Purpose of the convocations

Public presentations are an important part of the intellectual life of any college or university, and the ILA convocation series is meant to encourage new first year students to engage fully with these opportunities.  The convocations reflect important themes of the course, and are chosen to both engage students and to help you to build important listening and analyzing skills. In addition to the convocations that are integrated into the course and that are a shared requirement of all sections of ILA, you must attend two additional public campus events of your choosing, writing a one-page convocation response in reaction. These public events can include but are not limited to theatrical events and public lectures. I will, on occasion, identify events that qualify; you may also ask regarding specific campus events at any time.

Appropriate convocation behavior

Do

• take notes
• work on listening--it is an improvable skill
• ask yourself questions about the content of the presentation

Do not

• distract others who are listening carefully
• start to shuffle if a speaker goes a bit longer than scheduled
• send text messages

Convocation journals