Leading a Discussion/Lab

Before class:

1. Identify course objectives
2. Review course materials
3. Prepare questions that lead students toward objectives
4. Plan gateway activities and assessment techniques
5. Incorporate varied activities (lecture, group work, peer-to-peer sharing)
6. Learn student names

During class:

1. Explain course objectives to class
2. Generate discussion through questions
3. Use groups to have students tackle difficult concepts
4. Vary open- and closed-ended questions
5. Connect material to personal experiences
6. Encourage wide participation
7. Give students time to think before answering
8. Have students self-evaluate
9. Allow for humor, but maintain control
10. Make eye contact
11. Summarize occasionally
12. Assess learning through classroom activity, writing assignment, quiz, etc.

After class:

1. Reflect on teaching moments
2. Outline strengths and weaknesses, problems, confusion, and successes for next time
3. Identify material that needs to be revisited in the next class meeting


Teaching with Discussion

"As civilized human beings, we are the inheritors, neither of an inquiry about ourselves and the world, nor of an accumulating body of information, but of a conversation begun in the primeval forest and extended and made more articulate in the course of centuries. It is a conversation which goes on both in public and within each of ourselves. Of course there is argument and inquiry and information, but wherever these are profitable they are recognized as passages in this conversation…. Conversation is not an enterprise designed to yield an extrinsic profit, a contest where the winner gets a prize, nor is it an activity of exegesis; it is an unrehearsed intellectual adventure…. Education, properly speaking, is an initiation into the skill and partnership of this conversation in which we learn to recognize the voices, to distinguish the proper occasions of utterance, and in which we acquire the intellectual and moral habits appropriate to conversation"
- From Michael Oakeshott's "Poetry as a Voice in the Conversation of Mankind" in Rationalism in Politics

"Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally's assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress."
- From Kenneth Burke's The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action

The fields in which we teach can be seen as ongoing multilevel conversations. We hold our dialogues in a traditional manner through formal debates with other experts or informal discussions with our colleagues over dinner, coffee, or in the hallway. But we also hold them in print. We publish in scholarly journals, books, online bulletin boards, or newsletters. We propose ideas, test others' ideas, and rebut others' claims. People with different investments in a conversation enter it at different levels; experts may publish in more arcane journals while others may publish in newspapers or not publish at all but hold conversations around the dinner table.

Our students are typically just entering our conversations. But before they can have something significant to offer, they need to know the status and the direction of the conversation. They need to know what has been said and already agreed upon. They need to know who the current discussants are, what they are saying, and why they are saying it. They need to know the complexities of the problems that are the focus of the conversations. And they need to learn what tools, what definitions, what skill sets, etc. will enable them to contribute meaningfully.

Our job as teachers is to facilitate the students' meaningful entry into the conversation that is our discipline. We do that by pointing out the facts that have already been discovered. We inform them of the major players, past and present. In undergraduate work, the students learn and simulate discussion. They show us that they can remember relevant information, how they can think rationally, how they can feel appropriately, and how they can act ethically. All learning outcomes can be seen as evidence for students' worthiness to enter the conversation in a meaningful way and to be taken seriously by those who are already established in the dialogue. In graduate work, students actually begin to enter the formal discussion. They search for something new to say or add; then they write and publish their thesis or dissertation. At this point, students graduate and leave and become our peers in the real conversation; the simulations are over.

Discussion Type #1: Focused

Keeping a tight focus permits covering more material, differentiating more important material from less important, and clarifying or elaborating on content. Students should come to this assignment after exposure to, and some assimilation of, the material. Their responses should demonstrate acquaintance with the facts. They should practice using new vocabulary, comprehending basic relationships, and applying learned patterns to new circumstances. Your questions should test for accuracy and sufficiency of knowledge and basic understanding.

Discussion Type #2: Open

Less structure is useful for broadening the scope of the discussion and presenting multiple perspectives on the larger issues. This type is good for making personally meaningful and real-world connections for students. Use open discussions for introducing and concluding a new chapter or major idea. The introductory discussion can generate interest and relevant large questions. The concluding discussion can relate large ideas to other large ideas. Your questions should draw out relevance and the representation of multiple perspectives.

