At times I will point out what these comments have in common, raise a more general question derived from them, or emphasize an underlying criticism that may not be obvious. But where there is no shared interest, and only one student has raised a particular issue, I will just read that student's comment. I do not manufacture disagreements among students for the sake of stimulating discussion, but neither do I attempt to paper over differences. I confess to sometimes exaggerating differences to spark discussion and to draw more students into it. As the semester progresses, the undergraduates get more familiar with the material, more comfortable with one another, and with me, so the questions get longer.
Students make reference to earlier readings and to issues raised in other courses.
The students are, of course, present, so if they mislike my oral editing they are free to speak up and denounce it. They often do, but usually couch their objections diplomatically. Students benefit from the questions in five ways. First, they tell me in their course critiques, it forces them to focus their reading. Knowing that they have to come up with a written interpretation of what they read, they aggressively look for themes, agreements, and disagreements in their assignments.