Discussion as a Way of Teaching

          Discussion is a very important tool for learning especially when it comes to English/ Language Arts, specifically when teaching literature. Literature can be very influential in a student’s school life, but it can also be somewhat confusing. The source of this confusion often comes from the multiple interpretations that students can have about the text. If you take a text and give it to a class with thirty students, you could conceivably get thirty different interpretations of the same exact text. Because of this, classroom discussions about literature can be tricky situations. As teachers we should want all of our students to contribute their thoughts and ideas to the conversation, but how can we get all kids involved?

In Stephen Brookfield’s “Discussion as a Way of Teaching” there are lots of strategies mentioned. I think one of the most important aspects of discussion mentioned in the article is how to set ground rules. My practicum this quarter is in a seventh-grade classroom. If I was to ask my students about a text without setting any ground rules first, there would be chaos. Brookfield suggests that students should use reflection as a way to establish the framework for a set of rules that govern discussions in the classroom. Students should think about the best and worst group discussion that they’ve been a part of and what made them that way. From those experiences, they should begin to form some ideas about what makes for great or terrible discussion time. Having students reflect on these experiences allows them to move past the superficial ideas like “make sure to raise your hand if you wish to speak”. While this is an important rule to have to maintain order, I want them to think deeper. How did those discussions influence your learning in a positive or negative way? How can we incorporate those ideas into our classroom?

Brookfield also gives some alternative ways for students to go about having their discussions. My favorites are Newsprint Dialogues and Hatful of Quotes. Newsprint Dialogues give students the opportunity to share with their small group first then display their ideas to the whole class in a controlled environment. Then while students are looking at the other newsprints they have the opportunity to respond to their peer’s responses. We wants students to engage with others ideas and this gives them a much more non-confrontational way of doing so. Hatful of quotes is intriguing to me because I would have thought that it was an easy way for me to not really have to think hard when I was a high school student. All I would have had to do is wait for someone to talk about the quote that I have and then just reword what they said. While this is a strategy I expect to see from my students someday, it can also be beneficial if it leads to a new opinion of a quote that hasn’t been discussed. That’s how discussions grow and become relevant to the student’s learning.