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Please note that after March 11, discussion sections have moved online. The new format and requirements are described here.
Discussion Sections
Discussion sections are a fundamental part of this course and are designed to add tremendously to your learning. As you might have already noticed, our discussion sections are atypically long. We ask that students spend the same amount of time every week in lecture and section - two hours total in each. Hopefully this makes clear our sense of the value of section and how much great thinking can be done in conversation with each other.
Discussion sections will include different activities each week but share a general format. In every discussion section, you will:
- take a 5 to 10 minute reading quiz that covers that week's homework. These quizzes will be closed book but we are not asking you to memorize small details of your homework. The best way to prepare is to do the homework, take notes for yourself, and read those to jog your memory before you arrive in section. Please note that many weeks your homework will include something other than reading prose - you will be watching films, reading comics, listening to a podcast, among other things. All those materials are fair game for the weekly quiz, too. Anything assigned for homework will be included on the reading quiz.
- participate in a discussion based on "discussion questions" you have written. (See more about these questions below.)
- engage that week's key topics and questions through a group activity organized by your GSI.
- have lots of opportunities to share your thoughts or half-thoughts, reactions, and feelings about what we are learning together.
- frame your discussion through collective ground rules that each section will set up at the beginning of the semester.
Discussion Questions
Each week, we ask you to write and submit four discussion questions by Wednesday at 12 noon. The four questions should open ended and directly concern the reading or homework for that week. These questions should not be inquiries for more factual information. One quick way to decide if you have generated a discussion question is to ask yourself if you could find the answer to your question by searching the internet. If you could – if you are asking for facts – then it is not a discussion question. All questions will be graded on a credit / no credit basis, which means as long as you turn in open-ended questions on time, you will receive full credit.
We ask you to send your questions because we are interested in what has made you think, what you think deserves more attention, or what is puzzling. You can certainly send questions that you don't know the answer to! More generally, I want to reinforce the idea that we should all be generating questions as we read, rather than looking only for the "right" answers. Further, as we will discuss, it is actually quite difficult to come up with good questions and learning to do so is a skill. Please take this opportunity to be creative. Don't be afraid to ask big questions, but please keep that week's materials readings in mind. Always feel free to think across the readings and discussions but do not make your questions only about something from lecture.
Here are some good and bad example discussion questions for the first of the assigned readings, due for section in the second week:
A discussion question: How does gender as a metaphor shape Lese and Efe people’s lives?
Another discussion question: Do you think the people described in this article are happy with their lives? Do they feel discrimination?
Not a discussion question: When did Zaire become a nation independent of colonizing forces?
Notice that this question is really asking for a fact. That’s not an open-ended question.
Also not a discussion question: Isn’t women’s body hair gross?
While it might prompt conversation, and you’re welcome to share such a thought in our class discussion, merely asking a yes / no question isn’t creating a discussion question. Your questions need to be open ended.
We look forward to your questions. Because there is no reading due the first or last week of the semester, no discussion questions are due those weeks.
Discussion Section in Week 1
In the first week of the semester, our discussion sections meet. No reading is due and you do not need to submit discussion questions. There will be a reading quiz but it will be entirely focused on this course website. Your quiz questions will concern how the course is set up, your requirements, and the work you will be asked to do. The best way to do well on this quiz is to spend about 30 minute exploring this website, paying attention to the assignments, the course materials, and the overall requirements. Of course, if you have any questions about the course, please share them in section.