CLN 4U1 ~ Seminar Assignment
In this course, the emphasis is placed on making you, the student, accustomed to the
style of many University level courses which usually include seminar participation and
leadership. This course will allow you to become familiar with how to participate in
seminars, and also how to create your own discussion based seminar on a particular
topic germane to Canadian and International Law. Here’s what is involved in being a
seminar participant:
 You will receive a booklet of readings that are to be used in the seminar
assignment throughout the year
 Readings are catalogued at the beginning of the booklet under the subject
headings
 ALL STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO COMPLETE THE READINGS FOR EACH
SEMINAR, AND MAKE EDUCATED, INFORMATIVE COMMENTS THROUGHOUT
EACH SEMINAR!
 The instructor will be an observer for the seminar and will keep a running log of
those who participate intelligently and thoughtfully
 At mid-term and end-term, the seminar mark will be reviewed between teacher
and student and will include teacher assessment and student self-assessment
All students will also be seminar leaders and will choose one of the topics they
are interested in leading. Student share responsible as seminar leaders to:
 Be well read on the topic chosen and create a sequence of questions that spur
discussion amongst the class
 Teacher will be looking for prepared questions, spontaneous questions and
control of the seminar throughout the seminar
 Marking will also be combined teacher assessment, peer assessment and student
self-assessment
Facilitating Effective Discussions
Here are some strategies that will help you prepare for and lead an effective discussion.
Preparing for a discussion

Plan how you will conduct the discussion. Although the ideal discussion is spontaneous and
unpredictable, you will want to do some careful planning. You should have a clear goal/objective
for the discussion, a plan for how you will prepare the students, and a general idea about how you
will guide the discussion (e.g., with activities, videos, questions, etc).

Help students prepare for the discussion. You can distribute a list of questions for each
discussion, ask students to bring in their own questions, suggest key concepts or themes for them
to focus on, or ask them to collect evidence that clarifies or refutes a particular concept or
problem. Discussions will be more satisfying for you and your students if they are prepared.

Establish ground rules for participation in a discussion. In order for a discussion to be effective,
students need to understand the value of actively listening to their peers, tolerating opposing
viewpoints, and being open-minded. They also need to recognize the importance of staying
focused and expressing themselves clearly. You might spend the first session with your students
exploring the characteristics of effective and ineffective discussions or provide the group with a
Centre for Teaching Excellence teaching tip for participating in discussions.
Starting a discussion

Refer to questions you distributed. Start the discussion by asking one of the study questions you
assigned or by asking group members which of the questions they found most challenging.

Make a list of key points. Identify and list the important points from the reading and use these as
a starting point for discussion.

Pose an opening question and give students a minute to think of an answer. The process of
thinking about their answers will enable students to generate new ideas as well as questions. After
they have finished, ask for volunteers or call on students to share their ideas. This activity also
gives quieter students the opportunity to prepare answers they can share with the group.

Be prepared! Make sure you have done all the readings and are prepared with a number of
questions from each reading
Encouraging student participation

Create an inclusive discussion environment. Group members will be more likely to contribute to a
discussion if they feel they are in a safe, comfortable environment. Here are some general
strategies for achieving this:

Positively reinforce student contributions. You can emphasize the value of student responses by
restating their comments, writing their ideas on the board, and/or making connections between
their comments and the discussion at large. Also be sure to maintain eye contact and use nonverbal gestures such as smiling and head nodding to indicate your attention and interest in
students' responses.

Limit your own involvement. Avoid the temptation to talk too much and/or respond to every
student's contribution. Try to encourage students to develop their own ideas and respond to one
another (i.e., student-to-student interaction). You might also sit someplace other than the "head"
of the table.

