Left Hand of Darkness Discussion Leading

To discuss Ursula K. Le Geuin's Left Hand of Darkness, our class will organize into small groups of three (3) students each, with each group being responsible for facilitating a discussion of 1-2 chapters for a full class period. To lead your class, you may adopt any format you wish: regular English class, nonviolent talk show format, town hall meeting, courtroom, small group-whole class, whole class circle, or any other mode of your choice. Your discussion should meet all of the following requirements:

• Each group member should take an equal part in leading the discussion.

• You should make an effort to include each other class member in your discussion.

• The questions you pose should not ask for factual information from those story, unless those facts serve to help explore open-ended questions (i.e. those without a single correct answer).

• The questions you pose should include at least one of each of the following categories:

  • inferences about characters or events within the text (e.g., Why doesn't Genly trust Estraven at first?)

  • generalizations from the text to society at large (e.g., How are Estraven's views on patriotism similar or different to our society's?)

  • the effects of literary form or technique (e.g., Why does Le Guin make recurring references to the season of winter throughout the story?)

  • the purpose of a particular event in terms of the text's meaning (e.g., What is the significance of the parade in Chapter One and what does it tell the reader about Karhide?)

  • evaluations of the literature (e.g., What do you think about Le Guin's use of fluid gender in the story?)

  • emotions that students have in response to the story (e.g., How do you feel about Genly's dislike of Gethenians?)

  • personal connections to the story, including connections to other texts and opportunities for your classmates to bring in other related knowledge they may have (e.g., Has there ever been a time when you felt you were an alien in a situation?, What do you know about different forms of gender expression?)

• During the discussion, you should also work on getting students to elaborate on their initial comments.

Discussion Schedule
(I will add the rest of the names Monday)

3/2* - Ch. 5 - Warren, Jessi, John
3/3 - Chs. 6 & 7 - Holleigh, Nicole
3/5 - Ch. 8 - Eileen, Kim, Shirlyn
3/9* - Chs. 9 & 10 - Ashley, Larry, Vincent
3/10 - Chs. 11 & 12 - Steven, Herman, Luis
3/12 - Ch. 13 - Amanda, Jennifer, Stephanie
3/13* - Ch. 14 - Polian, Mary, Sheryl
3/17 - Ch. 15 - Paula, Jasmine, Maybo
3/18* - Chs. 16 & 17 - Catriona, Saruul, Amy
3/20 - Ch. 18 - Duc, Victor, Raymond
3/23 - Ch. 19 - Anthony, Safa, Dimarco

Don't forget: you have 2 reading logs due each day on the discussion schedule, unless there is a blog due! Blog days are marked with (*).