Leading Class Discussion

(20% of Course Grade) At the beginning of the course, I will lead the discussions. From that students should get an idea about when discussions work well and what sort of questions or commentary the leader interjects to promote a lively discussion. Later in the course each team will have the opportunity to lead the discussion based on a reading to which the team has been assigned. The team members will construct a lesson plan for the discussion so they have a prior view of topics to cover and points to emphasize. The plan is due at midnight before the class meeting is to be held. The discussion leaders will be encouraged to promote good flow, universal participation by the rest of the class, and to embrace provocative comments by class members. But they will also be encouraged to stick with their plan. Balancing these perhaps competing objectives will be part of how they are evaluated. We may have both peer evalutation and instructor evaluation. We'll decide that as a class well in advance. The particular readings and dates are still to be determined.