Class Discussions

There is so much to consider in a class discussion, but here are three major areas that I aim for: 1) How much does the student learn?  2) How does it engage the student in the text?  3) How well was the student given a chance to engage themselves.  I will eventually try to find examples of each of these to help illustrate their use.

Expect more on this page later - for now, I will break down my four most prevalent kinds of class discussions. 

1.  Ring-Master Scotese: I suspect that this is my students' favorite (not because of me - but because they can sit back and relax).  In this kind of discussion - the entire class is like a mini-short story - I ask the questions, direct the conversation and make sure certain points are covered.  I have a plot - a climax - and I want the students to walk out of the class after its over - feeling like they made some wonderful connections.  It is my least favorite (I like when the students are less passive).

2. Enitre Class Initiated:  There are variations of this style - but essentially students are divided into sections based on their rows (really columns).  There were usually 5 or 6 rows in my class.  Each row is responsible for a section of that day's assigned reading.  Each student is then given time (usually 5-10 minutes) to come up with 1) A question, comment, or idea about the reading  2) a quote from the reading that they believe is interesting or puzzling   3) a connection to something else that we have read (the connection must be specific, in both cases).  

We then start at one end of the classroom (I try to alternate) and each student  picks one of their three (ah - with three it's ok if someone else has one of theirs) and says it outloud and we discuss - based on that.  The teacher merely (well it is a lot actually) directs - but tries not to answers - letting other students answer and/or comment.  We then go down the row - and then on to the next row and get to the entire class.  Everyone participates (at least in the question/comment/quote).  One of the teacher's major jobs here is to keep their eye on the time so that you can get to everyone.

3. A Vertext: A Vertext (I came up with the name) is a set of verbatim quotes from that day's reading.  These quotes are in a Power Point presentation, along with the page number (so students can quickly find them in their own books).  You start at one end of the room and a student reads the quote out loud - and you allow any student (though sometimes when the class has gotten very comfortable with each other - I also ask the student reading the quote to comment on it as well) to make a comment, question, or observation about that quote.  Again, the teacher stays out of it except for directing and allowing students to participate.  It is like method 2 above - VERY student centered.

4. The discrepant event:  There is an activity which is not directly linked to the discussion but instead lays the mental groundwork for students making a bigger connection.  This is followed by one of the three discussion types from above.  The activity might be something like marching in the hall to Green Eggs and Ham or forming concentric circles and whispering words of  emotion they experienced while reading "Indian Camp".