Reading Response

Reading Response Prompt

Based on the reading, some of the questions are more abstract and some are more concrete, but the overall effect is to answer a few basic questions: who, what, where, and when.

And a final question: why does it matter?

It should summarize the piece of writing, its main arguments and the types of evidence it uses to support those arguments. It should answer most or all of the Who, What, Where, and When Questions; touch on one or more of the Self-Reflection and Making-Connection Questions; at least one of the Analysis Questions, and use at least one of the Questions to Generate Discussion as the starting point for a conversation among the members of your group.

Who, What, Where, and When Questions:
• What problem is the author identifying?
• Who does the problem relate to?
• How does the author locate the problem in time and space? (When and where is the author talking about?)
• What are the complexities of this issue?
• For whom is this topic important and why?

Self-Reflection Questions:
• What do I already know about this topic? Where and how have I acquired this knowledge?
• What might be the limitations of my thinking related to this topic? How is what I am reading different from what I already know? Why might this difference exist?
• What new ideas are here for me to consider? Why am I willing to consider them? Why am I not willing to consider them?

Making-Connections Questions:
• What connections can I make between this reading selection and something else that we have discussed in this course?
• Which of the presented ideas are similar to your own? Which of the ideas have you not thought about before?

Analysis Questions:
• What kind of assumptions is the author making? Do I share these same assumptions?
• What does the author appear to value? Have I been convinced to value these same things? Why or why not?
• What information builds my confidence in the authors’ expertise?

Questions to Generate Discussion:
• If the opportunity arose, what questions would I pose to the author?
• Copy and Paste one sentence (or a couple of sentences) that stuck out to you in the reading. Maybe because it was beautifully written, or confusing, weird, or dumb. Talk about why it stuck out to you.
• When we learn something new, it shows us there are gaps in our knowledge. What gaps in your knowledge did the reading expose? What new questions are you left with after completing the reading?