political science job rumors

Things may get weird. Trying to fix the problems.

1. anon
   Unregistered

   Any suggestions on structuring a MA-level graduate "seminar" that has over 20 people in it? Originally I thought the class would be much smaller than this so a roundtable discussion would be possible. Now I'm realizing the table would have to be really large and instead we're likely going to be in a regular classrooom.

   My thought for the smaller class was to have students present readings each week. But with 20 this seems like a bad idea. Maybe I should assign groups and the groups will be responsible for particular readings? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

   Posted 9 months ago #

2. anon
   Unregistered

   MA-level? Who gives a shite.

   Posted 9 months ago #

3. anon
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   I do roundtable discussions with classes of 20-25 all the time with undergrads. It's doable, but you have to be cognizant of the free-riders.

   Posted 9 months ago #

4. Low grades
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   free-riders get low grades, that's what grading is for.

   Posted 9 months ago #

5. anon
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   ^^ Do you have them do presentations of the readings? If so do they do so individually or in groups?

   Posted 9 months ago #

6. anon
   Unregistered

   How long is the class period? This would also affect the approach.

   Posted 9 months ago #

7. anon
   Unregistered

   Are you capable of leading effective discussions? If so, 20 students is a breeze. What are your expectations for the seminar? What do you want them to learn? If you plan to emphasize the course readings, consider some of the ways you can highlight major themes, pertinent concepts, emerging controversies, etc via a well structured discussion.

   Posted 9 months ago #

8. anon
   Unregistered

   Personally I think student presentations on readings are the death knell of any seminar unless you are (a) planning to teach them how to give engaging, thoughtful presentations and (b) you, yourself, are capable of giving engaging, thoughtful presentations. Otherwise it just seems like a time-waster for all concerned...worse than that because droning, poorly structured student presentations suck all the energy out of the room. Or suck in general

   Posted 9 months ago #

9. Anon
   Unregistered

   I posted "I do roundtable discussions with classes of 20-25 all the time with undergrads. It's doable, but you have to be cognizant of the free-riders." earlier and ^ has it 1000% right.

   Pedagogically, it would be nice if you taught the students how to do engaging, thoughtful presentations. I've tried that, and have even given them blueprints on what I'm looking for, yet they all revert to writing down a script and reading it in the most monotone, boring fashion possible.

   All I do is ask a bunch of questions, wait for answers, and let them talk about relevant details and points they find interesting. As long as they're engaging the work critically I'm happy with the outcome. I TA'd for a theorist in grad school who had an engaging, interesting discussion with a class of 200 students. Obviously only 20-30 were participating in that discussion, but I was amazed at how he managed it with such a large group rather than just lecturing at them. It's definitely doable with 25.

   Posted 9 months ago #

10. anon
    Unregistered

    ^ Wanted to note that I've seen exactly the same thing (theorist leading engaging class discussions with 200 kids, day after day after day.) They are damn good lecturers if anything.

    Posted 9 months ago #

11. anon
    Unregistered

    Theorists are good at teaching and that's about it.

    Posted 9 months ago #

12. anon
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    Sometimes circulating discussion questions in advance or assigning brief writing assignments can help prepare students to be more active contributors to a seminar. In my experience it is best to establish discussion norms right from the start. If you lecture exclusively for the first few weeks it is unlikely a robust discussion will suddenly emerge halfway through the semester

    Posted 9 months ago #

13. writer
    Unregistered

    The best such course I had required we react to the readings each week. 2-3 pages, I think, but that forced you to start to think and put things together, and then you had something to say in class even if you might otherwise be a little shy. The prof did read and briefly react to these, but us being ready meant he probably had less other prep for the class.

    Posted 9 months ago #

14. trololol
    Unregistered

    ^ Relatively good method, but a bit of a time suck if you're going to give feedback (which you need to do for it to be worthwhile).

    Posted 9 months ago #

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