Annotating Texts Step by Step

This group project will invite you to become deeply familiar with one of our readings and help the class make their way through its most important elements. In the first week of classes, you and two other students (add your name to a slot and let a group form around you or sign up as a fully-formed group) will become responsible for an assigned reading for the week.

This project has three parts:

1. One week to Five Days before reading is due: Prepare and share annotations that can help the class understand difficult and important passages in the text (requires free Hypothesis account; see step-by-step above)
2. Throughout the week the reading is due: Post 4-5 discussion questions to twitter (space these out over the course of the week to help keep discussion alive); moderate conversation with replies and retweets.
3. In class presentation (15 minutes): give us a boil-down of conversations on twitter: what did the class seem most interested in? What topics and themes seemed to surface? Are there things we didn’t address that need to be discussed? How do these conversations compare with the ways this text is often studied and interpreted (will require some research on your end). Finish your presentation with one #embodiedreading exercise, e.g.: have some of us take turns reading passages out loud; ask us to listen with our eyes closed while someone reads; to write memories of the text; draw something; listen to a song, etc (feel free to come up with your own!). Spend some time with us discussing the exercise.

Make sure you budget enough time to meet with your group at least once (either in person or online) so you can discuss your strategies. You will likely want to have read the text fully at least once on your own before you begin preparing your annotations for the class. This will take time and planning: you will have to read at least two weeks ahead of the class in order to prepare. Think about how many endnotes or annotations you could add without overwhelming the reading experience. What kinds of annotations do you most appreciate as a reader and a student? How can your group work to replicate this in your own text?

Some elements your group should consider annotating:

1. Important passages. Point us to crucial elements in regards to plot, character development, or historical/cultural value. Encourage your peers to find these passages and think about them critically without literally just highlighting them and saying “this is important.”
2. Definitions. Define and explain words or references you think might be hard to understand. Remember to cite your sources!
3.  Connections. Help us draw connections across readings by making references to texts and ideas we’ve discussed in previous weeks.
4. Questions. Add critical questions about parts of the text you think could be interpreted in a variety of ways. Ask provocative questions or play devil’s advocate.

Your notes should be collaborative, thoughtful, and lead to productive reading. You can split up tasks with your group: have one member produce the annotations while the other leads twitter, for instance. But you should collaborate on the in-class presentation.

As you prepare your public annotation, you may want to use some of your discussion and conclusions to start putting  together the questions you’ll want to ask the class. The rules for the questions are simple:

• Discussion questions should be open-ended, thoughtful, and lead to productive conversations. They should require careful reading of the text but should not be able to be answered by simply quoting the text.
• The questions should be about the text(s) assigned for that day, and YOUR QUESTIONS MUST MAKE DIRECT REFERENCES TO THE TEXT(S). Please include paragraph numbers or sections, or link to the chapter. Try to make connections between the texts. *Avoid asking questions that lead to yes/no answers; try to cover aspects of the text that open dialogue.
• Your group is responsible for facilitating the discussion that follows. Keep the conversation lively by giving your classmates a chance to discuss their responses before you ask another question (this means at least one member of the group should pop in on twitter every two days or so). It is your job to ensure that a respectful and productive conversation takes place.
• Each member of your group should get a chance to ask a question on Twitter. Ideally, you should each take a day or two leading up to class. If you notice nobody is engaging with your questions, try asking someone directly by tagging them (@username).  For each question, you should prepare a follow-up question. For example:
  • What did the narrator mean when he said that _______?
    • How does this relate to the relationship between X and Y?
  • What is the significance of the lines ______?
    • Do you think that connects to the point we made last week about ____?

Grading (200 total points)

Your group will be graded collectively on the following points:

Annotated Text (50 points): Text contains thoughtful and helpful commentary that isn’t simply summarizing or paraphrasing the text. Where appropriate, sources are cited or hyperlinked.  There is no maximum number of annotations, but you will be graded on the quality of your notes, not on quantity (due around one week and no later than five days before text is due for discussion).

Twitter Leaders (50 points): The group moderates discussion on twitter by asking questions, directly tagging people with comments, replying, and retweeting. Minimum 4 questions and 5 replies.

Presentation (100 points): Group offers a thoughtful summary of what happened on twitter with critique and commentary, identifying relevance themes and most exciting/important points. Embodied reading exercise is well-thought out. Presentation lasts 15-20 minutes. Optional: group can use media (powerpoint, google slides).

Sign Up for a date (no matter how early or late in the semester) by 2/12 at the latest. Note: if you are trying to sign up from a mobile device, you will need the Google Docs app.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ku2rhZXZDf0iN3bOT4xiy_k5A5zKKwQ7QA98fiNQl1A/edit?usp=sharing

NOTE: If your group is presenting on a day a Blog is due, you can submit it the following week. Leave a note on your post stating that you presented the week before.