Students will be sorted into groups of 2-3 and will be asked to have a discussion about the readings for the most recent course module in front of the class. You will be graded independently on your contribution to the discussion, but the discussion will depend on you interacting with the other members of your group.

1) Each member of your group will select a brief passage from the module’s readings that you thought was both important and complex. You should prepare a three minute explanation of why you chose the passage. However, do not reveal why you chose the passage at this stage. You will reveal this at the end of the discussion!

You should work independently on this part of the assignment, but check with the members of your group to make sure you have not chosen the same passage. It is good to have a backup!

At least 24 hours prior to the date of your Group Discussion, you must post your passage to the Group Discussion Discussion Board on Canvas. Make sure to include the name of the text the passage comes from, the author’s name, and the page number the quote appears on. This will allow your group members and the rest of the class to prepare for the next day’s discussion. Once the passages have been posted, you should prepare a two minute response to the passage selected by each of your group members. Your responses can address any of the following:

• Why do you think this passage is significant?
• What does it make you think about?
• What questions does it raise for you?

2) On the day of the Group Discussion, a volunteer member of the group will identify the part of the article that s/he found to be most significant and read it out loud to the group. This person says nothing about why s/he chose that particular passage.

3) The other group members then have two minutes each to respond to the passage — saying what it makes them think about, what questions it raises for them, etc.

4) The first participant then has 3 minutes to state why s/he chose that part of the article and to respond to—or build on—what s/he heard from his/her colleagues.

5) The same pattern is followed until all members of the group have had a chance to be the presenter and to have “the last word.”