American Literature I, fall 2007
Guidelines for discussion and short essay

Discussion

Each of you will be responsible for leading 15 minutes of class discussion about the daily reading. In our conversation about effective discussions, we agreed on several main components that should be part of your discussion, and this is what I’ll keep in mind when giving a discussion grade:

1. Preparedness. Please run your discussion plan by me at least two days in advance (note for Monday presenters – this means Friday of the week before at the latest, not Saturday). This way you can get feedback and I can get an idea of what you’d like to work on so that my plans coordinate with yours. I’d like to see at least three possible discussion questions at this point. You might think of this as a kind of “rough draft” for the session. I’d like to check in with you in person during office hours if possible; e-mail is an okay second resort. Here’s a good resource on types of questions that may help you to prepare your own discussion: http://www.nd.edu/~csem/WorkFiles/Documents/Question%20Types.pdf.
2. How well you know the material. Do your discussion questions get to the important aspects of the day’s reading? Are you able to field questions effectively yourself, and do you bring important points and/or relevant background information to the discussion? Are you able to coordinate between details of the reading and the overall “big picture” or theme? While I don’t expect you to spend your 15 minutes lecturing (in fact, I would rather you didn’t), you should feel free to take some of the time to introduce contexts, pass out handouts, use the multimedia equipment in the room, etc.
3. How well you get the class involved. Clearly, this is the ultimate measure of how well the discussion is going. If you’re the only one talking, or if nobody is talking at all, the discussion isn’t going really well. Feel free to use any measures you like in order to get the class involved – you can use this time to put people into groups, have them brainstorm, debate an issue, or anything else that gets people talking about the reading.

Do feel free to keep going past your 15 minutes – if you’re on a roll, I won’t force you to stop. However, you’re only required to do the full 15.

Do be as creative as you like, as long as the creativity serves a purpose and enriches the class.

Don’t miss the presentation you’ve signed up for! There is very little flexibility in the schedule.

Short essay

In conjunction with the discussion, you’ll write a 2-3 page essay. The essay should be about the text itself, and not about the discussion. What I’m not looking for is a recap of how the discussion went (“Jake said X, but Emily disagreed and said Y, and the next time I lead a discussion I’ll be sure to Z”). What I do want to see is a literary analysis of the text. Now that you have led a discussion on the subject (and therefore done all the background work necessary to prepare a good discussion), consider yourself a kind of expert, and give me your expert reading. You might think of the essay as answering one of your own discussion questions.

The essay should be 2-3 full pages, typed, double-spaced, paginated, with normal margins and font. Outside sources are optional, but do document everything, including the primary text, in accordance with MLA style. Your essay is due one week after your presentation.