Session 1: Welcome

1
Session 1 Welcome

• 9.30 Intro to RWS100 and the lower division
  writing program
• TA Introductions photo session(program of
  assimilation and mind control revealed)

2
Overview of RWS100

• 10.15 Overview of RWS100
• The program, RWS100, ICT, Spring students, the
  course theme, etc.

3
RWS 100 and the lower division writing program

• See the orientation handout for contact info and
  resources for new TAs.
• Argument is at the center of the program and 100.
• We mostly focus on non fiction, argumentative
  texts.

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RWS 100 and the lower division writing program

• We ask students to interpret, analyze, and
  produce written arguments, because this is
  central to academic literacy, critical thinking,
  and civic life -Lasch argument is the
  essence of education, and central to democratic
  culture - Universities are houses of
  argument. - Graff Argument literacy is key
  to higher education. - argument and
  interpretation big part of academic
  work/literacy

5

• We want students to be able to identify claims,
  evaluate evidence and reasons, locate
  assumptions, identify argumentative moves, pose
  critical questions, produce sophisticated
  arguments, etc.
• We do this not just because we think its good
  for their souls, critical thinking, ability to
  reason, deliberate, be engaged citizens, etc. But
  also because its key to their professional
  futures every gateway requires it.

6
Why We Fight! (4 your right to write, argue
analyze well)

• The ability to interpret arguments, locate claims
  and evidence, analyze moves and strategies, and
  evaluate arguments are crucial skills.
• They are central to business, law, professional
  life, and to academic study (including graduate
  school).
• Students tested for these skills in the WPA, the
  LSAT, GMAT, and GRE all the gateways to
  professional life.
• Consider the GRE

7
Analytical Writing Tasks

• Present Your Views on an Issue (45 minutes,
  choice of 2 topics)
• Analyze an Argument (30 minutes)
• Each essay is scored on a 0-6 scale using
  holistic scoring
• Two scores for each essay
• GRE Website presents directions, actual topics,
  scoring guide, and sample essays for both the
  Issue and Argument tasks (www.gre.org/gentest.html
  )

8
Rhetorical self-consciousness understanding of
moves academic literacy

• We aim to improve academic literacy equip
  students with transferable skills that will help
  them in the disciplinary communities they are
  part of help students become more rhetorically
  sophisticated and self reflective producers and
  consumers of texts, help students become
  critical, engaged writers.
• We want to help students read and interpret texts
  rhetorically, to develop rhetorical self
  consciousness to look at as well as through
  language. So we also focus on moves, strategies
  and choices what the author is doing with
  words, how she is doing it, and why.
• Revealing the rhetorical moves that writers make
  is an important part of achieving academic
  literacy, and of acculturation into disciplinary
  communities. When you recognize the moves, you
  not only understand the disciplinary conversation
  better, you are better equipped to join it.

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You will (not) be assimilated

• This is, of course, just one way to design a
  writing course many others are possible (genre,
  critical literacy, cultural studies, personal
  reflection, literary texts, etc.)
• Writing programs often serve many masters, since
  general education programs are collaborative
  enterprises. Had we world enough and time (and
  money and control) I like the idea of a hybrid
  WID-based approach.
• In any case, your experience in this program will
  be valuable as a) its an influential model, b)
  the trend seems to be toward aligning k-12 and
  higher ed. around argument, and c) SDSUs program
  is regionally influential.
• In other words, in the future, you may go on to
  teach writing in an entirely different way and
  thats great. But it will be useful to have
  familiarity with a program like this, which is
  very large, multi-leveled, comprehensive and
  tightly designed. Many other TAs will work in
  programs where there is one semester of freshman
  comp, and thats it.

10
Expectations

• ITC an important part of your work. You are
  expected to attend. You get credit for it
• More importantly, its part of collaboration,
  professional development, and networking. The
  dialogue matters.
• Modest home work is assigned but its all to
  prepare for your class.
• Your contribution is important and most welcome.
  We provide a lot of support, but you are welcome
  to adapt remix, or add your own materials. We
  encourage you to suggest new ideas/ways of
  teaching the course

11
Teaching in a time of crisis

• The budget crisis, class size increases, the
  furloughs etc. have/continue to cause disruption,
  uncertainty and change
• We can't provide quite as much support as usual
• You may well have to teach RWS200 next semester,
  where learning curve is steeper.
• So using ITC and your fellow TAs is especially
  important this semester.

