that you have with a character or with the author of the text.
11. Do any incidents, ideas, or actions in the text remind you of something that happened to you? Explain.
12. Describe a struggle or conflict in the text. Who is struggling and why? Did one of the characters win?
13. Are there any parts of this text that were confusing to you? If so, describe them and explain your confusion? You might begin the journal entry with the words, "I wonder why…."
14. Are there any parts of the text that were surprising to you? If so, describe them and explain why. You might begin the journal entry with the words, "I was surprised when…."
15. Describe the setting of the text, including the time and the place. Would you like to live in that place during that time period? Why or why not?
16. Do you feel the author expresses an opinion in this text? What is it? How do you know? Do you agree with the author? Why or why not?
17. Would you change the ending of this story in any way? Tell your ending. Why would you change it?
18. Sometimes texts leave you with the feeling that there is something more to tell. Did this text do that? What do you think might happen?
19. Do you like the text? Why or why not?
20. Would you like to read something else by this author? Why or why not?
How does one judge the quality of reader response journals?
Here is one set of rules used by one teacher, from
http://sheffner.home.pipeline.com/pdf_resources/journal_rubric.pdf.
8 pts. Entries are unified (coherent) and/or include felicitous prose, and/or make insightful and interesting connections among all or almost all the assigned works for that day as well, perhaps, assigned in the past, and, hopefully, other courses, other books, etc. from outside the course as well. Argumentation is logical and convincing, avoiding gross oversimplification. Entries demonstrate close and careful reading of the assigned texts. Entries contain comparisons, contrasts, reactions, questions, opinions, response. Entries descend the ladder of abstractions often enough to provide examples, metaphors, pictures, etc. to convey the meaning to the right side of the brain as well as the left. Summary is limited to explanations necessary for the reader to make sense of the entry. Evidence from the text is used to support opinions, and accurate documentation is provided by page nos. and two or more quotations, with further bibliographic info. provided for works not on our reading list. Entries are in paragraph form. Journal is complete and legible, with no grammatical errors, and few if any punctuation errors.
7 pts. Entries are unified (coherent) or include felicitous prose or make connections among the assigned works and, hopefully, works assigned in the past. Entries contain comparisons, contrasts, reactions, questions, opinions, response. If the prose is not felicitous, it is at least colloquial, as in matching the right prepositions with the right verbs. Entries descend the ladder of abstractions often enough to provide examples, metaphors, pictures, etc. to convey the meaning to the right side of the brain as well as the left. Summary is limited to explanations necessary for the reader to make sense of the entry. Evidence from the text is used to support opinions, and documentation is provided by page nos. and quotations. Entries are in paragraph form. Journal is complete and legible, with no grammatical errors, and few if any punctuation errors.
6 pts. Entries make connections among the assigned works. Entries contain comparisons, contrasts, reactions, questions, opinions, response . Entries descend the ladder of abstractions a little, though not enough, to provide examples, metaphors, pictures, etc. to convey the meaning to the right side of the brain as well as the left. Summary is limited to explanations necessary for the reader to make sense of the entry. Evidence from the text is used to support opinions, and documentation is provided by page nos. and quotations. Entries are in paragraph form. Journal is complete and legible, with few grammatical errors.
5 pts. Entries contain comparisons, contrasts, reactions, questions, opinions, response which demonstrate that the student has read the assignment, if superficially, or read only some of the assigned texts. Prose is general, vague, or superficial: does not descend the ladder of abstractions enough to provide examples, metaphors, pictures, etc. to convey the meaning to the right side of the brain as well as the left. Summary is not limited to explanations necessary for the reader to make sense of the entry. Little evidence from the text is used to support opinions and/or documentation is not provided by page nos. and quotations. Entries are in paragraph form. Journal is complete and legible, with few grammatical errors.
4 pts. Entries demonstrate that the student has some acquaitance with the assignment. Summaries are more prevalent than original thoughts. Little evidence from the text is used to support opinions and/or documentation is not provided by page nos. and quotations. Entries somewhat disorganized . Journal has few grammatical errors.
3 pts. Entries demonstrate that the student has some acquaintance with the assignment. Summaries are more prevalent than original thoughts. Little evidence from the text is used to support opinions and/or documentation is not provided by page nos. and quotations. Entries somewhat disorganized and/or journal suffers from grammatical errors.
2 pts. Doubt about how well, if at all student has read the assignment. Entries are too brief to contain complete summaries or extensions. No quotation from the text is used. Incomplete journal. Mechanical problems are severe enough to cause comprehension problems for the reader .
1 pt. No evidence that the student has actually read the assignment. Entries are too brief to contain complete summaries or extensions. No quotation from the text is used. Incomplete journal. And/or mechanical problems are severe enough to cause comprehension problems for the reader. Incomprehensible because of language structure, spelling, and/or physical presentation .
