221+Agenda+-+10.16.14

Whadya think?
Post questions, comments, ideas to discuss based on your professional engagement research on Discussion-Based Instruction. (To post - 1) Sign in, 2) Click "edit", 3) Type your entry, 4) Sign your post (three tildes ~), 5) Click "save")

What stood out to me in all of the articles and videos is the importance of preparation when it comes to discussion. Preparation by the teacher and students are what make for a productive class discussion and give kids the confidence to participate. Often times when I have experienced class discussions I stay quiet because others dominate the conversation or I simply don't feel confident enough in my thoughts because I haven't had enough time to refine them and locate supporting evidence. I enjoyed the video of the middle school English class where the students were allotted an amount of time to prepare their arguments as to why they categorized their sticky notes in a particular section on the board. By working in groups they could assess several viewpoints and refine their supporting arguments and responses to rebuttals before participating in a class debate. Students were then eager to share their arguments because they knew they were well supported. I also found the math video to be interesting. By calling on random students with a sense of urgency, they all have to be participating by mentally solving each problem in case they are asked to share their answer with the class. What I liked even more was that when students got an answer wrong they were quickly corrected and provided with an explanation, but the exercise is immediately resumed. This way kids build confidence by giving correct answers, but don't feel inadequate for giving wrong answers because of the fast pace. user:Mgreen141

There are several characteristics of effective, engaging classroom discussion. First, the discussion must be led by the students and guided by the teacher. This means that the teacher makes a statement or asks a question, and every student has the opportunity to respond. Second, the teacher must ensure that multiple students contribute to each part of the discussion. This will allow different types of thinkers to say their thoughts. Third, the teacher must ensure that the classroom is a "safe place." This means that students will respect each other and not make fun of each other. There are several factors that can sabotage good discussion. A student that aggressively attacks the opinions of others may make students afraid to share their thoughts in the fear of being attacked or disagreed with. A student that likes to contribute a lot or dominates the discussion may make students feel that they do not need to participate. Questions asked by the teacher that are not insightful or challenging may make the students become bored and not work hard. Teachers can do a variety of things to facilitate wide-spread participation in a class discussion. First, teachers can ask open-ended questions, which will allow for different types of answers from different types of thinkers. Second, teachers can allow students to respond to each other. Students can either respectfully disagree with each other or reaffirm each other. Not only is this fun, but this also allows for contrasting opinions to be heard. Teachers can cultivate a classroom community and behavior norms that support safe, effective, and engaging discussion by being approachable. If a student has a problem or is confused, the teacher must be available to help that student. This also requires an environment where students respect the instructor and each other. user:channa5

Personally, I respond best to discussion based instruction because I think it allows for the most critical thinking. When students have the opportunity to discuss material, they are allowed to see multiple perspectives and hear other students' opinions, which could very well be ideas that they never would have thought of themselves. What I think is important about discussion based instruction is that the job of the teacher is to be a facilitator, not to push their opinions and ideas onto their students. This allows for students to unpack the material themselves, which I believe to be vital for remembering and understanding. Students will remember discussions which made them think instead of lectures which gave them all of the information up front. I really enjoyed the last video where the teacher prefaced the discussion by watching a video about a boy who was lying about his identity on the internet. I thought that this was a great visual and engaging device for students to interact with before they started their discussion. This way, it was clear that each student received the same pre-text, so they could all start on the same page when beginning the discussion. Although, I think students should be expected to do their pre-discussion work, whether that be reading an article, poem, or looking up background information, I'm sure there is usually at least one student who was not able or chose not to do this work. Therefore, if it is possible to show a video or another quick reading that could preface the discussion in class, then at least you know your students can start on the same page. The only part of discussion based instruction that I was curious about are the students who rarely or never participate in the discussion. I know that you could and in my opinion, probably should be a teacher who requires discussion as part of the overall grade, but there will still be students who never participate. Is it fair to lower their grade because they don't participate, even if their afraid to say their opinions, they don't want to share their opinions, or they don't know what to add to the discussion? Is this too harsh? Or, is this just enough of a push to get students who are not used to participating to get used to it so they are comfortable when they reach higher education? I can't decide which way is best because I can see the validity to both sides of the argument. It is important to discuss because it is a good assessment to make sure students are paying attention and thinking critically for themselves, however there could be students who are benefiting just as much from listening intently. I would be interested to discuss this topic in class. user:JennJoralemon

I never really had any discussion based classes until I came to college and I have come to find that I really enjoy them. I've also realized that I retain the information from discussion based classes much better than I do in direct instruction based classes. One form of discussion based instruction that I really like, from experience and from what I've researched, is the method of using Socratic dialogue. I really like this message because it really engages students and provides them the opportunity to think for themselves and come to their own conclusions. In my classroom I want to be a facilitator of my students' own learning, providing them the tools they will need to exceed and using discussion based instruction is one of the ways I see myself doing that. Another thing I found really useful in my research was some techniques for discussion based instruction such as, avoiding answering your own questions, allowing enough time for students to come up with their own answers and think about the questions, and being a moderator for the students to discuss more student-to-student rather than teacher-to-student. I really liked this last technique because we have also learned that students learn from the company they keep so rather than me being the one to talk to students in discussion, if they are talking with each other and are successfully learning then I think that discussion can be really effective. user:cnye5

