ENG4UName: ______

Year-End Round Table Discussion

As a final, cumulative reflection piece, we are going to conduct an in-class round table discussion. This will give us the opportunity to tie together all of the textual threads we have explored this year. The discussions will take place over two class periods. For each, half the class will participate. (Please see the schedule for the date on which you will participate.) You are asked to make a minimum of FOUR significant and insightful contributions to the group discussion. These contributions will relate to course texts, topics, themes, and issues. (See below for a partial list of possible topics to consider.) While this discussion will be academic in content, in form it will follow the rules of an informal, colloquial discussion. This means that you must observe the conventions of polite and respectful discussion. (See below for some conversational conventions to observe during the discussion.) Your verbal and non-verbal participation as a speaker and listener in this discussion will account for 5% of your final mark in this course.

As with other summative evaluations, you cannot be absent. Conscientious and considerate participation in this discussion is a must. Do not arrive late. Latecomers will not be permitted.Absent participants will receive a mark of ZERO.

Please see the attached rubric to understand how you will be evaluated during this discussion.

Conventions of a Respectful Academic Discussion

(Most of us consistently already observe these conventions. Often, we don’t even realize it. However, let the following serve as a friendly reminder.)

  • Address one another by name.
  • Do not interrupt.
  • Should two people speak at once, defer to your classmate.
  • Build upon the ideas of peers in your response. (For example: “I really liked the way Sally phrased that point regarding appearances contrasting reality in Hamlet. I also found that to hold true in my first IRP novel, The Sister Brothers.”)
  • Substantiate your ideas with textual support.
  • Make text-to-text (or intertextual) connections.
  • Address the group; not only a friend or the teacher.
  • Try to make earnest, insightful contributions. Funny is great, but simply being flippant, trite, or cute is not.
  • Disagree politely. Address the point of contention NOT the individual.
  • Use eye-contact and body language to appear prepared and interested. (Do not slouch, sleep, or even think about looking at your cell phone! All cell phones MUST be put away. Connect with other students through eye contact and by addressing points others bring up directly. Don’t make a point and then disconnect from the conversation. Make others believe you are “into” the conversation by appearing that way. If you really don’t feel “into it” that day…fake it. This is excellent preparation for every other formal or professional meeting for your later lives in university and the working world.)
  • Prepare through consideration of course themes. If you like, you may bring in notes for reference (i.e. your IRP quotations), however do not bring in cribbed or word-for-word prepared speeches. (Reading these types of statements effectively makes you sound robotic and goes against the spirit of this discussion.)

Texts, Topics, and Themes

(Note: this list is by no means exhaustive. It is included simply to spark your consideration for ideas and issues from this year’s English course.)

  • postmodernism
  • existentialism
  • intertextuality
  • authenticity
  • the meaning of life
  • what it means to be human
  • mortality
  • morality
  • fate
  • predestination
  • religion
  • life after death/ the afterlife
  • betrayal
  • lying (to others, to ourselves)
  • love
  • lust
  • sex
  • gender
  • stereotypes
  • appearances versus reality
  • double meaning
  • corporatization
  • power and authority
  • rules
  • art and (versus?) science
  • family
  • friendship
  • fascism
  • democracy
  • individualism
  • duty
  • responsibility (individual/ societal)
  • Not Wanted on the Voyage
  • Hamlet
  • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
  • importance of storytelling
  • novels
  • narrative structure (i.e. fractured narrative)
  • writing style
  • narrative voice/ perspective
  • setting
  • characterization
  • tone/ mood/ atmosphere
  • diction/ use of language
  • documentaries
  • media literacy

Year-End Round Table Discussion Groups

ENG4U-02
Monday June 5th / Wednesday June 7th
Kaitlyn
Tal
Gosha
Peter
Connie
Paulina
Jordan
Elnaz
Bailey
Chris
Angela V
David
Celia / Anastaysia
Jun
Annie
Karinna
Erica
XiaoXiao
Mihaela
Angela W
Georgia
Vanessa
Genevieve
Avita
Kurtis
/ ENG4U-06
Tuesday June 6th / Friday June 9th
Adam
Ayla
Levana
Lia
Eric
Lucas
Ryan
Amal
Meg
Megan / Vanessa P
Vanessa M
Amelia
Evelyn
Cinderella
Leslie
Daniel
Katherine
Teodora
Alice