Discussion as a Way of Teaching
When I think about the best group discussions that I have been a part of the first thing that comes to mind is that everyone is prepared and is able to discuss the topic. I would also say that the reason that some conversations are more satisfying than others is largely contributed to the fact that I would have learned something new from the discussion or experienced someone else's point of view. The discussion ground rules could be helpful when crafting rules for a class with students. There have been many times when my past teachers would have the class help come up with the rules together and I think that talking about the things that my students haven't liked in previous classes they have taken could be a great way to formulate a set of rules.
In the section on "The Circle of Voices" I really connected to the idea that the circle takes the pressure off of a student having to jump into a conversation if they are shy. This means that more introverted students automatically pre-determined chance to speak. I also think that the free-flowing parts of discussions are also incredibly important so I would make sure that part of discussion still take place.
The "Conversational Moves" section was my favorite one I had read so far because it allows students to take on a different role than they are used to in discussions. A hesitation that I would have about this is that students would focus too much on their role and not on what was actually being said so I would be worried that their learning would suffer.
Further down in the text there was that section on a teacher's tolerance on silence. I hadn't thought about this being such an important part of a discussion but it is; especially letting students who are more-timid know that I would not take their silence as a lack of understanding on a topic. Hopefully, a statement like this would allow for students to feel less anxious about their silence during group discussions.
The "Critical Incident Questionnaire" is an excellent tool! By having students do an exit task on what they learned you can find out what they understood from the lesson but the critical incident questionnaire addresses the other aspects of the lesson like how engaged a student was. It does more than just inventory the knowledge but how a student felt while learning the information.
There are so many classes that say a percentage of your grade is contributions to class meaning involvement in discussions but how does a teacher determine a person's contributions when it is impossible for everyone to contribute the same amount. Additionally, if we are to tell students that their silence doesn't mean a lack of understanding why are we grading them on how much they talk in a discussion? Maybe that is the problem with discussions?
In the section on "The Circle of Voices" I really connected to the idea that the circle takes the pressure off of a student having to jump into a conversation if they are shy. This means that more introverted students automatically pre-determined chance to speak. I also think that the free-flowing parts of discussions are also incredibly important so I would make sure that part of discussion still take place.
The "Conversational Moves" section was my favorite one I had read so far because it allows students to take on a different role than they are used to in discussions. A hesitation that I would have about this is that students would focus too much on their role and not on what was actually being said so I would be worried that their learning would suffer.
Further down in the text there was that section on a teacher's tolerance on silence. I hadn't thought about this being such an important part of a discussion but it is; especially letting students who are more-timid know that I would not take their silence as a lack of understanding on a topic. Hopefully, a statement like this would allow for students to feel less anxious about their silence during group discussions.
The "Critical Incident Questionnaire" is an excellent tool! By having students do an exit task on what they learned you can find out what they understood from the lesson but the critical incident questionnaire addresses the other aspects of the lesson like how engaged a student was. It does more than just inventory the knowledge but how a student felt while learning the information.
There are so many classes that say a percentage of your grade is contributions to class meaning involvement in discussions but how does a teacher determine a person's contributions when it is impossible for everyone to contribute the same amount. Additionally, if we are to tell students that their silence doesn't mean a lack of understanding why are we grading them on how much they talk in a discussion? Maybe that is the problem with discussions?
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