Panels

There were five different panels at the AEI event I attended yesterday, and I loved them so much that I decided I want my students to participate in weekly panels. Each senior will be required to sit on one panel. This is practice with events students will run across, public speaking, and work they'll probably be expected to do in the real world.

I liked the way the AEI event did it: one moderator and four panelists for each panel. Each panelist had 10-15 minutes to discuss the issue (in this case, two of the panelists had written a paper on the topic at hand, and everyone had to comment on them) with a PowerPoint (excellent practice for students). Then the moderator asked one or two questions of all or one of the panelists then opened the floor for questions of the panelists.

Each panelist could have a different aspect of the topic on which to focus: economic factors, social networking, health, future implications, etc. Teachers should get to know their students' interests so they can suggest panel topics and even students who might be interested in sitting on the panel. I'm thinking the panel topics should be announced about 5 weeks before it happens. Students can email whoever is in charge if they are interested then the panel should be finalized one month beforehand, so they have a while to work on the topic. This would be good, also, because we have three week breaks, so students would have plenty of time during the quarter sessions to plan for their panels.

I'm thinking of shortening Friday classes and/or putting the panels during the time students have for homebase the other days of the week.

I want students to turn in reflections to their English teachers (or ones that have to do with the panel's topic) on Monday or Tuesday the next week. I also want journalism students (and sometimes regular students) to write real papers on the panel topics and on what they're learning about in their classes.

I still don't know how many students I want at MA, but if I have 400 students total, then I'll have about 100 seniors that have to participate each year. There are about 40 Fridays in the academic year. I could fill 2 or 3 of the four spots on the panel with seniors. The other spaces can be taken by freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. I don't care which level of student moderates.