I have always been a
big fan of classroom discussions. Even way back when I was in high school I
would get excited when any of my teachers involved us in a class discussion. I
always felt like school revolved around the sedentary quiet classroom where the
instructor lectured, I took notes, and if I wanted to express myself in any way
I did it in a term paper where no one would read it expect for the teacher and
me. I guess I felt like discussions were bending the rules of school a little
bit. If the whole class was allowed, or encouraged, to talk out a topic I was
more present and aware than any other time in that room. Talking to my peers
about what we thought of an assignment, right in front of the instructor, I
might as well have been flipping my teacher the bird.
Reading this made me
think about discussion in ways that I never have before. Making discussion
critical – of course! What an excellent term. Having a critical discussion
requires all participants to leave a big chunk of ego at the door. If we are to
examine assumptions that we have made we must stop thinking of them as “ours”
and leave the possessive out of it. When we look at an idea critically we must
be as impartial as possible; then it is not about me, you, or him over there,
it is all about the idea itself.
Democratic discussion!
Hold on here. If a class discussion is democratic in nature then what part is
the teacher playing? Again we must leave a certain amount of ego behind in
order for this to function. I feel like I am so eager to make my classroom
great that I might want to hold onto every discussion with a tight fist and
drag all of my students to the conclusion I want them to come to. Some times in
these education classes I feel like I am being told to plot out my lesson with
blinders to anything else. No getting off topic. You must post those learning
goals and make sure every student is aware that they have accomplished every
one. Tell them what they will learn, show them the lesson, and then test them to
make sure they learned it. I am not convinced that this is the only way to
teach.
