English 7: Reading, Evidence & Expression — Midterm Exam

Asha arrived at the hall carrying the neatest rehearsal list she had ever made. She had ruled a box for every scene, copied the names in dark ink, and left a narrow margin beside each time. For a week, people had asked her where to stand and when to speak. Today she intended to answer before anyone needed to ask. She pinned the list beside the door and stepped back until its edges looked straight.

At four o’clock, Ben was missing. Asha drew a small cross beside his name. “He knew the time,” she told the director. When Ben appeared ten minutes later, carrying a folded paper, she pointed to the cross before he had put down his bag. He unfolded a message that Asha herself had sent on Monday. It said that his scene would begin at half past four.

On Tuesday the director had moved the scene earlier. Asha remembered changing the master list after lunch. She also remembered intending to send another message. The intention had felt so much like finishing the task that she had stopped thinking about it. Beside her careful cross, Ben’s name now seemed heavier than the others.

“I changed my copy,” she said. Ben looked from his message to the wall. “I couldn’t read your copy from home.” Asha reached for the pin, then stopped. Taking down the whole list would leave everyone without instructions. She crossed out the mark beside Ben’s name, wrote the date of the change in the margin, and read the new time aloud.

Before they began, she asked each person to check the scenes that affected them. One name had been copied into the wrong scene, and another person needed to leave early. The list grew crowded with pencil marks. It no longer looked like the page she had imagined showing the director.

At the end, Asha copied a clearer version and kept the penciled sheet behind it. She sent both the revised times and a request for replies. Only six replies arrived that evening. She wrote the other names on a separate card headed “Still to check.” The neat list was useful again, but now its empty margin meant space for information she did not yet have.

1. I ruled the page to hold the day, 2. Each hour inside a square. 3. A voice arrived ten minutes late 4. With yesterday still there. 5. My pencil loosened one straight line, 6. A narrow space grew wide. 7. The page could keep what I had planned 8. And what I learned beside.

A shared schedule is a record of agreed times, not proof that every person has received a change. A team needs both a current version and a way of identifying who has received it. A date or version number helps distinguish an older copy from the current one. The label is useful only if people know where to find the replacement.

One simple update process has four steps: mark the changed event, record the date, send the revision through the agreed channel, and ask affected people to confirm receipt. A response shows receipt of the message; it does not necessarily show agreement with the new time. A person might understand a change and still have a conflict.

A record can keep a separate category for replies not yet received. That category prevents an absent reply from being counted as approval or refusal. For a small team, a brief conversation may clarify an unresolved entry. In a larger group, additional channels or more time might be necessary.

These procedures make a revision traceable. They cannot guarantee that no delay will occur. Their purpose is to help a team see which version it is using and what communication still needs attention. A photograph of a tidy noticeboard cannot establish that everyone has read it.

Source A — Organizer’s questionnaire: Twenty regular rehearsal participants were invited to reply; fifteen replied. Nine preferred a paper notice and six preferred a message on the existing online channel. The question offered only these two choices. People who had stopped attending were not invited. The organizer recommends trying a paper notice alongside the existing message.

Source B — Participant’s letter: I work during the time when the new notices are usually posted. I saw Tuesday’s change after leaving home. Please include the revision date and send changes the previous evening when possible. I am describing my own experience; I do not know how often others miss a message.

Source C — Trial estimate: A four-week notice trial requires one paid hour each week at 15 exercise tokens per hour, plus 12 tokens for paper. The listed total is 72 tokens, equal to the allowance. The estimate excludes an additional message service and any extra hours. Exercise tokens are fictional units, not a real local price or school budget.