This assignment is directly related to the Class Lead assignment. On a given day, when one student is teaching, another student will be the designated respondent. She or he will be responsible for providing an alternative point of view (contradictory or complementary) to the approach taken by the class lead.

As class respondent, you should prepare by reviewing the précis before class and preparing some notes. Then, as class proceeds, craft your response as a brief statement, based on the discussion or lecture as it played out. You may use visual material if necessary, but that is unlikely to be applicable, since your discussion will be based on something that happens and emerges organically. All in all, you should plan on occupying the floor for about 10 minutes.

To be successful in this endeavor, you should strive for a level of expertise with the core text that is similar to the class leader's, and you should strive to understand the leader's argument and assumptions, both in their limitations and their strengths.

Keep in mind, your rhetorical position here isn't necessarily combative. The situation here is a seminar, not a debate. Therefore, it's OK if you more or less agree with the original presenter; simply add to their discussion in a significant way -- where significance is a function of how original and unique your contributions are.

This assignment is worth 50 points (5% of your grade). At the conclusion of class, I'll prepare a short evaluation, and your grade will be the sum of your score in the 10 categories listed on the attached rubric.