Positive Impressions

Well, it has been approximately a month since my college students began to discuss The Odyssey online. They posed responses to an initial question that I asked in regard to what one can learn from reading the epic today. This question gave students the opportunity to respond to the original prompt as well as to one another. Online discussions are unfamiliar to many of them, so this activity has proven to be a challenge for them--one they have accepted and succeeded in meeting. I enjoy reading the responses that the students have posted.

Approximately two weeks ago my high school seniors also began to post their comments in the same forum that my college students are using. The writing has emerged as an engaging conversation among all of my students. The college students are posing thoughtful questions, and the seniors are both responding and posing questions of their own. The online conversations have become a way for all of my students to challenge their own thinking as well as the ideas of others. I will be curious to see in which directions the writing heads as my students read the second half of the book.