Weekly Reading Log — Week 1

Reading logs are intended to keep you accountable for your reading and provide a space for reflection on the lectures and readings. Your reading log posts are due by the end of Friday each week (11:59 pm). You may miss 1 log without penalty.  

The reading log consists of three parts. Instructions are as follows:

Part One: Lecture Response (Length Req. N/A)

Respond to an idea raised by Prof. LaPorte in lecture this week. This could be a literary concept, an interpretation of a passage from the reading, a theoretical framework, etc. What about this idea from the lecture stood out to you? How did this change your understanding of the reading?

Part Two: Reading Response (100-200 words)

Choose from any of the readings from this week that were not covered in lecture. What struck you or resonated with you from this reading? You may consider the following as examples of possible posts:

• Pick one specific passage or quotation to close read.
• Comment on a theme you've been tracking.
• Comment upon a text's structure, form or style and how it relates to your understanding of the text.
• Comment on the relationship between the text's content and the context of its production.

Extend a line of thinking from lecture (e.g. a mode of interpretation, or a theoretical framework) to one of the texts not explicitly discussed in lecture. You need to provide quotations/evidence from the text to substantiate your response. 

Part Three: Discussion Question (Length Req. N/A)

The third part of the post should introduce a question about one of the readings that was not discussed in lecture. Your question should be critical, complex, and aims to promote dialogue (think “how/why” questions). They should not be able to be answered in a simple “yes/no” format. You may feel free to post clarifying questions in addition to your discussion question, but clarification questions alone will not receive credit.

Address all three parts of the prompt in a single comment below.