Book cohorts are kept small — capped at seven students. This is to make sure the space is truly inclusive for everyone who enrolls. It is also necessary for building trust and relationships with each other.

We want each student to feel free to express their thoughts, participate in the discussion multiple times, take risks, and work collaboratively—with dignity, respect, curiosity, and joy.

Prompts like writing “persona” prompts or

Writing your own head-canon into the text (like Hamnet or Circe)

Writing about parallels in your life in relationship to the author or the text

Dialogue-based learning is oftentimes more challenging than writing. It relies on the students first doing their own close, solo reading of the text so that, when they arrive at session, they can move toward the real-time comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation types of learning (see Bloom’s Taxonomy).

This kind of facilitated, long-form dialogue helps students practice the cognitive and rhetorical exercises that are required for that level of deep reading, critical thinking, and argumentative writing.

It also gives them the chance to listen deeply to new perspectives and ideas, reflect on their own interpretations and observations, be challenged about what they really think and believe, and self-reflect in real time to identify where their own ideas and curiosities are most alive.

We will celebrate and recognize the accomplishment of completing this program by awarding a non-accredited Certificate of Completion to students who fully participate! No writing or exams are involved. Please see our Program Policies for more details on all the participation requirements.