For this assignment, you are asked to take copious notes on a particular week’s class sessions so as to then compose your own summary of our in-class discussion. The purpose of this assignment is try to cultivate the practice of active listening, accurate note-taking and comprehensive summarization. These protocols should stretch to somewhere between 1000-2000 words, and schematize all relevant points of interest, questions and ideas discussed during that week.
A few things to consider when preparing your class sessions protocol:
do make sure to include protocols for both class sessions of the week for which you are responsible
do quickly identify the text we were reading, the author, the year of publication, etc. – in other word: setting the basic textual context
be sure to present the ideas of that week’s author in a fluent manner, the ideas seamlessly connected to eachother as though in a narrative, and not as though in bullet-point form. In other words, the narrative arc of the text – if not the class – should be itself well presented
do please remember that the protocol is an account, not of the text under discussion, but of the class in which we discuss it. In other words, the protocol should indicate the passages discussed, the questions raised, the vocabulary and ideas introduced, interjections from students, short discussions, long discussions and the like
because the protocol is an account of the class, any mention of issues unrelated to the text – assignments, course progress, etc etc – should also be included in the protocols
and don’t forget: three hours of class time is a whole lot of time for discussion, so be a bit suspicious of yourself if you plan to submit a protocol that seems rather brief. Be comprehensiv
