Discourse Analysis in Education Book Group Lesson (BGL)

Overview
This group assignment asks you to choose and read a book-length discourse analysis and then
design a lesson for your colleagues in which you present concepts/approaches that might be relevant
to their work.

Purpose
One of the ways you may engage with discourse analysis, beyond our class, is as a teacher of
discourse concepts and approaches: for example, you might present (your own or others) approaches
to your committee, your colleagues, or your students. How might you present discourse concepts and
methods in an accessible way? In our course, you can practice this skill by considering:
1. Relevance: how do the discourse concepts/approaches relate to problems of practice your
audience might face?
2. Scaffolding: how might you present the discourse concepts/approaches in ways that allow your
audience to build from smaller steps to larger understandings?

Procedure
In this assignment, you and your group will choose a book, read it separately, and then plan
together a Google doc lesson that engages the class with the relevant concepts/approaches from
the book. All members will afterwards turn in a copy of the lesson with a reflection about
your role.
Your lesson should follow these guidelines:
o 1-3 pages, 12 pt. Times New Roman, Double-spaced, 1 margins
o Please plan for a 1-hour lesson that includes all group members equally
o Please include
Objectives (What do you want us to learn?)
Activities (What do you want us to do?)
Assessment (How will you/we know we have learned something?)
Reflection (What were your contributions to the lesson? What did you learn?)
In your lesson, please consider:
o Choice of concepts/approaches: a book-length study will offer more ideas than you can
easily present in a 1-hour lesson. Please choose those concepts/approaches you think
would be most relevant and feasible for the members of our course.
o Balance of presentation and application: because your colleagues will not have read the
book, you may need to summarize or set the scene; however, we will also want to
engage actively with the concepts/approaches you present. Please draw on your
teaching skills to select examples or create activities that will allow us to practice and
apply.
o Diversity of applications: the most useful ideas will be those that can be applied to
different purposes and contexts. Please try to give us a sense of the flexibility or
potential of the concepts/approaches you present.

Grading
Book Group Lesson: 20% of final grade
Checklist:
Objectives;
Activities (all group members participate equally);
Assessment(s)
Reflection
Rubric
Grade/ 4 3 2 1 0
Criteria
Complete Includes Includes Includes Includes Does not
objectives, objectives, objectives and activities include
activities, and activities, and activities objectives,
assessment(s), as assessment(s) activities, or
well as reflection assessment(s),
for each member nor reflection
for each
member
Relevant Selects discourse Selects Selects Selects Does not select
concepts/ discourse discourse discourse discourse
approaches that concepts/ concepts/ concepts/ concepts/
are highly approaches that approaches that approaches approaches
relevant and are relevant are relevant or that are not that are
flexible for the and flexible for flexible for the relevant or relevant or
audience and the audience audience and flexible for flexible for the
presents them and presents presents them the audience audience or
via engaging them via via engaging or does not present them
activities engaging activities present them via engaging
activities via engaging activities
activities
Scaffolded Engages the Engages the Engages the Engages the Does not
audience in audience in audience in audience in engage the
using the using the using the using the audience in
discourse discourse discourse discourse using the
concepts/ concepts/ concepts/ concepts/ discourse
approaches in approaches in approaches in approaches in concepts/
ways that clearly ways that ways that build ways that approaches in
and thoroughly clearly or incremental build ways that build
build thoroughly understanding understanding understanding
incremental build
understanding incremental
understanding