Balance students' voices during the discussion. Here are some strategies for dealing with problem
group members who can affect the level of student participation:
a. Discourage students who monopolize the discussion by implementing a structured activity
that requires each group member to be involved, avoiding eye contact with him/her, or
implementing time limits on individual contributions.
b. Draw quiet students into the discussion by posing non-threatening questions that don't
require a detailed or correct response, assigning a small specific task to the student (e.g.,
obtaining information for next class), sitting next to him/her, or positively reinforcing
contributions he/she does make.
c. Clarify confusing student contributions by asking the student to rephrase/explain the
comment, paraphrasing the comment if you can interpret it, asking the student probing
questions, or encouraging him/her to use concrete examples and metaphors.
Guiding the discussion

Keep the discussion focused. Have a clear agenda for the discussion and list questions/issues on
the board to inform and remind everyone of where the discussion is heading. Brief interim
summaries are also helpful as long as they don't interfere with the flow of the discussion. If the
discussion gets off track, stop and bring the discussion back to the key issues.

Take notes. Be sure to jot down key points that emerge from the discussion and use these for
summarizing the session. You might also assign a different group member each week the specific
role of recording and summarizing the progression of the discussion.

Be alert for signs that the discussion is deteriorating. Indications that the discussion is breaking
down include: subgroups engaging in private conversations, members not listening to each other
and trying to force their ideas, excessive "nit-picking," and lack of participation. Changing the pace
by introducing a new activity or question can jumpstart the discussion.

Prevent the discussion from deteriorating into a heated argument. Remind students of the
ground rules for discussion: they need to practice active listening, remain open-minded, and focus
on ideas and content rather than on people and personal issues. Defuse arguments with a calm
remark and bring the discussion back on track.

Bring closure to the discussion. Announce that the discussion is ending and ask the group if there
are any final comments or questions before you pull the ideas together. Your closing remarks
should show the students how the discussion progressed, emphasizing 2-3 key points and tying
the ideas into the overall theme of the discussion. Also be sure to acknowledge the insightful
comments students have made. Providing closure to the discussion is critical for ensuring that
group members leave feeling satisfied that they accomplished something.
Evaluating the discussion

Ask students to write a one-minute paper. You can ask students to write about how their thinking
changed as a result of the discussion or how the discussion fits into the context of issues
previously discussed. Have students hand in their papers and review samples to assess what they
have learned.

Ask students to respond to specific questions about the discussion. Was the topic defined
effectively? Did the facilitator keep the discussion on track? Did everyone have the opportunity to
speak? Was your participation invited and encouraged? What questions related to the discussion
remain unanswered? In what ways could the discussion have been improved? You might also use
a more formal questionnaire and have students rate these various aspects of the discussion.

