Using the Common Book in the Classroom

One way that the KU Common Book program engages students with the book is through coursework. This requires collaboration with faculty and instructors to integrate the book and its themes into assignments and curriculum. The resources on this page can be used by faculty and instructors to teach the book in the classroom.

Our partners across campus have helped compile the resources below. If you have additional resources to highlight, please reach out to commonbook@ku.edu.

Sample Discussion Questions:

· Green describes Earth as a “human-centered planet” in The Anthropocene Reviewed. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Why?

· The Anthropocene Reviewed features three hidden reviews. Why do you think Green chose to include (and hide) the reviews? How do the hidden reviews contribute to the story Green is trying to tell?

· In “Harvey” and “Hiroyuki Doi’s Circle Drawings” Green explores movies and art as a way to cope with mental health and difficult periods in life. Do you have a strong connection to a song, movie, show, or art that helped you through a difficult time? Why do you think it helped you cope, manage, or feel better?

· Green uses seemingly random objects as the focus of many of his reviews, including Diet Dr. Pepper and Scratch n’ Sniff Stickers. If you had to pick one “random” object to review that you encounter in your daily life, what would it be? Why did you choose that object?

· In “Air-Conditioning” and “Kentucky Bluegrass” Green explores the complex issues of our impact on the world around us, and the feeling that our individual impact doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Do you agree with Green’s thought process here? Do you disagree? Why?

About Lawrence Reviewed: 

In the introduction to the 2025 Common Book, Green writes “everyone [has] become a reviewer, and everything [has] become a subject for reviews” (5). Lawrence Reviewed invites students and community members to critically engage with their own, local slice of the Anthropocene by contributing their own reviews—modeled on Green’s work—to a digital humanities project. This project encourages participants to engage in humanistic examinations of their community and facilitates opportunities for reflective storytelling on significant features and spaces that make our KU community unique. 

Object Inquiry Assignment

Lawrence Reviewed Pop-Up Schedule

· Rate the Jayhawk @ Kansas Student Union: September 10th, 10 AM-12 PM

· Rate KU Libraries @ Anschutz: September 17th, 10 AM-12 PM

· Rate Your Hometown Dinosaur @ KU Natural History Museum: October 15th, 10 AM-12 PM

· Rate the “Big Tooter” @ Watson Library: October 22nd, 2-4 PM

· Rate KU Basketball @ Location TBD: November 11th, 4-6 PM

· Rate Lawrence Public Library Artifacts @ LPL: January 29th, 6:30-8:00 PM

· Rate KU Museums @ Natural History Museum: February 4th 10AM-12 PM

· Rate Mt. Oread @ Location TBD: March 4th 2-4PM

· Rate Downtown @ LPL: April 8th 4-6 PM

· Rate the Bee Tree @ Natural History Museum: April or May (Dependent on the bees!)

Coming soon.

Sample Discussion Questions:

· Green describes Earth as a “human-centered planet” in The Anthropocene Reviewed. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Why?

· The Anthropocene Reviewed features three hidden reviews. Why do you think Green chose to include (and hide) the reviews? How do the hidden reviews contribute to the story Green is trying to tell?

· In “Harvey” and “Hiroyuki Doi’s Circle Drawings” Green explores movies and art as a way to cope with mental health and difficult periods in life. Do you have a strong connection to a song, movie, show, or art that helped you through a difficult time? Why do you think it helped you cope, manage, or feel better?

· Green uses seemingly random objects as the focus of many of his reviews, including Diet Dr. Pepper and Scratch n’ Sniff Stickers. If you had to pick one “random” object to review that you encounter in your daily life, what would it be? Why did you choose that object?

· In “Air-Conditioning” and “Kentucky Bluegrass” Green explores the complex issues of our impact on the world around us, and the feeling that our individual impact doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Do you agree with Green’s thought process here? Do you disagree? Why?

About Lawrence Reviewed: 

In the introduction to the 2025 Common Book, Green writes “everyone [has] become a reviewer, and everything [has] become a subject for reviews” (5). Lawrence Reviewed invites students and community members to critically engage with their own, local slice of the Anthropocene by contributing their own reviews—modeled on Green’s work—to a digital humanities project. This project encourages participants to engage in humanistic examinations of their community and facilitates opportunities for reflective storytelling on significant features and spaces that make our KU community unique. 

Object Inquiry Assignment

Lawrence Reviewed Pop-Up Schedule

· Rate the Jayhawk @ Kansas Student Union: September 10th, 10 AM-12 PM

· Rate KU Libraries @ Anschutz: September 17th, 10 AM-12 PM

· Rate Your Hometown Dinosaur @ KU Natural History Museum: October 15th, 10 AM-12 PM

· Rate the “Big Tooter” @ Watson Library: October 22nd, 2-4 PM

· Rate KU Basketball @ Location TBD: November 11th, 4-6 PM

· Rate Lawrence Public Library Artifacts @ LPL: January 29th, 6:30-8:00 PM

· Rate KU Museums @ Natural History Museum: February 4th 10AM-12 PM

· Rate Mt. Oread @ Location TBD: March 4th 2-4PM

· Rate Downtown @ LPL: April 8th 4-6 PM

· Rate the Bee Tree @ Natural History Museum: April or May (Dependent on the bees!)

Coming soon.

Integrating The Anthropocene Reviewed into Writing Assignments

In these slides, Director of Composition Mary Jo Reiff provides ideas and assignment samples for incorporating the Common Book into writing assignments and instruction.
The title slide of the presentation, Ideas for Integrating The Anthropocene Reviewed into Writing Assignments.

Digital Humanities Tools Reviewed

In this workshop led by Hall Center for the Humanities and Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities postdoc Katherine Knowles, viewers will be introduced to a variety of digital humanities tools that might support their teaching of The Anthropocene Reviewed. Explore topics such as building archives and exhibits, creating digital maps, and developing podcasts through examples related to Green’s essays.

KU Common Work of Art

KU Reads: A Common Book Experience selects a book each academic year that speaks to the current moment and sparks campus-wide conversations. As part of the conversation, we select a KU Common Work of Art each year to complement and expand on the book’s themes. You can view the Common Work of Art in the Empowerment exhibition, in the Michaelis Gallery, at Spencer Museum of Art.
The Common Work of Art by Hollis Sigler

Accessibility in the Classroom: 

Examples from Previous Years

Below, you can find examples of Teaching Resources from previous KU Reads programming years.
A panel of educators speaks on Parable of the Sower.