The characteristics of discussion-based learning were that the discussion is facilitated or guided by the teacher and that the students are the ones who really converse and debate. I thought this was really well done by the English teacher in the video when he asked the kids to discuss the subject (how to behave online) with an unbiased stand and then let them read the text and talk about it in the small groups. The instructor shouldn't be talking for very long with discussion-based lessons, because it detracts from the time that is left for the students to take some control over their learning. I think some of the factors that can sabotage good discussion are those that you, the teacher, can control - like talking for too long, having the students seated in such a way that discourages discussion, or having unclear questions or directions. Some factors are out of our control though, like students being too stir-crazy to discuss. One of the articles, "Leading Scintillating, Stimulating, Substantive Class Discussions," talks about different ways you can make a class discussion better and more useful to all members of the class. You can assign roles to the students, like Note-Taker (which I feel would be good for students who are initially quiet and unwilling to speak in class), the devil's advocate, and the detective, to name a few. The differences in these roles can also be incentives - if you participate X many times, you get to be the umpire, or if you write a 4-point exit slip you get to be one of the note-takers next time, etc. All of this is only possible, however, if the teacher him or herself creates a safe atmosphere where students feel unafraid of what one of the articles called "Socratic Dialogue." If students are fearful of what people would think of them when they speak their opinions, when they argue certain points, they won't speak at all. In "Using Discussion in the Classroom," the author gave 5 strategies of Socratic dialogue. I think these are probably the best to use, because if a teacher models these first, students will follow suit: First, ask probing questions about what's being discussed; second, ask questions about relationships between ideas; third, utilize the devil's advocate role and other comic relief; fourth, spend time on group maintenance and the group process; fifth, take advantage of positions and roles taken on by others in the discussion. If a teacher uses these strategies in the classroom, the students will do the same, and soon class discussions will be much richer. I think class discussions are probably the most effective way to learn, because students really have to synthesize what they've learned and articulate that into a discussion where they have to defend their positions. I hope to use this practice in a lot of my teaching in the future. user:Mackenzie_D

I really enjoyed the "Calling on Students" video. I thought it was such a great way to ensure your students are alert and following along with the reading. You don't know who the teacher will call on, so the students have to follow along so that when their name is called, they are able to pick up right away. I feel like we could implement this idea in high school as well.I know when I was in class, I never volunteered to read therefore, I never paid much attention to the text. I wish my teacher used this technique to draw in the students and make them pay attention. Extremely clever! Also, from watching some of the other videos, I feel like it's important to incorporate some sort of partner or group discussion. It mixes things up for a bit so it isn't entirely all lecture. The student will also not only talk about what they think (which will plant the information in their mind) but they will also hear from different students their outlook on the question being asked. They will be exposed to different perspectives which will help broaden their thinking. It will also help any student who is struggling. I do want to discuss the topic of class participation being a grade. I agree with Jen completely. What happens if the student is shy, or doesn't feel comfortable sharing their opinion? Is it truly fair to subtract points? Is there some sort of substitution? Perhaps being the class notetaker? What are other options a student can do instead of vocalizing their opinion during class? user:dcisherwood

I would say that discussion-based instruction is extremely useful because it allows students to have a voice in the classroom and I think that's why it's so important to remember the teacher's role in discussion is as a coach or facilitator; they don't need to lecture their students and, in fact, they shouldn't lecture their students. I realize how difficult this is to do sometimes because of my leadership position with Campus Kids. During programming, we try and emphasize youth voice, but that can sometimes be difficult to do because certain kids might not want to share or be more interested in goofing off than contributing. That's why I believe that effective discussion-based learning has to be interesting. Simple, boring questions don't generate discussion and won't keep students engaged. But, at the same time, overly complex questions might stifle students who are unsure of how to respond or discuss a question that is well beyond their grasp. It's a fine line to walk. For this reason, I found the information from the Columbia pdf to be especially useful and accurate. It suggested varying questions types, having open ended questions, or even using icebreakers to aid in easing students into discussion. While I don't believe I would ever use icebreakers because that seems overly simple or even insulting to upper level students, there were plenty of other great suggestions to help facilitate better classroom discussion. user:EmJones4

