Leading a Good Discussion
Of course not all people like to perform in front of groups,
but there are a few things to keep in mind while planning your discussion
week that might make it more effective, smoother and even fun.
1) Start Preparing Early! Give yourself time to read and
digest the assigned readings for that week, along with any supplementary
and contextualizing materials you might want to add.
- Read required readings very carefully, take notes and add to
your Theory Map
- Check out the supplementing links for that week on the website
(theorists' bios, maps, further reading/films, links).
- Make sure your understanding of the theorists' arguments is
well-situated in time and space (i.e., when was he or she writing?
where did they do fieldwork? what part of the world and/or group
is their main body of data based on? what other theorists are
they most indebted to? What historical situations might be influencing
his/her stances?).
- Sit down and ponder. This step is crucial, for out of
it will come interesting and to the point discussion questions
for the class. Make a time to meet with your discussion co-leader
and brainstorm together. What do particular terms mean, anyway?
How does their use of these terms compare with others we've read?
How do we assess this argument? It's implications for that time?
for us now? What's revolutionary about this argument, if anything?
What's the relationship between this theory and the actual lives
of the people he or she studied?
2) Come up with six discussion questions for the class.
To make this more than just a rote exercise, give some thought to
how people read and respond to questions.
- Start Basic! At the intro level, many students will be
reading this stuff for the first time. Devise one or two openers
that encourage people to consider the basic contexts and structures
of the arguments.
- Stay Brief! On email people tend to tune out after a
few sentences. Your questions should be no more than 3 lines long.
- Be a Balanced Critic. Devise one or two questions that
get people to the heart of the theorists' arguments and their
implications. Good critique considers both the strong points (i.e.,
contributions to the field, strong evidence, amazing logic, excellent
writing) and weaknesses (i.e., weak evidence, faulty logic, racist
assumptions)
- Be Provocative. Acting responsibly of course, devise
one or two questions that might stir up debate. Try a devil's
advocate position, or a thought experiment (i.e, What if we were
conducting this conference in the center of a Trobriand village
and the chief told us Malinowski's arguments were racist and so
were we for considering them?)
3) Send your discussion questions to the class via the class
email list. Give people time to consider them and possible responses.
- Send Your Questions on Time! Your questions should get
to the class by Sunday night for Tuesday's class, and by Wednesday
morning for Thursday's class.
4) Be Prepared for Class! Arrive on time. Usually, I begin
the class period with announcements and contextualizing comments,
then I turn the discussion leadership over to you.
- Bring extra copies of your printed out discussion questions
(not necessary to bring one for everyone).
- Devise a short speil that you and your co-leader deliver together
in which you tell us such things as your general impressions,
how the process went, how and why you came up with the questions,
important contexts for the material.
- Optionally, construct a brief thought exercise to generate discussion.
Divide into groups, ask the class to write responses to a question,
show an image, etc.
5) Be an Attentive Facilitator. Good facilitators open the
discussion to everyone and yet find ways to keep the discussion
on track. You won't be completely on your own! Consider me a co-facilitator.
- Bring the discussion back on topic if it drifts
- Refer the class to specific questions on the list
- Refer back to a comment someone said earlier
- Address people by name
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