Theory Presentation/Discussion Assignment

LITCS 114
Teaching Associate: Patrick Mooney
Bldg. 494, room 160B
Winter 2016

Overview

At some point in the quarter, you are expected to present an introduction to one of the theoretical readings that appears on the course syllabus. Your presentation should, at a minimum, last fifteen to thirty minutes (the exact minimum time depends on how many units you are taking this course for, and you can find details on this matter on the course syllabus). Your overall goal should be help your peers grasp the essential features of a complex text: you are providing an overview of a way of thinking. (Students taking the course for three or more units should also prepare a handout that other students in the course can refer to as a reference when they look back at the relevant course texts.) Once your presentation is over, you should expect that others will ask you questions, and that you will continue to serve as a primary discussant for the rest of the class period on the body of theory that you have just presented.

This may sound intimidating, so I would like to clear up several points:

You do not have to become an expert on everything that (for instance) Judith Butler wrote, and on everything that has been said about Judith Butler, before doing a presentation on (for instance) the selections from Precarious Life; you just need to familiarize yourself closely with the text(s) on which you are presenting, and to be able to discuss their significance.
It is perfectly acceptable for you to admit that there are points on which you are still unclear, or that you do not know the answers to questions that people may ask you. (You should make every reasonable effort to know and understand the text as well as you can; but these can be quite complex and dense texts, and everyone has limits to their knowledge and understanding.) Admitting that you don't know the answer to a question, or saying something along the lines of I'm not absolutely sure, but one way to approach the question might be ... is itself a sign of a sophisticiated and self-aware thinker.
If you are having trouble preparing for your presentation, it is perfectly acceptable to come ask me for help during office hours or at other times. In fact, even if you are not having trouble, you are always welcome to come discuss your presentation ideas with me.

We will divvy up course texts in class during our second meeting. Please plan ahead and decide which texts you are interested in discussing. If you feel strongly about a particular text, be assertive in claiming it.

Once you have signed up for a particular presentation, I expect that (barring a real emergency or genuinely serious illness) you will take all reasonable steps necessary to be present and prepared at the beginning of the class period when you are scheduled to present. If you do have a serious illness or genuine emergency, I will expect that you will let me know that this is the case as soon as possible. (And, when the emergency or serious illness is over, please come talk to me so that we can schedule another presentation for you.)

So what am I supposed to do?

Honestly, the only real requirement is: you must present an overview of a theoretical reading in a way that helps to illuminate it to your peers. Provided that they do not constitute clearly inappropriate classroom behavior, whatever specific discussion or presentation or lecture methodologies work for you are methodologies that you are welcome to use.

My own observation about what works for me, and for other graduate students I have observed in similar assignments, is that a commonly successful methodology is the informal lecture method: you sit in your chair and explain to your colleagues what a text is about, and what they need to understand in order to approach it. Imagine yourself sitting with friends at a coffee shop (or other location where you might gather to consume beverages with friends) and explaining to that group of friends what (say) the first two chapters of Esposito's Bíos is about, and what would make it easier for your intelligent and interested friends to pick up the book and dive in.

As you encounter the text and think about how to structure your presentation, you might consider such questions as:

What are the author's central concepts in this piece of writing? What are the primary bits of new vocabulary? How do they relate to each other?
What is the structure of the author's writing? How does this relate to his or her intellectual argument?
What is really at stake in this piece of writing? What are the author's actual concerns? With what is the author disagreeing?
- You might find it helpful to think about theory, as a genre, as a kind of writing that aims to problematize the obvious or common sense. Looking for places where a work of theory runs counter to commonly understood and basically unquestioned assumptions is often a good way to identify what its intended interventions are.
What does this piece of writing actually get us in terms of achieving a more accurate, richer, or otherwise deeper understanding of the world around us, a set of literary texts, other human beings, an abstraction that structures our lives, and/or some other important phenomena?
Is this piece of writing responding to other pieces of writing? How does it agree or disagree with them? What does this agreement or disagreement get for the author and/or for us in terms of our understanding?

You need not directly address any of these questions—there are many other questions that can be asked productively of, or about, a theoretical text. However, you are welcome to discuss these questions, and I encourage you to think about them as you read any theoretical text—especially the one on which you will be presenting.

Evaluation and feedback

The assumption that I make in advance is that all of you will do at least a minimally acceptable job of introducing the fundamental issues in a text and serving as a primary discussant on those issues after the formal give a presentation requirement has passed. I also assume that many of you will go above and beyond, and will do an excellent, or even wonderful, job, simply because I know that you are bright and motivated. I would also like to say, again, that you are welcome to come discuss any and every aspect of your presentation, from What does Agamben mean by this term? to How should I structure my talk? to Is it a good idea to do X while presenting?, and I am always happy to give you input. My expectation, however, is that you yourself will identify areas in which you need help and ask for it when they arise: you will notice that I have built very little let me look over your shoulder hand-holding into this assignment. This is because you are intelligent and competent people, and demanding that you engage in lots of little checkpoint steps along the way just adds to your workload while embedding the assumption that you can't plan ahead and assess your own progress. However, even intelligent, self-aware people need help sometimes, so please don't be nervous about asking for input or bouncing ideas off of me.

I will email you feedback after your presentation, praising you for what you did well and trying give pointers intended to help you do even better in similar situations in the future. (I try to send feedback within 48 hours, but may not always be able to do this.) You should be aware that I will make a recording of your presentation to assist me with writing this feedback; if you would like, you are welcome to a copy of this recording, which can be a useful tool in becoming a better public speaker.

If you are planning on using equipment …

… other than the whiteboard in class, then you should speak to me in advance, even if you are planning to supply the equipment yourself.

It is not necessary to use any equipment other than your own voice in order to do an excellent job. If you do use additional equipment, remember that its purpose should be to enhance your presentation, not to carry the weight of it. The golden rule for equipment usage is that the show must go on in some form, even if the equipment does not work as expected, so be sure to have a backup plan in case the equipment that you've chosen fails to operate in the way that you expect.

If you are nervous about public speaking...

...you're not alone. Lots of people are nervous about public speaking. Despite the fact that I have a lot of experience both lecturing and leading discussions, I'm sometimes nervous about this very issue, myself.

There are not other ways to satisfy this requirement (unless your anxiety constitutes a disability in the sense that the campus Disabled Students Program understands and has documented), but there are ways that you may ameliorate the conditions producing your anxiety. One option that you have is to make a presentation as a member of a group. (Given the number of people in class, we will have to have more than one person presenting during the same week at least some weeks, anyway.) Having someone else sitting next to you engaged in the same project at the same time may help to mitigate your anxiety. If you have suggestions for other ways that you can ameliorate anxiety-producing situations related to your presentation, please come to my office hours so that we can discuss your ideas.

Please also remember that ...

... public speaking is a specific skill, and very few people are naturally good at it. It takes practice, and part of the intent of this assignment is to help you get that practice.
... most of your peers are also at least somewhat nervous. A 1973 survey of people's biggest fears indicated that public speaking is a bigger source of immediate anxiety than anything else, including death.
... everyone in the room is on your side and wants you to be successful.
... you are welcome to be fantastic, but it is also perfectly acceptable to merely do a solid job, and this also accomplishes work for the group in a meaningful, and even important, way.

If you would like, I can also refer you to an appropriate campus counseling service. You may find that speaking with a professional about your nervousness can help you to become more comfortable with the process of public speaking.

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