Discussion Leader Jealousy/mistrust of parental relationships and just the weight of authority

Each student in the class will lead a 25-minute discussion of one of the plays we are reading this
semester. Your job is to pick one scene in the play and lead a discussion on that scene, with the
support of a peer-reviewed secondary source chosen in consultation with the professor. You
should begin your discussion by summarizing the argument of the article as well as your
response to it for the class. Then, you will lead a discussion of its application to the play,
focusing on a scene of your choosing (but hopefully going beyond what we’ve already discussed
as a class). You should plan to devote five or six minutes discussing the article and you should
plan to spend five or six minutes reading lines from the play. Then, you will have fifteen minutes
of discussion where your expectation is to get maximum participation from the class. (I will not
be participating, only observing.)
You can design your lesson plan in any way you see fit (lecture, discussion questions, activity,
Kahoot, Padlet, some combination of the above, etc.), as long as it presents the argument of the
article and enriches our understanding of the play. You need to meet with me at least two days
ahead of your discussion to go over your plan and you will need to turn in an outline of your plan
the night before.
Your discussion should build on the subject of your Topic Proposal. Consider this an opportunity
to begin working on your seminar paper. I would suggest that you think of this as an opportunity
to “road test” a few ideas. Therefore, I’d think about framing your discussion of the play in terms
of a research question that you will later pursue in your seminar paper.
Some Guidelines:
• Make sure you know the play inside and out so you can lead an effective discussion and
make connections based on your classmate’s responses. This means that you need to
finish reading the play before you meet with me to discuss it.
• Come up with lines to discuss, including good moments for close reading as well as “big
picture” problems. We might not get to all of them, but it’s always a good idea to have a
back-up plan.
• Consider your goals for this discussion – what new understanding do you want the class
to come away with?
• Come up with a plan for your time: Lecture? Open discussion? Group or class activitiy?
Audio/visual elements? It’s completely up to you, but you must 1) communicate the
specific and unique argument of a secondary source, 2) respond to that argument, and 3)
solicit responses to the article’s argument and to the play from your classmates.
• Try using a warm-up activity (such as a writing exercise or discussion prompt) will get
intellectual juices flowing.
• Try to focus on open inquiry and critical inquiry. Your questions resist easy answers.
They should be open-ended with no obvious solution.
• Don’t be afraid to call on people. Try to get everyone involved.
• Don’t be afraid of silences either. Allow everyone to think and reflect before speaking.
• When in doubt, get us to think about passages you found difficult to comprehend in both
the play and in your chosen article.
• When in doubt, come back to the literariness of the language: why these words, why
these metaphors, why this imagery, why this language?
Directions:
You must meet with me at least 48 hours ahead of your scheduled discussion to discuss your
plan. Then, you must submit an outline (at least 1 page single-spaced) of your lesson plan to the
dropbox on eClass by 11:59PM the night before your discussion. When class starts, I’ll turn it
over to you and will do my very best to remain quiet until 25 minutes are up. We will pick up
any loose threads and continue the discussion on Friday Zoom classes.
Rubric
Your discussion will be graded on a scale of 0-10. To achieve a full score, you must:
1. Effectively summarize and respond to the argument found in an academic article or book
about your play
2. Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the play with excellent attention to specific
scenes and language of interest that would be good for class discussion
3. Engage your classmates in a dynamic and invigorating 25-minute discussion that enriches
our understanding of the play
4. Communicate clearly, coherently, and professionally using lecture, slides, activities,
games, handouts, or other materials of your choosing

I will be doing a class discussion, please create a powerpoint for me to use (it doesnt have to be pretty) and a script in a seprate document that will go on for 25 minuites that exceeds the above expectations and goes along witht he slides/ activities.. include discussion questions, soome type of quick talking/sharing activity and other things listed above.