Reading Group Kit
Facilitator's Card
Ask, don't teach. Open with a question you can't answer yourself.
Ninety Minutes
- 0:00Check-In. One sentence each: what struck you, and what confused you.
- 0:10Summary. One person restates the main argument in their own words. Everyone else corrects and fills in.
- 0:25Close Reading. Take two or three passages the group chose in advance. Read each aloud and work through it line by line.
- 0:55Open Discussion. Is the author right? What would change if they were? Where does the argument break?
- 1:20Wrap-Up. Go around once for a last thought or question from each person. Write down the questions you're carrying forward, set the next date, and confirm the next reading and facilitator.
When It Stalls
- Content.
- What is the author claiming? Which terms carry the argument, and how are they defined?
- Intentions.
- What problem is the author trying to solve? Who are they arguing against?
- Assumptions.
- What does the argument take for granted? Would you grant it?
- Evaluation.
- Is it right? If it is, what changes in how we think or live?
Follow-Up Questions
- —Can you say more about that?
- —Where in the text do you see that? Can you read it to us?
- —What do you mean by ___?
- —So you're saying ___. Is that right?
- —Does anyone read that passage differently?
- —How does that fit with what ___ said earlier?
- —If that's right, how do we explain this other passage?
Quick Fixes
- One person does most of the talking.
- Say: "No one speaks twice until everyone has spoken once." If it keeps happening, have a friendly word after the session, not during it.
- Nobody is talking.
- Wait longer than feels comfortable. Then go around the circle with a small question: "Which sentence stopped you?" Or have everyone write for two minutes, then share.
- The conversation has drifted.
- Say: "Let's park that and come back to it at the end." Write it in the shared document so it isn't lost.
- Everyone agrees too quickly.
- Ask: "What would the author's strongest critic say?" Quick agreement usually means the group hasn't reached the hard part yet.
- Someone uses jargon.
- Ask them to say it in plain words. Usually everyone else was wondering too.
- Two people are locked in debate.
- After a couple of rounds each, bring in someone new: "What do others make of this?"
- Someone hasn't done the reading.
- They're still welcome. Ask them to listen first, then respond to a passage read aloud.