DISCUSSION LEADERS: Here is the series of steps for preparing to lead a discussion about your topic. (Discussion participants, scroll down to see your guidelines.)
| * THURSDAY before your session: Locate an additional good reading about your topic.
Online readings are easiest; you can just give us the URL. Online Journalism Review is an especially useful source for many of these topics; the other sources listed under "Resources" are also good options. (Do be sure that the article you select is not already a required reading on the syllabus.)
For items available only in hard-copy form, please bring one copy to Jane, who will photocopy it for the Journalism Resource Center, E350 Adler; after a day or two, it will be accessible through ICON. |
| * SUNDAY before your session: After closely reading your article plus the syllabus materials for "your" week, come up with several key ideas or points to highlight, along with questions or discussion points designed to elicit a conversation about the topic.
Post those questions or discussion points on our class blog.
The discussion will work better if you touch base with your co-leaders and work out how things will go on Tuesday.
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| * TUESDAY, the day of your session: Lead a discussion in class. Handouts or other visual aids are often helpful though they're not mandatory. And of course, we have access to the Internet and other resources in the room. |
Here are tips for leading the discussion. Figure on about 45 minutes in all (for the team, not 45 minutes each).
| * Ask open-ended questions (ones that can't be answered simply "yes" or "no"). |
* Ask focused questions.
No: "What do you think about using video with a story?"
Yes: "What sorts of stories do you think would work best with video?" |
| * Think about ways to rephrase key questions if you're unhappy with the responses. |
* Prepare follow-up questions. "Why" questions are particularly good for this.
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| * Along the same lines, group related questions together.
These are all broad topics. It will be helpful to think through the components you want to cover and come up with two or three questions for each one. |
| * Encourage people to challenge ideas in the readings. Do they agree or disagree? Why? |
| * Give people time to respond. Five seconds of silence can seem like an eternity, but it’s not. People need time to think about your question and formulate a response. |
| * Don't be afraid to politely cut off discussion if you have other key points you want to cover. It's not rude. We'll all understand -- and admire you for coming up with such a provocative question in the first place! |
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