Script for Directing the Class

Group Work: Class Administration

As part of classroom administration, the group will conduct the class room activity during the second part of the period. The following is a sample script presents one example of how the student can lead the class.

[Instructor turns time over to group in charge of directing the classroom]

Classroom Arrangement

Gina: "Let's take a moment to turn the chairs so we're all facing each other."

Group Discussion

Gina: "Now, Gregory is going to lead the the Group Discussion."

Gregory: "Thanks. Today's reading assignment was chapters 33 to 35 of Matigari. We have three groups presenting. I'd like to hear from the Details Group first. Could you present?"

[Details Group presents a seven presentation, ending with "thank you"]

Gregory: "Very nice. Do we have any immediate questions or comments? What I noticed was that you mentioning the protagonists mother. Is that something that is important to the text?

[Discussion Leader continues to lead others to ask meaningful questions about comprehension for four minutes. This pattern repeats (presentation and discussion) for the next two groups.]

Open Discussion

Gregory: "Okay, now that we've explored some of the specific information gleaned from the text. How can we understand wider themes? How does this relate to other texts you've read for other classes? How does this relate to something you've seen recently in the news?

[Students present somewhat broad discussion points into the conversation citing specific texts, events, or data. Discussion Leader presents some summary remarks to end discussion.**]

Group Meetings

Gina: "Now it's time to turn to our groups. Figure out what you need to get done for the upcoming class periods. I'll start going over the upcoming assignments in the meantime. First we have reading for next class, chapters 36 to 40 in Matigari. There is a exam on A Small Place due next Friday, to be submitted via SafeAssign. The group assignments for next class are as follows: Details is in charge of class administration. Professor, do you have the prompts for the group presentations?"

[The instructor passes the prompts for the upcoming group presentations out  while the students are discussing their work in groups.]

Gina: "Everyone make sure to return the seats to the original position by the time you're done with group work."

Reading

Gina: "All right, everyone, Kelly is going to read from Matigari for the last five minutes."

[Kelly reads, ending with 'thank you', and the class period ends.]



**The Goal of classroom activity is to practice skills of literary interpretation. In every discussion, our goal is to come to some understanding about how the details are structured in a given text and then analyze what that means with reference to own interests in the course topic. It is suggested that each discussion end with concluding statements about the analyses made as a group, summarizing what we have accomplished during the class period.