Discussion as a Way of Teaching

As Stephen Brookfield asked his readers to do at the beginning of the article, I thought about the many different discussions I’ve been a part of during my student career and what made the discussions good or bad.  Something that would make discussions good was when teachers made an effort to make sure every student had an opportunity to speak if they so wished.  I would say the bad discussions where when basically two to three people talking back and forth and not allowing other students the chance to speak up during these discussions.  Also, the teacher didn’t step in and give other students opportunities to state their opinions.  Therefore, good discussions were when multiple students were able to contribute to the discussion and provided a variety of comments to create a vibrant discussion.  Sometimes this happened on its own; however, there were times when the teacher would stop the conversation and ask if there are other students who would like to give their input for the discussion.  Teachers didn’t necessarily force students to speak up if they didn’t want to, but they made sure that all students were given the same chance to speak.  I believe that giving all students the chance to speak but not requiring them to speak during a whole-class discussion is how I, as the teacher, would want to run my class discussion.  Some students might have social anxiety and the thought of speaking in front of twenty-four other students is completely terrifying for them.  In that case, I would probably be more apt to use one of Brookfield’s techniques geared for smaller groups, such as four to five people.  Smaller group discussions would not only allow for students to contribute more of their thoughts, but it would also allow for students with social anxiety the chance to possibly become comfortable with a few people in order to speak up.  I think Brookfield’s article brought up a lot of different topics that we, as teachers, should take the opportunity to explore more, especially since utilizing discussions can help create a student-centered classroom.  One topic I would like to explore more in the future is “Snowballing” because I like the idea of going from small groups to a whole class discussion by doubling the size of each group every couple of minutes so students who wish to contribute have multiple opportunities to speak about their ideas.  I want my discussions to be as effective as possible for my students to learn all the necessary information.