Working with Two Passages
Version 1

This is a computer lab version of a traditional classroom exercise, in which you either present the students with two passages from the same reading or with one passage from two separate readings. Note: the benefit of your choosing the passages is that you can identify satisfyingly succulent bits of thought. The downfall is that you can almost guarantee that these two passages will show up in students' papers once they have invested a lab's worth of time on the exercise. To discourage this, encourage them to go through the same process using other passages at the end of the session. Have the students type out the two passages, and then write on the first passage for fifteen minutes or so (a good paragraph's worth). In this paragraph they should try to explain what the writer is saying using their own words and then commenting on it. They then write a similar paragraph on the second passage, followed by a third paragraph connecting the ideas in the first two passages.

Version 2
by Rebecca Hartman

This exercise can be useful as students are revising a rough draft into a final draft. It works best after the second paper.

Students come to class with a pre-chosen quotation that they want to use in their essays. On a blank screen they input the quotation, then write for 5-10 minutes, explaining and interpreting the passage. Students then switch screens and expand upon the interpretation the first students wrote for 5-10 minutes. Then the second students select a quotation from a second text that would connect well with the first quotation. They type this passage and then write 5-10 minutes interpreting it. The students switch back to their original screens. The first students then have in front of them 1. the quotation they initially chose; 2. the interpretation they wrote; 3. the interpretation the 2nd student wrote; 3. a new passage with an interpretation written by the second student.

The first student then writes for 15-20 minutes, constructing a connection between the two quotation. The exercise can continue with the students then moving to develop the connection between the texts as a part of their own arguments. The finished product can be saved to disk or emailed to both students for future reference.