Deciphering and Interpreting A Cryptic Word Within an e-mail

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Hello,

This post serves as my first contribution to what I can tell is a wonderful site after reading regularly for the past several months. If at a later time I feel I should introduce myself to a more
specific degree I will do so. But, there's something else more pressing to me on my mind presently.
Let me provide a brief overview. I am a University student who has recently been readmitted to this particular University. One of my classes is a literature course. Last week, our first week of courses, we were assigned to read a short story (what I consider to be light and enjoyable easy reading) and given what the professor calls a "reading guide" along with it. Within the reading guide are various questions designed to improve our literary analytical skills. I will begin a new paragraph now.
Now, the reading guide was passed out to us and the professor left around three lines of space beneath each question for whatever it was we wanted to respond with. I just jotted down some quick notes, maybe several short descriptions of a certain passage, or sometimes even a direct quote from the text itself. I know that I thoughtfully responded to every question. From what I understood it was thoroughness, not the accuracy of our responses or whether they matched those of our professor's that mattered.
The morning our first reading guide is due, I decide to give my e-mail one last look before heading off to class. That's when I see one from this professor, unread, sitting there. It said in broken English that she wanted us to e-mail her our responses AND have the hard copy she passed out in hand as well.
Frantically I opened up a word document 10 minutes before I leave and began trying to form some semblance of a typed response. I didn't want to jeopardize my fragile reputation with this person so soon, right off the bat. I sent her the e-mail and left.
The class finishes, a decent discussion occurred during it, but I was so worried and overwhelmed by the others in it that I froze up and was unable to really participate. I think the professor interpreted this as a general disinterest in the material when in actuality I am very poor at verbally communicating my thoughts, especially when they deal with emotions driving characters.
The day following the class I receive a second e-mail from the professor, saying this:
"Laconic as it is, it has interesting ideas. Please verbalize them in class."
Man did this bewilder me. Why that specific word choice? Was my response brief but adequate in her eyes, did it come off as being curt and expressing an implied disdain for her selected text?
Very interested in anyone's input on this.

This post really became longer than I initially anticipated, but that's a good thing for me.
Feels great to get this all written out.

Thanks!

Maybe the other students wrote more than you. Perhaps she expects more from you in terms of writing more, participating in class and verbalizing, as shes sees you a closed person. That's all. Some of us are having hard time when we need to write in a sophisticated/effusive way, lacking narrative abilities.

I suspect that what is required from you is simply "a certain amount of words on a page" and that it matters far more that you should write a lot than it does what you write. I think it works - if that's the right word - on the principle that by forcing your students to write about a subject you are forcing them to think about it and some of it may stick in their heads. Providing a terse but accurate answer to any questions raised means you aren't playing their stupid little game. Unfortunately it is common practice in a great many subjects.

Don't worry too much about it, your Prof is just encouraging you to bring your light out from the bushel and put it on a pedestal, so to speak.

I would have taken it as a complement. Laconic simply means you used few words to express yourself. This is a skill many people never master. It's easy to ramble on and say nothing. It's hard to say something concisely.