Switching from the role of teacher as lecturer or leader to discussion facilitator

A discussion facilitator is a bit like a referee in a ball game, and your students are like the players. They are primarily responsible for the action, while you occasionally interrupt to assist, clarify, or demonstrate. This can be very tricky. Once you enter the discussion, many students will simply shut down. Talk about changing roles and expectations. Tell them the goals of the discussion.

Tips for Running a Discussion

1. Lay groundrules. One example is a rule that two other students must speak before a given student may speak again, to prevent individuals from dominating.

2. Create a safe place.

3. Teach them good argument skills first. Stress the difference between a hypothesis and a thesis. Explain to them the difference between the processes of arguing to inquire verses arguing to convince. Get them into the habit of using "because" clauses with their claims. Encourage logic. Get them used to pointing out fallacies or inappropriate appeals.

4. Begin with a focus exercise. It's often best to start with writing: the 2-minute essay, brainstorming lists, clustering, etc.

5. Move from small groups to larger groups. Use a pair-share activity to warm them up.

6. For the main discussion, start with reading a passage from the text from which to launch the initial discussion question.

7. Be prepared with a string of discussion question, all of which are directly related to your teaching goals for the day. Begin and end with Type 2 questions; structure the middle with Type 1 questions.

8. Encourage participation. Here are some common reasons for nonparticipation:

Peer Pressure
Time to Think
Lack of Preparation
Class Dynamics
Quiet Students
Outside Issues

9. Respond selectively and positively to the arguments. Respond differently to the points which relate to your agenda. The students will figure out what is important by what you think is important. In all cases, make your feedback positive.

10. Model careful listening skills. Take notes, and show your students how to listen and record key concepts.

11. Encourage direct responses. Students need not raise their hands to reply to each other.

12. Ask students to up come with counterpoints to others arguments or their own. If the discussion winds down, step in to summarize the high points from which to launch a relevant new question.

13. Play the devil's advocate at times.

14. Step in if you sense a serious detour.

15. Acknowledge confusing or difficult problems. Show them models for strategic entry into complex issues.

16. Tie student comments together with explicit connections. Don't assume they completely understand their own clarity and coherence just because you see it.

17. Conclude the discussion with enough time to summarize and give students a sense of having achieved some goals. Don't feel that you have to provide one answer to the question. Relate the discussion to a previous class lesson and to a following lesson. Refer back to points from the discussion in subsequent meetings.

18. Always conclude with some positive feedback.

Some Strategies for Handling Discussion-Stopping Students

1. Too many quiet students: stop the discussion for a minute and hold another focus writing exercise; then call on students to read their responses to get them involved.

2. Disruptive students: try ignoring them; call on other students to respond as if the disruptive behavior did not exist. Or call on the disruptive student with a constructive question or just ask them to say what point they are trying to make.

3. Whisperers: Contrary to the implied claims by pop culture (a la news programs with a talking head, two rolling text bars across the bottom of the screen, pop up blurbs and adverts, and lots of flashing colors), we do not focus on multiple sensory data simultaneously. We scan sensory data and process some of it, but we don't focus on it all. Make it a ground rule that there is only one conversation allowed at a time.

4. Newspaper Readers: do not tolerate blatant displays of inattention. Address these students directly, and if they refuse to stop, ask them to leave your classroom.

5. Discussion Hogs: when students go beyond being eager and monopolize class time, you need to meet with them in conference and address inclusiveness. Show appreciation for their contributions but tell them that your job requires hearing the contributions of others as well.

6. Antagonistic Debater: don't confuse skeptical students with antagonistic students. Some people's preferred learning style is to engage a new topic with suspicion. But when the rhetoric turns against another student or when it becomes unreasonable, address it by restating the goals of discussion and argument. Chances are very good that the antagonistic debater is committing several fallacies in reasoning. Point to the structure of their thinking rather than their person.

7. Body Language: much is conveyed silently. Talk about body language as part of students' arguments. Be careful not to assume an attitude just because you don't like someone's posture, but also be aware of how someone's posture affects other students.