ASSIGNMENT TWO. 30% of final grade.
Weekly blogs due at 6:00 a.m on your assigned day. You will post your blog on our class
Blackboard site (go to the left hand link called “Assignments” and click on ‘Weekly
Assignment’).
To help you prepare for your synthesizing assignment, you will write a blog entry (350-400 words) on
our readings once a week. (If you signed up for Monday, your blog is due every Monday that we have an
assigned reading at 6:00 am; if you signed up for Wed it is due every Wed that we have an assigned
reading at 6:00 am; if you signed up for Fridays, it is due very Friday we have a reading at 6:00 am. If you
are a Monday person and there is no class on Monday listed on your syllabus, then you do not have to
write a blog for that day and will just have one less grade.)
These blog entries are NOT journal entries. Nor are they opinion pieces. The goal is for you to interact
with the readings in a way that prepares you for your final essay, in which you will be reflecting on the
possibilities and problems inherent in the fact that paganism is an invented tradition.
A suggested structure: Pick ONE passage. Explain its significance for exploring the notion of “invented
tradition.” The passage can help you understand why (or how) people believe in an invented tradition. It
can raise questions.
Instead of writing your own entry, you may occasionally write a substantive comment on someone else’s
blog post. For this to count as your entry it needs to fulfill the terms of the assignment above (350-400
words, refer to the reading, have relevance for the final assignment).
Grading Blog posts: You can earn a plus, a check, or a minus.
You earn a minus if you post at the right time, and demonstrate engagement with the readings
and/or class discussion (including other posts) – but do not say anything that will help us think better or
more deeply about our central question (pro or con) of what it means (for practitioners or for scholars)
that paganism is an invented tradition.
You earn a check if you post make a contribution to our class discussion about some dimension
of this problem of an ‘invented’ tradition.
You earn a plus if your post truly is one that your colleagues will return to as they try to
formulate their final essay. Perhaps you call our attention to a passage in the reading (with page
numbers so people can find it later) that really addresses the issue. Perhaps you raise a problem or a
puzzlement that people really need to think about. Perhaps you draw different things together that we
have been talking about.
MONDAY bloggers: Kelcie, Aubrey, Jack, Nicole, Rosemary, Doug, Mike
WEDNESDAY bloggers: Ani, Lucia, Sydney, Melissa, Sanjay, Snezhana, Maria, Wed
FRIDAY bloggers: Nelly, Caetlin, Jaque, Eric R., Kelly, Greg , Eric G. , Kim, Juan