IF YOU WANT TO:
Assigning students specific leadership responsibilities.
"I find this procedure very effective in getting students to take responsibility for class discussions," notes an architecture professor. Students select topics for which they will serve as discussion leaders. The number of leaders per topic depends on the size of the class (usually from one to three students per topic). Each student leads a discussion two or three times per semester."
"The leader's task is to prepare a set of three to six discussion questions regarding the reading material. These discussion questions are handed out to the rest of the class the week before the topic is covered. The leaders assume responsibility for generating and facilitating the discussion in a format upon which they have previously agreed."
A version of this strategy specific to literature courses is used by another professor. Each week a team of students is responsible for conducting the seminar. They do not hand out questions in advance, but they are expected to come prepared to lead the discussion. One member of the team prepares an autobiographical sketch of the author being studied; the other student introduces the novel and the key issues to be discussed.
Limitations on Use of Suggestion
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