How to use a seminar format effectively

Seminar Format: Purpose and Goals Help students to retain more of what they learn in class. Teach students to think independently, like a... (sociologist, physicist, artist, journalist, teacher). Encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning and to take an active part in it. Allow students to experiment with ideas and deepen their understanding of material. Give students the opportunity to learn by teaching their peers.

Possible Discussion Methods The “true” seminar format. Small, well-defined tasks/questions that build, step by step, toward a specific, planned outcome. Socratic question and answer. Small, in-class writing exercises for sharing with the class. Paired discussion or group work with reporting out. Large-group fact-gathering and brainstorming.

Coordination of Goal and Method Suppose you want your students to consider options for solving a specific environmental problem, construct a tentative theory that explains recent voting trends across the nation, share what they know or think they know about Mormons, express and reflect on their opinions about the role of determinism and free will in life, comprehend the significance of marriage in the Odyssey, internalize terminology and concepts of ethnographic research, or know what the economic and social rights of women were in 14th-century England.

Role of Reading in Discussion Suppose you want your students to consider options for solving a specific environmental problem, construct a tentative theory that explains recent voting trends across the nation, share what they know or think they know about Mormons, express and reflect on their opinions about the role of determinism and free will in life, comprehend the significance of marriage in the Odyssey, internalize terminology and concepts of ethnographic research, or know what the economic and social rights of women were in 14th-century England.

FSP Planning Worksheet 1. Texts that provide essential background 2. Milestones in history of topic 3. Provocative, troubling, polemical, cutting-edge texts 4. Texts with which I vehemently disagree Readings What should the students read?

Reasonable Expectations: Student Responsibility for Reading Expect and encourage maturity/commitment…. But remember what high school is like (meeting every day, busy work, etc.) and help students to be responsible without your looking like a police officer. Easy, low-stress, not-gotcha quizzes Response papers (short, informal responses to readings submitted at the beginning of class – once a week, on assigned days, or student’s choice) Collected in-class writing Opening or closing statements (one-minute précis of thoughts about the reading from each student, going around the room at the beginning or end of class)

Reasonable Expectations for Student Reading Quantity of reading to be assigned For each text, time yourself and multiply by two to get student reading speed for that text. Expect students to work two hours outside of class for every hour in. Quality of reading on students’ parts Be happy about whatever level of comprehension the students achieve. Model good reading strategies in class for each type of reading before expecting students to read those types with sophistication.

Seminar Format: Questions to Consider In a free-wheeling discussion, how will students know what to write down in their notes? Which is better – debate or consensus-building? How can I tell if class is going well (or badly)? What happens when the discussion gets sidetracked? Should I call on people or only on volunteers (and what if the same two people are always the only volunteers)? Should I grade participation? What are reasonable expectations for how much material one seminar class meeting can cover?

What are the important take-away points? What obstacles or questions remain?