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Teaching in a time of crisis

• Class sizes will be 32.
• Most major academic organizations (including the
  WPA) have shown that university writing classes
  should have at most 20 students.
• Our pedagogies arent really designed for classes
  this big. We may wish to share coping strategies.
• In fact, we may want to jigsaw the work of
  preparing class plans, etc.

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Meet your audience

• Spring semester students are often
  developmental writers. Many will have just
  completed 92A and 92B.
• Some may be quite sophisticated readers and
  writers, but youll be presenting them with a
  very different way of approaching texts, and they
  will find this challenging at first.
• You may have some ESL/L1.5 students.

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The R in RWS Rhetoric

• Some students will assume they are in an English
  class, and will bring expectations from high
  school English. E.g. when you say claim or
  argument, they may think thesis and/or
  opinion.
• You may need to remind them this is a Rhetoric
  and Writing class so they don't keep reaching for
  familiar strategies from high school English
  (usually less of an issue in spring, as theyve
  often experienced a semester or 2 or RWS.)

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Spring 2010 Course theme

• Arguments about language, literacy and the
  politics of education.
• Well read 3 main texts1) Postmans Word
  Weavers2) Gladwells Outliers3) The PBS
  documentary From First to Worst.

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Assignment Sequence

• 1. produce an account and analysis of a single
  argument (Postman)2. gather sources, situate an
  argument within a field of other texts, map out
  and analyze relationships between them (extend,
  complicate, illustrate, etc.) (Gladwell)3.
  identify, analyze and evaluate rhetorical
  strategies (From First to Worst) 4. a lens
  assignment, group assignment, orflexible
  portfolio assignment

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Managing the Final Paper

• Section 4 Portfolio/Lens/Student Writing
  Assignments
• For the final assignment, you can select from a
  number of options.
• We recommend one of the following, although you
  are welcome to
• suggest alternatives
• 1. Lens paper if you would like to stick to
  traditional way in the 4th assignment has been
  taught, you can use the lens assignment (see
  past 100 syllabi, assignments, materials etc. for
  details. This paper involves taking one of the
  texts weve read and using it as a lens through
  which to analyze another text or a contemporary
  issue. The student can present an original
  argument, interpretation or analysis.
• 2. Group projects/presentations where students
  get to make an argument that draws from one of
  the issues raised in the class, or which focuses
  on one of the texts covered. If you choose this
  option, we suggest you construct a group
  assignment with clearly defined roles for each
  student, so that individual grades can be
  assigned and you minimize free riding and
  conflict.

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Managing the Final Paper

• 3. Portfolio Students have done small writing
  assignments over the semester. You can assign
  further short writing assignments in the final
  part of the course, and give students an
  aggregate grade for the completed portfolio.
• 4. Reflection essay have students write a paper
  that asks them to reflect on the writing work
  they have done, what they have learned, the way
  they approach writing, the things they still need
  to work on, etc.

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The Readings

• Custom reader
• You should have Raimes and They Say/I Say (if
  not, can get a loaner from bookstore).
• Raimes comes with Eduspace online resources for
  teaching writing (perhaps not that useful if
  dont have a lab)

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Main Texts

• Short texts, incl. Bleich and Rifkin, and any you
  select
• Postman, The Word Weavers
• Gladwell, Outliers
• From First to Worst PBS documentary
• Various short texts for strategies and lens
  section (E.g. you may wish to consider Parrys
  The Art of Branding a Condition, Daily Show
  materials, or texts related to education/budget
  crisis)
• BUT - in a sense the central text in the class
  the students texts. (Your
• fabulous teaching performance vs. their written
  performance)
• You may want to be brilliant, and may be tempted
  to model your teaching on
• the last class you took (a grad class). New
  teachers tend to prepare to teach
• the classes theyve just been in, just as armies
  prepare to fight the last war.
• Try to resist this.

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Supplementary texts

• For the 4th assignment, you can assign no text,
  select your own text, or let students choose a
  text(s), but youll need to work with them and
  provide guidance.

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Overview of RWS100

• Sample syllabi, schedules and assignment
  sequences are on the wiki (and will be on
  Blackboard very soon).
• Well talk more about syllabi later today and
  tomorrow.

