We have a Junior Qualifying Exam at Reed, which in our department takes the form of an oral exam based on a recent paper from the primary literature for each student.  I just finished picking 4 papers for this year's crop of inorganic junior quals.  The students have 3 days to learn everything they can about the paper before the oral exam in front of 2 faculty.  Several of these choices were inspired by talks I heard at the ACS Salt Lake City meeting.

I really like the idea of teaching inorganic with papers from the literature.  I've never done it because I've never been sure how best to do this.  (I know, I'm a scientist, I should experiment!)  I'd really be interested in hearing about tips (things to do, things to avoid), ways to structure class, important things to look for in a discussion paper, suggestions for leading an effective discussion section, etc... from people who have taught class with lit papers.  I'm curious about  ways to do things and different models that exist.