CFG Protocols

Text-Based Seminar

Time: Varies according to need, 30 - 60 minutes.
Roles: Enlargement of understanding of a text, not the achievement of some particular understanding.

Specifics

1. Listen actively.
2. Build on what others say.
3. Don't step on other's talk. Silences and pauses are OK.
4. Converse directly—there is no need to go through the facilitator.
5. Let the conversation flow as much as possible without raising hands or using a speaker's list.
6. Expose/suspend your assumptions.
7. Emphasize clarification, amplification, implications of ideas.
8. Refer to the text; challenge others to go to the text.
9. Watch your own air time—both in terms of how often you speak, and in terms of how much you say when you speak.

Text-Based Seminars can be remarkably engaging and productive for both students and adults. A Text-Based Seminar facilitator has two primary tasks:

1. Posing the framing question
2. Keeping the group focused without pushing any particular agenda.

Helpful Tips

1. Invest time in creating the framing question. It needs to be substantive, clear, relevant to the participants' experience, and likely to push their thinking in new directions. Above all, constructing a response to the question should require close reading of the text. we recommend that the framing question be genuine for everyone, including the facilitator, so that the entire group is engaged in the inquiry. Framing questions are often based on a quote from the text, which begins to establish a pattern of using the document as a basis for the conversation.
2. In addition to the framing question, create a few follow-up questions that seem likely to raise the level of participants' thinking. If the group takes off, you may never use them (or you may create new ones that come from the conversation itself), but it's a good idea to have something in your hip pocket, especially if you aren't very experienced at this kind of facilitation.
3. Unless the entire group does Text-Based Seminars routinely, it is useful to go over the purposes and ground rules before you begin. Because so many conversations (in school and out) are based more on opinion than evidence and aim toward winning the argument rather than constructing new knowledge, it is often important to remind the group of the basics: Work from the text and strive to enlarge your understanding.
4. It is sometimes useful (especially if you are nervous) to have a "plant" among the participants, someone who will model idea participant behavior at an early point in the seminar.
5. As is always the case when facilitating, try to keep the conversation balanced. Don't let one or two people dominate. If there are many quiet people, asking them to speak in pairs for a few minutes on a particular point can sometimes give them an entry into the conversation when you come back to the large group. Sometimes you just have to say, "let's have someone who hasn't said much yet speak," and then use lots of wait time, even though it may feel somewhat uncomfortable to do so.