Designing Effective Class Discussions
- 1. Designing Effective Class Discussion The Academy Cluster 3 Communicating for Learning
- 3. Workshop Objectives Participants will be able to distinguish between discussion, conversation, and dialogue. Participants will be able to cite the elements of critical discussion. Participants will be able to identify the benefits of discussion in the classroom. Participants will be able to identify techniques to begin discussion and to maintain the momentum of the discussion.
- 4. Workshop Outline Intro Lecture Breakout - Individual work Breakout - Peer review & discussion Wrap-up
- 5. What is Discussion? Conversation Dialogue Discussion
- 6. Critical Discourse - Dispositions Hospitality Participation Mindfulness Humility Mutuality
- 7. Deliberation Appreciation Hope Autonomy
- 8. Why Discussion? Benefits Helps students explore diversity of perspectives Increases student awareness of and tolerance for ambiguity or complexity Helps students recognize and investigate their assumptions Encourages attentive, respectful listening
- 9. Develops a new appreciation for continuing differences Increases intellectual agility Helps students become connected to a topic Shows respect for student voices and experiences
- 10. Helps students learn processes and habits of democratic process Affirms students as cocreators of knowledge Develops the capacity for clear communication of ideas Develops habits of collaborative learning
- 11. Increases breadth and make students more empathetic Helps students develop skills of synthesis and integration Leads to transformation
- 12. Discussion - Limitations Instructor’s unrealistic expectations Student unpreparedness Lack of ground rules Poorly integrated reward system Failure to model participation
- 13. Preparing for Discussion Ensure early, equal access to materials Use lectures to model democratic talk Use critical incident questionnaires (CIQ) Generate ground rules for discussion Have students do structured, critical prereading Clarify expectations and purposes
- 14. Lecture as a model Begin each lecture with question(s) End each lecture with questions raised or unanswered by lecture Deliberately introduce periods of silence
- 15. Lecture as a model (cont) Deliberately introduce alternative perspectives Introduce periods of assumption hunting Introduce “buzz groups” into lectures Demonstrate own participation in and commitment to discussion Evolve “ground rules” for conducting discussions
- 16. Critical Incident Questionnaire CIQ At what moment in class this week were you most engaged as a learner? At what moment in class this week were you most distanced as a learner? What action that anyone in the class took this week did you find most affirming or helpful?
- 17. CIQ (cont) What action that anyone in the class took this week did you find most puzzling or confusing? What surprised most about the class this week?
- 18. Generating Ground Rules See attachment
- 19. Critical Prereading Epistemological questions Experiential questions Communicative questions Political questions
- 20. Critical Prereading See attachment
- 21. Get Discussion Going Mistakes to avoid Don’t lecture Don’t be vague Don’t play favorites Don’t fear silence Don’t misinterpret silence
- 22. Get going (cont) Declare classroom speech policy early Debrief preparatory work Recall a memorable experience Tell tales from the trenches Discussion in the round Hatful of quotes
- 23. Debrief preparatory work Frame discussion around student questions Ask students to choose a concrete image Debrief previous week’s CIQs Start a sentence completion exercise
- 24. Debrief (cont) Start and respond to contentious opening statements Generate truth statements Find illustrative quotes Use quotes to affirm and challenge
- 25. Discussion in the Round Two techniques to ensure good discussion Circle of voices - ensures equal opportunity to talk Circular response discussions - promotes attentive listening
- 26. Keep Discussion Going Questioning Listening Responding
- 27. Types of Questions 1. Questions that ask for more evidence 2. Questions that ask for clarification 3. Open questions 4. Linking or extension questions 5. Hypothetical questions 6. Cause and effect questions 7. Summary and synthesis questions
- 28. Listening Paired listening Hearing the subject Designated listener
- 29. Responding Responding without questions Affirmation Responding with silence
- 30. Creative Grouping Relaxed and structured buzz groups Self-selection or teacher-selection Keep assignments short Text analysis Questions
- 31. Assuming different roles Critical debate Types of conversational roles Critical conversation protocol Stand where you stand
- 32. Conversational roles Problem, dilemma, or theme poser Reflective analyst Scrounger Devil’s advocate Detective Theme spotter Umpire
- 33. Critical conversation protocol Storyteller Detectives Umpire
- 34. Reporting back Newsprint dialogue Rotating small group stations Snowballing Cocktail party Jigsaw
- 35. Thank you Please complete the evaluation of this workshop. Your feedback is important.