Some guidelines for successful discussions--

● Know your thoughts are important and valuable. Your interpretation can help the group generate deeper ideas. Your question may spawn a conversation that will help you and your group improve their understanding.

● Remember you are helping yourself AND your group. Putting the time and effort in increases your skills and makes you a more dynamic member of a team. Working together gets every member to a stronger stance on a topic or idea, including you.

● Listen carefully. Understanding other students' point of view is essential to developing your own.

● Don’t address everything to the instructor. Focus on your discussion with your group members. Make eye contact with the person whose points you are addressing. Look around the table; let people know that they’re included. Use names to focus interaction.

● Stick close to the text in discussion. Keep the text or source open. When appropriate, be prepared to cite specifics in the language of the text/source to support, challenge or question. The discussion is not a test of memory.

● Collaborate, don’t compete. It is not a debate, but a discussion. Debate is oppositional: opposing sides try to prove each other wrong. Discussion is collaborative: multiple sides work toward shared understanding.

● Don’t raise hands; take turns speaking. It is OK to “pass” occasionally if asked directly to contribute.

● Affirm comments made by other students. Encourage others to clarify or expand ideas that might be foggy. Ask for more information or further explanation. Don’t hesitate to summarize. Discuss ideas rather than one another’s opinions.

● Challenge politely if you disagree. Let any student finish phrasing a question or developing an idea before you jump in. Clarify a difference of opinion first.

● Be sure that the group is content with the exploration of one topic before heading off into new territory. In moments of silence, determine whether the group is wrestling with an idea or passage, or whether to pursue a new line of inquiry. Ask each other: Can we summarize the discussion so far? Did we take it as far as it could go? Are we content?

● You are responsible for the success of the discussion. Prepare and participate thoughtfully. Don’t make things up if you don’t know; admit it and move on.

● If you’re not a reluctant participant, and suspect that you might have a dominant presence at the table, police your own frequency of involvement. Don’t answer every question; don’t jump in at every opportunity. Pull your weight, but not everybody else’s.