Last updated 5 June 2026
24% of your grade is your Travel and Reading Reflections Blog.
That is 2 points per post unless otherwise indicated.
9% of your grade is your meaningful engagement by commenting on the posts of others.
That is .75 points per substantive comment.
At least 12 of the 21 days you will create a post on this class website:
- no less than 400 original words
- minimum 3 original pictures
- Please no direct video uploads: they use too much data storage for the site to handle. If you want to share a video upload it to youtube and you can then embed it in your post just by copy and pasting the link
- at least one quote from from the assigned reading, ideally an ANCIENT author.
- set a featured image
- categorized appropriately: correct categories are found under 2026 and are the name of the unit!
- Your title should be the number of the day of the prompt you’re answering, followed by something that thematically intersects with your own post/observations, not the title of the day examples might be: “0: Plane Food? Plain Food.” “1: Why are there two toilets?” “2: Industrial Nostalgia”. You may find adding the title last easiest.
- When you finish writing add the word count to the top of the post along with the minutes to read (you’ll find this on side panel under the post options tab)
- You will also comment at least 24 times on classmates posts
- You should aim to write open-ended, engaging and substantive comments on at least two classmates blog posts each instructional day of the trip.
- You must leave at least two comments for each classmate over the duration of the course (share the love!).
- Comments need to be three or more sentences in length. An example: “I like how you reflected on… I also noticed… Have you considered…” You’re encouraged to include links and images in your comments. (.75 points per substantive comment)
There are more suggested writing prompts than you need to complete, choose those that work best for you and find your own voice in sharing your experiences.
In addition to the posts corresponding to each instructional day you are also able to earn points for writing posts about your long weekends. These posts should be similar in character to those for instructional days: a reflection on your activities and what you learned and experiences with images and ideally quotes from recommended readings or other material you used to better appreciate your activities.
You may earn more than 24 points through blogging (and more than 9 for substantive commenting on posts of your classmates). There is no limit to the points you can earn this way. I will award extra points for posts that go above and beyond basic requirements, so feel encouraged to add extra images and write more than the minimum.
These guidelines will be further expanded closer to the start of course itself.
Rome via Brooklyn 