1. Reading Time
I will aim to give you about half a lesson for DEAR reading every Friday, if at all possible.
2. Blog Entries
a) In the middle of a book
Twice a month, on the homework day nearest the 15th and the 30th, I want you to write a short entry about the DEAR book you are currently reading. In this entry, all you have to do is choose one quotation from the book that you like, explain any background needed to understand it, and then explain why you like it. That’s all!
- Identify the author and title.
- Set up the quotation by explaining the context: who is speaking? what is the situation? Etc.
- Share the quotation. If it is dialogue, or if it is a longer quotation, punctuate it exactly as it appears in the book, and then format it as a “blockquote”. To do that on this blog (or in most word processors), highlight the text, then click on the big quotation-mark button in the toolbar:
- Explain why you chose this quotation, why it is significant, what impact it has, etc.
b) When you finish a book
Whenever you finish a DEAR book, I want you to write another blog entry about it. In this one, I want you to explain
- what sort of book it is
- what sort of readers might enjoy it
- who might not enjoy it
- whether you liked it or not, and why
This end-of-book entry is IN ADDITION to the bi-monthly entries. For example, let’s say you begin reading a book on September 7th. On September 15th you write your first entry about it. On September 30th you write another one. On October 10th you finish the book and write your end-of-book blog entry.
All DEAR entries should have the category “DEAR” ticked before you publish. If you forget, go back and un-tick the “Uncategorized” box, tick the “DEAR” box, and then update your blog entry.