Classroom Discussion

.82 Effect Size

Definition:

Classroom discussion is a method of teaching, that involves the entire class in a discussion. Classroom discussion allows students to improve communication skills by voicing their opinions and thoughts, create, imagine, take risks, and dig for deeper meanings. Teachers also benefit from classroom discussion as it allows them to determine if students have learned the concepts that are being taught.

Characteristics: purposeful with learner outcomes in view; open-ended; recursive and collaborative.

Types of Discussion:

When to use:

Productive classroom discussions build deeper understanding and is promoted with purposeful questions and probing for clarity. This strategy should not necessarily occur every day. Classroom discussion should happen when the objective is to promote students' clarity of thinking, reflection on a position, and on examples and data to support an idea.

Steps in Discussion:

Create an environment to promote the discussion (arrange chairs) and clarify rules and expectations.
Plan by setting goals and developing specific questions that focus on main points, evidence, and perspective. These will be used to move the conversation. Also provide a structure (outline or list) that will be posted for students at the beginning for understanding.
Periodically, summarize main points and write on the white board for reference (supports struggling students).
Combine discussion with other methods (group work, reflective writing, online discussions.)
Summarize key points of learning. Seek clarification.
Reflect on your instructional tools, questions and students. Revise if needed.

Benefits:

Allows students to generate meaning while socially interacting
Leads to deeper thinking
Promotes higher level thinking
Increases engagement
Allows participation of ALL students

Strategies for Student-Centered DiscussionHigh School ELA teacher and 2010 Teacher of the Year, Sarah Brown Wessling takes on the challenge of engaging students in whole class discussion as they make sense of Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find. The lesson begins with establishing the learning goals by having students engage in brief reflection and share their thinking.

Debrief CirclesStudents in Maria Ekmalian's class reflect on their learning by participating in debrief circles. Maria divides students into an inside and outside circle, then asks specific questions. The students on the inside of the circle talk while the students on the outside of the circle listen, then they switch.

Conver-Stations: A Discussion StrategySarah Brown Wessling uses movement during small group discussion to help students deepen their conversations. Sarah asks only some students in each small group to move with each topic switch, allowing those students to carry the conversation from their previous group to the new group. By the end of the conversations, the students are able to synthesize all of the ideas into rich statements about an essential question.

Socratic Seminars: Patience & PracticeNinth graders in Paige Price's ELA class participate in a Socratic Seminar to discuss the role of poetic language. Paige sets up the Socratic Seminar with an inner and an outer circle. Students partner up so that one student participates in the inner circle discussion while the other partner observes from the outer circle. In the middle of the seminar, the class takes a coaching break. During the break the inner circle partner receives feedback and encouragement from the outer circle partner.

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