How to Seminar in ENGL 2010 Writing About Science Fiction

SEMINAR OVERVIEW

Seminars can take many forms, but in ENGL 2010 Writing About Science Fiction, ours will have the following structure:

We will seminar most most for approximately 40 minutes.
Unless I give other instructions, our text for seminar will come from the assigned readings in class.
At the time of seminar, we will arrange the classroom into two concentric circles: the inner and the outer. The "inner circle" is for students who are prepared, which means they have read or screened the appropriate text and that you have completed a preliminary seminar response. These responses must be in your Daily. It doesn't matter to me if the preliminaries are typed. You will not be allowed to speak in seminar without this "ticket."
The "outer circle" is for students who are not prepared, or for others who have been asked to sit outside of the circle for a specific reason.

Come prepared, with your response and support materials.
Listen attentively and take notes during the seminar.
Address the entire seminar, not just the faculty member.
If you are late, sit in the outer circle until get up to speed.
Reference specific passages of the text.
Respond to what has been said before contributing your own thoughts.
Be mindful of those who are not speaking.
Try out new and incomplete ideas--see what happens.
Respect the positions of others, especially those you disagree with.
Avoid extended arguments. Seminar isn't a debate. If you try to win, you're missing the point.

Record and flesh out new ideas in your notebook.
Expand upon new ideas for your own projects and assignments.
Research new ideas or interesting facts that came up during seminar.
Type a 1-2 page follow up and place it in your Daily with your notes from seminar and your preliminaries.
Save the computer file of the follow up. It will be useful to you later.

A little silence is okay. Don't kill it. People will need time to think.
Specifics from your own experience may be relevant, but let's place a warning sign here. Seminar can often fall apart once people begin relying only on their own experiences, which can have little educational value. Make sure your personal experiences are relevant to the text and the discussion.
Constructive roles in seminar include people who ask questions, people who summarize, people who refer to material, people who clarify. Try out each of these roles. Take advantage of pauses to ask if people who haven't spoken have anything to add. You might not be aware of the force your personality wields in a seminar setting.
Art Blakey once said "jazz is the art of making everybody else sound good." Take personal responsibility for making the seminar a good one. If the seminar is not going well, ask to address the group near the end of the seminar to discuss what improvements can be made. If problems persist, talk with me about the situation during my office hours.
I borrowed significant portions of these instructions from Evergreen State College. They are the masters of seminar. Check out their stuff at this link.