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• 11.00 The First Week(s)
• Introducing rhetoric, the course,
• and working with short texts

24
Common Class Activities Patterns See p. 3 of
handout

• Pre-reading and pre-discussion work
  (questionnaires to get at assumptions, surveys,
  etc)
• Jig saw work (students share researching key
  parts of text and share in class)
• Class discussion, group work
• Critical reading/rhetorical reading posing
  questions, interrogating assumptions, reading
  actively and critically (modeling qns to ask)
• Charting what is the text doing what/how/why
  moves are made
• PACES (project, argument, claims, evidence,
  strategies)
• Pre-writing exercises
• Templates, rhetorical precis, metadiscourse,
  transitions, mechanics
• Drafting, peer review, student read alouds,
  conferencing
• Assessment and response
• Analysis (single argument, relationship between
  texts, strategies, lens work) and presentation
  of student argument
• Reflection and reflective practice (applying
  concepts to students own writing e.g. charting,
  analyzing students moves and strategies, etc.)

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Example pre-reading exercises

• 1. In Class test
• Careful, you might run out of planet SUVs and
  the exploitation of the
• American myth, by David Goewey.
• Questions
• Is Goewey critical or complimentary of SUVs?
• Does the author believe that there is time to
  make a change?
• Does the author put more emphasis on car quality
  or social issues in assessing the value of SUVs?
• Is the author likely to be a supporter of major
  oil companies?
• Was this essay written in 1979, 1989, or 1999?
• 2. Examining Titles Carefully Chua
• - Chuas article A World on the edge became
  part of her book World on Fire How
• Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic
  Hatred and Global Instability.
• - Postmans article is part of a book called The
  End of Education Redefining the
• Value of School
• 3. Headings you can find out a lot by going
  through the section and chapter headings
• in Gladwell and First to Worst. E.g. Gladwell
  book divided into 2 parts,
• Opportunity, Legacies, and within each part,
  aspects of the these concepts are
• explored

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• Survey/discussion questions before reading Pinker
• Our moral sense is best described as coming from
  a) our upbringing, b) society, c) religious texts
  and teachings, d) other.
• Moral laws are universalStrongly
  Disagree Moderately Disagree Moderately Agree
  Strongly Agree
• What are the most important moral laws and
  where do they come from?
• Morality is a product of our evolutionary
  pre-historyStrongly Disagree Moderately
  Disagree Moderately Agree Strongly Agree
• To what extent is our moral sense shared by other
  animals?

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• Survey/discussion questions before reading
  Postman
• How is the definition of a word arrived at?
• In school you probably learned thousands of
  definitions did you ever study how definitions
  are constructed? How are definitions taught in
  high school?
• Who makes definitions?
• To what extent are definitions political,
  reflecting the values, interests and purposes of
  those who make them?
• What are metaphors for? Are they important? Are
  they mostly decorative?
• Do metaphors matter in fields like biology,
  physics, history, business, English, or the study
  of argument?
• Do metaphors shape the way we see things?
• How is technology talked about in our culture?
  Taught in school?
• To what extent do technologies shape how we act,
  think, communicate, make sense of the world?

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• See page 3 of the handout for a detailed account
  of each of these major activities.
• There are handouts, class exercises, and class
  plans based on each of these key activities (see
  wiki or Blackboard).

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Some Roadmaps for RWS100

• Overview of RWS100 Overview of RWS 100,
  Assignments, Classroom Activities, Coursework,
  and Detailed Description of First 3 Weeks
• Gives you multiple views broad overview, to
  detailed description of 4 units, to
  class-by-class description of first three weeks.

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Introducing rhetoric

• We ask that you tell students that RWS 100 is a
  rhetoric class. Many will base their expectations
  on high school English classes literary texts
  and writing assignments, etc. Youll need to
  emphasize that the interpretation, analysis and
  production of argument is central, that they will
  be reading non-fiction texts, and producing a lot
  of analysis.
• You may find Content is king - locate, remember
  and deliver content. You may encounter a
  textbook mentality in the reading practices of
  many of your students, and an information
  processor model of writing.
• Textbooks are often anti-rhetorical -
  presenting knowledge in terms of a
  decontextualized, disembodied voice of authority,
  a view from nowhere, and of knowledge as
  settled, unified and authoritative
• The contested, contingent, contextual,
  community-centered, argument-drivenin short, the
  RHETORICAL dimensions of knowledge of academic
  discourse, are largely absent.

