Reading and discussing best practices
Each chapter and article in this course has been selected to contribute to your learning about anthropology and archaeology. I recommend that you take notes on each reading to help you retain important and useful information. Often, the most important contribution of a reading is what it stimulates you to think about while you are reading. Take notes on these thoughts! Also, find the time of day you are most able to focus and protect this time for reading and thinking.
Leading a discussion requires a close reading of the selected chapter/article and time to develop a thoughtful summary and useful questions. The central questions both discussion leaders and readers should hold in mind while reading are: "What is important for me and the class to understand in this reading?" and "What are the key take-aways from this reading?" Preparation is essential for an effective discussion.
For all readings, ask yourself "how can this reading help me/us in our work during this class?"
Recommended flow of discussion of argument-based readings:
1) What is the problem the author is addressing?
2) Who cares about this problem?
3) What credibility does this author have to write about this topic?
4) What is the research question?
5) What is the central claim?
6) What are the methods the author used to answer the research question?
7) What is the evidence the author brought to their argument to convince me?
8) Why was this article assigned?
9) What are a few take-aways from the article that are worth remembering?
Recommended flow of discussion of a reading written primarily to inform and secondarily to persuade:
1) What, in general, was the author's reason/purpose for writing the chapter?
2) What credibility does the author have to write about this topic?
3) What were the larger moving pieces in the chapter (section headings are helpful)
4) What did you learn and what to you want to remember?
One method--Visual Thinking Strategies--discussion leaders may use to discuss a reading involves asking three key questions:
1) What's going on in this reading?
2) If a response is interpretive, ask: What do you see that makes you say that?
3) After paraphrasing each comment, ask: What more can we find?
Leading a discussion requires a close reading of the selected chapter/article and time to develop a thoughtful summary and useful questions. The central questions both discussion leaders and readers should hold in mind while reading are: "What is important for me and the class to understand in this reading?" and "What are the key take-aways from this reading?" Preparation is essential for an effective discussion.
For all readings, ask yourself "how can this reading help me/us in our work during this class?"
Recommended flow of discussion of argument-based readings:
1) What is the problem the author is addressing?
2) Who cares about this problem?
3) What credibility does this author have to write about this topic?
4) What is the research question?
5) What is the central claim?
6) What are the methods the author used to answer the research question?
7) What is the evidence the author brought to their argument to convince me?
8) Why was this article assigned?
9) What are a few take-aways from the article that are worth remembering?
Recommended flow of discussion of a reading written primarily to inform and secondarily to persuade:
1) What, in general, was the author's reason/purpose for writing the chapter?
2) What credibility does the author have to write about this topic?
3) What were the larger moving pieces in the chapter (section headings are helpful)
4) What did you learn and what to you want to remember?
One method--Visual Thinking Strategies--discussion leaders may use to discuss a reading involves asking three key questions:
1) What's going on in this reading?
2) If a response is interpretive, ask: What do you see that makes you say that?
3) After paraphrasing each comment, ask: What more can we find?