Writing prompts help build the ability to respond to questions, and they help writers get their ideas down. Over the course of time, they build writing fluency and proficiency as well.
Please give serious consideration to the prompt, doing so will highlight connections in the texts we read. Please use all of the time provided -- keep writing even when you think you're out of ideas. Remember, writing is a thinking process; the more you write, the more you think! Although I do not assess daily writing responses for conventions, use them to practice your skills – try to write in complete sentences (avoid fragments, run-ons, and comma-splices) and develop other good habits (e.g., capitalization, punctuation). Maybe try some compound sentences!
“You, me, talk on this page…” (Hughes)
By reading and thinking about Langston Hughes’ poem “Theme for English B,” we listen to and hopefully learn something, whether in our heads, our hearts or both, from the perspective of one who no longer lives among us; we talk, in writing and with each other, on and about his page. However, we also talk to each other, both within this room and the world over, through our own writing more than any other medium – particularly with the advent of the internet.
Consider the root definitions of the words and the related words describing your class:
sophos (Greek) – wise, clever
sophomoric – the characteristics of a sophomore; exhibiting great immaturity or lack of judgment
sophist – one skilled in elaborate and devious argumentation; a scholar or thinker.
sophistic – apparently sound but really fallacious (false)
sophisticated sophisticate sophistry sophism sophomore
moros (Greek) – dull, fool, foolish
moron – a person regarded as very stupid
moronic moronically moronism moronity
Disregarding the inherent moronity in all of us for the moment, listen to excerpts from the BioPages and instead see how these individuals have contributed at least some bit of wisdom to share. Choose one or two or more that speak to you or stretch you to consider a new perspective (and new perspectives sometimes make us uncomfortable). Write them down in the writing prompt section of your portfolio. Use one or more as a prompt basis and respond in some way. You may need to formulate some evaluative or interpretive questions about the quotation’s topic or topics to stimulate an elaborate response.