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Nudging students toward a rhetorical stance

• We want to move students from a focus on what
  texts say (content) to what they do and how they
  do it (rhetoric). Rhetorical self consciousness
  achieving a kind of double vision of looking
  at as well as through language.
• Rhetorical self consciousness understanding
  what texts do - is an important skill for
  students. Revealing the rhetorical moves that
  writers make, the strategies they draw on, is
  part of achieving academic literacy, and of
  acculturation into disciplinary communities. When
  you recognize the moves you not only understand
  the disciplinary conversation better, you are
  better equipped to join it.
• In the first week of class wed like you to
  introduce key conceptsthrough the analysis of
  some short texts. There is a folder on Blackboard
  to help you with this.
• Focusing on strategies and what texts do good
  ways of introducing rhetoric.

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Basic Rhetorical Strategies

• How do texts position readers?
• What point of view do they adopt?
• From what perspective do they invite us to view
  the world?Consider these chewing gum ads

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Rhetoric Is Everywhere an Everyday Thing

• When a politician tries to get you to vote for
  them, they are using rhetoric.
• When a lawyer tries to move a jury, they are
  using rhetoric.
• When a government produces propaganda, they are
  using rhetoric.
• When an advertisement tries to get you to buy
  something, it is using rhetoric.
• When the president gives a speech, he is using
  rhetoric.
• But rhetoric can be much subtler (and quite
  positive) as well
• When someone writes an office memo, they are
  using rhetoric.
• When a newspaper offers their depiction of what
  happened last night, they are using rhetoric.
• When a scientist presents theories or results,
  they are using rhetoric.
• When you write your mom or dad an email, you are
  using rhetoric.
• Thought itself is rhetorical - when you think,
  you engage in inner argument, or inner
  persuasion in order to reach a decision or act.

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• HEADLINES DESCRIBING MEDICAL MARIJUANA DECISION
• Salon Magazine Court rules against pot for sick
  people 
• New York Times High Court Allows Prosecution of
  Medical Marijuana Users
• USA Today MEDICAL MARIJUANA BAN UPHELD
• San Diego Union Tribune Court OKs Marijuana
  Crackdown
• L.A. Times Justices Give Feds Last Word on
  Medical Marijuana
• Christian Science Monitor US Court Rules
  Against Pot For Sick People
• Christian News Source Medical Marijuana Laws
  Don't Shield Users From Prosecution

38
Telemarketing Strategies Script

• Pre-introduction (Ask to speak to the
  decision-maker) Introduction (Introduce
  yourself and the reason for your call) Attention
  Getter (Mention the key features of the offer
  and qualify them for eligibility) Probing
  Questions (Always ask for information that will
  be useful for rebuttals) Offer (Explain the
  product/service and terms of commitment) Close
  (ALWAYS ASK FOR THE SALE) Rebuttal (deal with
  objections)Sales Continuation (Agree, use
  rebuttals, sell benefits, CLOSE)
  Up/down/cross-sell (If there is another product
  of less-price this is the time to sell it.)
  Confirmation Close (Review the terms of the
  offer to reduce buyer remorse) Final Close (End
  on a positive note. Thank the customer and leave
  a dial free number for customer support)

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• Everyday words, names, definitions, categories
  how they are selected or constructed
  rhetorical.
• Consider
• War on terror, vs. war against Islamic
  extremists, vs. fight against Al Queda (scope,
  agents involved, action)
• War on drugs Axis of Evil
• Body bags vs. transfer tubes
• Doctor assisted suicide vs. death with
  dignity
• Defense of marriage vs. marriage equality
• French Fries/Freedom fries
• Death Tax/Estate Tax
• Habit forming vs. addictive
• Erectile dysfunction vs. impotence
• Halitosis vs. bad breath
• Male pattern baldness vs. losing your hair
• Viagra!

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• The controversial New Yorker cover, politics of
  fear.

41
When ads used a lot of logos
42
Todays ads often use different appeals
43
WE CAN READ MATERIAL CULTURE RHETORICALLY

• By readingwe mean something more than simply
  lifting information out of books and articles. To
  read a text or event is to do something to it, to
  make sense out of its signals and cluesReading
  is thus not something we do to books alone. Or,
  to put it another way, books and other printed
  surfaces are not the only texts we read. Rather,
  a text is anything that can be interpreted,
  that we can make meaning out of or assign value
  to. In this sense, all culture is a text and all
  culture can be read. Joseph Harris and Jay
  Rosen.

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Strategies in Sculpture Maya Lins Vietnam War
Memorial
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Why these choices for a memorial what
strategies might they represent?

