Amazing discussion today, guys.  It gave me a chance to passively moderate the discussion while you all ran wild.  I think we’ll keep this up, unless there are any objections.  Comment below if you have a concern or another idea.

From the board:

Be sure to keep up with your reading journals.  I cannot stress enough how important these will be when we begin writing our papers.

[Note: I wasn’t planning on posting these images, as they don’t accurately capture the discussion we (you) had.  It was a dynamic document created as you talked, so things were erased.  I’ve added notes to clarify a bit, but next time I’ll keep a more legible record. If you were absent today, I would greatly appreciate any feedback or questions about what we did, in order to help me clarify our discussion.]

We’ve had some great discussions the past few days.  If you are still uncertain about a topic, ask Stacie.  She keeps cranking them out then disowning them. 

We decided to finish the book by Tuesday, which seems reasonable.  Don’t rush if you’re feeling behind. Enjoy the book, read a bit every day, and you’ll be fine.

Here again are the board clips (less jumbled this time):

Sherrie presented her idea for synthesizing Ellison’s short story, MLK’s “Letter…,” the novel, and Montaigne’s quotation on conformity.  (Keep us updated!)

The question I put before the class was:  Are they happy?  If so, why?  If not, does it matter?  We went through a list of things in our lives that upset us, then crossed out those that are eliminated in the BNW.  The next question was why is Bernard unhappy initially, and what is the source of Hemholtz’s discontentedness?

If you come up with an idea, want to offer one to the class, have a question, or a general observation, comment below for the good of all.

We had a great discussion today, guys!  Here are my notes.  The screencast thing didn’t work, but here is a copy of my notes, jumbled for your interpretative pleasure:

(Click on the pics to make them printable/legible.  Well, larger, anyway.)

We’ve been blazing through the process of invention, or "coming up with something worth writing about."  The following is a quick overview, but as you know, there is no substitute for our rapid-fire discussion technique.

If I missed something, or there is something I need to clarify, post a comment below for the benefit of all.

We will discuss the writing process tomorrow and what I expect from your essays.