Facilitation Suggestions for All Reading Groups

Facilitation Suggestions for All Reading Groups

This document is intended for people facilitating reading groups. It is intended to be a reference on your screen as you facilitate the meeting, as a checklist and preparation as you prepare for the meeting, and a reminder before you adjourn. These are just suggestions — you may ignore or adjust them based on your preferences and the group’s needs — and they intended to help you as you prepare and facilitate.

Suggestions Before the Meeting

• Thorough preparation for your section — read and re-read Marx, and this is the time to read supplementary materials if you’re ever going to do so.
• Come ready with multiple passages, concepts, and questions to discuss if the group does not volunteer any at a point during the discussion.
• Truly optional: Script what you’re going to say when you kick off the meeting — could help you focus the entry into the chapter(s).

Suggestions Early in the Meeting

• Allow time for group bonding — let people linger in the amount you think they need.
• Ask the group’s overall impression of the chapter(s).
• Ask the group if they would like to volunteer a passage to read.
• Ask if anyone is struggling with certain concepts they came across — and to share.

Suggestions During the Meeting

• Rephrase peoples’ statements or questions to clarify them.
• Summarize the group’s understanding of an issue.
• Keep track of who speaks (optional) — could help in building a more equitable
  discussion culture by creating a record of who is dominating.
• Take notes on any follow-up needed on a concept or reference.
• Intervene with your understanding if others are confused — or wrong.
• Intervene to keep the group from a ‘rabbit hole’ on any specific issue that isn’t
  foundational, especially those outside the text.
• Notice if some people are not talking and actively ask those people, individually, to share.

Suggestions for the End of the Meeting

• Ask if there is a subject people wanted to discuss that the group has not gotten to.
• Summarize the discussion and the need for any tasks or need to continue speaking on a certain subject matter.
• Ask whether the discussion culture was healthy and how to improve it.
• Ask whether the group should be speeding up or slowing down in Capital.
• Ask if anyone knows what to look forward to in the next section.
• Ask if the person slated to facilitate or do other roles at the next meeting can still do it.
• Reach out to the administrator if you felt someone was dominating the discussion to the extent that someone was inhibiting it — the administrator can reach out 1 on 1 or initiate a group discussion about norms at the next meeting.