Selecting Goals and Strategies

The example goals listed are not exhaustive.

A single discussion section can have multiple goals of multiple types. You can, for example, aim to help students understand new material, start analyzing arguments made in that material, practice communicating those arguments, evaluate the success of those arguments, and work to create a critique of those arguments based on that evaluation, all in a single section.

Discussion section goals can be combined. For example, you can practice identifying components of ethical arguments by working to recognize the reasoning behind a particular ethical theory or work to identify personal values while working on developing an original solution to a particular issue.

No discussion section needs to aim at all or even multiple goals. You might, for example, want your discussion section to focus exclusively on articulating the differences between two ethical theories recently discussed in class or perhaps just on practicing communicating arguments in preparation for an upcoming writing assignment.

You don’t need to do everything. Think of your discussion section as part of the larger pedagogical apparatus helping students learn. Your section is part of a larger course, which is part of larger ethics education, which is part of a larger college education. You can’t provide students with a comprehensive, complete expertise in the relevant subject matter by the end of the semester; that is the product of a complete education, not a single class. And while students may never take another class on the subject, you can help them take substantive steps toward that expertise and help them continue to develop important learning and reasoning skills that will serve them whether or not they continue studying the subject.

Work backward from your selected goals. Once you have determined what you want students to get from a given section, consider what discussion structure and content would best help your students achieve that. Click on the goal types for more detailed suggestions on organizing your discussion section to meet your learning goals.

Learning goals are interconnected. Working on certain learning goals can inform and feed into success in other, related learning goals. For example, students will have a hard time critiquing a given ethical theory if they don’t recognize the reasoning behind that theory’s claims, and they will have a hard time recognizing that reasoning if they aren’t able to identify or remember that theory’s key claims. In general (but not always), it is helpful to work on identifying and remembering goals before working on evaluating and creating goals. Meanwhile, working on practice goals generally (but not always) helps sustain and improve the work being done on other goal types. Consider pairing a practice goal with goals of other types in order to make sure students sustain and improve the skills necessary to successfully and consistently achieve the other goals.

Coordinate with the broader class schedule. When deciding on a goal for a section, consider what has recently been discussed in lecture, what assignments have recently been given, what exams or tests are coming up, and so on. If a complex ethical theory was just introduced in lecture, it might make sense to focus on identifying and remembering goals. If you have already spent a few weeks discussing a particular ethical issue, consider focusing on applying and analyzing goals to really dig into familiar materials, or perhaps set up a discussion around evaluating goals in order to push students to develop their own views on and keep them engaged with the material. And, if an important paper has just been assigned, it can be useful to set discussion time aside to focus on practicing relevant reasoning and communication skills. Think about what sort of goals the course might be working on at the given time, and select goals for your section accordingly. Click the "Strategies by Situation" link below to see suggested strategies for various common class circumstances.

Meet students where they’re at. As a TF, you are your students first and often most direct point of contact and source of support for a given class. As such, you are uniquely well-situated to get a sense of where your students are at in their learning. If you think focusing on some learning goal (whether listed above or not) will really help your particular students in their specific learning circumstances, then there is a good chance you are right. If you, for example, feel your students are especially lost on theory discussed in class, it is totally reasonable to spend some discussion section time just identifying and remembering the ethical concepts, questions, claims relevant to that theory. Or, if an ethical case brought up in class hits especially close to home for some students (perhaps due to lived experience or current events), it can be worthwhile to focus on practicing respectful, effective discussion of ethical issues. While you should, of course, coordinate with your course and course head, you should also trust your sense of where your students are.