Medieval Rus′

Maintained by: David J. Birnbaum (djbpitt@gmail.com) Last modified: 2020-07-07T17:12:44+0000

Guidelines for oral presentations

Each student is responsible for overseeing two class meetings during the semester. You should select your topics from the syllabus, bearing in mind that the topic of your research paper must differ from the topics of your oral presentations. Unless your topic is very small, your presentation should normally last the entire seventy-five-minute session. For each session for which you are responsible you should:

Read the primary text from Zenkovsky well in advance, think about the approach you’d like to take to presenting this text to the class, and research the secondary literature both for your own preparation and to select supplementary texts that you will ask the entire class to read.
Plan to provide the class with:
- A basic bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
- Where appropriate, additional primary materials. For example, you might supplement the Kievan Crypt Paterikon stories included in Zenkovsky with others that Zenkovsky failed to include, but that you nonetheless consider important for an understanding of the work.
- Some secondary reading that will provide either background on the history and context of the text or a theoretical or methodological framework for discussion.
The total amount of reading assigned to the course members, primary and secondary, should come to approximately 50–60 pages, and should not exceed 100 pages.
Once you have completed the preceding step, meet with the instructor at least two weeks in advance to review your proposed lesson plan. Bring copies of any materials you plan to use. You need to take the initiative to schedule this meeting; the instructor will not remind you about it.
Scan any secondary materials (e.g., readings, study questions) for the entire class and distribute them at least one week before the class meeting, so that everyone will have sufficient time to read them.
Use any combination of lecture, discussion, or other method of presentation that you consider appropriate to the subject. Note, though, that it is difficult for an audience to listen attentively to a lengthy lecture read verbatim from a prepared text, and communicating information effectively is no less important than the quality of the information itself. In other words, instead of just reading a paper, you should concentrate on teaching the subject matter, putting yourself in the position of the other course participants and thinking about what would be effective from their perspective.

For a guide to conducting research see Research strategy page.

You are the teacher during these sessions, and your task is not just to show the instructor that you understand the material. Rather, you are responsible for helping your classmates understand and learn from the materials, which will draw on your pedagogical skills as much as it will on your own knowledge. During the session, your primary audience is your fellow course participants, and you should address them, rather than the instructor.

Please do not consult with anyone other than the instructor as you prepare for your oral presentations. One purpose of these assignments is for you to gain expertise in researching and preparing oral presentations, an experience that will be lost if someone else directs you to the relevant bibliographic materials. Please do feel free to consult with the instructor at any time.