Andrew post 6

I think that teaching online has actually allowed me to implement practices that reward deep reading over surface reading. Each week I assign a reading and then ask students to respond to a few prompts related to it in that week's discussion board. Later in the week, they have to respond to two of their peers' posts, which they can't see until they've submitted their own posts (this prevents students from simply repeating the points others have already made in the discussion board). In the rubric I use for grading the posts, I establish that there are no "right" or "wrong" answers to the prompts, and that I reward original arguments supported by evidence, and responses to peers that elaborate on the original poster's argument in a meaningful way. I've found that this practice elicits a deeper engagement with the texts than in face-to-face instruction, where I usually break the class into small groups to discuss readings and often only one person in the group is made responsible for responding to the prompts. 

I thought Bean made an interesting point in showing how assigning difficult texts can be used to empower students, provided that provided that instructors acknowledge their difficulty get students to get comfortable struggling with readings. I try to lower the stakes of assignments related to such texts, usually by evaluating them on a complete/incomplete basis. I strive to foster a growth mindset in my students, where, ideally, they come to enjoy being challenged by their coursework. 

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