The goal of this assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to deepen your understanding of the topic and help you practice some of the teaching skills you will use in leading active learning sessions as a GEM.  While Audrey and Barbara will be present and will often participate, we want GEMs to have ownership of the discussions.

After our first meeting, you will sign up to facilitate one of the discussions we have planned for future meetings.  In most cases, you will be working with a partner.  To prepare, you and your partner will review the provided materials and discussion prompts for your topic.  We recommend that you take about 10 minutes to review the materials and prompts in advance and meet with your partner to plan for the discussion you will facilitate.

As part of your planning, you should reflect on what you learned about the topic, anything you find interesting or confusing, and how the topic relates to the MaGE Program and the experiences you are having as a GEM.  It’s a good idea to head into the discussion with several leading or open-ended questions to help spark conversation.  You can structure the discussion in whatever way you think will be most effective.

This is not a presentation.  Your classmates will already be familiar with the topic from the training course, so your goal is to refresh their memories and find ways to engage them in a productive dialogue.