• Your question should introduce the text, give a general overview of what happens in the text, offer critical thought by introducing something you found interesting about the text and why, and then end with a question for the class about the text that has the potential to open up a discussion, instead of just ending on a dead-end question. (An example of a dead-end question would be something like “what was the character’s name?” because this sort of question could be answered concretely, whereas a subjective question that has room for interpretation is best for a real discussion.

Discussion Assignment Example

(intro) Our reading for this week is the creative essay “Ecstasy” by Jia Tolentino. (overview) In this essay, Tolentino talks about her personal experience with the Catholic Church growing up, and later compares this experience to experimental drug use that happened through her teens. (Something that you found interesting): I found it interesting how she compares two such different experiences and sees the similarities between them, noting that both experiences led her to a place of “devotion” and “expansion of the self” (Tolentino 36). My question for the class is whether people find it dangerous to compare something like church with drug use, as drugs seem less controlled and more harmful to the body. Do you agree, or do you think that religion in the way she describes it also has the ability to be violent and dangerous?

Another Example:

Our reading for this week is the short story “The Boy from Lam Kien” by Miranda July. In this story, an unnamed main character, who we know is a middle-aged woman, lets a small boy into her house and tries to see the world through his eyes, oftentimes treating him like an adult even when the things he is saying are overtly immature. It seems to be a story about loneliness and connection, but I found it to be jarring and a bit disturbing, because at times it struck me that the protagonist was putting too much responsibility on the kid, which made it seem like she was a bit unstable and thus not someone who should be taking care of a child, even though in the end nothing bad happens to the child. Maybe the jarring style of the story was intentional. My question for the class is whether people think that the friendship portrayed in the story reflects anything that would happen in real life, or whether others find it to be completely unbelievable.

In each example, we get an intro to the text, an overview of what happened in the text, an opinion on the text, and a question for the class. Feel free to discuss any part of the text that you want to discuss; as long as it shows that you’ve critically engaged with the text and have thought about it for yourself, you’re on the right track.