• The Vietnam war memorial is black
• It is made of reflective black granite. When a
  visitor looks at the wall, she will see the
  engraved names and her own reflection
• The monument is built along a pathway that
  requires people to move along the small corridor
  of space
• Unlike many monuments, it lists all the names of
  U.S. soldiers who died, and it does so in
  chronological rather than alphabetic order (Lin
  has she wanted the wall to read like an epic
  Greek poem and return the vets to the time
  frame of the war)
• Information about rank, unit, and decorations are
  not given
• The wall is V-shaped, with one side pointing to
  the Lincoln Memorial and the other to the
  Washington Monument. Lin's conception was to
  create an opening or a wound in the earth to
  symbolize the gravity of the loss of the soldiers

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The rise of the bum-proof bench in Los Angeles

• "One of the most common, but mind-numbing, of
  these deterrents is the L.A. Rapid Transit
  Districts new barrelshaped bus bench that offers
  a minimal surface for uncomfortable sitting,
  while making sleeping utterly impossible. Such
  bumproof benches are being widely introduced on
  the periphery of Skid Row. Another invention...is
  the aggressive deployment of outdoor sprinklers.
  Several years ago the city opened a Skid Row
  Park along lower Fifth Street, on a corner of
  Hell. To ensure that the park was not used for
  sleeping--that is, to guarantee that it was
  mainly utilized for drug dealing and
  prostitution--the city installed an elaborate
  overhead sprinkler system programmed to drench
  unsuspecting sleepers at random times during the
  night. The system was immediately copied by some
  local businessmen in order to drive the homeless
  away from adjacent public sidewalks.Mike Davis,
  City of Quartz Excavating the Future in Los
  Angeles, p. 233.

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Why design seats this way? How does this
shape/constrain behavior, whose behavior is
targeted?
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Why design walls curbs this way?
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2003 One of the greatest acts of political
stagecraft
Going far beyond the foundations in stagecraft
set by the Reagan White House, the Bush
administration is using the powers of
television and technology to promote a presidency
like never before. ELISABETH BUMILLER, NYT,
2003. For more on the history of political image
making see http//www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/i
ndex.html
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Political Imagery Rhetorical Strategy

• George W. Bush's Top Gun landing on the deck
  of the carrier Abraham Lincoln will be remembered
  as one of the most audacious moments of
  presidential theater in American history. But it
  was only the latest example of how the Bush
  administration, going far beyond the foundations
  in stagecraft set by the Reagan White House, is
  using the powers of television and technology to
  promote a presidency like never before.
  (Keepers of Bush Image Lift Stagecraft to New
  Heights Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times, May
  16, 2003)
• The photos took place in San Diego Bay, and
  required a lot of maneuvering to get shots that
  did not include the San Diego skyline or city
  and thus appeared far out at sea.

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Introducing rhetoric

• You may wish to use short texts, visual texts,
  advertisements, op-eds and other texts that
  students are probably familiar with in order to
  introduce rhetoric.
• Email communication is a good place to start
  students are familiar with the genre, and may
  find it easier to recognize strategies, acts of
  persuasion, positioning, performance, etc.
• This YouTube animation is a good text to start a
  discussion about rhetoric about audience,
  purpose, persuasion, strategies, genre, ethos,
  rhetorical situation, etc.

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Using a YouTube Animation to introduce rhetorical
concepts
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• SubText animation showing a guy composing an
  email to a girl he likes. The man thinks aloud
  as he writes, and we glimpse what goes on in his
  head as he composeshttp//www.youtube.com/watch?
  v400w4XnjElI
• Examine how this trivial act is full of
  rhetorical issues. The character is asking, how
  does this language present me? What persona does
  it construct? What tactic will be most effective?
  What moves should I make, how will this make me
  seem? How should I think of my audience? What is
  my purpose? How do I avoid embarrassment?
• Have students take the concepts of rhetorical
  situation, persuasion, construction of ethos,
  strategies, etc., and apply to this visual text.
  

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• 12.00 See Jo Serrano, Jamie Madden and Karen
  Keene in AH3138 for office info, keys, etc.

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• 1.00 p.m.
• Rhetorical Reading of Postman Glen McClish

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• 2.00 Blackboard, the Wiki Finding things

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3. Blackboard Tech Tools

• The order of things (in a hierarchical,
  inflexible, old new media warehouse/content
  management system).
• At first it will seem like a black hole. After a
  while its merely confusing. But its where
  everything is.
• How to contribute (you have the power use it
  carefully!! Dont delete things)
• How to copy things to your course
• Making your Blackboard class visible to your
  students
• How to post on the discussion board in order to
  hand in homework
• Exercise post a bio sketch to the TA discussion
  board.

