Discussions

ENG 500, Fall 2008

Summary

Use our course weblog and in-class time to work through issues related to course texts, assignments, and your other graduate work.

Objectives

Discussions are our laboratory and studio, where you can try out ideas, seek the assistance of others, experiment, and learn. Both face to face and on a weblog I’ve created for the course, you will get to know your fellow students and the course material through conversation. This is old news for an English class, to be sure. However, as is the case with writing, professional discussion is both an art and craft which takes time to learn, requires practice, and merits reflection. To that end, some pointers:

When we meet, I expect everyone to have something to say about the course texts and the larger questions they raise. It’s a good idea to come to class with your reading notes and a few conversation starters.
Asking questions is a perfectly acceptable form of discussion. If you have a tentative answer, share it, and we can talk about it.
While our texts should be the primary focus, connecting relevant experiences is welcome, especially if it provides practical articulation of theories from our texts.
Bringing your semester project into the conversation is not only acceptable, it’s a terrific idea.
Academic economies revolve around citation, and strong analysis requires textual support. Our discussions should follow: offer the page numbers of relevant quotations both in class and on our weblog. Present blockquotes when a particular passage merits close analysis.
I expect you to visit the weblog often and contribute multiple times each week, both writing posts (the top-level items which appear on the front page) and making comments on posts. Moving discussions from our meetings to the weblog and back is great.
The weblog is shared between the Macomb and Quad Cities sections. So if you don’t recognize a name, it’s probably a student from the other section. See the course roster for more info.
If you use a newsreader like Google Reader, add the posts and comments feeds. You can also be notified by email every time there’s a new post on the weblog; just tell me the address to use.
If you already have a weblog, feel free to cross-post or link your content to ours. Ask if you need help.
I will write evaluations for your participation after six weeks. This will help you shape your participation for the last nine weeks.

Leading discussion

Once or twice this semester (pending enrollment), you will lead our discussions. Isolate several issues from the course texts and prepare a handout which encapsulates the points you wish to discuss. Post this material to the weblog at least 48 hours before our class meeting. During class, moderate the discussion.

I’ll post a discussion schedule on the course web site once our roster is finalized. You may select any week I’m in class.

Milestones, schedule, & grading breakdown

Milestone	Points
Weblog, weeks 1-6	50
Weblog, weeks 7-15	75
Class discussions, weeks 1-6	50
Class discussions, weeks 7-15	75
Leading discussion	50
Total	300

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