Many US high schools and universities expect that students will participate in discussion, particularly in humanities subjects such as English, religion/philosophy, and history/social studies. Even in large lecture courses at college, students are often divided into smaller seminars to discuss material in greater depth. Such discussion-based learning develops a student’s confidence and critical thinking skills, but can be challenging for students who are not accustomed to taking the lead on new material. This twelve-week course will offer training in how to annotate a literary text, how to prepare for classroom discussion, and how to participate effectively. Participants must be ready to keep their cameras on and take on an active role at the virtual table. There will be reading assignments between classes in the latter part of the course, but we will spend time each week working on annotation and preparation for discussion to make sure those skills are being honed.

• Week One: students will observe videos of discussion-based learning at US independent high schools and create classroom norms for effective discussions.

• Weeks Two to Four: using a range of literary texts from poems to short fiction, non-fiction and drama, students will learn effective techniques for annotation and begin exploring how to use their notes to talk in class.

• Weeks Five to Seven: students will take on leadership and other essential roles (questioner, evidence-gatherer, etc.) in order to find their most comfortable place in the conversation.

• Weeks Eight to Ten : students will talk about a longer text in order to sustain discussion and explore how to synthesize conversation over time.