Practice
Practice identifying ethical claims.
Practice identifying components of arguments for ethical claims.
Practice clearly communicating ethical claims and arguments in speech.
Practice understanding and responding to feedback.
Practice respectfully and effectively discussing ethical issues.
Select a strategy below to see more details.
Guided Close Reading: As a class, collectively work through specific, pre-selected passages from course readings. With the reading in front of everyone, ask students guiding questions to draw them to key features of the passage. What is the function of the passage? What key concepts are introduced and how are they explained? What claims are argued for and what evidence is raised in support of those claims? As students work towards a better understanding of the passage, record the results in a visible location (whiteboard, projected display, etc.).
Well-suited for:
Practicing identifying ethical claims.
Practicing identifying components of arguments for ethical claims.
Strengths
Makes explicit value and function of assigned readings. Students often don’t see the value in doing assigned readings, as opposed to just relying on information presented to them in lecture or section. Academic texts can be dense and inaccessible, especially relative to lectures and sections put together with an undergraduate audience in mind. By working through the text in section, you not only encourage students to spend time on text they might otherwise not, but you also help them develop the skills needed to see and use those texts as the valuable resources they are.
Develops good reading habits. As much as we encourage to read texts carefully and repeatedly, we have little guarantee that they will actually do so once they leave class. By dedicating section time to close reading, you can both ensure that students have at least some time to spend on (specific parts of) readings. Moreover, by providing guidance during these close readings, you can help students practice good reading habits (rereading difficult passages, asking questions as your read, reading in a group, and so on).
Great for early reading assignments. DIfferent academic disciplines can have very different expectations and practices around readings. Going through early reading assignments together is a good way to introduce new students to discipline-specific reading approaches and make explicit otherwise implicit reading norms (perhaps even some which you have already completely internalized).
Paper Presentations: Have students prepare a brief presentation (roughly 5 to 10 minutes, depending on number of students and section length) on a writing assignment they have been given in class. In their presentations, make sure students clearly state the main claims of their papers and explain any arguments they are making in favor of those claims. Invite other students to ask the presenter questions, raise concerns, and offer feedback about the paper. Allow these questions, concerns or feedback to be the basis of a brief discussion (with time constraints similar to the presentation itself). Leave enough time for every student to present and have their paper discussed.
Well-suited for:
Practicing clearly communicating ethical claims and arguments in speech.
Practicing respectfully and effectively discussing ethical issues.
Strengths
Practices multiple ethical reasoning skills at once in a low-stakes setting. Presenting a paper requires organizing an ethical argument, identifying and communicating important points in a concise fashion, listening to and processing questions and feedback, and developing ethical views with peers. In-section presentations provide an opportunity to practice these skills in a setting that allows for error and support, without significant academic or social costs.
Encourages good writing practices. By forcing students to establish the basic elements of their paper ahead of time and process feedback, paper presentations can have the added bonus of encouraging students to begin their paperwork early and think of writing as a process.
Great for final papers. Paper Presentations works best if students have already put in substantive preparatory work on their papers (and paper presentations can be part of that work). As such, the Paper Presentation format is best-suited to larger writing assignments like final or term papers.
Group Feedback Discussion: Organize students into small groups (2 to 4 students), and ask them to share one or two pieces of feedback received on a recent writing assignment or exercise. Invite each student to explain their selected pieces: explain any relevant context for the relevant assignment, and describe how you understand the selected pieces of feedback. Meanwhile, invite other students in the group to ask questions and offer suggestions: ask a group member how they are planning to respond to their feedback, offer a clarification about how to understand the feedback, and so on.
Well-suited for:
Practice understanding and responding to feedback.
Practicing respectfully and effectively discussing ethical issues.
Strengths
Encourages openness about the writing process. Getting feedback and relying on others’ insight to work through confusion, as well as respectfully providing that feedback and insight to others, is a critical aspect of doing good writing work (and doing good academic work in general). Having students discuss and practice responding to feedback in a group setting can provide a low-stakes opportunity to get comfortable with the vulnerability that comes with giving and receiving such feedback and insight.
Encourages students to look beyond the grade. By dedicating substantial section time to students, you structurally signal to students that written comments and feedback is just as important (if not more so) than the grade they recieved.
Great for learning from early papers. Students, especially students new to your discipline, can feel intimidated and discouraged trying to work their way through discipline-specific writing norms and expectations. A Group Feedback Discussion held shortly after an early set of papers have been returned can help students better process feedback they have received and draw out lessons they can use for future writing assignments and exercises.