Guided Close Readings

Some students comprehend selected passages immediately, while others struggle. Different students will be able to process texts at different speeds. This can lead to sections where only relatively quick readers are able to participate.

• Distribute selected passages ahead of time. Let students know what passages you will be reading in section, and make sure those passages are easily accessible ahead of section.

• Slow down. While some students will likely find the relevant passages more immediately accessible and comprehensible than other students, academic texts don’t always (or even often) reward speed. Make sure you give students time to think about the text being worked through. Stop to ask follow-up questions, write up distinction on the board, or ask students to diagram out arguments being presented in the text.

Students struggle to have open, flowing dialogue when narrowly focused on the text. While specific ethical hard cases or broader ethical theories and concepts can often easily motivate active, enthusiastic discussions, students can feel limited when conversation is focused on specific passages from specific texts.

• Draw students' attention to specific interpretative or exegetical questions. Academics rarely (if ever) treat text as transparent, straightforward transcriptions of information. Rather, academics are always asking questions about the texts they read: investigating points of ambiguity, debating varying interpretations, and so on. These sorts of questions can be (and are) sources of lively discussion, but they are discussion that can only be accessed once one is made aware of the relevant questions. Really learning a text often involves coming to learn such questions.

• Provide relevant context. Often times, students don’t feel like they have much to say about a given reading because they don’t understand the significance of that text. You can help remove this barrier to discussion by providing social, historical, theoretical, and even personal context for the readings. If students are struggling to connect with a reading, it can be useful to openly have a discussion about the significance of the work. Why do these readings (these passages) matter