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Blackboard's SafeAssign

• SafeAssign Tutorial in Blackboard - UNC
  demonstrates how an instructor creates a
  SafeAssign Assignment, interprets the SA report,
  and how students submit their papers to SA
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v1gWf3pPVJ3k
• Blackboard SafeAssign Tutorial presentation on
  the use of Blackboard's new Safe Assign - drag
  the timeline bar to 30 minutes to start the
  section on SA.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?veLMGP6rlOj0feature
  related
• ITS has a page on SafeAssign and
  plagiarismhttp//its.sdsu.edu/tech/plagiarism/

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Blackboard Technology Tools

• If you feel ambitious, consider alternatives
  wikis, CSMs, hosted sites, etc. I suggest we use
  the wiki this semester for planning.

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• 3.00 Syllabus Workshop
• Sample syllabi, schedules and assignment
  sequences are on the wiki (and will be on
  Blackboard very soon).

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Learning Outcomes What they are, why they
matter, how to use them to your advantage.

• Outcomes should be listed on your syllabus, and
  its useful to include them in your assignments
  (see p. 25 of handout).
• They can be used as part of student reflections,
  and to help prime students for evaluations.
• If things get ugly, the outcomes and syllabus
  provide you with backup. In disputes, they
  matter.
• Recent change our outcomes are now explicitly
  framed in terms of the general education program
  and its capacities and goals (meta-outcomes)
• This new language adds a certain amount of
  institutional authority to our courses. You can
  point students to the section that states how
  important our courses and outcomes are to the
  educational mission of the university (then go
  back to berating them for sending text messages
  in class). If questioned, you can also say,
  look, the course goals arent my arbitrary whim
  designed to torture you, but the universitys
  carefully researched conclusion as to what
  constitutes essential undergraduate academic
  skills.

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• Pre-reading
• Discussion starters (freewriting, group work,
  bboard, etc.)

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Discussion Participation

• Prime with a questionnaire, survey or questions
• Call by name
• Put in groups and assign responsibility
• Jig saw work
• Pyramids (alone, in pairs, 4s, etc.)
• Freewrite (give students time to assemble
  thoughts, so they feel more confidant
  contributing
• Wait.at least 7 seconds. Try not to get stuck in
  the habit of answering your own questions.
• Have students post responses and homework to
  Blackboard, so you can bring to class and use to
  get discussion going.

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• Author Interview, Panel or Role-PlayingOne
  student assumes the role of the writer and
  answers question from the audience about the
  articles main claim, choices regarding
  supporting evidence, and the writers view of
  his/her audience at the time of writing.
• Students assigned to play role of author for
  10-15 minutes. You may choose to let that student
  greet the class in character, and provide a
  brief summary of the argument that he/she wrote,
  which everyone else in class has read. After
  that, the exercise consists of class members
  asking the writer questions about the argument
  itself.
• CAN ALSO be used with assignment 2 (sources) in
  which students are responsible to assume the role
  of different authors, and you can set up a debate
  with Chua.

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Seth Taylor Seven Tips for Discussion (RWS 296)

• 1) Beware of cold starts. Consider directed
  freewriting, journaling, or the Brain Dump at
  the start of class. Quick responses can both
  kickstart discussions, and eventually help
  students question where their responses come
  from.

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Seth Taylor Seven Tips for Discussion (RWS 296)

• 2) Be wary of asking the BIG questions first
• So what do you think about the reading?
• So whats the point of the chapter?

68
Active Learning Seven Tips for Discussion

• 3) Let your first question be easy, possibly
  about their reading process
• How long did it take to read this?
• Where does it get interesting (or boring)?
• Were there any passages you found difficult,
  interesting or unusual?
• 4) Open-ended questions will require students to
  think. Yes/No questions require very little of
  them, and can often shut down discussion before
  it starts.

69
Active Learning Seven Tips for Discussion

• 5) Encourage students to explain, support, their
  responses to a text. Almost every answer can be
  followed up with a Why? question from the
  instructor.

70
Active Learning Seven Tips for Discussion

• 6) Encourage students to talk to each other,
  rather than simply fire answers back to you
• Re-directing students to respond to each others
  ideas
• Group breakout exercises
• Let students teach

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Active Learning Seven Tips for Discussion

• 7) At the end of class, try to re-cap or
  summarize the ground that was covered. You do
  not need the discussion to come to a grand
  conclusion, but some sort of review
• will help increase retention.