Conduct your own informal evaluation of the discussion. Consider the following questions when
making your evaluation: Did everyone contribute to the discussion? How much was I, as the
facilitator, involved? Did the discussion stay focused? What questions worked especially well?
How satisfied did the group seem about the productiveness of the discussion? What would I do
differently next time?
Canadian and International Law
Seminar Preparation List ~ Topics
Unit II: Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Freedom of Speech
“Red Deer Advocate: “Homosexual Agenda Wicked”
“Alberta Christian Hauled Before Human Rights Tribunal for Letter to
Editor on Homosexuality”
“Special Topics: Freedom of Expression in Canada”
“The Perils of Unrestricted Free Speech”
“The Supreme Court and Child Porn”
“Hate speech no longer part of Canada’s Human Rights Act”
“There are limits to free expression”
Charter Effectiveness
“Reggae Musician’s Charter Rights Breached”
“The charter of rights a blessing and a curse to the courts”
R. v. Oakes (1986) 1 S.C.R. 103
“Arguments For and Against Section 33”
“Public Safety trumps Charter rights”
“6 big changes the Charter of Rights has brought”
“Court dismisses landmark Charter challenge on behalf of homeless Canadians”
New Forms of Discrimination
“The Office F Word”
“Appearance-based Discrimination Suits on the Rise”
“Ugly? You may have a case”
“Employment Law Case Study: Selinger v. McFarland”
“Canada’s immigration history one of discrimination and exclusion”
“Oh, Canada: Enshrining religious discrimination in law”
“British Columbia v British Columbia Government Service Employees’ Union (Meiorin)
“Discrimination pushes women out of Quebec construction jobs: report”
Unit III: Criminal Law
Causes of Criminal Behaviour
“Historical perspectives on Criminology”
“Contemporary Theories of Criminal Deviance”
“Free Will, Determination and Criminal Law”
“Should 10 year olds face a Judge?”
“Tough to Predict Violent Acts”
“What’s beneath that ban on baggy pants?”
“Solving crime? Tackle the root causes first”
“New study measures links between mental health, youth delinquency and criminal behavior”
“Greyhound killer believed man he beheaded was an alien”
Gun Control
“Protect our Children”
“Canada ‘going backward’ on gun control, École Polytechnique survivor says”
“Gun control advocate fears new tragedy”
“Crossfire: The battle over gun control in America”
“Canadian Gun Control”
“Washington Navy Yard shooting: Gunman treated for serious mental illness, ‘hearing voices,’
say police”
“3 Strong Pro-Gun Arguments to Watch”
Use of DNA (Biological Information)
“Shifting Perspectives: The Reliability of Evidence”
“R. v. Nygyun”
“R. v. Stillman”
“DNA Caution”
“National DNA Databank”
“New product allows policyholders to mark valuables with their DNA”
“Canada's wrongful convictions: cases where the courts got it wrong”
“New Brunswick twins identical DNA made for difficult conviction in deadly home invasion”
Purpose of Sentencing
“Sentencing Reform”
“The Rights of Victims of Crime”
“When are Conditional Sentences Appropriate”
“Convict is jailed indefinitely”
“The Fundamental Purposes of Sentencing”
“Mandatory Minimum Sentences”
“Offspring of an Evil World”
“Harsh Sentences are not the Answer”
Unit IV: International Law
Diplomatic Relations
“Diplomat Ordered Back Home to Moscow”
“Underside of Diplomatic Immunity”
“Immunity Abused, Critics Argue”
“UK reopens diplomatic channels”
“American who sparked diplomatic crisis…”
“Official: Turkey to expel 3 Israeli diplomats”
“Diplomats gone bad”
Just War and Consequences
“Powell Defends U.S. Call to go to War”
“Gaza fated by its geography”
“UN Chief calls damage to Gaza heartbreaking”
“Intervening in Libya”
“US tactics in Libya may be model for use of force”
“The ethics of a Syrian military intervention: the experts respond”
“Justice for Bin Laden?”
U.N Effectiveness
“What role should corporations play in the pursuit of UN goals”
“UN Faces Fight of its Life”
“Let UN Reform Fail”
“UN Facing Uphill battle to Make Itself Relevant”
“United Nations”
International Human Rights
“Pressure Mounts for UN Mission to Halt ‘Genocide’”
“Israel sues Bedouin villages for cost of repeated evictions”“
“Amnesty International and Human rights watch blast U.S. Drone Strikes”
‘Commonwealth must stop Sri Lanka stifling human rights efforts”
“Saudi Arabia ‘failing to address human rights concerns’”
Treatment of Soldiers/P.O.W’s
“Prisoners of Conscience”
“We have no Intention of making it Comfortable”
“The Debate over Torture”
“59% Oppose Torture: Poll”
“NATO halts Afghanistan detainee transfers after torture claims”
“US accused of inhumane treatment over Wikileaks soldiers case”
“US: Reversal of torture photos a blow to openness, accountability”
Unit V: Labour and Environmental law
Environmental Action
“Climate change affects biodiversity”
“Environment Canada predicts two degrees of warming by 2050”
“Keystone XL: Stephen Harper offers Barack Obama emissions…”
“Canada accused of ignoring NAFTA obligations by environmental law association”
Dimensions:
“Self Regulation vs. …” (pg. 377-378)
“Proactive or Reactive” (pg. 379)
“Alberta Premier versus Kyoto Protocol” (pg. 556-557)
“Alberta Scientists for Kyoto Protocol” (pg. 557-558)