Discussion
Leadership
Once during the semester, each of you (working with one or two others)
will initiate class discussion and sustain it for a minimum of thirty minutes.
You may do this individually in ten-minute segments, or you may work as a
team for the thirty-minute minimum. If you choose to work individually, you will
still need to confer with the other discussion leaders to make sure you do not
repeat one another. This activity has three goals:
to make the classroom more interactive, to encourage you to do close,
active reading, and to give you an opportunity to articulate your interpretation
of a specific work.
·
Choose specific passages on which to focus the
questions you develop and the discussion you generate.
While the discussion may move to other areas of the work, focusing on a
specific passage early on will give the conversation purpose and direction.
·
Develop several discussion questions on ideas
you want the class to address. While
you are free to use study guide questions, I encourage you not to limit yourself
to these. Good discussion questions
will have more than one answer and will lead to other questions.
·
Make an outline of your discussion plans,
including passages you plan to focus on and the questions you will pose to the
class. If you are working with
other discussion leaders for the day as a team, you may turn in one outline for
the group. You are required to give
me the outline at least twenty-four hours before the class you will be leading.
You may give the outline to me the class period before you are scheduled
to lead discussion, or you may email a copy.
·
You will be graded on the quality of your
discussion plan, on your ability to keep the class on target and actively
engaged in discussion, on the quality of your handout, and on the quality of
your collaboration.
Students will be leading class discussion on the following days:
Friday, September 5 and Monday, September 8—Pride and Prejudice
Wednesday, September 17 and Friday, September 19—The House of Mirth
Monday, October 13—Requiem
Wednesday, October 22, Friday, October 24, and Monday, October 27—
Things
Fall Apart
Wednesday, December 3 and Friday, December
5—White Noise
A sign-up sheet will be posted on my office door (Haley Center 8044) by
7:45, Friday morning, August 22. Selection is on a first come, first served
basis. Anyone who has not selected a text by noon, Wednesday, August 27 will be
assigned a topic. If you have further questions about the assignment generally
or about your particular task, I will be happy to talk with you individually.