Peer Reading Reports (10% of total grade)
Now that you are seniors, it is time for you to show what you have learned during your time in the Honors Program. Therefore, you will take responsibility for leading class discussion on a particular reading assignment. During the first week of class, you will be randomly assigned two reading selections from one of our texts. For one reading selection, you will act as a Peer Discussion Leader, while for the other selection you will serve as the Peer Discussion Responder. You may work alone or collaborate with the person paired with you for the Peer Reading.

Peer Discussion Leader (5% of Colloquium grade)
When you act as the Leader for your Peer Discussion, you will be responsible for leading class for 10 minutes on your assigned reading selection. Although your Responder (see below) will be also be responsible for reading your selection, your classmates are only encouraged to read your selection, but are not required to do so. This means that you need to understand your selection well enough to explain it to others who have not read it, which will likely require more than one careful, thorough readings of the selection. These Peer Discussions are meant to be informational and analytical; they must not be simply reviews of the texts. In other words, do not structure your report primarily on what you think is good or bad about your selection. Keep your audience (i.e., your classmates) firmly in mind as well as the subject of our course, so you can tailor your remarks to our specific purposes. Since points earned for Peer Discussions will be based on anonymous evaluations from your classmates, your primary goal should not be to please me, but rather to satisfy your classmates’ needs to learn about the material. When working on your Peer Discussions, think about what you would want to know if you had not read the assignment in order to assess its importance to our topic. In addition to these general guidelines, your work as a Peer Discussion Leader must:

● Take no longer than a maximum of 10 minutes of class time (I will keep track of time and stop you if you go more than 2 minutes beyond this);

● Include a clearly and coherently organized summary of your reading (2-3 minutes);

● Incorporate 1-2 brief examples from your selection (1-2 minutes);

● Discuss how your selection relates to other course readings or to our course topic in general; and

● Respond clearly and effectively to issues or questions raised by your Responder, your classmates, or me.

Peer Discussion Responder (5% of Colloquium grade)
In addition to serving as a Peer Discussion Leader, you will also act as a Peer Discussion Responder for a different reading selection from one of our texts. For this requirement, you will respond to the Peer Discussion given by the Leader for that selection. When serving in the role of Responder, you will be responsible for asking the Leader specific questions about your assigned selection and engaging the Leader in a discussion that will improve your classmates’ understanding of the selection. This means that you need to understand your selection well enough to explain it to others who have not read it, which will likely require more than one careful, thorough readings of the selection. Other class members will not be responsible for reading this selection, although the Leader to whom you are responding will be as familiar with it as you are. Like the Leader’s remarks, your responses are meant to be informational and analytical, rather than simply critiques of the reading. Instead, your job as a Responder is help make the Peer Discussion more useful overall and thereby improve your audience’s comprehension of your selection. If you disagree with anything the Leader says in the Peer Discussion, it is up to you to present alternative views in a clear and constructive manner. It is also your job to correct any obviously faulty readings that the Leader might make. Above all, your most important task is to be prepared to ask the Leader intelligent, thoughtful questions about the selection. Your efforts as a Responder also will earn a score based on anonymous evaluations from your classmates. In addition to these general guidelines, your work as a Peer Discussion Responder must:

● Take no longer than a maximum of 10 minutes of class time (I will keep track of time and stop you if you go more than 2 minutes beyond this);

● Be prepared to discuss the selection analytically with the Leader;

● Ask the Peer Reading Leader at least 2 specific questions; and

● If necessary, correct any faulty readings of the selections made by the Leader.