Leading Our Class Discussion
You will select one of the articles, chapters or multimodal texts we are reading on the days I’ve designated for students to lead discussions and you’ll be in charge of facilitating our conversation about your chosen text for 20 minutes.
Only one student can lead the discussion per text. We’ll select who gets to discuss a text on a first-come, first-serve basis.
You can approach the leading of the conversation however you feel comfortable, but the one thing I would like you to do is help create a dialogue around the ideas discussed in the piece. In other words, at some point during the 20 minutes we’ll have for you to walk us through this text, your classmates should be exchanging ideas about it.
For each of these texts we’ll want to make sure to discuss the answers to these two questions:
1. You can come prepared with a number of questions you want the class to answer in order to get at the text’s meaning. Eight to ten questions are a good number to prepare. That way you won’t run out of questions even if they are answered quickly. If they take a while to answer, however, you will not get to all of them. In order to prepare for that likely possibility, you should make sure to organize the questions in order of importance, starting with the questions you deem vital and ending with the ones that are more tangential.
2. You can select quotes or moments in the text that would help us get at the heart of its meaning and read them or play them to the class, then ask us to respond to them. Alternatively, you can ask the class which moments stood out to them and why.
3. You can research some of the text’s context (things like the author’s history, the movements and/or ideas it mentions, the time periods, cultures, and/or concepts it discusses) and provide an introduction with that information before we launch into the discussion.
4. You can come up with some kind of activity for us to do that will help us better understand the text. For example, if it’s a text about the author’s grandmother, you could invite us to jot down some memories about our own grandmother(s) and share them as we talk about the text.
5. You can bring in images and/or short sound/video clips that you think will help us better relate to what the text is talking about from a metaphorical standpoint and use those as a way to spark a discussion.
7. You can share a personal story or anecdote that will help us see the text in a new light as a way to introduce it. You can also ask others to do the same.
6. You can divide the class up in groups and ask them to work on answering questions or on responding to certain ideas in breakout rooms (which I can make for you once you decide who goes where) and then report what they came up with to the class. If you do this, remember that you only have 20 minutes, so this will need careful distribution of time.
7. If you have a different idea that you’re not sure would work, please let me know and I’ll be happy to work through it with you.
Only one student can lead the discussion per text. We’ll select who gets to discuss a text on a first-come, first-serve basis.
You can approach the leading of the conversation however you feel comfortable, but the one thing I would like you to do is help create a dialogue around the ideas discussed in the piece. In other words, at some point during the 20 minutes we’ll have for you to walk us through this text, your classmates should be exchanging ideas about it.
For each of these texts we’ll want to make sure to discuss the answers to these two questions:
- What is the text trying to say? What is its main driving force/thesis/idea and did it deliver it in a way that works for us as readers/viewers/listeners?
- What does this text tell us about cultural rhetorics methodologies? Does it help us define those methodologies? Does it utilize cultural rhetorics methodologies in an innovative/effective way? Does it do both of those things?
1. You can come prepared with a number of questions you want the class to answer in order to get at the text’s meaning. Eight to ten questions are a good number to prepare. That way you won’t run out of questions even if they are answered quickly. If they take a while to answer, however, you will not get to all of them. In order to prepare for that likely possibility, you should make sure to organize the questions in order of importance, starting with the questions you deem vital and ending with the ones that are more tangential.
2. You can select quotes or moments in the text that would help us get at the heart of its meaning and read them or play them to the class, then ask us to respond to them. Alternatively, you can ask the class which moments stood out to them and why.
3. You can research some of the text’s context (things like the author’s history, the movements and/or ideas it mentions, the time periods, cultures, and/or concepts it discusses) and provide an introduction with that information before we launch into the discussion.
4. You can come up with some kind of activity for us to do that will help us better understand the text. For example, if it’s a text about the author’s grandmother, you could invite us to jot down some memories about our own grandmother(s) and share them as we talk about the text.
5. You can bring in images and/or short sound/video clips that you think will help us better relate to what the text is talking about from a metaphorical standpoint and use those as a way to spark a discussion.
7. You can share a personal story or anecdote that will help us see the text in a new light as a way to introduce it. You can also ask others to do the same.
6. You can divide the class up in groups and ask them to work on answering questions or on responding to certain ideas in breakout rooms (which I can make for you once you decide who goes where) and then report what they came up with to the class. If you do this, remember that you only have 20 minutes, so this will need careful distribution of time.
7. If you have a different idea that you’re not sure would work, please let me know and I’ll be happy to work through it with you.
Delivery
You will lead your 20-minute discussion during class on the day you sign up for. Please make sure to keep track of time so you don’t go over your allotted time. That way we will have time to talk about every text scheduled for that day.
Questions
If you have questions about this assignment, feel free to email me, stop by my office hours, or make an appointment.