Students may select themes, characters, motifs, symbols, or anything that intrigues them from the text. Students may select at least one passage and analyze it. Or, students may choose a topic, make an argument with reasons about it, and use at least one passage from the text to support their claims. Students may also fully demonstrate their critical analysis of overlapping themes (i.e., friendship, violence, discrimination, family, etc.) or do character analyses (i.e., passivity, irresponsibility, intensity, humor, etc.). Ask yourself the following questions: “what,” “how,” and “why”—what something is, how something happens or should happen, and why something exists or occurs.
Do not write summaries, discuss personal experiences, or talk about current events. Rather, students should focus on discussing the text itself—its themes, characters, and language—and develop their own critical insights. These responses must demonstrate that these literary works have been read and thought critically about over the course of the reading.
Students must check for coherence within and between paragraphs, and carefully proofread their work for errors in grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and spelling. Additionally, they should think hard and deep so that they clearly demonstrate their ability to do close readings of the texts by pulling specific examples from them that highlight their significance.
Citations should be cited according to MLA format. I will grade reading responses on content and form. The grading for these assignments will be informal and quasi-feedback-driven, and they will be graded using a numerical scale ranging from zero to four.
At least 500 words, typed, double spaced
RR #2: Based on the first chapter of Gender and the Social Construction of Illness by Judith Lorber and Lisa Jean Moore