I was always the kid who had to be invited by teachers at midterm to speak more in class because I would never say anything. This is still something I do. That's why I appreciated reading about some of the different ways to engage students. In a normal discussion setting (the teacher poses questions, students raise their hands) the same kids can talk over and over again and it feels harder and harder to jump in. The first tactic I liked that could solve this problem was from the Best Teachers Institute where each student timed themselves and could say whatever they wanted for one minute. This is a good tool because right at the start of a unit, the student feels like they've already entered the discussion instead of being buried in other people's ideas. To go off of that- take away the element of raising their hands and just cold call on students like we saw in the first video link. What does everyone else think about this tool? I've seen this done before where it get's everyone to answer and engage (standing, being on the spot) but in choir instances of this, I've seen it totally fall apart (someone doesn't know the answer, freaks out). What are your thoughts on this? The 3rd tool I liked was the middle school video on examining scenarios and putting them on a severity line. The teacher in the video said that this activity required them to find textual evidence to support their opinion- opinions which they discussed in a small group before examining other group's post-it notes. This was a great activity because students could discuss in a smaller setting (no escaping) but then also engage with other opinions with a visual. The final tool I liked was actually one of the most simple ones. Also in the Best Teacher Institute page, there was a discussion model that teachers could use. In this model, the teacher wrote "ideas" and "conclusions" on two sides of the board. Then, they posed a question and allowed 3-5 of writing. After this, a few student shares their ideas as the class is led into a discussion. While this happens, ideas from the class are recorded on the board and at the end, the conclusions are also posted. I liked this idea because it was 1. simple. 2. a good visual for a simple task user:staciac

Unlike Stacia, I have always been the student that talks too much (as I'm very sure our entire class has noticed). It was especially interesting to me to hear about strategies for focusing the energies of the students who have a lot to say into tasks that control their focus, like being note taker or observer. I have always loved discussion based classrooms, because I feel that I personally learn best when i have the space to verbalize my thoughts and work through my ideas by bouncing them off of others. Some of the techniques for facilitating discussion I recognized from previous classes i've taken, like the "whip around" that allows everyone to share once, and is then more likely to have students share again. Coming to class with something written down, or questions, or having students write down their thoughts in class and work with partners first are also techniques I recognize from my previous experience. When I watched the video about the middle school english classroom and their discussion about online safety, I thought the activity involving a scale and sticky notes was particularly useful. It allowed students to voice their opinions in a slightly anonymous way (the sticky notes) and also showed a visual representation of the distribution of beliefs present in the classroom. Activities like having a yes and no and maybe side of the class room and asking students to walk to the side they agree with would be comparable to that activity, and allow for movement as well. I think that over all, discussion based lessons are my favorite, and the strategies make the most sense to me. user:HTye

Today's Target

 * SWBAT describe instructional strategies and principles to promote effective classroom discussion

9:25 - 9:40 - Welcome and Review (McKenzie)
 * Notetaker: Chris
 * discussion topic: What can teachers do to facilitate discussion?
 * provoke a debate, form open-ended questions, let the __students__ guide the lesson, etc.
 * Regarding the P.E.T., what challenged, helped, inspired, and perplexed you about discussion-based instruction?
 * Fish Bowl discussion about discussion-based instruction:
 * Chris: Discussion is fun! I love it!
 * What are some cons about discussion-based instruction?
 * some kids tend to dominate the discussion, which makes other kids feel like they do not have to participate because someone else is doing it for them
 * How were you inspired?
 * Stacia: Kids who do not talk can learn to participate.
 * Morgan: Unlike Chris, I hate discussion.
 * Hailey: Some kids have to bite their tongue so that they refrain from participating "too much."
 * "I hate sitting in silence."
 * Chris vs. Morgan: example of two highly capable students that have differing views on discussion
 * Anny: Listening is helpful too.
 * discussion topic: Teachers should be evaluated based on student achievement data.
 * Do you agree or disagree?
 * Teachers should be evaluated on student achievement data that is pulled from their classroom based on growth-oriented goals.
 * Student improvement and growth should be a portion of teacher evaluation.
 * handout: discussion-based instruction examples
 * Reviewer: Chanel
 * Reviewer: Chanel

9:40 - 10:10 - Discussion about discussion
 * CHIP pre-write - What challenged, helped, inspired, and perplexed you from your P.E.T. about discussion-based instruction?
 * Fishbowl

10:10 - 10:35 - Constructive Controversy Model


 * Five minutes to prepare an argument
 * Each side has 2 minutes to present their position; other side just listens
 * Other side presents while opposing pair just listens
 * Each side has 3 minutes to prepare the opposite argument
 * Each side presents while the other side listens (2 minutes each)
 * The group of 4 debates and comes to a consensus (5 minutes)

10:35 - 10:45 - Break

10:45 - 11:35 - Video Activity [] - Sorting and Classifying: Class Discussion (Math) [] - Making Science Relevant with Current Events (Science) [] - Discussing Non-Fiction (Social Studies)

[|Discussion Worksheet]

11:35 - 12:05 - Closure and Housekeeping
 * Lesson Plan Template
 * For next Thursday:
 * Teaching Demos: Hailey, Chris, Morgan
 * Discussion-Based Activity Guide [[file:Discussion-BasedInstructionActivityGuide_sp14.docx]]