DISSCUSSION LEADER
As a discussion leader, you assume a part of the responsibility for leading the discussion. To
prepare for this responsibility, you should:
a) come up with three questions prior to section: one from the reading, one from the
lecture/movie, and one that focuses on how the lecture integrates with the reading.
b) Email me your questions or discuss them with me in person.
c) Post your questions on our section’s on-line forum 48 hours before the section you
are leading.
d) Find or prepare a multimedia piece that is relevant to your intended discussion. This
could be a song, game, performance, poem, cartoon, a part of a movie and should not
take longer than 5-10minutes.
Your questions should be designed to initiate and sustain discussion (do not simply ask
factual questions that can be answered in a sentence). Note that your responsibility as
the leader does not end with asking the questions: you are also responsible for
guiding the discussion that follows. This means, in addition to preparing the three
questions, you will also . . .
a) call on your classmates
b) ask them to explain what they mean if their comments are not clear
c) ask them to elaborate on a point they have made;
d) challenge them (politely, of course) to defend their ideas;
e) act as mediator when disagreements arise.