Discussion

I have a wonderful article to add to this page. Watch expectantly for it. It will be worth the wait. Here it is, but I need to edit and format it a bit. Notes to myself: Add in here material on shyness. Also put in a section on how to use the concept of THINK--PAIR--SHARE

Discussion [] By: Maryellen Weimer in Effective Teaching Strategies Discussion is a staple in most teachers’ repertoire of strategies, but it frequently disappoints. So few students are willing to participate and they tend to be the same ones. The students who do contribute often do so tentatively, blandly, and pretty much without anything that sounds like interest or conviction. On some days it’s just easier to present the material. When describing the problems with discussion, it’s good to remind ourselves that all too often faculty are part of the problem. Our principal offense? We talk too much. A chapter in the book referenced below offers six pointers—all aimed at helping us control how much we contribute while at the same time we improve the overall climate for discussion in a class. 1. Learn to draw out contributions—Ask a question and wait. Do not fill the silence with your opinions and views, thinking that your comments will prime the pump and get the class going. Rather, this action demonstrates that if students don’t speak, you will. Students will happily wait you out. Instead, you should wait and while waiting, look confident. Establish eye contact with whomever might be looking. Offer encouragement and let the question stand. If you feel as though the silence may be the death of you, ask a question about the question. 2. Learn to withdraw and attend to managing the discussion—Because we are leaders in the classroom and experts to boot, and because we regulate and control the flow of communication, we easily fall into being in charge of the discussion as well. “However, in the interest of fostering discussion, it will be better if much of the time you refrain from doing so, for nothing suppresses potentially fruitful discussion as quickly or as thoroughly as professors who hold the floor and treat student contributions as springboards for their own comments.” (p. 60) 3. Learn to hold back your own thoughts—Often the answers that students give to open-ended questions are not very good. The ideas are stated without a lot of clarity, the opinion is not supported with much evidence, or the viewpoint is not logically coherent. Teachers are very motivated to correct and improve those answers—that’s our job! But the climate for discussion is improved when a teacher asks the student to explain something in more detail or when the teacher defers to the rest of the class, asking, for example, “Is there anything anyone would like Sarah to clarify?” (p. 61). Editor’s note: In tomorrow’s post we’ll share the three remaining tips for facilitating effective classroom discussions. Reference Laing, D. “Nurturing Discussion in the Classroom.” In Smith, K., (ed) Teaching, Learning, Assessing: A Guide for Effective Teaching at College and University. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 2007. Excerpted from Discussion: It’s All about the Details, The Teaching Professor, January 2008. Permalink: [|http://www.facultyfocus.com?p=12021] [] Three More Tips for Facilitating Class Discussions By: Maryellen Weimer in Effective Teaching Strategies Editor’s note: What follows is part-two of the article on facilitating classroom discussion. If you missed part-one, you can read it here. 4. Learn to slow down the pace—We are used to discussing topics with our colleagues. They know the material, have already thought a lot about it, and can answer questions quickly. We want conversations in class to clip along at a similar pace—there’s always lots of material the class needs to get through. “We would do well to pause and reflect on the fact that it takes time for students to formulate answers to questions of any complexity, and that their thinking does not come forward in smoothly flowing units of speech.” (p. 61) If the question is a good, thought- provoking one, ask it—maybe even write it on the board and tell students you will wait 30 seconds before calling on anyone. The author suggests waiting a few seconds after a student has spoken before saying anything. Often that space empowers the student to continue, to clarify or to add more. 5. Learn to be open and accepting in manner—The advice here is to hold back on judgments, especially those that agree or disagree with a view expressed by a student. Respond with interest but with a certain neutrality. Research is clear that praise does encourage students to contribute, but praise can backfire. If a first response gets a “super answer” from the teacher, the rest of the class thinks that student has gotten a right answer and there is no need to think further. 6. Keep discussions productive— Discussions are made productive when teachers begin them with a clear idea of what they hope to accomplish. Is the purpose of this discussion to clarify understanding? Is it to pose problems addressed by principles presented previously? Is it to encourage students to think critically about views expressed in the reading? Is it to expose and explore a range of different viewpoints? Discussions are also made productive when teachers keep them on track. Contributions can sidetrack discussions, sometimes to the benefit of the discussion, but then those discussions need to be brought back to the main topic under consideration. And discussions are made productive when they are interesting and informed exchanges. In the beginning, in the interest of creating a climate for exchange, students may be allowed to say what they think, but generally across discussions, unsupported views and poorly informed opinions should be constructively challenged. “It can be a messy and frustrating business, this class discussion. … It is so much easier to tell students what you know and think, to retreat to the more controlled world of the lecture. Keep it always in mind that discussion can do more to stimulate students’ minds and interests than any other form of teaching we know, and that under the surface much more learning is taking place than we may think.” (p. 63) Reference Laing, D. “Nurturing Discussion in the Classroom.” In Smith, K., (ed) Teaching, Learning, Assessing: A Guide for Effective Teaching at College and University. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 2007. Excerpted from Discussion: It’s All about the Details, The Teaching Professor, January 2008. Permalink: [|http://www.facultyfocus.com?p=12033]