Assignment: Discussion Captains 

Discussion captains will help to lead the discussion on the bad idea about writing that we’re reading about for that day. 

To complete the work for this assignment you’ll need to add a few (maybe 3 or 4? I’m not going to count them, but you should add more than one) substantive annotations to the reading on the course site (via Hypothes.is). This could be questions, comments, clarifications, or replies to other people’s annotations. You can also send them to me to add if you do not have access to a computer: just tell me where they should go. You’ll also add 1-2 substantive discussion questions (that haven’t already been asked) to the #discussion-questions Slack channel, and be ready to talk about them during class. If you can’t make it to class, you’ll participate in the discussion via Slack.

✅ Step One: Add some annotations 24 hours before class 

Help to spur our thinking and understanding about this reading by adding your analysis, clarifications, questions, and replies to other people’s annotations to the text. We’ll go over this in class, and you can also find some tips on developing strong annotations below. You should plan to add these 24 hours before the start of your class so that other students can read them as they’re reading the chapter for the day.

Please note that some phones and tablets make it difficult to add annotations. You should be able to read them, but you might not be able to add them. If this is the case, just send them to me in a DM over Slack and I’ll add them for you.

☑️ Step Two: Post 1-2 substantive discussion questions 24 hours before class

Post 1-2 substantive discussion questions to Slack in the channel that has been named for the date we are discussion the chapter (i.e. #feb8 for “Student Writing Must Be Graded By the Teacher”.) Please note: this is a new format and not what the video says! But this will enable students who want to complete the assignment early to add their questions to the correct channel without them getting lost. These discussion questions will guide our synchronous discussion. Please do not repeat a question that someone has already asked. Need help developing substantive discussion questions? Look below for some tips.

✅ Attend class and participate actively or add to the discussion via Slack

On the day that you are a discussion captain, please make every effort to attend class and participate actively in the discussion activities. If you can’t attend class, please contribute your thoughts to the discussion thread via Slack no later than by the next class (i.e. if the class you missed was on Wednesday, you should add your comments / questions to the threads by no later than Monday before class time.) Note that we will typically hold discussions both on Slack, as a whole class, and also in break out rooms. 

🤔 What Makes a Good Annotation? Here are some tips:  

Here are some tips for adding annotations to the text. We’ll practice this together!

• Find a sentence that gives a main idea (major claim) in the piece. Add an annotation that (1) summarizes the idea in your own words, and (2) tells us why you think this is important. 
• Find a word or a phrase that you don’t understand. Look up the word. Tell us what you think that it means within the context of the piece. It’s OK to not know!
• Add your analysis. This means that you’re extending the point that is being made by adding something to the text that isn’t already there. Click on the Hypothes.is browser extension or bookmarklet to see the difference:

Grades get in the way, and teachers cannot guide students through their own writing, assessing, and reviewing processes if they are too distracted by issuing grades. The teacher’s view of student writing is but one voice among a chorus of peers. Writing benefits from collaboration, not top-down dictatorship. 

Chris Friend, Bad Ideas About Writing

• Use links and images to connect ideas in the text to other things that you’re reading and learning (for other classes, or just for fun)
  
• Rather than immediately pushing back and disagreeing with the major point, consider annotating with what you would need to know in order to believe the author. Here’s the difference, using the same passage as above. Click on the Hypothes.is browser extension or bookmarklet to see the difference:

Grades get in the way, and teachers cannot guide students through their own writing, assessing, and reviewing processes if they are too distracted by issuing grades. The teacher’s view of student writing is but one voice among a chorus of peers. Writing benefits from collaboration, not top-down dictatorship.

Chris Friend, Bad Ideas About Writing

• Respond to someone else’s annotation with kindness and generosity, and also with substance. Here are some helpful phrases from Sensoy and DiAngelo (2014) that you can use to push back on someone’s point in respectful ways: 

🧐 What Makes a Good Discussion Question? Here Are Some Tips: 

Here are some tips for writing good discussion questions. 

• Make questions open-ended. Rather than asking a “quiz” question (i.e. “What did the author say about plagiarism?”), ask questions that encourage participants to share multiple perspectives (i.e. “What was surprising to you about this essay?) 
• Ask your colleagues to relate the content to their own lives and experiences.
• Ask about what was difficult to understand and / or admit when you didn’t understand a point. (i.e. “When the author said XYZ, I understood this to mean ABC. Is that how you understood it, too?”)
• Point to moments when you didn’t think that the author explained something well. Ask for further clarification, or ask your colleagues what else they think could have been included.
• Ask about the broader implications of the essay (be specific here—don’t just say “what are the broader implications of this essay?”)
• Ask about connections to current events (be specific here, too—don’t just say “what current events does this essay remind you of?” for example)
• Ask about what kinds of concrete actions could or should be taken if we accept a particular argument
• Ask about how this essay should change some kind of practice in schools, in society, or elsewhere