Paper Seminar

In this instructional strategy, a student makes a formal presentation of an original paper to a small group of peers. Within the group, one or two students act as formal respondents to the paper. The entire group then engages in a discussion of the paper’s content, interpretation, and underlying assumptions and values.

Paper Seminar provides a framework for groups to engage in deep discussion, exchanging and probing ideas that students have brought from their research and their individual readings of the paper.

• It gives individual students focused attention and feedback on their work, while avoiding the multiple student presentations to the entire class that can be time intensive and tiresome.
• By doing presentations, students learn how to speak in front a group. They learn how to prepare material for public presentation, and practice (especially with feedback) improves their speaking skills.
• To develop the ability to defend their ideas and seek clarification.

1. Explain to students the time frame and tasks.
2. The teacher may provide presentation guidelines to presenter (e.g. format of presentation).
3. Assign students to groups, and tell students that they will all be responding formally and informally to peers’ papers in the group.
4. Determine who will serve as formal respondent for each paper. For groups of four, assign one formal respondent; for groups of six, consider assigning two formal respondents.
5. On the day of the Paper Seminar, give the first presenters time formally present their papers to their groups (such as five to ten minutes).
6. The teacher may provide assessment rubric for formal respondents to assess the seminar and areas for comments.
7. Allow respondents to respond (such as ten minutes).
8. Give groups time to discuss the paper (such as twenty minutes).
9. Follow the same sequence of activities for the second presenters, and so forth.