Response and sharing circle

Writing Circle Guidelines and Instructions

Individual Response

Complete your Individual Response using the prompt given below. Your IR should be written in a separate document then cut/pasted into a new thread on the discussion board. Be sure your IR follows these guidelines:

• Will focus on the specific prompt provided below
• Will be a minimum of 200 words in length to be considered “acceptable”
• “Superior/Exceptional” responses will go above and beyond in detail, clarity, complexity, and thoughtfulness
• Will directly reference the reading(s)/lecture(s) (use at least one citation from each source)
• Will include proper MLA citation and Works Cited listing at the end
• Will be posted by Friday at 11:59 p.m. by starting a new thread on discussion board

Sharing Circle

After the due date/time for the individual response, return to the discussion board to begin the Sharing Circle. You’ll begin this by taking the time to carefully read and consider each of your peers’ Individual Responses. The specific questions and guidelines for participating in the SC are listed below. The SC is an on-going discussion that will continue from Friday night to Sunday night when the week is over. All SC posts must follow these guidelines:

• Create one SC post for each peer in your group
• Will focus on the specific questions provided
• Will be about 100 words in length
• Will be a response that is thoughtful, respectful, but challenging
• Upload the reaction posts by replying to each peer’s Individual Response

As a classroom courtesy and to work toward earning full credit for the Writing Circle, take some time at the very end of the week to give short replies of acknowledgement and thanks to your peers who have posted to your individual response and joined you in conversation.

Module 5 Writing Circle Prompt

Individual Response

After completing the assigned pages from the assigned novel, consider the following questions to write about in your response:

In the interview video clip, McCarthy discusses with Oprah how he believes the subconscious is an entity that informs and guides us. Applying this idea to the novel, what connections can you make between the man’s subconscious and the beast in the man’s dreams in the opening pages of the book? What do you think the beast represents? (cite the text and discuss specific details of the scene)

Sharing Circle

• Read the Individual Responses of those in your peer group.
• Reading others’ writing often leads us to ask questions. What point does your peer make that raises a question for you? Address that question with your peer. As part of your conversation, discuss possible answers to the question that may lead to a better understanding of the topic of the assigned material.
• Discuss briefly in your conversation one idea in your individual response that differs from the ideas of your peer.

• Read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, pages 145 – End
  • These pages cover the second half of the book. Use the active reading strategies we covered in the previous module to ruminate and annotate the important scenes and parts of the story as you read. Makes notes and references will help you return to those scenes and sections as you write about them and discuss them over the coming days and weeks.

• Watch video interview of Cormac McCarthy by Oprah (embedded below)
  • In this short clip of a longer interview, Cormac McCarthy discusses his writing process as well as an important topic that relates in many ways to his novel, The Road. McCarthy discusses the subconscious being older than language and the way our minds process information with images. This idea connects in a number of ways to scenes throughout the novel. You will be reflecting and writing about one of these scenes.
• Complete all parts of The Road Wrap-up and Reflection Writing Circle
  • This discussion board prompt is broken into multiple parts with different due dates.
  • The first part is the individual response. The guidelines for this response are detailed in the prompt. Please note the mid-week due date for this portion of the assignment.
  • The second part is the sharing circle. This portion will continue throughout the week. Again, detailed guidelines are available in the prompt. Please ask immediately if you have questions as this is group work and others in the class are counting on the full participation of their peers within the groups.