- Everyone will work as part of a team of three. The teams (assigned randomly) are as follows:
Wednesday, Oct. 20: Team 1 (Aubra, Joey, Patricia) Friday, Oct. 22: Team 2 (Alison, Drew, Mark) Monday, Oct. 25: Team 3 (Becky, Bob, Nate) Wednesday, Oct. 27: Team 4 (Kirsten, Steve, Susan) Friday, Oct. 29: Team 5 (Brian, Courtney, Katie) - Before class:
- Teams will develop three questions about the reading for that day. See below for some hints on how to do that.
- Teams will meet with me for a few minutes after the class before the class they're responsible for (so Team 3 will meet with me after class on Friday the 22nd) -- so we can make sure everything is "good to go."
- Teams will post their questions to the newsgroup by 5:00 pm on the day before class. Everyone else in the class will be responsible for checking the newsgroup to read the questions and to begin to develop responses.
- Teams will develop three questions about the reading for that day. See below for some hints on how to do that.
- During class:
- Teams will be responsible for starting class discussion with their three questions.
- Teams are not responsible for leading the entire discussion, but for getting us started. However, I'm not going to say too much for the first ten minutes or so.
- Teams will be responsible for starting class discussion with their three questions.
Here are some suggestions about the kinds of questions you might be asking. (Much of the following is borrowed from earlier handouts by Professors Hoft-March and Spurgin.)
- Reaction questions.
EXAMPLE: "What did you think of Thrasymachus?"
This kind of question may invite simple, one-shot responses ("I didn't like him."), so it may not get you very far. If you ask a question like this, be ready to encourage people to say what they liked (or didn't like) and why.
- Comprehension questions.
EXAMPLE: "What does Socrates say about the role of women in politics?"
Questions like these give you a chance to clear up confusion--and they can also lead to events or situations that need further analysis. (It might make sense to ask a comprehension question as either a set-up or follow-up to an analytical or interpretive question.)
- Analytical or interpretive questions.
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EXAMPLE: "What would Plato say about...?"
These questions are perhaps the most interesting of all, since their answers are least obvious. One problem is that these kind of question occasionally lead to generalizations. It's not wrong to let people generalize, but past a certain point you should be ready to ask them to back up their generalizations with examples from the text.
revised: 11-Oct-1999